Sailors.....

Yeee Haaa! I heard back from my nephew! He was in Portugal but didn't say where they might be heading next. I've got to work on getting top secret Naval clearance. The hush-hush itinerary is driving me crazy!

Well, he only mentioned not being able to see as much as he'd have liked because the guys he was hanging out with were more interested in getting drunk and visiting strip clubs at this port. Not that my darling, innocent, nephew has ever had any interest in either of those activities. Maybe he'll catch a bit of sight-seeing at next docking. Or maybe he'll just get drunk and go to more strip clubs.

These are pictures of things he may have seen. If not, well... I found pics on the internet to show him what he missed.



Why am I now remembering the time my family and I sponsored a sailor??

Let's reminisce back to 1982 shall we......

It was my senior year of high school and I was on the half-day work program. One of the women in the office told me about a program where some ships coming into the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard would be looking for host families to sponsor a sailor for a holiday meal. My Dad was an old Navy man, my Mom cooked for Thanksgiving, they'de surely go for it. ;)

I don't really remember how it was set up other than talking very briefly on the phone with the sailor we'd sponsor.... Alex... or was it Alec? He was from Scotland and enlisted on the HMS Illustrious, an aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy. She was nicknamed 'Lusty' by the crew.

My Dad and I met him at the Shipyard and took him home to meet our family and have a nice meal. It was a real enjoyable time. Mom made cornish game hens and other assorted traditional fixings. We went to the ice cream parlor where I worked some nights and weekends. The manager agreed to open the shop so that I could fix him a treat.... peach ice cream, if memory serves correctly.

After dinner we met up with some of my friends and took him to a local bowling alley and played a couple games. I don't remember how we met up with one or two of his friends from the ship but we ALL ended up back at my girlfriends house for an impromptu party. Looking at the camera in the first picture is Alex. I have no idea what fascinating thing he said before the photo was taken but we seemed to be listening intently.

Some sailors do seem to think that they can drink anyone under the table though. How could we not try to prove them wrong? We played the drinking game 'quarters' only we drank beer and they drank 151 rum. The game didn't take too long. One of them got so smashed he locked himself into the bathroom. We had to take the door off the hinges to get him out. Party over. They needed to make curfew. We took them back to the Illustrious and planned to meet the next day for a tour. It was really neat from what I remember. There were Harrier jump jets on board (see second picture). Prince Andrew flew the big helicopter the Sea King in the Faulklands. They were on board also. We wandered around the huge aircraft carrier for a bit, chatted with the men, and then parted company. We made no exchange of information to keep in touch. I only have a few of the pictures and the faded memory of that Thanksgiving weekend. I hope my nephew gets to meet some interesting people in other countries. It's hard when you have to be so far away from home, especially for the holidays.