We reached the island in the late afternoon, it was no bigger than a cricket pitch to my eyes.  The runway was a sick joke. There was none!  There was a strip of land that was clear of jungle, (the runway) started in the sea, and finished in the sea, and was full of big potholes. It had been a Japanese airfield in the second world war, now it was covered in cows, goats and children.
We flew very low over the island twice to warn them of our intention to land.
We were very low on fuel and needed to land as soon as possible. "Here we go," the pilot grinned *hit or bust! we  almost landed in the sea, and bounced down the runway, we were less than fifty yards from the surf when we turned and trundled over to the refuelling station. I watched in trepidation as the second aircraft attempted to land, bounced twenty feet in the air and took off again, skimming the sea. It managed to land at the second attempt, bounced several times, and turned with it's tail wheel almost in the sea.  I turned to say something to Gordon and saw the pilot and aircrew looking up at the starboard engine and wing of our aircraft, which appeared to have gone green. "Looks like the reduction gears have packed in."  That was the opinion of the air frame fitters. "Can you fix it?" That was the pilot.
"Yes, but not here." the fitter said shaking his head, "It's stuck in coarse pitch so you'll need to take it easy." The pilot laughed. "If it's stuck in coarse pitch we will have to be flat out to get her off the ground!"
A little old man dressed in a loincloth, ragged shirt, and sandals manned the fuel pump and began to pump fuel into the fuel tanks located in each wing.
When that was done, about three hours later, the pilot  had him douse the wing and engine cover that was covered in the green grease, and we did our best to clean it up. As soon as the other aircraft was refuelled, we took off again. "Next stop Darwin, fingers crossed." He laughed. I could only admire his happy go lucky attitude and determination, I think he would have got us safely to our destination, even if we lost a wing!

Gordon and I waited outside, while the Australian soldiers were carried onto one of the transports. They were all stretcher cases, men who had been shot or blown up by Malayan terrorists I think. When every one was taken on board, Gordon and I were told to board the other Dakota type aircraft, along with a large chest of spare parts, and two air frame fitters. Both aircraft were identical and equally sparse and noisy, described as flying pigs by the pilot of our aircraft, who was a Flight Searjeant. There were two nursing sisters on the other aircraft, looking after the injured men,  our aircraft was almost empty by comparison. We took off with the engines roar filling our ears, and turned towards Ceylon, now renamed Sri Lanka. I prefer the former name personally. That part of the flight went ok, although there was no sight of land until we touched down in Colombo.
Colombo was quite beautiful and I can't recall where we were billeted but I do recall that there were rows of wooden bungalow's set amidst cocoanut palms. There were lot's of nuts on the ground, still in their husks, but we could not break them open without some kind of tool. We were also warned to keep clear of falling nuts, which could be lethal to anyone below.  The following morning we left Ceylon and headed out across The Java Sea, looking for a small island which if memory serves was called Koepeng.  That's when things started to get a little hairy!!

My lake which took so long to make
Now yellow with Iris-green with willow,
is a the abode of ducks and swans
-and a lone  circling seagull,
Spring was kind this year,
flies in abundance for the ducklings.
warm dry days  no killing winds,
now a thousand little ducks
lie preening feathers in the sun
or splashing in the shallows.
by late summer I shall see-ducks of every colour!

LA LA LA LA LA LALA
DI DUM DI DUM DI DUM,
DU DIDY DUM DUM DUM DUM
DO DO DO DA DO DOO.

They say man is the stronger ***,
but that's a fools assumption.
A fact so clearly obvious
to any man with gumption.

Sorry guys, but I live in a house with five women, I know the score!

Calpernia, what distant star-ope'd the portal of her soul,
allowing her most favoured child-a goddess of her union,
of which there was but one,  to venture forth and see the sun,
her father, dressed-for her sake ,in grand attire-of burning gold and flaming hair, with full desire and proper pride, to see his daughter, standing there. A  goddess child, with full approval of his kin -who in mortal form, was sent to Earth, that son of man-grown vain with pride, wickedness and greed, wanton and unworthy-should be admonished- taught due regard for womankind. And so she came upon the Earth in beauty, and resolve to do all duty, and dispel all lust and vanity and all other foul inanity, show noble mind and honest heart, were there to play a better part, but man being wicked,  full of greed, did not seem to feel the need. Unworthy he of womankind - sorrowing she left behind in abandonment.
And now, fair Calpernia weeps, while an angry father peeps- and threatens  destruction on mankind, who is only saved by fair Calpernia's tears and pleading, and presence of mans fair companion. So take heed all  men and learn, t'was not for woman men would burn!

Our shop at Parrot's Corner was quite large and had living space  behind and above the shop. I was nine years old, and I found it all very exciting. From the bedroom window above the shop I could look out and see a huge lake which had formed as a crane with a huge bucket scooped the sand and gravel out. It was loaded onto a conveyor belt, which carried it away to a yard full of huge hoppers for processing.  I used to go wandering around it at weekends when there was no one there, I soon found out that the lake- or gravel pit was full of Perch, and on a moonlit night I could see the shoals swimming by, with the moonlight being reflected from their silvery scales. As our business began to flourish I spent more and more time working in the shop, at evenings and weekends, and by the age of eleven I was making shoes myself. Most of our trade was repair work, and I learned to work quickly My Dad was only five feet two, but he could do the work of three men and had very high standards- so I had a good example to follow! The most challenging part of the day for me was the evening, when we worked on the heavy sewing machine, sewing the stout leather soles on.
I remember well that it took two turns of the handle to make one stitch, and there were two hundred stitches in a sole, four hundred in a pair of shoes and we used to sew about twenty four pairs of shoes every evening except Saturday and Sunday! The machine had an electric motor, but no one could make it work. It was heavy and stiff to turn, it needed a certain rhythm to make it work and I was the only one who could do it!  
I used to go to school tired, (I can't think why) When I left school I was bottom of the class! But it wasn't all work. One of our customers introduced me to the art of fishing and acted as my sponsor, allowing me to join The Feltham Piscatorial Society. I won the first match I ever fished in.
Now that I was able to go fishing by myself I liked to go to various places and my favorite place was the river Thames, where there were lot's of boats to watch. That was when I decided, it was time to learn new skills! I needed a boat, desperately!