Today's Smile

A man came home, screeching his car into the driveway, and ran into the house.
He slammed the door and shouted at the top of his voice, "Honey, pack your bags. I won the lottery!"
The wife said "Oh my god! What should I pack, beach stuff or mountain stuff?"
"Doesn't matter," he said, "Just get out."

Looking Back - Moorgate Tube Crash

On this day in 1975, the 0837 London Underground train left Drayton Park for Moorgate station, packed with commuters travelling to work. At 0846 the train rattled into Moorgate at 30 miles per hour, the worst ever Tube disaster was about to unfold. The train failed to stop, overshot the platform, entered a dead-end tunnel, crashed through a sand barrier and into a brick wall. Eye witnesses, waiting on Platform 9, said that as the train entered the station it appeared to shudder and accelerate. The front three carriages were mangled together with the last three in tact at the platform. Police, London Underground staff, fire crews, doctors and nurses from St Bartholomew's Hospital, and members of the Salvation Army, were confronted with total darkness and a huge amount of dust and soot, as they arrived at the scene to commence rescue operations. The only journalist allowed into the tunnel, Gerald Kemp of the Daily Telegraph, described the scene as "a horrible mess of limbs and mangled iron." The rescue teams, working in intense heat of about 120 degrees, spent all day freeing the dead and injured from the atrocious conditions. It was not until 11 pm that the last survivor was brought out. The final death toll was 43, including the driver, Leslie Newson, 55, who had worked for London Underground since 1969 and was described as careful and conscientious. Scores more people were injured, many seriously. A subsequent investigation confirmed that the brakes had not been applied. Nothing was wrong with the train, the signals, or the track. The Moorgate crash was to remain a mystery.

Day trips to Skegness

Heading for Skegness beach (1948)

As a young lad one of the highlights of the summer was a day trip to Skegness. As there were few cars in those days, we had to go by Roadcar bus, that ran every Sunday throughout the summer from Metheringham. The bus left Metheringham at 9 o'clock and meandered its way, at 30 mph, through numerous villages, picking up passengers en route, before eventually arriving at Skegness at half-past eleven. After asking seven or eight times where we were, I was always told 'nearly there.' The last leg of the journey from Burgh-le-Marsh to Skegness was a straight road, about three miles long. It was half way along this stretch that a large water tower came into view, and the excitement would mount, now you really were nearly there. On arrival it was a short walk from the bus park to the Clock Tower and the first stop of the day. Here, on the corner, was a shop selling buckets and spades, kites, beach balls, large plastic sharks and 'kiss me quick' felt hats. First purchase of the day was a bucket and spade. Unlike today's plastic versions, the buckets were made of tin and the spades had wooden handles and brightly painted metal bottoms. Then it was straight on past the Clock Tower down to the beach. It was here where the adults had their first treat, a plate of cockles or whelks, or maybe a bag of shrimps. Then on to the beach, sandcastles, football, collecting shells and paddling in the sea. Just time for one donkey ride before lunch. In those days lunch was sandwiches, cake, tea and pop, brought with us in an old brown suitcase. Lunch was always eaten just outside the fairground on a grassy area, next to the man-made river, built for pleasure boat rides. The afternoon was spent wandering through the fun fair, strolling along the pier, and walking around the town, in and out of the endless bazaar's, selling trinkets, souvenirs and saucy postcards. Several sticks of lettered rock were bought to give to people at home. Strange tradition! It was in one of these bazaar's, that every year, I would spend what was left of my pocket money on the same two items. A rubber ball, hollow inside, and its two halves painted different colours and a bazooka. For anyone not familiar with a bazooka, it was made of thin tin, silver in colour, hollow inside and shaped rather like a canoe, but tapered at one end. On the top was a hole with a paper membrane stretched over it. By blowing and humming at the same time into the wide end, you could make a tune, rather like we used to do as kids stretching grease proof paper over a comb and blowing through it. After about two days it would stop working, usually because the paper was wet, and your musical ambitions had to be put on hold until the following year. Finally, it was back to the Clock Tower corner for a fish and chip tea, eaten out of the paper. Then back to the bus park by six o'clock to catch the bus home. I remember there was always a certain urgency to get back to the bus park on time. No one wanted to be stranded in Skegness for the night. Happy days!

Today's Smile

Mother Superior called all the nuns together and said to them "I must tell you something. We have a case of gonorrhea in the convent."

"Thank god" said an elderly nun at the back. I'm sick and tired of chardonnay.

Pancake Challenge

Thanks to those readers who joined in our PANCAKE challenge. I asked you to make as many words as possible, not less than three letters, from the word pancake. Amazingly, a total of 26 words were submitted. Here is a list of the words found, all verified by the Oxford Dictionary.

3 Letters
Pen, Can, Pea, Kea, Ace, Ape, Cap, Pan, Nap, Ken
4 Letters
Neck, Peck, Cake, Cane, Peak, Neap, Pack, Pane
Kana, Nape, Pace, Cape, Knap, Acne
5 Letters
Pecan
6 Letters
Canape

Very well done. I always knew Journal readers were a knowledgeable lot!