Today I thought that I would like to give you a taste of the fun that we often have on the pier, whilst listening to the banter which goes on amongst the fishermen, or to the many amusing stories that my pier-dwelling friends come up with.
To give you an example: On the pier this morning, Logan was entertaining us with a tale about two of his favourite pies, pork pies and Scottish apple pies. We were all ears because it was an amusing story.
It all began when Jules offered me a slice of her home-made fruit loaf. When I asked her whether this meant that Logan would have to go without, Logan sang out to me not to worry. He would, he said, be having a bit of his pork pie instead, pork pie with jelly.
To give you some background: Logan loves his pies and is proud of his Scottish apple pie heritage. His grandmother “Mary”, he told us, was born in Scotland, in a tiny house in a small village. In fact, he said, he often felt Scottish himself.
Both he and Jules enjoyed telling us about a trip which they had made over there, when they had visited the actual hotel in which his grandmother had been married. They had stayed in a local cottage and had thoroughly enjoyed their days in the village. There was even a ruined castle just around the corner, which was the very same castle to which Mary Queen of Scots had fled when she left Edinburgh in 1566.
To return to Logan’s story on the pier this morning, he told us that not long ago he had bought himself both a Scottish apple pie and a pork pie, hoping to cheer himself up after weeks of feeling miserable with headaches. He’d then carried the pies to his car to take home, very much looking forward to this special treat, and he’d opened the car door, climbed in …. and driven off. To his astonishment, when he came to the first traffic light, a woman had caught up with him and had begun abusing him from her car window, accusing him of throwing rubbish onto the road.
“She went off her brain to me about it”, said Logan. “She just kept on shouting at me”. When he finally arrived back home, he couldn’t find his pies anywhere in his car and then he realised what had happened. He had put the pies on the roof of his car when he was trying to open the door and he’d forgotten them and had driven away.
“But that was not the end of it”, said Logan. “A couple of days earlier I had lost my sunglasses and when I was looking at the roof of the car, I saw my sunglasses, wedged under the board racks”. “Anyhow, I ended up losing the $8 apple pie and a good pair of sunglasses.” We all nodded in sympathy.
As so often happens, one story led to another. One of the other fishermen, Ben, joined in, saying that he had promised himself that he would never put anything more on the roof of his car because he’d once lost fishing rods and reels when he was packing up and had driven away, unfortunately forgetting that they were on the roof.
“And have you heard about Larry?”, continued Logan. “Jules once bought him a custard slice to take home. He put it on the top of his car while he was packing up, and then drove to the top of a hill, where it fell off, without him realising it. When he got home he rang Jules, she went looking for it and there it was……sitting in pristine condition on the road.”
“A good landing!”, contributed Ben, and we all chuckled.
Ben can often be found fishing at the end of the pier, enjoying the solitude and, like today, the occasional banter with the rest of us. In his working days he was a very well-known actor on TV, regularly appearing in Channel 7’s “Home and Away” series. If you can put your hands on an old TV Week, you may be lucky enough to see photos of him with the rest of the cast.
May I make a suggestion? Go for a morning or evening walk along the path from Sandgate to the Shorncliffe pier and you may possibly get a surprise, perhaps see something strange or unusual in the water or near the pier. It has happened to me more than once.
If you’re lucky you may also hear some tall stories, told by your fellow walkers, and discover some new friends. Wouldn’t that be wonderful!
O.P.
Next Sunday, we’ll visit New York and talk about American girls and country music.
Goed verhaal Piet en een mooie foto met de vis op een handdoekje.
groet Max en Nel
Dank je Max en Nel. Het is altijd fijn om te horen dat jullie de verhaaltjes lezen.
Groeten van Sue en my. Piet
Glad I’m not the only one that sometimes forgets putting something on the roof of the car. I lost a pair of shoes that way!😆Loved reading your funny story!
Thank you Michelle. So great to hear that you enjoyed the story. Dad
Great story opa Piet,
Enjoyed reading it alot. Hope things will settle down with your health and family and all.
Kind regards of your grandson,
Bjorn
Hi Bjorn,
Thanks very much for your comment. I’m glad you liked the Scottish Apple Pie story.
Opa
Nice story again dad! Greetings Herman
Dear Herman,
It’s great that you are following my stories.
Greetings from Sandgate.
Opa Piet