Regrets ? well, I've had a few

[DimPrawn]

Bloody thieving dole scrounging scousers. I blame New Labour.

[Torran]

emm well done

[bullseye]

class

[tay]

You are a thief, not much to be proud of.

[OwlHoot]

I know what it's like to be hungry, and one of these days I'll tell the story of how I cycled through France and ran out of cash and food on a friday, and thought sod it I'll just carry on cycling until monday, no point in hanging around (c. 120 miles a day, in mid-France hilly country in a hot August, with eight stone of clobber on the back of the bike) surviving on pints of water to keep my stomach full.

Lost about two stone in as many days, and by monday morning was as thin as a whippet and ready to eat a horse between two mattresses. But it turned out to be a French bank holiday. So still no cash

Later that day, back on a country road, spent a couple of hours desperately trying to catch a free-range chicken. Failed miserably, and spent another hour finding my bike again. Totally knackered and starving by now, and fed up (in every sense except literally!)

Come tuesday, at last, I got some money and was soon staggering out of the local patisserie with a mound of bread rolls and cheese and God knows what else, and sat down in the middle of the town square to tuck in.

Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive! and eating and eating and eating ...

Soon surrounded by a dozen wide-eyed kids watching me, obviously hardly believing their eyes that someone could put away so much food in such a short time. Also I must have been a sight to behold by then, and not too nice to be near, as I hadn't washed since leaving the ferry a week before. (Tried washing in a river, slipped and rolled down the muddy bank, and ended up worse than I started!)

[BrilloPad]

one of these days I'll tell the story of how I cycled through France and ran out of cash and food on a friday

Go on then - Im listening.

[OwlHoot]

Sorry that post was a bit "me, me". I meant to ask EO why ex-servicemen are more prone to divorce _after_ demob. I'd have thought the opposite was true, but can well imagine how civvie street may start out a bit of a let down after the cameraderie of service life.

Oh and congrats on the spud front, EO. Wish I'd been as enterprising in France, as I probably cycled past dozens of potato fields. (I did find a cherry tree in northern Italy though, but after sitting in it for half an hour gorging myself on cherries was as sick as a parrot, and God what a scary blood-red colour it was )

[Gonzo]

Sorry that post was a bit "me, me". I meant to ask EO why ex-servicemen are more prone to divorce _after_ demob. I'd have thought the opposite was true, but can well imagine how life in civvie street may start out a bit of a let down after the cameraderie of service life.

It could be more to do with the fact that the wives of servicemen have to be independent while their husbands are away and there is a huge adjustment to make when they stop being away all the time.

My Mother's father was in the forces.

He was a long time away during the second world war and my mother's mother learned to cope without him while he was away. The marriage did not survive when he returned.

[Moscow Mule]

Another starving related story,

Not long after leaving uni my girlfriend at the time & I were traveling through oz on not much money - bastard barclays had removed my overdraft, and weren't going to give it back.

We decided (after two weeks of living on packet noodles) to splurge on a Pizza Hut all you can eat buffet. Trouble was, little miss greedy ate too much and as we were wandering down the high street in Brisbane she projectile vomited pizza, pasta, garlic bread and ice cream. Even the tramps scattered.

She was hungry ten minutes later.

[NotAllThere]

You are a thief, not much to be proud of.

You are Javert and I claim my loaf of bread.