Get the Fire Brigade

I loved the song when it came out in 1968 and had just moved to my senior school where we were allowed to watch Top of the Pops on Thursday evening. Always a scrum to get a place in the room - we were several hundred and only one TV.

1968 also saw the Prime Minister endorse the  "I'm Backing Britain" campaign where workers were asked to work longer for no extra pay so as to get the country out of its long economic collapse. That jingoistic campaign failed quickly and not only due to Bruce Forsyth's singing on the record of the same name.

The year before the Pound had to be devalued. .Both political parties had come to the conclusion that Britain needed to enter the EEC in order to revive its economy but was blocked by de Gaule. (The Germans had been trying hard since 1963 to get Britain in as a counterweight to France).

Things got worse in the early 70s with mass strikes, power cuts and eventually, EEC membership came in 1973. And slowly but not without another good decade of sorting out old problems did the UK get back on its feet and from 1990 really started motoring, if only with foreign cars. Back to the 1957 days of  Supermac's "We've never had it so good" (which didn't mean things were at all rosy) but that changed again in 2016. The price of success.

But not everything was bad in 1968: Ford Escort launched, Gardeners World appears on TV, first Uk heart transplant (lived 46 days),  Manchester City won the League, United the first English team won the European Cup (Champions League), M1 completed, Stewart/Hill/Surtees take top3 places in USA F1 Grand Prix and Nissan imported the first cars into the UK (known then as Datsun).

Back to the 21st century.

Remember Boris Johnson's Red Bus or perhaps as London Mayor, his used ex-German Police water cannons costing £323,000 and sold, never having been used as they were illegal on UK roads, in November 2018 for £11.000 to a scrap dealer?

Well, today I spotted a possible bargain for Boris when he becomes Prime Minister. A lovely red German, go-anywhere 4x4 on the used car park of a car dealer in Ottobeuren. To be honest I'm not sure it is for sale as it still has number plates & signage from a nearby tiny hamlet, Burg belonging to the town of Obergünzburg in the neighbouring county.

From the ground, the cab looked full of official paperwork and the trailer was packed full of neatly rolled and new looking fire hoses. I couldn't find any details on the web pages of the towns voluntary fire brigade who otherwise detail lots including their vehicles.

Remains a mystery but I'm sure Boris with a plan in place and good negotiation tactics could do a deal and without a backstop. For the water cannon deal, the German Govt wrote a paragraph on the sale contract forbidding the UK to sell on to any non-EU country where they could be used by undemocratic dictators against their demonstrating folk. This was the main reason for London being unable to sell them! No EU country wanted them.

Oh well, we learn. Well, actually today we learnt Boris sunk another £33m of public money and £10m of charity money, while Mayor of London on a dream "Unicorn" bridge over the Thames but didn't even own land to anchor the two ends on.

Oh just for memory's sake, in 1968 London Bridge was sold to the USA and rebuilt in Nevada. One joked that the stupid Yanks thought they had bought Tower Bridge.

As it's Tractor Tuesday and no tractors about, the Mercedes Benz Unimog will do nicely as they are generally used in agriculture although this "435" series was mainly for the army and fire brigade use. It's a "1300L" model but I have no details of age.

Done my duty today.