Louise

Louise is one of the ladies and gents who volunteered to help keep the anti-Covid vaccination operation running smoothly. There was a tiny gap in the car park near the gate. My mobility scooter emits a loud bleep as it reverses; I sat there repeating, “This vehicle is reversing.” That made Louise and her friend giggle.

How do we the great unwashed thank those who have volunteered to help the NHS produce the magnificent system of vaccinations for Covid. I live with a simple mantra, “Manners maketh the man.” A simple thank you and smile makes them smile and me feel better as I am unable to do what they are doing. 


I spent 1985 working in China, it was a remarkable, difficult period. Shenzhen was growing so quickly that workers adopted the ancient Chinese habit of finishing a shift, taking five minutes with an opium pipe then going back for another shift. 

We had a team of interpreters, four or five, depending on their attitude, our attitude and the temperature. During the “cold” months they were only recognisable by their voices as their bodies were encased in extra layers of clothing. They called me Pally-la as my name was unpronounceable.

One morning I got off the crew bus in buoyant mood and, without any thought, (my usual state), started singing the Ying Tong song, made famous by the Goons. As I entered the second stanza, sotto voce, a head appeared out of the interpreters office. 
“Capt Pally-la, why you sing ‘Should be, should be, should be, should be, should be, tiddle I po? What does tiddle I po mean?”

That was the end of my morning, I was totalled, unusable, so full of giggles that I didn’t even shriek when a green tree frog jumped on my leg as I pulled toilet roll from the holder in the bathroom reserved for VIPs.

Spike Milligan was a man who suffered from what we now call PTSD, or in his day, Shell shock. Yet he still created some absolute comedy gems, from the Goons through to Q8. There are many who deemed him Mad or Crazy, perhaps he was, the stress involved in writing a weekly comedy show such as the Goons certainly took its toll on his mental health. For all that he is adored by those he made laugh, and we still miss him. 

Ying Tong song