Quincequonces..........

Actions do have consequences……..or quincequonces as Spike Milligan would have it. 

These pictures were taken on the Borgland Dolphin during a crew change in 1980. The Dolphin was the ‘hotel’ accommodation for the Murchison platform which was under construction and can be seen in the extra. The Murchison has now been towed away to razor blade land. 

This is not about the platform but a couple of the men who built her. In the main picture there is a man holding two things, his wind-cheater jacket and his hair. Although his hair may have looked quite smart in a pub, or bar it did not look so clever when our main rotor blade downwash was attempting to remove it, you see it’s a rug. The gentleman must have been conscious of his appearance as he is also wearing his cowboy boots. It takes all sorts. 

The Captain has total responsibility for the aircraft, crew and passengers. It is a duty not lightly undertaken. For example one dark, snowy and stormy morning my passengers were making their way from the lounge to the aircraft; one stumbled on the stairs down to the apron. As he got closer I saw him weave amongst the group. A flash of the landing lights and the ground staff looked up. I pointed him out and shook my head. He had “hung one on” the previous night and was still intoxicated, a danger to all onboard and especially dangerous on a platform or rig, some of the most dangerous work environments on the planet. That stumble probably cost him his job, but the ramifications of his condition would have made him a liability.

The extra shows members of the deck crew stowing the bags in the underfloor bay. There is another stowage area by the main air-stair door. During a busy twelve hour day we could quite happily burn through most of the fuel contained in one of those tankers desperately trying to keep the ragged British public on the road. I used a cheque to pay for a fuel load in 1983 at an RAF base, total for about 2000 Kg, £580. 

Spike Milligan, national treasure.
After being shelled he was sent to the military hospital for shell shock victims at a place called Afragola just North of Naples. It just so happened that 1944 was also a year when Vesuvius erupted. Spike later remarked "Only the British Army could put a hospital for shell shock victims next to an exploding mountain.”