A Few Beers/ The Inaugural RAN Skilled Hands Smokey

muppet74 · **Posted:** Mon Jan 12, 2004 4:34 am

I was a very good boy all day long. I cannot remember what time I arrived back at my hotel but it was very dark outside. I remember having my photo taken with a few very attractive very young damsels much to my complete resistance to the idea, I was forced to do it by my older and wiser compadres.
A great day and VMT to Rick and Ned for arranging the event. Bloody shame I will not be here for the next one.
Steve

Dinophot · **Posted:** Mon Jan 12, 2004 7:05 pm

Well it sounds like you guys had a good run and I never thought it would be anythink but a top day. Sorry I could not join you all. Like all the other "non- starters" I'm looking forward to the "photographic evidence" and the "excuses at the table" to be presented ! ! !
Rick and Ned have done it again ! ! and by early reports maintained the standard to be expected of their get togethers for a couple of " quiet drinks".
Well done guys and look forward to catching up with you at the next " Run".
Cheers Dino.

RogerF · **Posted:** Tue Jan 13, 2004 8:15 am

No need to contemplate marriage no more - I have a back scratcher.

Dino - missed you mate - no one to wake me up at Campbelltown.

Sorry I had to take off chaps, but Terry had just had an operation. He was literally a hair's breadth off ending up in a wheel chair. Not a nice thought.

I'm not very good with faces, but I reckon I have met Rob before. Would he be 14th intake?

(Close Rog, 28th Intake - Jan 1970... H.C.) :wink:

Can't thank the organizers enough (Rick and Ned). Same goes to the rest of you: Charlie, Rob, Squizzy, Buck and Steve. For Ned I will put a special bottle away for the future, and Rick weeeeeell :wink:

Cheers for now
Roger

Hippy Chippy · **Posted:** Tue Jan 13, 2004 12:19 pm

Sorry the second installment was so long in coming, but without further ado... :wink:

So there we all were, the cast were assembled, the challenge beckoned and we headed off on our quest…

First stop, the assembly point, ‘Jackson’s on George’, where we lubricated the tubes with a lemon squash, (except for Sqizzy, who can claim to be the first to imbibe the amber frothy…) then off to ‘The Heritage Belgium Beer Café’, to sample the traditional Belgium beer serving traditions (wash, rinse, chill, fill, serve,) very novel and no doubt popular with the ‘trendies’ , but as a non-smoking pub, it wasn’t going to hold my interest after one Belgium Laffe… :lol:

By the time we took the obligatory photos, we realized that a leisurely stroll past the former ‘Royal Naval House’ would see us at 'The Brooklyn' right on opening time, so we 're-included' it back onto our schedule (not a bad idea, as we were informed that, incredibly, ‘Harts’ wasn’t open on Saturdays…!) :shock:

A quickie at the Brooky, then off to Sydney’s oldest pub, ‘The Fortune of War’ (license renewed in 1823,) then Sydney’s most expensive pub, ‘The Observer’ (at $14.90 for a Bacardi and an Oyzo, both with Coke, Ned certainly knew when to shout!) and then a lovely lager with Heidi and Heidi, (Bubbles and Bubbles’ look-alike German cousins,) at the ‘Lowenbrau Kellar’…

(In case you've forgotten what Bubbles and Bubbles look like, click here: http://www.ran-skilledhands.org/forum/v ... c.php?t=84 ) :shock:

Rob Hall thought he knew of a pub that wasn’t on our list so, anxious to break all standing records, we set off in search of ‘The First Fleet’, then razzed Rob all the way back to ‘The Orient’ when we discovered it too, wasn’t open! (A ‘birdie’ he might have once been, navigator, never…!!!) :roll:

The crew settled in for a lunch break at ‘The Orient’, some even sneaking in an extra grog, chatting up the tourists, before a blast on the whistle saw us heading under the Harbour Bridge to the yet untouched west-side pubs.

Next was the ‘Captain Cook’, where we learned we’d missed two pubs on the earlier section of the run, so as we headed off to ‘The Palisade’ we committed to finding the missing pubs on the return leg… After 'The Palisade', we hit ‘The Lord Nelson’ where regrettably, ‘Sqizzy’ had to pull the pin for a prior commitment. He was duly awarded his ‘Certificate of Achievement’ for effort; it was, after all, he who had the first of the day..! :wink:

Then it was onto the ‘thong-slapping pub’ ‘The Hero of Waterloo’ where Buck found out that loading a film into a camera was becoming increasingly challenging...! I was here that Roger had to leave us so that he could make his pre-arranged link to Liverpool, so as he was already celebrating his 60th birthday the day before leave was granted…we awarded him his 'Certificate' and bade him a sad farewell… :cry:

before heading off to the 'Harbour View'... (or was that the other way round...? Things getting hazy now, did I miss any...?!?!)

On the downward leg now, we discovered ‘The Glenmore’, where other pub-crawling teams were wrapping up their day, one group in full tradition golfing outfits, then it was on to ‘The Australian’, where we were accosted by a group of 'delicate debutantes' who insisted on having their photo taken with our ‘warrior group’… :shock:

Finally we arrived at the ‘winning post’, our final venue, ‘The Mercantile’, where we were joined by Geordie Moult, who’s presence we requested by phone earlier in the day, and then by Bill Chick and Brian Mosely, another couple of Chippies (who’d intended to surprise us a the Brooklyn at the start of the day by joining our troupe, only to discover we weren’t at 'The Brooklyn', and it didn’t open ‘til noon… pays to read the latest updates on the website…!) :wink:

Relaxed now, we settled in for some serious drinking, beating off the throng of adoring women with sticks…! :shock:

Rob, Steve, Charlie and I held the honour of an alcoholoic beverage in EVERY establishment except 'Jackson's on George' although Sqizzy definately got one up on us there...! :wink:

The last 'official starter' left standing as we departed 'The Mercantile' was the guest of honour and initiator of this great event Muppet74, Steve Wilson... Well done Steve...!

So Roger, Buck, Rob, Squizzy, Steve, Charlie, and later, Geordie, Bill and Brian, Ned and I would like to thank you all for making it a great day to remember, and one I'd definately repeat again in the future...!

Charlie, hope you made it home O.K., Steve, hope you enjoyed your 'few beers with the boys', Bill, Brian and Geordie, hope you can join us for the full day next time, Rob, thanks for joining Ned and I at 'The Survivours Luncheon' at 'The Oaks' on Sunday, and Buck, I look forward to receiving the photos, which I'll be happy to upload for the benefit of those who didn't make it on the day...!!!

CharlieS · **Posted:** Wed Jan 14, 2004 8:42 am

Rick,
well that clears that up. I was wondering what happened after the 'Glenmore'

! What a great day. The next thing I remember was the "Pipe" " the next stop will be Broadmeadow. Broadmeadow next stop!" Hey hang on , what happened to Morriset?????? Oh well 1 1/2 hour wait for a train back to Morriset eventually getting home around midnight. Funny look I got from her indoors.
Looking forward to the next one I can get to. Thanks again guys.

Seejay · **Posted:** Wed Jan 14, 2004 9:31 am

Thanks for the wrap-up Rick, it sounds like it turned into the run of the month.

Wish I'd been there, haven't seen Bob Moult, Bill Chick and Moses for donkey's years. And the stories I could tell you about Bill Chick! Oi, they'd make your eyes water!

Ah well, I hope they can make the next one.

Cheers

CJ

Hippy Chippy · **Posted:** Wed Jan 14, 2004 12:43 pm

I feel sure that they'd all be happy to catch up with you on the 6th March SeeJay... :wink:

Yes, it was great to catch up with Bill Chick again, he joined us on the Brisbane straight out of Bonehead College; hadn't seen him since '74..! :shock:

Rets · **Posted:** Wed Jan 14, 2004 9:15 pm

Glad you reprobates had a great time, I'm damn sorry I missed it. The Australia is my favourite pub, (well alright, every pubs my favourite). Looking forward to photo's (provided Buck read the ABR prior to loading the film).... :roll:

I'm definately up for the next run

Rets · **Posted:** Thu Jan 15, 2004 1:39 am

Buck..
"Point and Shoot"?
Sounds like my love life mate :oops:

Happy · **Posted:** Fri Jan 16, 2004 4:58 am

Get yourselves here to NZ and we can organise a run to Waitara's 2 pubs and a bottle shop.

A Few Beers/ The Inaugural RAN Skilled Hands Smokey

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