PRINCE PHILIP RETIRES

Buckingham Palace has announced that Prince Philip is to finally retire, aged 95. Fair enough I suppose. I was thinking of doing the same thing when I'm 95.

I don't know how long Reptilians normally live for, David Icke doesn't say in any of the books he has written on the subject as far as I am aware (to tell the truth, I haven't actually read any) but I may be wrong.

Anyway, I met Prince Philip briefly in 1969 while serving in the Royal Air Force at RAF Wyton in Cambridgeshire. 

A poor quality image of a Type 12
Imperial War Museum

At the time, RAF Wyton was home to most of the RAFs photographic reconnaissance capability and I worked in what was called "The Factory". This was a building away from the main base and which housed the main facility for processing and interpreting photographic film. The two main pieces of equipment were 5 Type 12 film processors which developed the 12" film from the large cameras and a type 11 film processor which dealt with the 70mm film from the smaller tactical cameras.

One day we were informed that Prince Philip was going to make an "informal" visit to the station. 

Prince Philip was generally well regarded by the armed forces; our calling him "Phil the Greek" as we tended to do, was actually far more an affectionate term than a discourteous one.

Having served in the Royal Navy and a combat veteran, he was seen as more "one of us" than the other royals who just dressed up for the occasion. There was also a fairly high opinion of his sense of humour in those days before everything anyone in the public eye said was put through the "politically correct" mill.

Me (background) and my mate Ron Bevan working on a Type 11
This wasn't at the Factory but somewhere in Germany.

Came the day of the visit, there we were, standing to attention next to our designated machine, looking very competent in our spotless white coats and hoping to God that the films we had running through the machines didn't break (which they had a tendency to do from time to time).

Prince Philip, looking very regal and attired as a Marshal of the Royal Air Force got to me, looked at me, looked at my Type 11, looked back at me and said "going all right then?" which I thought was very gracious then moved on. I managed to stammer a "yes Sir" before remembering I was supposed to say "yes, Your Highness" but by that time, he had already found something else to look at and I didn't think I should chase after him to correct my faux-pas. The Station Commander who was in the following train winked at me as he went past so I suppose I did all right. I imagine he was hoping to God the film didn't break as well.

AND FINALLY...................................

The most utterly mind blowing second hand car commercial ever.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME

The 23rd of September sees two whole years of the Thamesmead Grump. I almost missed it; I did miss the first anniversary last year.

I do wonder if it had been worth all the effort though. The fact is, I was always intending this blog to be a way for me to hone my grumpy skills by being miserable about everything. This is no easy feat. When you are young, rich and good looking it's difficult to be grumpy for long and this is the problem I've found to be the case with me.

Just when I get started on something that annoys me, I notice my bank balance or glance in the mirror and everything is all right with the world again.

True, our planet is stuffed full of the most stupid, moronic idiots imaginable who do the most stupid, moronic things. Sometimes, this will get me going and I have to take a dig at them, but then I stop and think........................

"Am I Joshua Bonehill-Paine? - No
Do I contribute towards the £650 million a year vitamin pill industry? - No
Do I think that you can "cure" autism by sticking bleach up a child's bum? - No
Do I think that the Earth is going to be hit by an asteroid in the next week? - No
Do I spend £2 on a 50p cucumber because it's got the word 'organic' on the label? - No
Have I ever tried to treat an illness with a homeopathic remedy? - No
Do  I believe that I can help heal a sick child by typing amen in a Facebook pharming scam? - No
Do I think that aliens helped Joan of Arc lift the Seige of Orleans like it said on Ancient Aliens? - No
Do I believe that Prince Philip is a 12 foot, blood devouring lizard alien? - No

And finally...............
Do I think that 30,00 plus peer reviewed papers, published by over 800 scientists in over 80 countries in the world showing clear human influence on climate change are all fake? - No"

.............................Then decide, life has indeed been kind to me.