Oh dear

Gordon. wrote:

Cheese and onion rolls with French mustard..Brill

The TOC H canteens sold lovely fresh rolls in Berlin and in the Zone.They also sold great fresh buns and pastries.

I can't remember any children of Islam setting up shops in any locations I was in in NI.

In Cyprus however we had a shop in Ziyyi camp run by a bloke we called Harry Khatak.
We had people who ran up huge debts with this geezer. One night one of them broke in and liberated his "book", thinking that his debt would then be erased, alas, the bugger had a duplicate book !
(Hats Off Left Turn By The Front Quick March Lef' Ri' Lef' Ri' !).

Oh Brum I remember that song still.

Doesn't it go ...
Sah!, on the eighth of the eighth at 00.8
in comes Tate with his mate both late.
I said Tate shut the gate,
Tate's mate said "F--k the gate,
slammed the gate, and broke the gate,
so I put them on a charge, Sah.


Len (Ciphers)

Len a misspent youth if ever I saw one.

"There's a gentlemans urinal to the North of Waterloo"
There's another for the ladies further down...........

Shelldrake wrote:

"There's a gentlemans urinal to the North of Waterloo"
There's another for the ladies further down...........

"....... there's me sister Nellie Tucker, for a shilling you can have her ......."

And shouldn't that " Further down" be " up the Strand" ? (to rhyme with the later
"in the land ")........ Oh happy days drunken nights !

I can remember the book system help by those wee shops in and around the camps around the world.Singapore comes to mind.Every block had a shop where you could buy Stims, tea and coffee etc etc.On the occasion when we were leaving for the UK some of the guys tried to leave without paying their bills.So the wee guys who ran the shops all got together and they knew that we were leaving shortly for the UK,went to the Coy Sgt Maj and said that some of the men have not paid their book bills.So the Sgt Maj got the company to parade on the square and he got the book from the wee guys and proceeded to call out the names of those who were in the book that have not paid.The Sgt Maj called out:.........where are you James Bond, Mickey Mouse,Donald Duck,Mickey Spillane,Sherlock Holmes.The list was long and the Sgt Maj turned to the wee guys and said can you point out to him who these names belonged to and he proceeded to point them out to the Sgt Maj who,marched over and put out his hand and took the outstanding cash from the troops.These wee guys had great memories because they knew absolutely every soldier in the company by name.

[quote="rucjock21"]Every block had a shop where you could buy Stims,

I was surprised to see you mention "Stims".
The QOH called the little place we had in Ziyyi camp "The Stim Shop", an expression I'd never heard before.
I allways thought it came from their time in Shahjah.

Brum,I came across the word Stim when I was in Borneo/Singapore when some of the lads in other units used it to describe bottles of Orange,Lemonade etc.Wee Jocks used to call it, 'A boattle o Ginger but that applied to all types of soft drinks.

We also have "Stim" shops in Belize, I was always under the impression that the name originated in Cyprus?

Stim was around in Aden in the sixties!

Never heard the word untill now.

Gordon. wrote:

Never heard the word untill now.

Gordon, it's short for Stimulant, after the licentious soldiery (Obviously not me) had been out on the swally all night, they needed a little anti gag the following morning, hence a "Stim".

In those warm climates we would consume many gallons of stims until the alcohol stims were produced at opening times.

I can remember whilst stationed at RAF Nicosia as part of the UN peackeepers in 1966, there was Char Walla shop near the barracks who used to supply tea, coffee, cheese rolls, egg rolls, cakes, hair cream, combs, razors and all sort of minor items. The shop was run a by Pakistani bloke and his family. They would rotate every six months or so betwen Cyprus and Pakistan to run the business. It certainly must have been very lucrative for the family.

I can rmember when stationed in Ulster, the barracks in Newry also had one of these Char Wallahs who ran a shop selling simialr items. However it was closed down because their hygiene was not so good. They kept food stuff, including open packages in the toilet area nearby where they had their accomodations. It never worried the squaddies, until somebody pointed out where some of the food itmes were stored - right beside the bog!!! Yuck and double yuck!! However nobody ever got sick to my knowlegde.

The Char Wallah shop was eventually run by a small Belfast food company who were given the contract.

Goodness knows where a similar Char Wallah Shop would source it foodstuffs in Afghanistan, especially those one that operate jsut otuside Camp Bastion, if there are any??

(Donkey burgers, rotting meat and ground up camels, bulked up with hay, sawdust and the sweepings of the factory yard) YUCK!!

There was a Stim factory in Aden.

Also the were many Stim Wallahs. We swam on a remote beach and welcomed the Stim Wallah with his wooden box containing bottles of all the flavours, little wondering how he cooled his wares and kept them so pleasant and refreshing.

Then we found he was in cahoots with our Chowkidar in the gatehouse to the Mess. A hole was bored through the stone wall and a long cable ran some distance from the building to a fridge carefully hidden behind some boulders.

Dilemma. Report him for pinching our electricity or continue to enjoy the cool Stims.

Going round, if you've not heard it...........

Man goes into fast food outlet, orders a burger..........

"What do you want on it " he's asked. "Five quid each way" he replies.

Sorry mate, it was £2:50 when I heard it, inflation I suppose. (We're on to Pope jokes now!)

I can remember the Stim factory in Aden it was just outside Sheik Othman.

Quote :

Gordon, it's short for Stimulant, after the licentious soldiery (Obviously not me) had been out on the swally all night, they needed a little anti gag the following morning, hence a "Stim".

Ah IRN BRU

Nae Irn Bru wis available in the far and middle east, but ah did come across Bottles of Vimto oan ma travels Gordon.

None in Belize, just a wattery version of Sugerell Water! Had my own stash of Creamola Foam!

Black as the lum...Did you hae tae gaither up peens tae get some Shelldrake?

Shelldrake wrote:

Sorry mate, it was £2:50 when I heard it, inflation I suppose. (We're on to Pope jokes now!)

I'm devastated at your response.......... but it takes a long time for attempts at humour to gravitate down to the Socialist Republic of South Yorks. So taking up your advice..........

The Pope plans a small gathering of his mates to celebrate his retirement. He shops around, seeking the best bargains for eats but ponders whether or not to spend his lira at the shop which displays a sign saying :-

" Our Finest Meat Balls Really are the Dog's Bollocks "