tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8802206289996500659.post374988753388561225..comments2024-03-27T13:34:10.184+00:00Comments on NORTH DOWNS & BEYOND: Birding charactersSteve Galehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09459545933323958452noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8802206289996500659.post-85489255219485302002014-08-21T11:48:53.779+01:002014-08-21T11:48:53.779+01:00Who could forget Lestet's bush hat Geoff, or t...Who could forget Lestet's bush hat Geoff, or the gangs very specialised sense of humour?Steve Galehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09459545933323958452noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8802206289996500659.post-86410201401003117592014-08-21T09:10:23.722+01:002014-08-21T09:10:23.722+01:00that West London crew Bolin ,The Gnome , JW ,Tony ...that West London crew Bolin ,The Gnome , JW ,Tony Smith & Franco are all still extant ..Tim Lawrence & Lester Colfer sadly both goneGeoffBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02439000116214734285noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8802206289996500659.post-81722933930746502562014-08-20T21:35:13.105+01:002014-08-20T21:35:13.105+01:00Well, that's your next project sorted then Pau...Well, that's your next project sorted then Paul... those characters couldn't have been made up, could they - authentic eccentrics and nutters!Steve Galehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09459545933323958452noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8802206289996500659.post-19262431770062234532014-08-20T20:04:49.324+01:002014-08-20T20:04:49.324+01:00Oh happy days, before kids, a mortgage and commitm...Oh happy days, before kids, a mortgage and commitment! I remember spending the autumn of `71 with Mutley (having hitchhiked to Norfolk from Herts.) based in the old barn at the back of Walsey Hills and most of those degenerates you mentioned kipped there from time to time. Tim Lawrence, Richard Millington, the Midwich Cuckoos and Spiny Norman were all regulars as was that nutter Franco (whatever happened to him?). It got so bad while Franco was there that we moved out temporarily and crashed in various hides and the coastguards at Cley. You talk about characters, and I`m sure there were more about then, most of `em in the Dun Cow or The George, which today are bloody gastro-pubs can you believe - no room for fags, farting and swearing now! But there was one old bloke who used to fascinate me as a young lad, someone Micklejohn, cant remember his first name, might have been Ron, but he used to hold court with RAR on the East Bank overlooking Arnold`s Marsh. He had a Father Christmas style beard and smoked an old briar which regularly set fire to his whiskers! It was hysterical, us young `uns used to crack up, and there was all sorts of foreign bodies in his beard - I swear there was a Wren nesting in it! I could ramble on all night about the old days, I`m sure there`s plenty of material for a comedy style book, now you may have got me started on something there Steve...Paul Troddhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03532050770282573211noreply@blogger.com