Reanimated Lavender Granola Switchblade Nun rides again.

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

The English Club Gentleman



Disclaimer: views expressed by The English Club Gentleman are not necessarily those of Fireblossom. Please forgive TECG's use of a not politically correct term for Japanese persons. A bomb went off near his head in '43 and he hasn't been quite right since. Now, without further ado, The English Club Gentleman!


We'd been fighting the Japs in Burma and they'd given us all we could handle, I daresay. By June it was just McGinty, Hargreaves and myself left against 45,000 Japs, and McGinty had malaria, dropsy and dengue fever but refused to give up his post. We held out as long as we could for King and country, but in the end we were forced to surrender.


Some men break under captivity, I've seen it myself. One day McGinty said to me, "Major, I can't live without my London Times and a good cuppa," and by Jove, he was right, he dropped dead on the spot. Hargreaves lost his head and caused a bit of a fuss over it, and they threw him in the hole for three days. Awful business, that. When they let him out, old Hargreaves stood blinking in the Burmese sun, at attention, determined to show the Japs what a British officer is made of.


Well, curse the luck, a Bengal tiger chose that very moment to leap out of the jungle and tear off his right arm. I'd have saluted him for his courage, but things being as they were, he would have been in a spot of bother to salute me back, so I restrained myself. Old Hargreaves crawled over to where I stood and said to me, "George, I'm afraid I've torn my sleeve." I said, "It looks as if you have done. Never mind, we'll have that odd leftenant from tent three sew it up again." But before I could so much as puff on my pipe, old Hargreaves gave up the ghost.


Within a few weeks His Majesty's troops had whipped the Japs and we were all back in Surrey, drinking gin at the Club. But I hadn't liked to leave old Hargreaves to rot away in the jungle, and so I'd packed him in a duffel and brought him home to England. I know he'd have done the same for me.


I looked up an old chum I knew from when we were both lads at Sandhurst. This chap had retired and taken up taxidermy. I explained the lay of the land and he stuffed and mounted old Hargreaves sound as a pound. You can see him, just there, above the fireplace mantel. If he could talk, I feel as if he would say to me, "Good show, George old boy! Jolly good show!" Now, where have I gone and left my spectacles....


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11 comments:

  1. Hear, hear! By Gawd, that's the stuff that made Old Blighty great, eh what? Always know where we are with you, good old Hargreaves, you're a credit to the Empire. Pity the youth of today don't heed more of your example, men used to be real men back in the day, not the limp-wristed, effeminite, nancy-boy wastrels that we have today!

    Keep up the good work, old boy (I'll catch you at my London club on Saturday, have Wooster dish us up some toasted crumpet.)

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  2. Oh my gosh. (laughing hard at your response, Shrinky) I had always heard that you Brits' intention was to "make the world England", but i hadn't realized that you had started in on blogland!

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  3. Ah yes, when men were men and taxidermists were just doing there job.

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  4. Hehehe i love it ... oh and in response to your darkside comment ... yeah i agree you are wicked hehehe but not disqualified lol

    Thanks J

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  5. Blog land today, tomorrow the world. Can't stand by flapping my jaw in here old chap, I have pressing matters with Colonel Blimp to attend to, er, mums the word though, what?

    Toodle-pip!

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  6. You nailed the voice. I can hear it!

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  7. (sipping my cuppa) Jolly good post!

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  8. My father was in Burma with the Japanese its a small world!

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  9. oops so sorry for my mistake before. dunno how that happened but still enjoyed your blog today.
    thanks
    June :)
    ps, and the music

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  10. Hey, written by you or from a book??

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  11. That's right, Jannie, when the sun never set on the British Empire!

    Shrinky, I have no idea whatsover what you've just said, but I love the way you said it!

    Thanks, Mama Zen!

    Oh goodness, Chewy has gone all tea and crumpets!

    Indeed it is, Art and P. Nice to see you! :-)

    Thanks, June! I'm glad you liked both! I love that little music player! (plus then I get to be like Tracey-Ann and Grace!)

    Riot Kitty, bite your rough little kitty tongue! Everything on Word Garden is written by me! (except the Ann Taintor cards post)

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