.....I was told to get a haircut, I quit.

I have been pondering over the last few weeks. Working out the odd things that define character. Just to illustrate the point, back in Easter 1976, myself and my brother were presented with Easter eggs in cups. The cups each had a football team on the side. This defined the football team that I have been very loosely supporting for the whole of my life. My brother got Leeds United, I got QPR. I don't follow football, except for a cracking FA cup final in 1980 something, where QPR faced off against the Spurs and lost gallantly but if asked what team I support the answer is an automatic, QPR.
It made me wonder what other little events have defined my life. Growing up, I was always interested in the Royal Navy. I have never lived by the sea, there is no Naval history in my family (Army and RAF) but my Dad was always interested in the Navy. This is an English disease, the history of our Nation Isle defined by the Oceans and Seas of the World and our place in it. I actually got as far as joining the sea cadets, unfortunately this coincided with my discovery of heavy metal and when I was told to get a haircut, I quit. That was the end of my Naval career.
I also remember an airfix model of HMS Warspite. I suspect that it was my Dad's but it did start a fascination with that Battleship. She served in both World Wars and at the Battle of Jutland, steered 2 complete turns infront of the German fleet, becoming a target for every gun, when her steering jammed. After WW2 there was a plan to scrap her and a campaign to save "the Grand Old Lady" that sadly failed and she ran aground on her final voyage and was scrapped. It always struck me as a real tragedy that we never kept and maintained any of the WW1/2 Battleships, the huge slabs of armour and weaponry, the culmination of centuries of design and technology that ruled the World for the briefest of moments.

It is amazing that such little things, an airfix model and a mug can make any lasting impression on a life. The little things that define who and what we are. I will never be a footballer but a mug defines a gallant loser and I will never be a sailor but the weight of history says simply, that if I were, being English, I would be damned good at it!