Fire up the Audi A8L

The Railway Tavern Hotel - 131 Angel Lane - Stratford - London EC15 1DB Tel: 020 8534 3123 - Fax: 020 8519 0864 E-mail: therailwaytavern@btconnect.com - info@railwaytavernhotel.co.uk Website: www.railwaytavernhotel.co.uk

VAT No: 437 9771 03

(With even further apologies to Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes)

Another gritty roller coaster ride of faction that will leave the reader trying to separate fact from fi ction. A blast of a read! Daily Bugle 2015.

With my hand still wet I wipe the condensation from the bathroom mirror and notice the skin missing from the knuckles of my right hand. Only then do I remember that last night I sunk one too many G&T’s. Bloodshot eyes stare back at me from my watery refl ection as if from some B movie horror fi lm. Bl***y hell I really overdid it last night I thought to myself. Clearly too much to drink was down to me but the skin off my knuckles was the fault of some mouthy crim who had earlier in the day decided he wasn’t going to be collared quietly. What a dipstick!

As I threw the razor around my face I refl ected on my l life to-date, and thought that all in all I hadn’t done too badly for someone who left school with a ‘Z’ level in all my GCSE’s. If nothing else my early years as a Royal Green Jacket had miraculously instilled in me a strong sense of duty and brotherhood which had easily transferred to the Met where I achieved the dizzying heights of DCI. The best of it all was that I was now in a position where I could not only dispense my brand of righteous justice (Hail Judge Dredd!) but also be able to have the freedom of putting in as much time with my old regimental association as I wanted to. And the best part of it was today was going to be one of those days. A result!

Now fully booted and suited I fi re up the Audi A8 which is now as clean as an angels undercrackers and head off to pick up my boss who just so happens to be attending a two day meeting in Belgium. That done we head off to the Channel Tunnel. On arrival and because we have a fl exi ticket we are asked if we would like to catch the immediate train or the one after. “Nah! We will erect a tent in the departure lounge and catch one going next September” I sarcastically reply which doesn’t go down too well with the boss.

Off we get at Calais and would you Adam & Eve it – roadworks everywhere which holds us up for about half an hour. Mind you after faffi ng about and doing my head in by having to alter the time and space continuum in putting my watch forward an hour it could have been really an hour we were held up for.

Anyway a couple of hours later we hit the Ramada Plaza Hotel where we are staying for a couple of days. The food is hot, the beer is cold and my bed is like runway 1 at Heathrow – naffi ng massive. The receptionist must think I’m an ex Para because the room I am allocated is on the top fl oor amongst the frigging clouds. Finally sleep!

The following morning I ensure the boss is catered for throughout his stay and after a good Anglais Complet I decide I will now go and take care of my business for the day. I leg it outside and quickly jump into the car supplied for us but in complete bewilderment fi nd it has no naffi ng steering wheel. It’s only then I realise and remember that they drive on the wrong side of the road over here, and sheepishly get back out and in again - but this time on the left hand side. I set my old driving mates Tom and Tomand off I go, now with my sensible head on and intent on paying my respects to those who those who didn’t make it back from the WW2.

Geel War Cemetery.

34 graves of allied soldiers from the DLI, RAC, Recce Corps, and Royal Canadian Infantry Corps. All had died between the 9th and 11th Sep 1944 whilst establishing a bridgehead over the Albert Canal. I rest awhile here but very quickly decide to move on as the English wet stuff had followed me from Blighty and was beginning to change the weight of my blazer into that of a greatcoat.

A few miles away I found Geel War Cemetery which was the main reason for my visit as I will explain in a moment. Inside this lovely little bit of England with its towering oaks I found considerable renovation work being undertaken on the paths and buildings either side of the main gate; but despite the stone dust and paint everywhere the workmen were more than happy to stop and explain to me about the work they were carrying out.

Anyway back to the reason why this cemetery was so special to me at this particular moment in time.

As ex member of the Black Mafi a with my fi ngers in every pie I knew two things. Firstly and because I had previously researched the site I knew that a number of Rifl emen from the KRRC and RB were buried there along with 398 other poor souls. I had identifi ed 3 in particularly as Lt Richard Luxmoore QWR (d 9/9/44), Rfn Eric Binstead RB (d 10/9/44) and LCpl Sidney Foster RB (d 19/9/44); And secondly my branch of the RGJA were going to be attending, as they always do, the monthly ‘Turning of the Pages’ ceremony in Winchester Cathedral on the exact same date and time that I was visiting the cemetery. This got me to thinking that if we could pull it all together Winchester could be reading out their names at the same time I physically paid my respects at their graveside; and so it came to pass after a few phone calls Brian Scott who was the duty reader that day did just that. It was only a small gesture in the great scheme of things I know but it made my visit to Geel Cemetery just that little

My last stop for the day was at Kasterlee War Cemetery and the good news was that my two driving mates Tom and Tom got me there without a hitch.Kasterlee is beautifully maintained by the CWGC whose staff are only too willing to stop what they are doing and explain in detail every aspect of their work. This cemetery contains over 100 graves which mostly contain the remains of the RS, RSF and KOSB’s. RIP you fellas – you will never be forgotten.

After a long, tiring and emotional day I eventually fi re up the … hire car. Without looking back I tell my mates Tom and Tom to take me back to my temporary room in the clouds and for the time being to my other life of removing the skin off my knuckles. Until the next time that is anyway. See ya!

John Fritz-Domeney

Kasterlee War Cemetery.