Old School Acquaintances

Whilst serving in the RAF in 1975, I was a security guard on a VIP Comet a/c travelling round the Middle and Far East, Australia and New Zealand. On one leg of the trip we landed at Alice Springs for a 2 hour refueling stop. I drew the short straw and had to guard the a/c. After thing had quietened down an Australian customs officer walked over to the aircraft and greeted me in a broad Scots accent. Being a fellow Scotsman , I asked him where he was from, to which he replied "Near Edinburgh". This was the same sort of response I usually gave as most people had never heard of my home town or were unsure where it was. He replied Linlithgow. My response was that's where I'm from and asked his name. As soon as he told me his name I new who he was as we had both attended Linlithgow Academy and I had been very good friends with his younger brother. I had not recognised him due to the passage of years and the thick bushy beard he sported. On the same trip we had a 6 day stop over in Delhi and were royal looked after by the High Commission staff. On my second night there a member of staff walked in and on seeing each other stood there with mouths agape. He was another school colleague working in the consular section of the High Commission. I had not seen either gentlemen since leaving school 23 years earlier.