2nd July 1982 Snow fun with Gurkhas [FalkLand's Diary ]
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| Gurkha soldiers in Stanley. (Photographer unknown) |
Some snow squalls from the s/w. Icy patches on the roads.
Gurkhas move into Beckett’s house. [4 Drury Street, next door but one to us.] Went for a long walk around town with the girls. Up as far as Sullivan House then back along Davis Street. Plenty of ships in Port William and the harbour.
Neville’s diary:
2nd July 1982 and around this time.
In our street we had new neighbours: GURKHAS.
Their coming to town coincided with a substantial fall of snow. Mindful of the dangers of speeding military vehicles on the snow, and any nasty things which might be lurking in the undergrowth, this hand full of wonderful young men, so very far from home, gathered the children of the neighbourhood together on the playing green and amused them with snowman building and snowball fights.
When the snow had compacted on McGill’s Hill [King’s Street, at the end of Drury Street], the children all got their sledges out. After work one evening, I saw two Gurkha Officers watching the children speeding down the hill. There was a bit of a problem at the T junction [with St Mary’s Walk] at the bottom of the hill. The non-local traffic didn’t know to slow down for the sledges coming round the corner.
I asked the two chaps:
“Are you going to have a go gentleman?”
“Sir, is this dangerous?”
“It can be, during a high speed collision, I removed a sheet of tin from that fence at the bottom of the hill with my nose when I was younger”.
“Sir, we Gurkhas don’t do anything which may be dangerous”.
They gave me the widest grins you have ever seen and went into their house, returning with all available men. They all stood as traffic control at the junctions with the hill, stopping vehicles if a sledge was heading their way.
From time to time the children handed them their treasured sledges and watched with delight as the Gurkhas enjoyed rushing down the hill too.
Such fun-loving peaceful men.
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