Swimming's Golden Couple

Now I don't usually get the chance to meet famous people, I suppose my biggest claim to fame was accidentally having dinner with Royalty, a feat never likely to be repeated given their ever increasing security. But I did, very much by mistake and no doubt to the horror of the Prince, sit and eat my roast beef and Yorkshire puds at his table. It had crossed my mind as I homed in on the spare seat that the man opposite was vaguely familiar, then again we were on a Royal Navy base, HMS Osprey, so lots of faces passed by every day. It was only when I asked him to pass the salt that I realised I had in fact sat in front of Prince Andrew, who, to coin a phrase of one of his ancestors, was not amused. Neither were my colleagues who had also made the same faux pas.

They had wandered into the ward room after me and sat at what they thought was my table not having seen me called over to the stewards to explain why members of my dining party were so scruffy. I soothed the ruffled feathers of the jobsworth stewards and joined my colleagues who were sat in what can only be termed stunned silence. They had seen Prince Andrew's bottle green blazer, like the one I was was wearing although I suspect his didn't come from Primark and rushed to get a seat. Realising their mistakes they decided to bluff it out rather than depart en masse making the Prince feel like Billy no mates.

The situation was made even worse when one of the group who lacked a vast array of social skills tried to engage him in conversation which I swear went exactly as follows.

Commoner "Whats your role here then Sir"

Prince "Helicopter pilot" (some what gruffly)

Commoner "Cor, that must be very interesting"

Prince "Yes it is"

Commoner "Gosh, what a fantastic job, imagine, helicopter pilot"

Prince "In fact I'm the chief helicopter pilot on the base." (warming slightly)

Commoner "Wow, how exciting"

Prince "Yes. It is." (beaming)

Commoner "Do you know, I hope you don't mind me saying it, but you do look just like Prince Andrew"

All. (Stunned silence, clatter of cutlery on plates)

Prince "Is your mate for real?"

Me. "Afraid so Sir, pass the salt please"

Fully expecting to be clapped in irons we missed the sweet course and fled before his body guards turned up and things got nasty.

Anyway, last night I got to meet two really famous people who were somehow persuaded to present awards at the HGTA ceremony. Sascha Kinsted and Nyree Lewis are both gold winning team GB Paralympic swimmers who have represented us in several games and are now working hard to get in shape for 2012.

We were there to receive awards for various training courses undertaken over the last 12 months, I say we as there was quite a number from our office up for accolades. What made the evening, apart from the free food and wine, was the opportunity to speak to these two inspirational people. Sascha gave a talk on how he overcame adversity to become an elite athlete whilst Nyree had the harder job of presenting all the awards and shaking hands with all the happy recipients. It was clear from talking to them both that they are very happy, very down to earth people who have not let all the fame and attention they get affect them, Sascha even let us play with his Gold Medal which, given the amount of effort taken to win one, letting us get our grubby paws on it was a very nice gesture.

And you can see the effect it had below, this man is hardly ever seen smiling, yet here he would beat the Cheshire Cat!

Vegetarians

It might come across sometimes that I consider all our stock as meals on the hoof but there was a time I was a vegetarian, yes by choice and for quite a while, around five years and I was cured dear reader by the Royal Navy.

Sara who was here only a week ago, seems like longer, is also a veggie and we had a veggie meal, a lovely vegetable casserole with cheesy scones, tomatoes and mozzarella with chili beans. Altogether delicious, admittedly it would have been better with a thick Rock HQ Berkshire pork chop with a chili glaze but for one night I harked back to old times and ate a meal that hadn't been eating a few weeks before.

Why I became vegetarian was as a result of watching a documentary about intensive pig farming, the squalid conditions these poor animals are kept in turned my stomach and from that day on I shunned all meat unless I had hunted or killed it myself. This meant that in the not quite five years I kept this pledge I only ate one pheasant that I accidentally run over. It was quite a chase, up the grass verge through the hedge and across four back gardens but eventually I got it.

One of the primary reasons for smallholding was to ensure we knew where our food came from and that any animals we kept for meat were kept in conditions where their welfare was ensured and they led happy if somewhat shorter than natural lives. So well cared for, and as a result so tasty the meat some of our friends who have been vegetarians for years, like Sara and Kay have been tempted to try some of our pork and bacon.

How the Navy cured me was while I was on HMS Norfolk I had a dinner. I was for years a reserve officer, I have in fact only just resigned my commission as my arm will never repair to a level that I could carry out my role, a rescue coxswain. Whilst you can drive a boat with one hand hauling boats in and out of water demands two arms, hauling wet sailors out of the sea requires a crane! Anyway for some reason as I went past the galley I smelt the cooking and asked the chefs what was on the menu. Lamb chops. I explained I was a vegetarian. They laughed. The smell was overwhelming, I asked for a plateful. Three platefuls later I was cured.

I will miss the Navy and the scrapes and adventures I got into, accidentally having dinner with Prince Andrew was one of many weird days, I wont however miss the the lunches they gave us, pictured below, prisoners got fed better!