I spent about two years as my Technicians Assistant on the branch lines. I learned a tremendous amount during this period. He was a well respected Railwayman and I’d like to tell you a little bit about him and my experiences with him during this period.
A good example of him involved a close friend of his. He was a Technician on the telecommunications side. One day he went round to my Technicians house and told his wife that he had permission to take some vegetables from the garden. My Technician was a dedicated gardener. I can’t remember what he took but let’s say he stripped his garden of pumpkins. Well it was around Halloween. When my Technician returned home that evening and found his pumpkins had disappeared, he was not amused. His wife told him who had taken them and the following morning when the two met the Telecoms Technician had a big smile on his face. “Nice meal last night,” he said, rubbing his tummy. Was there a row? No, but his eyes and expression said it all – just you wait. - I’ll get my own back – and boy did he.
My Technician had another hobby; he had an aviary and bred budgerigars and finches. About six months after pinching the pumpkins, thinking all had been forgotten; the Telecoms Technician had purchased a cage and wanted a budgerigar. My Technician told him he had some young ones and would bring him one in the morning. In the morning he handed him a small brown box with small pin prick air holes all round. It was securely taped with sellotape. He told him to be careful with it and to keep it the same way up and keep it away from loud noises. At the end of the working day they met booking off duty. The Telecoms Technician was concerned as he had not heard a tweet or any movement from within the box all day. He was told not to worry and that this was natural as the young bird would be frightened. The bird was taken home in the box on his lap for the train journey back home to Brighton. When he got home the box was opened in the cage. The budgerigar didn’t fly out of the box, it fell out. It was a plastic budgerigar.
One of my hobbies was angling. Quite often we would walk past a pond by the side of the track near Gomshall. My Technician was aware of my hobby and on many occasions suggested I brought my rod in one day and see if there were any fish in there. Eventually we got round to it.
I brought my rod in one day. It was a bit difficult trying to hide it from everyone else but I managed it. It was a lovely calm day, a bit cloudy, but ideal for fishing. I made up some bread paste looking to catch roach, bream or carp, but after an hour I had no bites. The light changed as cloud moved across the sun and I saw a shoal of fish emerge from under some lily pads. A shoal like that had to be perch and they do not eat bread. They do like the odd worm or two. Using a screw driver I managed to dig up a worm and bang- one worm- six perch.
About a month after our fishing shift we were walking past the pond when we saw a guy with his young son fishing in the pond. We walked over for a chat. The guy told us that he brought his twelve year old son regularly over to the pond for him to fish. For two years he had fished here he had never caught a fish yet he was still thrilled with fishing. We found him a worm and he caught his first fish.
Fishing line- train line- they kept running
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