Timeline: Circa 1985 Location : Shipston on Stour
I had the great honour of knowing one of life's real gentlemen - one Bob Westaway of Idlicote who at this time would have been about 80 years old and had a dog called Pog. Bob's nickname to all was "Bumble" because he really did bumble about in a very old fashioned sort of a way. Pog the dog was so named because when he was an unnamed youngster Bumble decided to paint the word "DOG" on his bowl so it didn't get mixed up with Bumble's stew bowl and therefore carefully painted it on the said bowl in black gloss but the letter "D" ran badly and so spelt the word POG . Bumble's simplistic and lovely attitude meant the dog became called POG !
Now Bumble lived in a pleasing old cottage in the village of Idlicote and went everywhere with Pog on his ancient Russian Cossack motorcycle with Pog in the sidecar. Bumble handled the combination well and was relatively safe for some of the time but after his lunchtime visits to The White Bear where he would absorb some seven or eight full strength barley wines he became more at risk! Eventually being the soft old fool that I am I said to Bumble he ought to think of getting a little car as the winters were harsh on his ancient frame and he would catch his death of cold. I also thought he would be a little better protected with a bit of metal round him and with this in mind I offered to buy the combination at full market value to enable him to buy a little car. At this suggestion his bright blue eyes lit up and he said "would you really do that for me Baggy?"
And so the deal was struck - I got a proper valuation off a Cossack enthusiast and then paid Bumble £50 over the odds for it!
The net result was that Bumble & Pog got a little Fiat 124 Boxy saloon and I got the ruddy combination. I worked on the principle that I could drive a Morgan trike , ride a motorcycle and of course drive a four wheel motor so therefore a Combination should present no problem - how wrong could I be! The "chair" was on the wrong side , I kept leaning as I did on a two wheeled motorbike and subsequently put in the ditch three times in the first week and decided not to persevere selling it on for a £100 loss!
Bumble fared much better in the Fiat and whilst he was a bit of a nightmare to follow he and Pog seemed to get on OK in it and their trips to absorb barley wine in the White Bear continued well except that Bumble couldn't get the hang of reversing so either a staff member or a drinker had to go and back his car out and turn it ready to head off for home! He had just left the Bear and had called in to Pettifers garage to squirt some fuel into his car when I joined him at the pumps with the same intention and as Bumble was refuelling he said to me "Baggy as I am squirting fuel into my little car it makes me want to squirt - do you think they have a toilet I can use in there?" I said I was sure it would be OK and went in to explain to Callum ,the owner, that Bumble needed to use the facilities which he readily agreed to.
I came out to the forecourt to give Bumble the good news but he exclaimed " Oh Baggy it's too late for that" as he shook his trousers and droplets of urine flew everywhere!
Bumble was a delightful countryman - I miss him a lot.
I had the great honour of knowing one of life's real gentlemen - one Bob Westaway of Idlicote who at this time would have been about 80 years old and had a dog called Pog. Bob's nickname to all was "Bumble" because he really did bumble about in a very old fashioned sort of a way. Pog the dog was so named because when he was an unnamed youngster Bumble decided to paint the word "DOG" on his bowl so it didn't get mixed up with Bumble's stew bowl and therefore carefully painted it on the said bowl in black gloss but the letter "D" ran badly and so spelt the word POG . Bumble's simplistic and lovely attitude meant the dog became called POG !
Now Bumble lived in a pleasing old cottage in the village of Idlicote and went everywhere with Pog on his ancient Russian Cossack motorcycle with Pog in the sidecar. Bumble handled the combination well and was relatively safe for some of the time but after his lunchtime visits to The White Bear where he would absorb some seven or eight full strength barley wines he became more at risk! Eventually being the soft old fool that I am I said to Bumble he ought to think of getting a little car as the winters were harsh on his ancient frame and he would catch his death of cold. I also thought he would be a little better protected with a bit of metal round him and with this in mind I offered to buy the combination at full market value to enable him to buy a little car. At this suggestion his bright blue eyes lit up and he said "would you really do that for me Baggy?"
And so the deal was struck - I got a proper valuation off a Cossack enthusiast and then paid Bumble £50 over the odds for it!
Bumble fared much better in the Fiat and whilst he was a bit of a nightmare to follow he and Pog seemed to get on OK in it and their trips to absorb barley wine in the White Bear continued well except that Bumble couldn't get the hang of reversing so either a staff member or a drinker had to go and back his car out and turn it ready to head off for home! He had just left the Bear and had called in to Pettifers garage to squirt some fuel into his car when I joined him at the pumps with the same intention and as Bumble was refuelling he said to me "Baggy as I am squirting fuel into my little car it makes me want to squirt - do you think they have a toilet I can use in there?" I said I was sure it would be OK and went in to explain to Callum ,the owner, that Bumble needed to use the facilities which he readily agreed to.
I came out to the forecourt to give Bumble the good news but he exclaimed " Oh Baggy it's too late for that" as he shook his trousers and droplets of urine flew everywhere!
Bumble was a delightful countryman - I miss him a lot.
Comments
Post a Comment