Bombay to Avonmouth through the Suez Canal was a long
voyage. It took nearly three weeks for us to reach Avonmouth. During the voyage
we experienced very bad weather in the Bay of Biscay. Apart from that, the
railing on the forward deck came off the welded joints. Dockers in Avonmouth
refused to believe that it was due to bad weather. The ship arrived in
Avonmouth on the 22nd of December. It was my very first visit to England. We
received our mail on arrival. There was some good and some bad news for
me. The good news was that my father had been promoted to the position of the
Deputy Head of his department and my brother had joined the Hotel school. The
sad news was that mother's eldest brother had passed away of cerebral malaria.
The Christmas feeling had already set in Avonmouth. The
nearest big city to the port was Bristol. We received our salary in English
pounds. We were all paid two months’ salary by the Purser on the Captain’s
instructions. Peter and I went shopping and I bought a suit for myself. It was
terribly cold there. On the morning of the 24th the Captain told me that he and
the Chief Engineer were going to their homes to spend Christmas with the
family. There was no work in the port on the 25th, 26th and on the 27th, being
Sunday. On the 24th evening, Peter invited me to go to London to spend
Christmas with his friends. I obtained permission from the Captain and joined
Peter. We left the ship around 3.00 p.m. on the 24th. We were brought to
Bristol station by the Stevedores Foreman who was attending on our ship. I was
enjoying every bit of it. As for Peter he had lived and studied in England.
That was where he had got married to his South American wife. They had later moved to Sri Lanka.
We arrived at the Bristol station and bought two tickets
for Paddington in London and boarded the Inter City Express train, from Bristol
to London. Peter was already in the Christmas mood and wanted to go to the bar in
the train. We went into the bar and were there until the train arrived in
London. All what I remember was that it did not take very long to get to
London. It was a very comfortable train ride.
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