Jack Green: Blog

All being well I will post the first of my Tales from an ex- Brat on Saturday. Although titled The Last Trump I can assure you it has no political associations.
It is a short piece of just over 1000 words in length; a taster which hopefully will whet your appetite for more.

I'm giving a heads up on a new series I intend starting in the New Year. The series title,'Tales from an ex-Brat',needs some sort of explanation.

Many, many, years ago I had the privilege of being taken on as an Aircraft Apprentice in the Royal Air Force. The three years training at RAF Halton probably made me what I am today. I have applied for compensation but so far no dice -- and no money.

When the RAF was formed in 1918 Hugh Trenchard, who had been appointed Chief of the Air Staff, realised there was a shortage of specialist ground crew to cope with the accelerating advances in new technologies. In 1920 he set up the Aircraft Apprentice Scheme at No. 1 School of Technical Training at RAF Halton in Buckinghamshire. Apprenticeships were offered to boys aged between 15 and 17 and a half and the RAF assumed legal guardianship of the boys. The regime at Halton was strict and harsh, but never brutal. Parents had to give formal permission if their son wanted to smoke, and the consumption alcohol was forbidden. In the UK anyone over the age of 18 is permitted to buy and consune alcohol, and the majority of apprentices reached the legal age well before leaving Halton, but being caught in a pub, or smelling of drink when arriving back at camp, and it was a spell in the cells whatever your age.
After graduation, or 'Pass Out' as known to apprentices, the recently released inmates of Halton went on to fill the senior NCO ranks of the aircraft trades; airframe fitters, engine fitters, armament fitters, instrument fitters, and electrical fitters.

Apprentices were contemptuously known as 'Trenchard's Brats' at first, but this pejorative label was turned into a badge of honour, and now apprentices are proud to be called 'Brats.
I left the RAF a long time since so now I am an ex- Brat, hence the title of the series.

It is estimated well over 30% of apprentices achieved commissioned rank, while over 100 individuals attained Air rank, that is Air Commodore and above. Needless to say I wasn't among one of the 100, nor indeed the 30%.

As you read my tales you will understand why.

Regards
Jack G

…starts with a single step, and that first step is proving a problem when it comes to writing the next book in the 'Poacher's Progress' series.
Samhain has passed, and with it my mood of melancholic apathy, or 'ennui' as some clever person informed me. What a blessing it is to have so many all-knowing people as SOL readers.

However I am now suffering something akin to writer's block, which manifests itself in not so much as a lack of inspiration but lack of inclination - no doubt I will be enlightened as to the correct terminology by some savant out there in SOL land.

The next book in the series is in rough outline in my mind, the problem is translating that outline into a readable story. Believe me I have tried; sitting at the PC keyboard forcing my fingers to peck out a thousand words or so … complete garbage … even more than my usual output. Try as I may I can't produce am accurate form, on paper or screen, of the thoughts, plots, dialogue and characters which are in my mind.
It has come to the point where writing is an unenjoyable chore, so I've stopped.
In the words of the Bard of Avon; 'I can't be arsed '. This could signal the end of my literary career, such as it is. Who knows, and who indeed cares.
I shall eschew any thought of writing until the New Year; hopefully by then I will have regained my literary appetite.
If not then it is Goodnight Vienna, and Jack Green.

It is now a week since I posted the last chapters, and epilogue, of Paying the Piper and I have spent the time in a peculiar frame of mind. Not exactly depression, more a melancholic apathy. The feeling could be due to the time of year … the festival of Samhain approaches, which Christians refer to a Halloween … as does a birthday, and I am of that time of life when attaining a birthday can be problematic.

However, the reason for my wallow in the slough of despond is the end of the series Over the Hills and Faraway. This was/is my book which everyone is supposed to have within them. It was the story I had to write, and the reason I registered with storiesonline …and now it is finished.
What mountain do you climb after scaling Everest?

I have more books to write, for the series Poacher's Progress, but I have not the inclination as yet to start. Hopefully I will perk up after Samhain … but I don't half miss Dewey Desmond.

Regards
Jack G

I've not long posted chapters 16-18 of Paying the Piper on SOL, which brings us about halfway through the story … there are 37 chapters, and an epilogue, to the book.

On the current schedule it will take somewhere near the 22nd October before the final posting, but I have another project in prospect, and the sooner I finish posting this story the sooner I can start on the next, which will be another instalment of Jack Greenaway's adventures.

Accordingly I intend to post chapters every other day, rather than every two days, starting on Saturday 3rd October.
I hope this change of tempo sits well with my reader?

Regards
Jack G