Glory Days

My old mate Hawkeye dropped me an email last night. You remember Hawkeye. The old lag from Fire Service days. We keep in touch regularly & try to keep each other relatively grounded. Doesn't always happen. Usually our conversations degenerate to,"Do you remember...?" or who was it that ....?" Or more pertinently, "What ever happened to......? We argue a lot, but that's not a bad thing. It's a bit like a script for a bad rewrite of "Grumpy Old Men.

Anyway, Hawkeye sent me this list entitled "Extinguished," That names all the Fire Fighters from our era that have gone to the great fireground in the sky. There is an awful lot of them. A lot I knew about , but some I didn't. Its not good to learn you have lost old friends by seeing their names on a list. Reminds you too much of your own frailties.

But here we both are. Still, by the grace of God & the Fickle finger of Fate, still plodding along. We both agree that someone should write a book about the Glory Days when Firemen were real men & actually put out fires by going into burning buildings with no breathing gear because we were too proud to admit to human weakness. Men of iron & steel we were . 10 foot tall & bullet proof, at least thats how it seemed at the time. Now when we feel the effects of years of abuse to our bodies, we know different. Yes, we should write a book, but what we be the point. Nobody would believe it anyway.

Sleep well old comrades. May all your night shifts be clear of calls & may all your standby's be on group training days..