#railwayman

[jottwerk-blog]

Day 11. the railway man

[missfleurissant]

This extraordinary true story educates and informs viewers of the life life of Eric Lomax. He was an junior officer who was taken captive in Singapore and forced to build the Burma Saigon Railway in Kanchanaburi, Thailand under Japanese authority. This grueling account of his life and the terrors he faced whilst serving there are hard to witness. Colin Firth does a top notch job portraying the emotions and effect of the hell he walks.

When he is finally released when the war comes to an end, he is sent back to Edinburgh. But he finds he cannot adapt to normal life after all his trauma - Meeting a woman INicole Kidman) serves as the catalyst for the changes that need to occur. I felt every inch of this movie and perhaps even deeper as I travelled on the Death Railway seven years ago, and was fighting for my marriage. I lost - and have walked a harrowing road myself.

I am hoping to engage with others, as I find the loneliness intense - and trying to rebuild at midlife is particularly challenging from all angles.

Watch this compelling drama and let me know what you think, and please chat to me - I could do with the company, even if it is across a computer screen!

[testormblog]

The Love is Here

Nana, my paternal grandmother, also gave me a present for Christmas, always something special. Once, she bought me a metal Tonka truck, a prized toy for a poor boy like me. I spent lots of time with Pop and Nana, usually the weekends; my parents happily offloading me. Like us, they lived alongside the Beaudesert branch line, near the Waterford siding. I loved Pop and Nana and they loved me. I had a special seat and place at their kitchen table. Perhaps, I reminded them of the teenage son, their first born, they lost to peritonitis. I didn’t resemble my father, their second son, in character. Where I was inquisitive and contemplative; he was quick tempered and impatient. He had a reputation for trouble. Though, age would mellow him.

Pop had retired from the Railway. He had worked in a maintenance gang like Dad but on the Logan Village to Canungra branch line, which divided from the Beaudesert branch line. He had been stationed at Logan Village. There he had lived in a basic railway hut with other men from Sunday night to Friday. He may have been the ganger in charge of a track section although he never mentioned this. He must have had influence to obtain a job for Dad. In his younger days, Pop had worked for a sawmiller. He knew everything about timber and could fell giant trees. I deduce he began with the Railway during the depression years when building work was slow.

In the war, he would have worked on the Canungra branch line’s upgrade, part of Camp Cable’s construction. Every local, trade skilled man, not enlisted, had been employed on this project. Camp Cable was the largest US military base on Australian soil at that time. The railway line ran through it and included a siding. The line was responsible for the deployment of thousands of troops, equipment and provisions. If I had been born earlier, I’d have seen the constant stream of troop trains. Whilst Pop never talked of the war, he ‘owned’ a few US Army souvenirs; things he had traded with soldiers. I inherited his woollen long johns. These have survived intact nearly eighty years.

Pop was skilled with his hands. He built his and Nana’s house in his younger days. The Queensland style house, perched on a hill, overlooked the Logan River. I played on its large veranda, which skirted its three sides. My grandparents had no electricity. They relied on kerosene lights and weekly ice deliveries to fill their ice chest. They drew their water from a tank and the creek. They had no bathroom. Nana washed herself with an earthen ware jug and basin in her bedroom. I thought the house nice though. It always smelt fresh. Nana kept it spotless. The backyard thunderbox was also clean and ready for use unlike the overfilled one at my home.

I found everything at this house interesting. I shadowed Pop nearly everywhere. The washroom had once been a smokehouse where meat was cured. It still contained the meat trellis on which a beast or a pig was hung. Now, the butcher called weekly. Pop’s workshop was under the house. Here, there was a sandstone wheel to sharpen axes and saws, vices to hold timber steady and numerous tools. Neatly stored were paint cans and brushes, egg cupboards to hatch chickens, vegetable boxes and horse gear.

Pop and Nana survived well despite their insignificant aged pensions. Pop ran a cow and fowls and grew every vegetable and type of fruit they ate. He sent produce and eggs to the market. He also sharpened the saws for all the local sawmillers including the sawmill that cut the pit props for Ipswich’s underground coal mines.

Pop was a mystery to me and wouldn’t answer my questions about his life. He descended from German religious refugees, settling in the 1840’s. He didn’t attend the local church often; possibly because his prior work life had limited his time at home. Nevertheless, the Lutheran Church and many German customs influenced our family’s values. Pop spoke English mixed with German idioms. He was the eldest of a large farming family, who owned much of the best surrounding farm land. In spite of this, his brother had inherited the land. Mother often jabbered that Pop had heaps of money. Not so, he had just sufficient to cover his funeral.

Like my parents, Pop and Nana weren’t affectionate to each other although they were to me. Similarly, they didn’t share money. When I grew older, Nana regularly asked me to doublecheck their division of expenses. Maybe, the hardship of Pop’s work life had extinguished their flame. Still, they lived together amicably and cared for each other.

When I was eighteen in 1961, Pop became so sick a doctor was called to the house. He had never seen a doctor before and was most upset. I watched his son-in-law, an ambulance driver, drive him away. He died soon after in the foreign, sterile environment of a Brisbane hospital. He had wished to pass away at home. I was bereft. To worsen my grief, I contracted mumps and couldn’t attend his funeral to farewell him. From the kitchen window, I watched the hearse deliver Pop’s coffin to the Lutheran Church then everybody gather at the cemetery beside.

Pop’s and Nana’s children sold their house and its furniture as quickly as possible for £800. The furniture alone would have been worth that sum. They packed my beautiful Nana up to live with one of them then later moved her into a dreadful nursing home. She deserved far better. Overnight, she shrank into a fragile, old lady, crippled with arthritis. Yet, she lived for nine more years. She was my angel.

A month after Pop’s death, a girl, my future wife, slipped her hand into mine. The love from one ended and the love of another began.

[zakapior-z-izerbejdzanu-blog]

Will be a sunny day... Time to go home from work. And rest. Have a great day. #home #rest #fromwork #sunnyday #zakapior🤠 #łotr #brodatyłotrclub #bezspiny #beardman #train #trainstation #railway #railwayman #instaphoto #legnica #dolnyslask (w: Legnica, Poland)

[zakapior-z-izerbejdzanu-blog]

It promises to be a nice day. All good for this day for the sun to shine nicely ... 🤠 #sunrise #newday #goodday #sunnyday #railway #railwayman #zakapior🤠 #łotr #brodatyłotrclub #bezspiny #brodatyłotr #beardman #beardmanatwork

[cotaruco]

北国ならではの光景。住んでいると当たり前の景色も、旅行者からみると非日常の空間に。 #Repost @driftingsun ・・・ Hokkaido, 2018 #hokkaido #sapporo #otaru #asari #yoichi #はつ花 #봄에처음피는꽃 #loveletter #railwayman #snow #snowman #nikkawhisky #sapporobeerclassic #leica #leica_camera #summilux #홋카이도 #북해도 #오타루 #요이치 #요이치위스키공장 #니카위스키증류소

[zakapior-z-izerbejdzanu-blog]

Supper. Home made hot road with cheese, marinated peppers, garlic sauce, ketchup and roasted onions. How crazy to go crazy... 😎😎😎 #home #homemade #soulfood #goodfood #madewithlove #notfitbutsogood #instafood #instagoods #goodies #localfood #hotdogs #zakapior👊 #beardman #beardmanatkitchen #railwayman #instaphoto #łotr #łotrwkuchni #bezspiny #brodatyłotr⚓ #izery #izerymountains #Izerbejdżan🍁 #poland🇵🇱 #goodies (w: Jizera Mountains)

[zakapior-z-izerbejdzanu-blog]

Blue monday... Yeah right... 😎😎😎 😉😉😉 #home #homemade #soulfood #madewithlove #goodfood #naturalfoods #notfitbutsogood #instafood #instagoods #goodies #localfood #pizza #pizzastone #italian #italianfood #neapolitan #stone #marcoghia #zakapior👊 #beardman #beardmanatkitchen #railwayman #łotr #łotrwkuchni #bezspiny #brodatyłotr #izery #izerymountains #Izerbejdżan🍁 #poland🇵🇱 (w: Jizera Mountains)