My condolences for the loss of your friend. Suicide is always such a sad cause.

Very sad Greg - had he been ill or, was it personal problems ? I take a sleeping tablet at night and took the trouble to read the little pamphlet - it said 'predisposes you to suicide ! ' I can
assure you I am very careful with the one tablet I take.

I have been a little disappointed with the response everyone has had on the blog. I think it is an
excellent innovation and one that could give a whole new interest to our members. However,
it does seem that we have only a limited number of viewers. No real way of telling. I was actually thinking of tailing mine off - however, there was a nice lady in the shop on Friday, and the blog came-up in conversation - we had been talking about WW2. She took the GMIC leaflet I give out and plans to join. She is from George in the Eastern Cape - so we must welcome her if she joins.

Take care - I have had your certificate sent off on Friday. The Comp. is doing well now - 264 up to Thursday. Greg - somewhere along the line I've missed what your job is - please put a little note in for new readers. Mervyn

From what I've heard from those who knew him better than I was that he was having family problems... could mean a whole lot of things, so I'm not going to speculate. Our relationship focused primarily on the job, our shared Navy experiences and politics. We both shared a cynical sense of humour, which bound us closer in this environment.

My current job is as a Sergeant in a Womens' maximum security prison housing 1200+ offenders. I believe that, about 2 years ago, we made it to the top of the potential suicide list. We finally passed the dentists.

I had a feeling that was your job - but I couldn't recall seeing it. When I was in the Met. Police we used to have to take women prisoners to our womens' prison - Holloway. Always a number of male warders on duty. We never went right inside, but, I must say that it was the one prison I was nervous of - a hard bunch of women.

I think of what must go on in peoples' minds when I tell them what I do for a living (not my career- just a paycheck; already had a career in graphic design/photography). If that thought is either pleasant or titillating- forget it. It just ain't so (to put it in the vernacular). Yes, we do have some good looking women, and I see all 11 of them most days. It's the other 1200 that get to you. You would not believe the variations that exist between XX and XY! Astounding!