Thursday, May 15: Squirrels

This morning we met with a dear couple, Jim and Margo Stanger. Jim contacted me by email in response to the newspaper article mentioned in the first entry to this blog. He introduced himself and his wife to me as the British Liaison to the American 29th Infantry Division and seemed very interested in meeting me when I got to Plymouth. I sent him a reply letting him know that we would love to visit with him, then I typed out a few short paragraphs introducing him to our family. He responded a few days later letting me know that he wanted the visit to be interesting for Tim as well, so he took it upon himself to set up a tour of one of their newest Fire Brigade stations. I thought that was pretty cool and called Tim right away to tell him the news – and he was appropriately calm with his response that it sounded like “an interesting thing to do.”
When we arrived today we made some quick introductions and they loaded us into their car for our field trip to the Fire Brigade. Tim was obviously uncomfortable in the role of “visitor trying very hard to make sure he didn’t look like a squirrel”. You all know what Tim thinks of squirrels (which is a nickname given to overly zealous firefighters). Some of the firemen came out and politely introduced themselves, then one very friendly chap (that means “man”) took us under his wing and offered us tea at the kitchen table. More polite questions followed and they soon heard from Margo that I was an author from America doing research for a novel I was writing about evacuated children. Ho hum from the firemen. Tim continued talking to “friendly chap” and I sipped my tea politely. Then one of the other men approached me and asked if I was going to visit a man by the name of Martin Griffith. Hello! Why, yes, as a matter of fact, I would be visiting him the following day at 10:00 am. Martin Griffith was the firefighter’s father, and he had mentioned to his son that an author from America was coming to talk with him about his evacuation experience during the war. What a small world! The ice melted, the fire station tour soon began in earnest, and Tim started acting…….. squirrely.
Tim was having the time of his life and it was fun to watch. (Dave Newman would have been laughing his head off at the irony of it all. I captured a lot of it on video for you Dave, because we both know he will try to deny everything.) Tim was looking all around, chattering, giggling, and snapping loads of pictures “for the guys at the station back home.” Uh-huh, right. Then it was time for the firefighters to do a hose drill. Yippee! Tim was snapping away and making sure I was capturing everything on video – for the guys back home, of course. Before we departed, Tim handed out patches, and one of the chaps gave Tim an official officer’s shirt. It was like watching Kenny (42 years older and a little more wrinkly) opening a package and pulling out a superman costume that could really make him fly.
Patches - $2.50; airline tickets - $1300; Plymouth Fireman shirt – priceless.
Watching Tim at the fire station – for me a better understanding of the term “squirrel.”
Note: As I’m typing this blog message, Tim is standing beside me trying on the new fireman shirt and giggling because it fits. He really, really likes it! I admired him in it, as I should, and he is very happy. I just love this guy!