Haven’t updated for a while, things have been hectic.
You can tell the passing of the years when old friends and associates start to curl up their toes on a regular basis. Another of my friends has now passed away, another mariner gone to that big harbor pub in the sky.
His name was Tony Topalinski and believe it or not, he was English. When I knew Tony back in the late 70s to early 90s he was master of a clapped out old tramp running whatever needed to be moved between Honk Kong, Mainland China, Malaysia, Japan, Indonesia etc. As an owner/skipper he was never going to get rich but that was always unimportant. His ship which had the nickname of ‘Superbitch’ was held together by string, glue and a lot of prayers to the sea gods. Of his three other officers, one was Greek, one was South African and one was Scottish. The crew was mainly Malays with a mixture of Nippon and China thrown in, how they survived without killing each other will always be a wonder.
I can remember some great times ashore with Tone and in particular one marvelous pub brawl in Singapore. Fists and bar stools flying around, teeth knocked out or embedded in knuckles, stuff going everywhere. We ended up beating a hasty retreat over the roof after the police turned up in droves batons swinging. Most idiots tried to escape via side and back doors but years of experience had taught us the folly of this, police love to bushwack you at these, yet roofs, for some reason always remain clear. These brawls are now mainly a thing of the past, everything is more tightly controlled and so very ‘boring’.
Well, another chapter of the big book has closed, Tone would have only been about 66 but what a great life he led, his tally in women alone must be some sort of world record and whisky companies are richer today because of his ongoing consumption.
So old son I will make a toast to you this evening with a bottle of ‘The Very Good Stuff’ just as we used to do at the passing of friends, long ago, in a vastly different and more colourful world.
You can tell the passing of the years when old friends and associates start to curl up their toes on a regular basis. Another of my friends has now passed away, another mariner gone to that big harbor pub in the sky.
His name was Tony Topalinski and believe it or not, he was English. When I knew Tony back in the late 70s to early 90s he was master of a clapped out old tramp running whatever needed to be moved between Honk Kong, Mainland China, Malaysia, Japan, Indonesia etc. As an owner/skipper he was never going to get rich but that was always unimportant. His ship which had the nickname of ‘Superbitch’ was held together by string, glue and a lot of prayers to the sea gods. Of his three other officers, one was Greek, one was South African and one was Scottish. The crew was mainly Malays with a mixture of Nippon and China thrown in, how they survived without killing each other will always be a wonder.
I can remember some great times ashore with Tone and in particular one marvelous pub brawl in Singapore. Fists and bar stools flying around, teeth knocked out or embedded in knuckles, stuff going everywhere. We ended up beating a hasty retreat over the roof after the police turned up in droves batons swinging. Most idiots tried to escape via side and back doors but years of experience had taught us the folly of this, police love to bushwack you at these, yet roofs, for some reason always remain clear. These brawls are now mainly a thing of the past, everything is more tightly controlled and so very ‘boring’.
Well, another chapter of the big book has closed, Tone would have only been about 66 but what a great life he led, his tally in women alone must be some sort of world record and whisky companies are richer today because of his ongoing consumption.
So old son I will make a toast to you this evening with a bottle of ‘The Very Good Stuff’ just as we used to do at the passing of friends, long ago, in a vastly different and more colourful world.
1 comment:
I raise a glass to Tone and his passing but more so the memories he left you. He sounds like the type of guy you can not help but like when you meet him. You made my knuckles hurt when you talked about the fights. I think I still have a part of some guys in mine from California back in '85. LOL
Sail on. BJ
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