An eventful New Year's Eve - Tony Cunnane's Life and Times

A final selection of unedited extracts from my diaries covering my second week at RAF Gangodawila in Ceylon at the end of 1954. Some of the language, for example my use of the word 'native', is not how I would write these days. However, that was how the language was used in 1954 and I knew no better then. I have left my words as I originally wrote them but there was then, and is now, absolutely no racist connotation.

Tuesday 28th December 1954. Today was the last day of the Xmas Grant. This afternoon I went down to Colombo in the Army van. I had a look around the shops and cashed some British Postal Orders for another chap. I didn't know you could do that. I stopped in the billet again this evening reading some of the periodicals which came by sea mail today. I should be getting a letter any day now!

Wednesday 29th December 1954. We started work again today - if you can call it work. The senior technician went to Negombo for the day so we were left all on our own. Don Taylor - another Junior Technician - and I continued the job we started before Christmas ie sorting out the stock of valves and making a list of them. My shoulders are peeling today after the burning I gave them last Friday. I can start all over again tomorrow. This evening we're having a rare old thunderstorm with torrential rain.

Thursday 30th December 1954. This afternoon I went to Colombo with a couple of other chaps. We went down in the Army van so it did not cost us anything. It was very hot and all the wandering around made us quite tired. After much thought I blued in 150 rupees on a Weston exposure meter. We had a couple of ice cream sodas in a café and then walked to a picture house about a mile and a half away. We had to hang around about half an hour before the booking office opened. It was pleasantly cool inside and I enjoyed the picture which was Marilyn Munroe in 'River of No Return.' It was in Cinemascope. We came back with five others in the RAF van which was waiting outside the cinema.

As to the day's happenings - nothing unusual happened until just now as I was writing this bit about the thunderstorm outside. One of our aerials and some of the feeders have been struck and practically all the fuses in the place have blown. Chaos reigned in the section and one of the watch-workers had nearly been struck as the lightning jumped across the room and just missed his head. After about an hour and a half things are working but we're using the emergency VHF to Negombo as the landlines are not working.

And so, that was a lively end to 1954 although everything is peaceful outside now.

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