With the arrival of December our thoughts turned to leave and the two week break we'd got coming to us to carry us over the festive period. None of us trainees were required 'aboard' during the Christmas period and the whole base seemed to take on a boarding school persona as eager faces queued up for travel passes.

Getting home for the odd weekend hadn't been a problem and I'd become quite used to catching one of the fleet of green Southdown coaches parked on Collingwood's parade ground that headed for destinations all over the UK. Travelling on these coaches was quite an experience; filled to capacity with bodies so that unlucky passengers would sit on their bags in the central isle, we'd head off in a cloud of smoke as almost everyone lit up. The return on a Sunday night was just the same; my pick-up was from the cenotaph in Newport at around 23:00, the coach having come through from Swansea or beyond. I usually managed a seat, but not always. Travel on this occasion would be different though as I'd be getting a free ride on a train courtesy of the Pusser.

The end of term feeling was all pervading on the last couple of days prior to leave. We partied in the NAFFI on the Thursday evening. Turned to on Friday morning and were told to “bugger off” at stand-easy. The astute among us were already packed and had only to collect our leave passes to be on our way.

Eddie and I had a taxi to Fareham station organised and we shared it with a couple of other guys. Finding that we all had time to spare, we grabbed beers from the buffet and wished each other compliments of the season. Someone, having already been at the bar for a while, started singing Christmas carols and we just joined in. Eddie was still wailing about the Three Kings as he boarded his London train.

Spending that Christmas and New Year with my friends and family was potentially the last opportunity I'd get for a while and I enjoyed it to the full. There was no telling where I may be in twelve months time. My training would be over and I'd have been drafted: Christmas 1971 may well find me somewhere at sea.

The two weeks of my leave passed all too quickly though and it seemed like no time at all before I was back on Newport station, luggage standing beside me on the platform, waiting for a train heading back in the direction of Portsmouth Harbour.