LIFE AS A JUNIOR CANAL ZONER
As Remembered By Carl Hall
It started out as a great adventure accompanying my mother and father on the voyage from Southampton to Port Said on the troopship, Empire Orwell. Quite a big boat but it was still like being on a rollercoaster going through the Bay of Biscay!
Home, around 1949, became 130 Camp, El Ballah, where Dad was O/C. yes, what a life until the troubles came along. I remember learning to swim in the Suez and used to go out to various ships where the crew would throw down sweets to myself and my pals.
School meant a trip of Moascar Garrison - and that beautiful experience of travelling along the banks of the Sweet Water Canal!!! Later I became a boarder at the English School in Heliopolis, Cairo. I was confirmed by the Anglican Bishop of Cairo (a Dr Allen if memory serves me right) and think I once caught a glimpse of King Farouk in his motorcade.
My most vivid memory is the cinema at El Ballah (AKC) – All those Frankenstein films. They scared me so much I whistled all the way back to the married quarters! Oh, and there was the old wreck of a Dakota where we used to play – how I didn’t end up a pilot I’ll never know.
While life was pretty good in general, there were sad times too. I recall a Major Wharton being shot by terrorists while on a shopping trip to Ismailia (?). I think we were on our way back to England not long after that incident.
Yes, plenty of good memories of Egypt – from swimming in the Suez, sailing on Lake Timsah and my first ever romantic “experience” with a young lady on holiday from her convent school – Still that’s another story!