Here I am at the edge

  NATO Exercises I am using this image for the post as the sharp teeth remind me of how my back feels most days, even after using the Tramadol painkillers subscribed by my doctor, the ones I take now have a higher dosage than the ones subscribed three years ago. Some of the pains are caused by my genetic history . I can never prove it, but I suspect my condition was worsened by being ordered to lie in the snow while on a  NATO Exercise  when I was stationed in Germany. These exercises took place between late April to Early June most years. I don't know if they still do as many of the Royal Air Force stations involved have now been handed to internal Civil Airlines in Germany. If you wish to read about an amusing incident that happened during one of these exercises track down my post about Beau Geste :)  You may wonder about having snow in Germany during this period, it isn't as off as you may think, on one occasion the snow was so bad, the station commander cl...

  Beau Geste and Dartmoor Prison You may find it hard to think of a link between the classic film, and the hardest Prison in the UK , but if you look there is a strong link. Dartmoor Prison is an open prison, which means the men are free to wander as they wish, as it houses some of the toughest criminals in the UK. You may wonder why such men have so much freedom? The answer lies in the location and surroundings of the prison. The prison is set in some of the harshest countrysides in the UK, if you recall the scene at the end of The Hound of the Baskervilles where the prisoner is trapped in the mire, that is how Dartmoor is. If you are not a local or don't have a guide, you won't be loose on the moor for long. If you do escape. and make it across the mire, the nearest village is Launceston over 25 miles away, and as it's small a stranger stands out. There has only been one successful escape from prison, which was in December 1966 when Frank Mitchell was sprung by the Kray t...