Hands Off Cocks, Hands On Socks

A recollection of adventures of an asthmatic weakling during National Service, from the hells of Aldershot to the heat of Egypt

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As an asthmatic teenager in the 1950s, I longed for a life in a place more exotic and warm for my condition than the then dreary Britain.

National Service seemed to offer such a chance to a stockbroker's clerk (office boy) such as me. It did. I ended up, after disappointments danger and drama, in Egypt. What could be more exciting to an 18 year old than the land of the Pharaohs, pyramids and permanent (almost) sun? Adventures and misadventures abounded there for me.

I have tried to relate them in an as amusing a narrative as possible. Come with me on this sometimes hilarious, sometimes disastrous journey.