Unc goes Caribbean

Taken when Unc was sporting a beard for his film extras work.

Many friends have heard me talk about my Uncle and the things he gets up to.  I think most people would describe him as 'a character', though I'm not sure what my poor, long suffering aunt would describe him as!

I have finally decided to add a new section to my blog, Unc's Antics.  From time to time, I'll publish the things that he has got up to.  Well, the publishable things anyway.

Roy and I write to each other every day, and quite frequently I'll get two or three emails from him.  This is pretty remarkable for a man who got his first computing device, an iPad, when he was in his 70s. Oh yes, he recently upgraded to the new iPad!  This past week's ramblings from him, had me rolling in the aisle.
Everyone knows Unc at the local shops where he lives, in suburban London.  He is forever pulling practical jokes much to their amusement, so when one of his favourite shops closed down, he was eager to find out who would replace them.  This week he found out the shop was to become a West Indian restaurant.

The first inkling that trouble was on the way, was when I received the news that the place was very bright, he was hoping for some good food, the right music and..perhaps a bit of weed!

I felt the need to caution Unc NOT to go in there, talking in his 'West Indian' accent.  Hum, I should have saved my breath to cool my porridge.

Yesterday he wrote that he was on the high street with my aunt, when they saw a lot of women in lovely sundresses and heard the sound of a steel band.  The restaurant was having its grand opening.  My aunt, no doubt wise to what Unc was likely to do if he joined in, wanted to just take their shopping home.  So he went home, had a wash, splashed on some men's cologne, and put on a fancy shirt (a sort of fake Hawaiian shirt with palm trees and retro cars on it).  He wore some men's sandals and added socks for good measure!

He parked behind his friend's greengrocer's shop (opposite the new restaurant) and the friend gave him a pineapple and a hairy coconut to take with him.  At the street crossing, a bus driver stopped for Unc and shouted to him "where's the party?".  Unc responded by shaking his hips at him.  Oh yes, Unc knows how to make an entry.

By now the partygoers had spotted him and come out to greet him.  He said they were laughing and high-fiving him and then asked 'Are you Roy?".  They had been warned by the other shop keepers that Unc was likely to turn up.  Talk about your fame preceding you, they had even reserved a table for him.

So he ended up meeting all the family from grandma's to grand grandbabies.  They crowded around chatting and having their photos taken with him.  They gave him loads of different things to eat and one of the grandmothers sat and watched him whilst he ate.

After the main course, he had cake.  The he reached into his pocket, and took out a tin, from which he removed - an enormous spliff made out of toilet paper!  He said they all cracked up all over the place and the band laughed so hard, they played the wrong notes!  No wonder Norma didn't want to go out with him.

They gave him a tour of the place (including the kitchen) and he ended up being asked to go back and explain how to cook certain English dishes (he was in the army catering corp as a young lad).

They wouldn't let him pay for his food, and said he was better than the mayor who opened the shop, especially as Roy was also outside dancing on the pavement with them.

Unc always says to me, if you can make someone smile, the day has been worth it.  I suspect he amassed quite a few days of smiles with yesterday's antics.