Dave had spent the last five years at work talking about moving to Spain, opening a bar and commuting back each week to work. We enjoyed/endured endless chats about Easyjets' timetables, how he would only have 32 return journeys a year, minus a couple of sickies. How he would keep his work wear gear here and take just hand luggage on the plane, he had it all planed to finite detail. All the while he was talking about it, his health was deteriating, the bells would go down and the old duffer would rock to and fro' in his chair to gain momentum in order to get to his feet. We would sit on the appliance waiting for Clarky to finish in the toilet before going status 2. Then a couple of major illnesses put him out of our misery for good, he was PU,ed. Clarky's leaving do, featured on this site was a riotous affair, it was a chance for everyone who needed it to have a go back at him for once, he got abuse from someone at every station he had served at throughout his career. He really did go out with a ban

We arrived at Murcia just after four in the afternoon. came out of arrivals and there he was, bottom lip forward, cheesy grin on his face. He mentioned that his mate would ring when the keys for our apartment were ready, and maybe would should have a quick drink while waiting. First big mistake, so six Irish beers later at Joe's place, apparently a phone rang.....time check....seven PM. What happened after that had something to do with a Chinese restaurant, and some mess that had been made. We met back up with Dave and was shortly joined by he's daughter Sarah. We spent the rest of that night at some local bars and was entertained through-out by stories from the good old days, most of which appear on Dave's PRF. We'll dig that out soon.!

Clarky gave us directions to his place, he has bought a five year lease for all the catering in the Calypso bar, Aquamarina, Murcia. The bar seats about five hundred people and is right in the centre of the main strip. Clarky cooked us up a full English with fried bread and hash browns with a mug of tea, four Euros each to us. It was a quality breakfast and not at all greasy like you'd expect. We couldn't complain if we wanted to, unlike a customer that came by El Clarko's earlier in the year.....

Dave explained that on Sunday's he does a roast dinner, soup starter then, beef, pork, chicken, four veg, and a sweet. "This guy came in, with his family of eight, ordered eight roast beef dinners, all the trimmings. The waitress takes the meal out to them, only a few yards from where I dished it up, she comes back saying the man's complained the mash is cold. I goes out there, I'm sorry sir, I understand your mash is cold"  takes the plate away politely and returns to the kitchen, Dave said, " I stuck me fingers in the mash and burnt em" some swearing ensued... "I went back out with the plate and told the geezer that that mash aint cold, its hot." Dave went round the table and asked each of the remaining seven if their mash was cold too, all said it was ok,"Well that's funny, I dished them all up at the same time, so if your mash is cold they must all be cold,"  "they wernt having dinner at my place that day" Out of the corner of his eye Dave expalined that he could see the penny drop with the rest of the table, they started to rush their meal fearing what might happen. "I took the first plate off the bloke who moaned, he's wife tried to hold on to her plate of food and a struggle followed with carrots and roast potatoes flying everywhere. I got all the half finished dinners back off them and told them to sling their hook."

It was at Clarky's do, that I can remember him saying, "When I get out there you all have to come and visit me." "Ill come out." I said. I saw in his face it was like I was just being polite, he was staring straight through me, just like he had had too much to drink or something, again. I thought, I had just made a promise, and I was going to keep it. So for the past year I had been talking about going to see Clarky in Spain, he was hard to track down, messages being left with other watches, missed phone calls etc, etc. Then one day a note left on the notice board had his phone number on it. Cheap golfing in Spain, ring Dave Clark on,,,,   It was new years eve about five pm when I rang him, guess what, he was blotto, Dave had decided to celebrate new years early, only by the sound of it he's Mrs, Sue, had the idea they would spend a romantic evening together, maybe a meal out, spend time with the family, who knows, but being off his head before dinner wasn't Sue's plan! So I gave details to Clarky that I was going to make arrangments to come out and see him. A few weeks later Clarky rang back, "Fly to Murcia, ill pick you up from the airport and sort out accomodation, just let us know how many beds you need." Sorted,  the ball was rolling. I asked the watch, ten names came forward, I got dates, flight times, prices, off duty days, everything....just three payed up!

You may notice that these photos show just two of us with Dave. Matt, didnt make it passed the chinese restuarant and spent the night fully clothed until emerging shortly after eleven the next morning. Must be the jet-lag and those busy nights at Euston that were catching up with him.

Dave and Sue enjoy a day off strolling along the beach front at Benidorm,

Clarky sorted us out with a lovely apartment a few yards from the sea overlooking the pool. Prices vary throughout the year but if you fancy going out to see him or play a few rounds of golf then drop him a line and he'll arrange it all for you. He told us that for four days in the sun, with a round of golf each day, including accomodation and airport transfers, comes to less that four hundred Euros for Fire Brigade guys. We'll have more details on here later,