Morning Gents (or afternoon/evening in your part of the world)
Crow, thank you most kindly for your wonderful words and real, heartfelt advice that is extremely empowering to see. In this time and age of individualism and indifference, it is so decent to see that looking out for one another, even if you have not met, is still strong. Thank You. I am afraid, as alluded to by our compadre TT, that job security just doesn't exist anymore in the UK/Europe. The decision may be taken out of my hands by March 2016, because our government has announced massive cuts to the public sector here and reorganisation and restructuring are going on and when the new financial year kicks in - April 2016 - some of us could be made redundant. I have been working in the service for two decades since leaving school and can truly say I have had my fill. I dread going in the morning as most folk are close to retirement age and the conversation usually evolves around where to get the best carrots for supper or which slippers we most feel comfortable in. When they start to talk about bunions and warts, I usually make my excuses and leave..
Anyway, I have been fortunate enough to have been blessed with a very understanding wife and kids who love treasure tales as much as me! They do not mind my, now frequent absences, as they understand my viewpoint. My wife says that some folk have a passion for cars, others in railways, yet more in stamps, I happen to love history/treasure stories and the like. She has made sure that we have securely set aside money for the children's education and future, and has been kind enough to let me spend some on my ventures. You know about the India thingie, my first project was to buy emeralds from Colombia and sell them in Europe and/or Asia. I travelled to Antwerp, I know that its mainly diamonds there but just to test the water and also tried Amsterdam and Zurich, but the demand simply wasn't there. In India they wanted the inexpensive type for spiritual reasons but it was all very unpredictable. Gold is king there. Besides, everyone I spoke to had there preferred suppliers and had reserves already. But nothing ventured nothing gained.
Recently I spoke to some friends here and learnt about a university that has an amazing archive of books, relics, artefacts and the like. They recently came across a copy of a Quran they had collected from the Middle East that may have preceded the muslim prophet Mohammed. Apparently they have some serious stuff collected from all over the globe. There is also another university that has books and records relating to botany, horticulture, history, geography and such subjects that there is a small possibility of delving into their archives. One thing about the British, they loved to keep accurate records....
Please do not say that you may not see your son growing-up, I know for a fact that the Trio have drunk from the fountain of youth in some remote corner of the world without realising it and will be around for much much longer terrorising the seas and the party gals.
I duly registered with "THunting" last night and went through Hardluck's posts! I believe you've posted on there as well! Hardluck's from the valleys!
Some interesting stuff on there. I have also looked into one of the legends from the list you graciously provided. From the basic research I did, the chap who allegedly buried the cache of gold piastres never got back to them and died by jumping into the sea when being forced by the Spanish governor to reveal the site. The governor allegedly had two-hundred natives (in some accounts up to six hundred) look all over the island. But surely if it was recently buried with markers placed at the site, those natives would have been sharp enough to have spotted anything unfamiliar??
But we are assuming that it was
the island in the chain. Also the source of the story de Lurcy, got the facts of what happened after the treasure was taken from an chap who claimed he was the sole survivor from the robbery. So in essence, once the robbery took place, the rest needs to be verified. Of course we need to know if the treasure was real as well and whether such an event took place. Roberton was real enough, the descendents of this Jock clan have traced their forebears across the globe and have shown where they settled and what they did. There has been some recent attempts to find this treasure but no follow-up info. Yet again people assume that this is the 'right' island and simply go and start digging here and there. This one could have some meat on the bone...
I have already started the transition, I have a small property portfolio was is proving steady and providing a decent income for our needs. I yearn to get out there and see what's available chaps.
Regards
IPUK
PS. Just remembered Crow, I can sympathise with the demons at 3am feeling, its usually when the mother-in-law is visiting
