Sailor My Story


Sailor

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This is the story of Emily and her grandad, Jim.

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It's a tiny tale about Jim's life

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and the things he used to do when he was younger.

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Now it's time for Jim to share his memories

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and take Emily on a journey of discovery.

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Where will they go and what will they do? Let's find out.

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-What's the sea like today, captain?

-Nice and calm!

-Very calm, is it?

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-Can you see any pirates?

-I can't see that far!

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-Try looking through these, then.

-What are these?

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These are binoculars, they help you see further.

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What can you see now?

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-One, two, three, four, five boats!

-Five boats, can you?

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I used to use those a lot when I was a sailor in the Merchant Navy,

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travelling the world on big ships, delivering all sorts of things.

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-What did you deliver?

-What did we deliver?

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Timber, big logs, cars, even cocoa beans.

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I spent a lot of time on oil tankers,

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delivering oil that keeps cars running.

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What an interesting job!

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They went for a walk to talk some more and find out

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what it was like back then.

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-What's that? Is that the ship coming by?

-I think so.

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Yes, that's right.

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-Shall we give it a wave?

-If you like, yes.

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-Let's give it a wave, shall we?

-Hi!

-Bye-bye!

-Bye!

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Grandad Jim was only 16 when he joined the Merchant Navy.

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Look, here he is when he first went to sea!

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I was always interested in ships at school.

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When it came time to get a job,

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I decided that going to sea

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in the Merchant Navy would be quite a good idea.

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So, at 16, I got employed as a cadet.

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So, Grandad Jim became a cadet in the Merchant Navy,

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where he learned how to be a sailor, just like these cadets here.

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As a cadet, we had to learn everything.

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We had to learn how to chip rust off, sometimes put paint on,

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wash paintwork, scrub the decks,

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do all the general maintenance around the ship.

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If you were going to be an officer you had to learn every job

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so you could tell somebody else how to do it properly.

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It took four years' training to become an officer.

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Now that's a long time!

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But Emily only has a day to learn how to be a sailor.

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So Grandad Jim is taking her to sea school for a quick lesson.

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-Do you know what this place is?

-No.

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This is where they control the ships coming in and out of the harbour.

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All the ships on the outside there, and if they need a pilot...

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So, Emily, what do you think of this?

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Very complicated! What does all this mean?

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This is a chart and it tells us how to get from one place to another.

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You see these little crosses here? Those are rocks.

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The problem is you can't see them because they're underwater.

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We had to know where they were so we could steer a course

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so there was no danger of the ship getting stuck.

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-So, what do you think of that?

-You had a very important job, Grandad.

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It was important to stay off the rocks!

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These sea charts have been used for hundreds of years

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to help ships sail around the world.

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Way long ago, before trains, planes and lorries,

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tall ships like these would cross huge oceans,

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to bring us things we needed and wanted.

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Their crews would leave port for years at a time

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and bring home tea from India and coffee from Colombia.

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Even animals were brought across the world on ships.

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As the years went by, other things were traded.

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Coal and steel were taken from Britain,

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while big cargo ships brought cotton from North America

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and cocoa beans from Central America to make chocolate.

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Nowadays, sailors learn how to steer a ship using a special computer.

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Now you're at a place where you can try steering a big ship.

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-Really, Grandad?

-Yes. Are you ready?

-Not quite.

-Not quite?

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-Now I am.

-Now you're ready? OK.

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Emily is looking at a pretend ship going into harbour.

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Her job is to steer it to the side without bumping into anything.

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Can she do it?

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Pull it back and the engine stops.

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Then use this one, which steers it, and push that round a little bit.

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-Which way?

-Left. Not too much.

-There.

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And then we'll go in to where the oil tanks are.

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-Can you see us coming closer?

-Yes.

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-Can we go full speed ahead?

-No, Emily!

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If we went full speed ahead, we'd go right into the shore!

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So we can't do that.

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We're nearly here now. You did a very good job.

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-Well done! And you know what?

-What?

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-You can be my shipmate any time.

-Well done, Emily!

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Now Grandad Jim is taking Emily to see a real ship.

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It's a cargo ship!

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It brings all sorts of things across the world for people to buy.

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-So, what do you think of this ship?

-Very big!

-It is, isn't it?

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-It has to be big to carry cargo. Do you know what cargo is?

-No.

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It's all sorts of things we need,

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anything from food to spare parts, bits of machinery.

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There's even bigger ships that this carrying cargo round the world.

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There is another reason they're big. Can you guess what that might be?

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-The weather?

-That's right.

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Once you get to the ocean, the waves are very big.

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-If the ships weren't big enough, they couldn't get over them.

-No.

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Look at these cargo ships here. They are enormous!

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They travel all over the world,

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bringing things to us that we need.

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In the olden days, lots of the cargo was new and exciting food and spices

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that we couldn't get in this country.

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When I first went away, it was to Africa.

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We took cars and came back with wood, cocoa and peanuts.

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Then we started going much further afield.

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We went across the Atlantic, all the way through the Mediterranean

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to India, and all the way to Japan and back again.

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Wow, what an amazing way to see the world.

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When we were at sea, we had to be smart all the time,

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even when we'd been at sea for days.

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You wore a uniform, like you wear for school.

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Look at Grandad Jim, all dressed up.

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-Do you think you'd like to go and smarten up a bit?

-Yes!

-Right.

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Wow - looking good, Emily!

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Hello, Emily. You look really smart.

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I've got something for you.

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What about this?

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This was a captain's uniform. I'll take your hat.

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-It's big.

-Let me help you.

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It's a bit big for you, yes.

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Hat on, too!

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Right. Don't you think that's lovely?

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-Can you put your arms up?

-It's heavy.

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You'll have to grow!

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All ready for life on the ocean waves.

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Aye-aye, Captain!

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-Now what?

-Can we sing our sailor song?

-How does it go?

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# A sailor went to sea, sea, sea

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# To see what he could see, see, see

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# But all that he could see, see, see

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# Was the bottom of the deep blue sea, sea, sea. #

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Lots of things have changed since Grandad Jim's days at sea.

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When he was a sailor, many months at sea meant many meals at sea.

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When I was at sea, there wasn't as much fresh food as there is now.

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We would get fresh fruit and vegetables in port.

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But when you'd been at sea for weeks they would run out.

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There was lots of tinned fruit and vegetables.

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The bread was made on board ship, too.

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The thing that was different is we never had fresh milk.

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Fresh milk to drink was most unusual at that time.

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The longest I was away from home was just over a year,

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just after I got married.

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That's a long time away from home.

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Oh, look. Here's Grandad Jim with Gran, Cynthia, and Mummy, Karen.

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They must have missed each other so much.

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Now it's time for Emily to take her place on the captain's seat.

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Right, Emily, you're sitting at the seat where the captain sits

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when he watches everything.

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It was different when I went to sea. We didn't have comfortable chairs!

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We had to stand up and watch out the windows.

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What did the captain do?

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He's in charge of everything on board, of all the people,

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making sure the ship goes in the right place

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and that things get done properly.

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From here, we've got the controls which control where the ship goes.

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-What do those do?

-Those actually make the ship go sideways.

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There's a propeller at the front and back.

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There's one special button I'll get you to press.

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Press that button.

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HORN BLARES

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That horn tells other ships to get out the way.

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What an adventure for Emily!

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She found out about Grandad Jim's life at sea

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with the Merchant Navy and why he has special binoculars.

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She discovered what cargo ships are for

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and why Grandad Jim travelled all over the world.

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She learned to read a very complicated sea chart

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and she became captain for a day.

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Oh, and she used her new sailing skills

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to avoid crashing her pretend ship

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while taking pride of place on the captain's seat.

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Right, let's see. Turn this one over.

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Hooray! Not bad for a grandad.

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-Anyway, have you had fun?

-Yeah!

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-Have you enjoyed learning a bit more about my story?

-Yes.

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-And what have you enjoyed the most?

-Honking the horn on the big ship!

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Honking the horn on the big ship?

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HORN BLARES

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Well, I've really enjoyed doing it with you, Emily. Give me a big hug.

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What a fabulous heap of fun.

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That was Emily and her Grandad Jim's tiny tale

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about the things he used to do and places he visited

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when he was a sailor.

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Now that Grandad has shared his story with Emily,

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it's time for Emily to start her own story.

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Do you know someone who has a story to share?

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Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

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