Ernest Christopher "Kit" Aitken

Anything that doesn't fit anywhere else, but that's still CH related.

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Foureyes
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Re: Ernest Christopher "Kit" Aitken

Post by Foureyes »

Further to the above, Kit's twin brother Rev Aubrey Aitken (1911-1985) was a curate in Kingston at the time (1937-40), so presumably it was a family reunion!
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Re: Ernest Christopher "Kit" Aitken

Post by Ajarn Philip »

All of this is so much more interesting than the bare bones. I love the idea that in 1938 Kit could just pop over to Kingston for a few weeks to visit his brother. I dare say he spent longer travelling there and back than he did in Kingston!
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Re: Ernest Christopher "Kit" Aitken

Post by sejintenej »

Foureyes wrote: Fri Feb 12, 2021 7:18 pm Further to the above, Kit's twin brother Rev Aubrey Aitken (1911-1985) was a curate in Kingston at the time (1937-40), so presumably it was a family reunion!
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Priest serving abroad. Huge house in England, brother sailing first class. I have heard this before!!!
In that case the priest was serving in Taormina, Sicily and very very big trust fund in the UK. I don't know how it worked (I was very young at the time) but it was something to do with tax. This was the 1950's so the rules will have changed by now
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Foureyes
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Re: Ernest Christopher "Kit" Aitken

Post by Foureyes »

"brother sailing first class"
SS Ariguani carried 99 passengers, ALL First-Class, so there was no Second-Class or steerage option.
He went out to Kingston aboard SS Carare, sailed from Bristol 1 July 1938. This was also an Elder Dempster vessel and a sister-ship of Ariguani, so also only first-class accommodation.
I suggest that this was entirely innocent. One brother visiting his twin, leaving England as soon as the school summer term broke up and returning in time for the start of the Michaelmas term.
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Re: Ernest Christopher "Kit" Aitken

Post by Foureyes »

Apologies. Made an error in previous post. Shipping line was ELDERS & FYFFES and NOT Elder Dempster. My mistake.
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Re: Ernest Christopher "Kit" Aitken

Post by ASR »

I was driving back to school one evening with my mother after a Leave Day and used the narrow entrance road by the pitches nearest the Bax Castle from where Kit was returning with a skinful driving just ahead of me. On the narrow approach towards The Mile his car gently slid into the ditch. I had to rouse a groundsman with a tractor, I recall, to make his rescue. Kit was unharmed.
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Jabod2
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Re: Ernest Christopher "Kit" Aitken

Post by Jabod2 »

sejintenej wrote: Thu Feb 11, 2021 3:05 pm One morning the pedal was removed and put on the other side! He had to walk back to the House.
I heard this story, and was taught English and possibly Latin by Kit. I'm suspicious of the bicycle pedal story as the pedal have opposite thread. Swapping the chain from one side to the other might have been possible, but more complicated and would have taken longer.

There was a wooden chair leg in his formroom, which engendered Kit impersonations (obviously in his absence) of 'Always keep a spare! Always keep a spare!'.
A genuine person...
eucsgmrc
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Re: Ernest Christopher "Kit" Aitken

Post by eucsgmrc »

Jabod2 wrote: Wed Apr 07, 2021 6:53 pm
sejintenej wrote: Thu Feb 11, 2021 3:05 pm One morning the pedal was removed and put on the other side! He had to walk back to the House.
... I'm suspicious of the bicycle pedal story as the pedal have opposite thread. Swapping the chain from one side to the other might have been possible, but more complicated and would have taken longer.
In those days, bicycle pedals were not threaded at all (except perhaps for specialist sporting bikes). They were simply a push fit on the crank axle.

So what stopped them from either slipping off the axle, or slipping around it? A cotter. I won't try to describe it, but it was a simple and solid arrangement. It would certainly allow you to swap a pedal from one side of the bike to the other, and it would not be a long job.

You can, if you're curious, read about it in Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotter_(pin).
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Re: Ernest Christopher "Kit" Aitken

Post by Jabod2 »

eucsgmrc wrote: Thu Apr 08, 2021 12:15 pm In those days, bicycle pedals were not threaded at all (except perhaps for specialist sporting bikes). They were simply a push fit on the crank axle.
That's what I was saying - the pedal cranks would have to have been swapped and as you say are held in place by cotter pins (I know them well!). Swapping them is not straightforward as one is plain and one has the chain wheel attached as an integral part (this has been so an all bikes I've worked on from my 1960's Fairy cycle onwards). Swapping the cranks means that you'd have to move the chain to the other side, which would mean reversing the back wheel. It would work for a fixed wheel (trendy today, and Kit's probably was in order to make one-legged pedaling work).

Swapping the wheel round would also mean breaking and remaking the chain to move it to the other side of the frame. The guilty parties would be oilily identifiable.

The pedals screw into the cranks, and have opposing threads, moving the pedal from one crank to the other wouldn't work. I think that Kit's bike only had the chain crank, without the plain one (no point as it would only interfere with the wooden leg). Does anyone recall which leg he'd lost? The chain is usually on the right-hand side (as you sit on the bike). If it was his right leg he'd lost, the swap would have to have been done already.

One of the things we used to do to each other's bikes was to move one crank round by 180 degrees so that the rider had to push with both legs simultaneously resulting in a horse-rider-like mode of progression...
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Re: Ernest Christopher "Kit" Aitken

Post by Ajarn Philip »

Jabod2 wrote: Fri Apr 09, 2021 5:19 pm Does anyone recall which leg he'd lost?
Argh! Do you realise what you've done?? We're all wracking our brains trying to come up with images of Kit cycling through the cloisters...

My money's on the left leg...
sejintenej
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Re: Ernest Christopher "Kit" Aitken

Post by sejintenej »

Ajarn Philip wrote: Fri Apr 09, 2021 5:47 pm
Jabod2 wrote: Fri Apr 09, 2021 5:19 pm Does anyone recall which leg he'd lost?
Argh! Do you realise what you've done?? We're all wracking our brains trying to come up with images of Kit cycling through the cloisters...

My money's on the left leg...
Agreed but I cheated by looking at photos
What happens if a politician drowns in a river? That is pollution.
What happens if all of them drown? That is solution!!!
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