You'll appreciate the look on the NCO's face at the RAF Cardington Reception Centre when sorting out recruits for reimbursement of travel costs.
Working from those who got nothing, progressively it left one lone "erk".
"Where are you from, Timbuctoo?"
" No, Corporal."
"Well where?"
It was one of the smaller Shetland Isles.
A small boat to a nearby larger Island, then a day's wait for the ferry trip to the Mainland.
"So a train then, down to Cardington?"
"No, Corporal."
Another wait for the ferry from Lerwick on Shetland's Mainland to Aberdeen - the boat taking about 18 hours.
Then a train to Edinburgh, with a wait for the train to Bedford; and eventually a train to Cardington.
Eight days all told.
Many got confused at Bedford, getting on the London train, which departed a minute or two before the Cardington train.
Late 1957.