I'm sorry that I haven't replied to this topic recently as I have been away on vacation in S.E. Asia. (Note that I started with one of Marion's 3 sayings!)
Being new to posting on the website I hope that I am going about doing it the right way!
I have been interested to see the result of what I have started.......not quite what I expected, but nevertheless interesting.
It seems that both Sgtleo and Colin both know more about Basingstoke that I do! However, I have actually been there (some time ago) and even stayed at the Basingstoke Hilton (not as grand as it might sound!) though I do not remember a lot about the town other that it was having a considerable amount of 'concrete' redevelopment and that there was still a rather nice bit of the old centre left. (I have just noticed that the spell checker has underlined centre!!)
Sgtleo, it sounds as if four and a half months in the area wasn't all work, as you seem to know where the markets, cinemas and pubs were located!!
I am interested to hear about the Coasties being beached in Hants, although they were probably not those of the 4th Flotilla. They only had infantry carrying LCI's and were based around the South Devon area. They did, however, go on a number of training exercises that brought them to the Portland area but as far as I know they did not land near there.