Hanging around

The Uncle and his mates seem to have spent a good deal of time waiting for a taxi one day...

I don't know from where or to where, but it seems like it was a Big Deal, since we have more than one photograph of the event...

That's The Man himself there, looking very casual with one foot on the running board, one hand in pocket and the other with cigarette.  The Uncle (and his wife) were big smokers all their lives...and before you ask, neither must have had the you-know-what gene, since both lived to a ripe old age.  They didn't have children and were seasoned travelers...the day he died, in his late eighties, we found an airline ticket for London in his pocket.  Died with his boots on, he did.

I remember The Uncle's brother - that would be the man I knew as Dad - telling me a yarn about how one day he put down his cigarette box on the mantlepiece, stating loudly 'That's the last cigarette I'm smoking', and The Uncle reached for the box, saying 'Well I'll have those, then'.

This last snap today is a strange one:

Strange not just for the snappy attire that The Lads have elected to don, but for the reason that we have two versions of this snap:

It looks like these were taken at exactly the same moment, but from different viewpoints.  Either The Uncle told them to hold that pose while he moved a few yards to the left, or else there were two photographers in the group, who just happened to press the shutter release at the same time.  Very odd...