The Queen Mary, the greatest living monument to British engineering excellence ever created. She needs no introduction. She has been on everybody’s lips since the time of her conception in 1929 until the present day. She lies in a state of semi-retirement in her berth at Long Beach, California and still generating income for her owners 90 years later.
Back in the Roaring 20’s Great Britain, France and Germany were vying for the Blue Riband; the record fastest crossing of the Atlantic Ocean between New York and Southampton. In 1928 the White Star line, owners of the TITANIC, commenced construction of her replacement, an 80,000 ton vessel called OCEANIC. At the same time, its major rival, Cunard, was planning two 75,000 tonners. They had contracted John Brown & Co of Clydebank in Scotland to construct them but their size dictated that they could only be built one at a time.
Read more: RMS Queen Mary - Part One
As we dive into 2024, I wonder how many of us have become Uncle Bob?
You know, the bloke who people avoided at dinner parties and weddings. The man who was politically incorrect and never did as he was told. Yes, that man. The one that people shunned and were too embarrassed to be with.
But I loved my Uncle Bob. He fascinated me, amazed me and I thought that he was the most bloody exciting person I had ever met. I have his photo in my wallet today, all these years later. You see, I loved Uncle Bob.
Imagine you’re in mid-flight on a passenger jet, and the captain flies directly into a Category Five hurricane.
The flight attendant calmly says, “The captain has turned on the ‘Fasten Seat Belt’ sign, as we may be expecting some turbulence.”
Of course, the above situation is absurd, as no passenger jet pilot would ever put his passengers in such danger.
But, tragically, governments sometimes do exactly that.
Sometimes, they do it on a small scale, such as when a small country adopts collectivism, only to discover, decades later, that collectivism doesn’t actually work and, eventually, as Maggie Thatcher said, “You run out of other people’s money.”
Perhaps today, more than ever, we are being confronted with a barrage of injustices that challenge our ability to cope. As individuals and as a society. So much is making us angry, frustrated and wanting to cry out with indignation " it's not fair! "
One calamity after another.... like living through a constant attack on our senses and our sense of fair play and justice.
Many people around the world are at an emotional breaking point.
In centuries past, life was unfair for just about everyone. Even a King or Queen who seemingly wielded unlimited power soon discovered that you could lose your head if you upset the wrong people. Taking sides was a dangerous affair, particularly if you happened to pick the wrong side. Rewards could be great - a new estate, riches and wealth beyond imagining. But if you backed the wrong team, you could lose everything, including your life.
Read more: The Kings and Kingmakers. And the Pawns in the Game
As the sun sets on the Australia and culture of my youth, I salute the memories and legacies of over 200 years since the arrival of Captain Arthur Phillip, of a People who are fast disappearing into a sea of tik tok, facebook, twitter, and leftist ideologies.
Our language, our music, and our culture are being swallowed up and devoured by a zealous group of misguided, ill-educated and brainwashed ignoramuses who should have attended the Flysa Institute of Patriotic Studies.
Their student debt would be non-existent, and their education would have been infinitely more informed and beneficial.
But today, I wish to consider The Flysa Institute of Linguistic Studies.
As 2023 draws to a close, I truly hope that there are enough of us left to fight Mad Vax and become the Mad Max we need so desperately today.
If we are too small in number, then the Halls of Justice will surely overwhelm us and the Moronic Vax will spread like a plague - not of a flu virus but a virus of societal change and there will be no turning back.
Because it was Covid and the vaccine that started this downward spiral of insanity where our moral values and commonsense seem to have morphed into hell on earth, devoid of reason or morality.
This is our last chance to stop the moronic madness that has overtaken the world.
Our Vanishing Point.
Read more: Meet Mad Vax - the Moronic Mutant that even Mad Max may not defeat?
Some years ago Papua New Guinea’s Governor, Powes Parkop, damned near caused civil insurrection on New Year’s Day when he enacted a law to ban the chewing of betel nuts on streets of Port Moresby. I said “betel nuts”, not “beetle’s nuts”, in case you think it’s a typo. Most Westerners are not familiar with betel nuts unless they have toured the Sub-Continent.
Hygiene laws in Western countries have thankfully stymied the proliferation of this dirty habit to where a still surprising 10 to 20% of the planet’s population still chaw it in one form or another; making it the 4th most used psychoactive substance, after nicotine, alcohol and caffeine.
Read more: The Colour Red is a Filthy Habit in some places. Betel Nut
Back in 1904, HG Wells wrote a short story about a man who stumbled into a forgotten kingdom where everyone was blind. He thought that would give him incredible power because he possessed something that they did not. The ability to see.
He soon learned that his gift of sight was seen by the villagers as an affliction of the brain that must be caused by two things on his head that he called eyes. They pitied him and, instead of being a gift, the eyes were perceived as a curse, an illness and a disturbance of his brain.
It did not take long before the man realised that, when surrounded by the blindness of ignorance, knowledge itself was an enemy to be ousted and eradicated.
Last night you probably slept for seven to eight hours. About one or two of these was likely in deep sleep, especially if you’re young or physically active. That’s because sleep changes with age and exercise affects brain activity. About three or four hours will have been spent in light sleep.
For the remaining time, you were likely in rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. While this is not the only time your brain is potentially dreaming – we also dream during other sleep stages – it is the time your brain activity is most likely to be recalled and reported when you’re awake.
In 1971 there was a time I was dying. In a yacht on a lake. And my brother saved me. I was a young girl in my yacht with my brother. We " canned out " and I, like my brother, fell into the dark and cold gloom of very troubled water.
It did not matter where it happened, but that it happened.
We were going to die. Cold water. Deep, cold, dark and endless water. Yet we were saved. Through determination, love and hard work.
As the Xmas/New Year break approaches many people will have their eyes on the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race; a traditional event starting on Boxing Day.
One of the several unticked items on my bucket list is to sail in the Sydney to Hobart. Back in the 1970’s and early 80’s I crewed on an ocean racer out of Sandringham Yacht Club in Melbourne. The boat I was on was a Carter 30, an English design that could better be described as a Slow Boat to China rather than a racing thoroughbred.
Read more: The Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race - a Boxing Day Tradition
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