Under Australian law same sex relationships have the same rights as heterosexual de facto relationships and married couples with regard to Taxation Superannuation Health Insurance Social Security Aged care and child support Immigration Citizenship Veterans’ Affairs so what would be gained by calling a same sex de facto relationship marriage? Marriage according to the current […]
On our return to Singapore I received a letter from head office informing me that I was to fly to Calcutta to join an Australian bound ship. More frequent flyer points lost . . . I flew to Calcutta and stayed at the Great Eastern Hotel, which had been a hotel since 1840 and it […]
Our daughter and son in law arranged for a limo to take us to the cruise terminal. A lovely gesture and very acceptable for the hour’s run to the city. The run in was a dream, with a driver who knew where he was going, as well as being aware of all the road problems with regard […]
Approaching Napier. NAPIER – So named after Sir Charles Napier 1782 to 1853. The Hawks Bay earthquake of 1931 flattened Napier, and killed 161 people and injured thousands. The local newspaper at the time wrote that the town had been wiped off the map. I took a photograph and this photograph, which was on a large […]
From the beginning the ship attracted a certain type of boy. 1860 Mathew Webb went on to be the first man to swim the English Channel. 1861 Warrington Baden Powell later in life was the founder of the Sea Scouts. 1868 Admiral Sir Sackville Carden Carden KCMG RN was asked by Churchill, who was First Lord of the Admiralty, […]
Approaching Napier. NAPIER – So named after Sir Charles Napier 1782 to 1853. The Hawks Bay earthquake of 1931 flattened Napier, and killed 161 people and injured thousands. The local newspaper at the time wrote that the town had been wiped off the map. I took a photograph and this photograph, which was on a large […]
For whom the bell tolls – it tolled for me on this holiday – In 1961 I was invited once again to accompany my friendly schoolmaster for another trip to Europe, but this time it would be southern Spain, staying in a hotel rather than YHA. We’d moved up market. I was also asked if a […]
Where there is faith there is light and strength The translation of the moto above. My father’s family have lived in Birkenhead since around 1870, after moving from St Albans in Hertford via Derby. My mother’s family were relatively newcomers having moved from Caernarvon in North Wales in 1921. I was born in the same […]
That house so tall and stark and bare, Stands for all of them out there, Without that house and friendly light Would mean a ship is lost this night. To see the light flash thro the rain, Means Old Lucifer has lost again. The wind it howls along the shore To freeze them all, both […]
Arrived in Colombo to be greeted, just below our cabin balcony, by an elephant. Not sure that I was happy with the use of the elephant as a photo prop. The elephant, in my opinion, seemed to be stressed as he or she shook its head to make a large bell that was tied around its […]
In 1911 King George V, and his wife Queen Mary, (our current Queen is her granddaughter), visited India for the Delhi Durbar, where they were proclaimed Emperor & Empress of India on December 12th, 1911. Attending the event were all the Indian princes, landed gentry, and every person of note in India. The Nizam of […]
As we entered Copenhagen we were being followed – Sapphire Princess again, and later the Queen Victoria. Copenhagen is located on the island of Zealand. According to legend the Swedish King Gylfe allowed the Norse Goddess Gefjun to carve out of Sweden as much land as she could plough in twenty four hours. The Goddess […]
We arrived in Goa on ANZAC Day and after the dawn service we entered harbour to be greeted by a local quartet. They played a long time as the heat of the day became hotter. Not long after we arrived we had a neighbour – Seven Seas Voyager. Not far away, alongside a floating dry […]
Flag of Wales The Eisteddfod can be traced back to Cardigan Castle in 1176, when the House of Dinefwr, which was a royal house of Wales, supported the eisteddfod. The House of Dinefwr can be traced back to King of Gwynedd in 844. The above is the flag of Dinefwr. The Eisteddfod had it ups […]
