A Blast from the Past

Every morning at 7.40 the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) runs a segment called "On this Day". Today being September 20th, it listed a selection of important events occurring on 20/09 over the last 200 years.

One of those was the launch of the Queen Elizabeth II on Clydebank on September 20 1967. Well, I was there on that day! I was then working on my doctorate at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne and was friends with several students in the arcane engineering field of Naval Architecture. Somehow or other they received several tickets for the launch and we headed off by car to Glasgow about 180km away.

In those days, Glasgow was a dour working class city and Clydebank with its ship-yards lay close to its heart. We crammed into to the ship-yard and I found myself standing mid-way along the hull close to the drag chains required to stop the vessel from hitting the opposite bank of the river. I found out afterwards that being close to the chains was not a good idea! I was also at the base of the hull, with the entire height of the vessel towering above me, albeit minus quite a bit of the superstructure. That would be added during the fitting out stage downstream.

The launch was not without several dramas despite the generally festive atmosphere. To start with there had been much discussion in the press and other media about the ship's name. One of the favourites was the "Winston Churchill" and it was something of a disappointment when the Queen, who slammed a bottle champagne against the pointy end, intoned over the ether "I name this ship Queen Elizabeth II". At my proletarian end of the ship there was a decided groan at that outcome. The second drama ensued immediately. Once the lever is pulled, ships are supposed to glide seamlessly down the slipway. On this occasion, the vessel refused to budge. It took a team of workmen maybe 15-20 minutes to remove the blockage and, starting almost imperceptibly to great cheers, it accelerated down the slipway. Then the drag chains ground into action and, to further cheers, slowed the hull sufficiently to prevent it hitting the opposite bank of the Clyde.

When I saw a replay of the launch on TV that evening something was very wrong. The Queen announced the name, exploded a bottle of champagne, and the vessel glided down the slipway more or less simultaneously. That was my first introduction to the art of video-editing. Apart from that sleight of hand (or should it be celluloid?), it was a grand experience.

As a postscript I might add that 1967 was a wonderful year for me. A little over 4 months earlier I had another stunning experience. On 10 May, my university gave an honorary degree to one of the greatest people of the 20th century - Dr Martin Luther King - and I was honoured by the opportunity to meet him in private audience (just me and one other student) for about 40 minutes. Our conversation almost exclusively focused on American Civil Rights. More about this on some other occasion!

AS

Dramatic Change of Season

We're almost on the equinox, a time of year when Australia's Winter in metamorphoses into Spring. This year, the season has transgressed theory and launched into summer. For the last week our temperatures have been considerably warmer than the UK managed in August at the height of its so-called summer. Indeed, the last few days have seen temperatures peak at around 24C, which is close to the 26C reached in Nottingham in 2010 - whose citizens were expiring in the heat according to our media. In my mind, temperatures in the mid-20s are delightful and all the flora in our garden are racing into leaf or bloom. In comparison with the UK this explosion of greenery is very early. September is the equivalent of March in the UK, a time when Winter is just beginning to abate, and don't forget that we're at an altitude of 3250 feet (1000m).

AS

On the Road Again ... and Again

I'd only been back home for about 8 days when we hit the road again and headed this time for Canberra. Dot and I had withdrawal symptoms after not having seen Max for 4 months and felt imperative to see him. So, we spent most of Friday doing the 750-800 km between Armidale and Canberra and then did the return trip on Monday. It's a long day's drive, but manageable with two drivers and the relatively empty roads via the back route we take.

It was a good weekend to go, because Max played in a soccer match early on Saturday morning (which his side - the Peacocks - won 1 - 0), Beck played in a semi-final in the Belconnen Women's soccer (fourth grade) for Bel - North (which they lost 2 - 0, with both goals scored in the first 8 minutes), we could take Max to the brand new skate-board park alongside Lake Gininderra, and we could see Mike and Moira who had just returned from Santa Clara with a father's day gift for me, a mysterious letter only to be opened on 9/11, and a copy of Ella's birth certificate necessary for setting up her Australian bank account. The latter was very elaborate compared with the UK and local versions I've seen.

The photos below commemorate several of these events.

Max is on the left of this first photo, and the second (below) shows the award he got for his first season playing with the Peacocks. No comment is needed on the third.

Rebecca played in the #5 position for her team on a full-sized pitch and I gather that her opponents had one or two former Matildas ... people who represent Australia in women's soccer ... albeit perhaps in their 40s! Rebecca, by the way, was coach of Max's team,

AS