I forget where I read this factoid, but if you make any absurdly unreasonable request of a stranger, like cutting in line at the supermarket, your odds of a successful request increase from 1% to 90%, if you provide a ‘because’ justification. E.g., Saying, ‘Can I skip ahead of you’ on its own is less […]
Category: History
Good evening. It’s nine p.m. on a Saturday night, so naturally, I’m sipping a Ribena and reading about IR35 tax reform. I’ve been ashore for a week now, and the kids all have some respiratory infection that has given me a rather itchy throat. However, the days are lengthening, and I can sense spring on […]
Remembrance Sunday is a tough one for me. I’m no fan of the modern concept of the Nation-State. As one who enjoys the freedom of the seas, I know how artificial national boundaries can be. The historic three-nautical mile limit offshore was conceived as belonging to the state, on the logic that the range of […]
Categories
Deutschland Immer Wieder
I drafted this article after I’d been in a metaphorical decompression chamber for about a week, since leaving that last ship. A little 25 Gross Ton workboat. I’d been on her for only a few days before that visit, so I didn’t know the guts of her well. This time I spent 21 days on […]
Apologies for the slight delay in this (last) week’s edition of the blog. I’ll owe y’all one. I have been repositioning a little workboat from the Netherlands to Germany, and we had a few issues with watertight integrity, steering, power, and so on. Turns out engines and electrics don’t like being ankle-deep in seawater. It […]
My first duty this week is to thank my new friend Steven Wilkinson, of the excellent Substack Pitchfork Papers and his company Good and Prosper, for his continued support and encouragement. I’ve been following his work for some time, and his kind words on Friday, when he allowed me to guest post my article ‘Half-Mast’ […]
Why the more subtle iconoclasms of the left, affect us all. ‘Haha. So you are employee of the month? These Americans. When I was a cadet, I won Communist of the month’. I didn’t mind Pavlo (not his real name, for multiple reasons). He was a grotesquely large Ukrainian man. Seriously overweight, but strong, with […]
Categories
Titanic Omissions
The news of Boris Johnson’s, as yet only promised, resignation has not impacted my mood, or my worldview, nearly as much as you might have thought. The man wore the rank of PM, but was never a leader. Agenda 2030, 2050 and the Great Reset/Build Back Better, Greener, whatever/ Levelling Up, more green blah, blah, […]
There has been much debate about the possibility of the collapse of the Union between Scotland and England this year. Such commentary has increasingly polarised along the lines of the Brexit divide, most likely because of the moral value those in Government and the media place on collectivism. However, it strikes me as really odd […]
Categories
Dreams
I have had some recurring dreams in my life. I have viewed them with some wonder because they have stayed in my mind as clear as day for more than 2 decades now. The first dream I had along these lines, I have ever-since used as my firey ambition in life. It took place on […]