Rubrica

I love this story that appeared on my social media feed last week. The two-man crew of a yacht sent out a distress signal when their rudder became disabled while sailing from Cherbourg on the French coast, bound for the southern tip of Brittany.  What the two sailors on the yacht were not expecting was to see an 18th Century East India Company wooden sailing ship looming towards them. Götheborg Under international maritime law, when a distress signal is sent, the ship closest to the vessel in distress must alter its course and go to assist. It just so happened that the closest ship to the disabled yacht in the English Channel was the three-masted Götheborg, the world's largest ocean-going wooden sailing ship. Seafarers are notoriously superstitious people. Myths and legends abound about ghost ships that appear and disappear in heavy seas or fog, monsters of the deep , mermaids and sirens that lure sailors to their deaths with their beautiful voices.  Then there are the mys...

  The death of Queen Elizabeth II last year thrust the issue of Australia’s future as a constitutional monarchy back into the light after two decades of shadow. According to polls, a majority of Australians now favour a home-grown Head of State rather than the monarch of the former colonial power, and King Charles’ coronation this weekend will be viewed by many as a foreign curiosity rather than anything to do with us. The lavish ceremony and celebration of the King’s formal enthronement is costing the British government around £100 million – that’s about $A190 million. Meanwhile, the post-Brexit, post-Covid British economy is in dire straits with homelessness and poverty soaring, food shortages, astronomical energy costs and historic low business investment. The British government is hoping that the pomp and circumstance of the coronation and its associated festivities will boost public morale in a country where the monarchy has been the foundation of both gove...

The early 20th Century US President, Theodore Roosevelt, is attributed with the saying "speak softly and carry a big stick." The president was apparently referring to an approach to foreign policy when he made the statement, but it could equally be applied to many areas of life. Like, for instance, golf. Golf is, in many ways, a metaphor for life. No, really. Stay with me here.  Part of the gallery on the 16th at Queanbeyan GC Obviously carrying a big stick, or several to be more precise, is central to golfing as kicking the ball is generally frowned upon, but being a golfer of woefully limited talent, I've spent many hours on the course musing on connections between life and chasing a small white ball around a few hundred acres of landscape. Perhaps if I spent less time philosophising and more actually focusing on the little white ball my ability wouldn't be quite so woefully limited, but I'm easily distracted. My approach to golf is best summarised as SOTFF*. I...