Let’s cut to the chase here. Our legacy will be debt from the developed nations and angst from the under developed nations. That’s it.

Unless of course, social justice and global equity can be achieved through discharging national debt and growing all our economies? Conservative politicians would support this, the rest are blocking it.

o sung I find my past is of much more interest to me, the further I get away from it. It is nice to remember when you had that young firm & responsive body. Hell I even slide the old ute around the bottom paddock occasionally, to remind myself I could once drive fast cars quickly.

I know I shouldn't, but I'll let you into a little secret. Unlike those WW11 pilots, who had to get down on a carrier, with some bloke waving a couple of things like tennis rackets at you to guide you, we had mirrors by my day.

No I don't mean it was done by magic, more brute force.

You see a jet takes a long time to gain revs, much longer than the time to traverse the deck of a little carrier like Melbourne. Thus we could not throttle back until after we had caught an arrestor wire. If we did, we had no chance of getting airborne again should we miss that wire. No revs & no power meant we could not get flying speed back, & were going swimming.

What we did was fly, at over 1/2 throttle into the deck. Something like a gentle controlled crash, rather than a landing. Provided we kept the light in the mirror we SHOULD catch a wire. Only then could we close the throttle, & congratulate ourselves on another great landing. As they say, any landing you walk away from was a good one.

I do admit we may have played the difficulty & danger up a bit, but as young, single, testosterone filled blokes, not necessarily the most handsome, a bit of mystique did no harm at all.

Dear Hasbeen,

It's no wonder that I love "the classics,"
(cars and men). ;-)

o sung wu, "Do you reckon ONTHEBEACH, we humans always tend to look on the side of negativity, rather than trying to be positive?"

Each day we exercise choice and that choice can change our lives from thereon.

I was recently directed to a blog by a gent who travels Oz by himself. He is a humble, common man whose income is the age pension. He would not regard himself as any sort of example, but he does model the possible life for seniors.

Not that seniors should all take to a life on the road, but he obviously takes life as it comes and revels in the ordinary, mundane but enjoyable and meaningful aspects of life. He is filled with new wonder and a sense of discovery, and he enjoys without apparent judgement the company of people he is fortunate enough to meet. He is over seventy years wise and appears fit and healthy too.

I don't know how he deals with the loss of people he loved and cared for. This is something only a close friend could ask. Nor is he preoccupied with the loss of youth and opportunities lost.

I reckon it is his risk taking that is keeping him physically spry and mentally active, and it keeps him busy. The first, risk taking, is the important one. There are risks in putting yourself out there, taking personal responsibility and being accepting and vulnerable as a result.

In relating this story I do not say that everyone is blessed with his choices either. There are those who suffer the cruel restrictions of medical conditions including mental ones such as depression and make do as best they can. They need our understanding and support, bless them.

G'day HASBEEN...

You state that you and your fellow pilots used to play it 'UP' a bit, in order to impress ? Somehow, I don't believe for a moment there was ever a need to 'inflate' the risk involved !

I'm not exactly a complete novice when it comes to understanding the very basics of flying. Suffice to say, there would never be an occasion to 'beat up' any yarn concerning the airmanship 'brilliancy' and panache, of a Naval aviator, HASBEEN !

I spent some time in the hot humid jungles abroad, (during the sixties), 'emplaning' and 'deplaning' in the bloody thousands, from a 9 Sqn. RAAF UH-1B as a 'stick' member! So much so, we were often deployed with the same A/C and crew. I got to know a Flg Off. pretty well, so much so, we spent some time socially chatting, on and off.

To cut a long but happy memory and story short, he (the pilot) well and truly set me completely straight, apropos the REAL pecking order of military pilots ! Carrier based, Navy pilots, were (much to his chagrin) the clear leaders, in his opinion ! He later retired as an Air Commodore, GD Pilot, after a illustrious career all over the world, including GB, USA, Malaya and South Vietnam ! Sadly, I'm not even sure he's still with us ?

I to, during those uncertain times, had to confront my own dangers and demons ? When 'deplaning' in full battle order, one could quite easily catch webbing, or other object, on a protrusion from the A/C ?
Oh yeah, very risky indeed ? Gawd help us ?!

No HASBEEN ol' fella I seriously don't believe you could ever overstate the skill or risk Navy Pilots continually encountered, with every take-off and landing on Carriers.

Again, thanks for the memory HASBEEN.