Christmas Presence...

Past Imperfect, Present Tense & Future Uncertain...

Past Imperfect - Lesson #1...

Christmas 1986 - people in authority are not always right...

A Lancaster Bomber that was due for refurbishment had been stored in a hangar at a British Aerospace Chadderton just outside Manchester in the UK. I am 75% sure that the Plane in question was Lancaster B X KB889 - originally built in Canada in 1945...

Unfortunately, the roof of the hanger in which she was stored partially collapsed following an accident during maintenance and the plane was severely damaged - I believe that tragically a worker was killed in the incident too..

Our job was to pick up the pieces and load the aircraft onto vehicles for transportation to RAF Duxford where she would undergo restoration. Working on site as a young Technical Manager, with a team of engineers and loaders; this was a big project for me...

Our on site liaison was a young "Graduate Engineer" from BAe - he was our client representative on site for the week that it would take us to complete the job. 

One of the last vehicles to be loaded would carry the engines - the Lancaster used propellers powered by Four Merlin V12 piston engines - similar to the ones used in the Spitfire...

In the hangar there were four Merlins and an assortment of other engines ranging from Jets to turbo props. We located the four Merlins and began to crate them for transport. The "Graduate Engineer" approached me and told me we had the wrong engines and should in fact be loading four small jet engines...

I suggested that these were the wrong choice - even I knew that Merlins were used to power the Lancaster; the response was...

"I suggest that you do as you are told and get the job done; I am the senior engineer, if you are not capable of following simple instructions, I will find someone who is..."

So courteously tugging my forelock I responded...

"Yes sir, certainly sir, whatever you say sir..."

I love Graduates with attitude - and still do as it happens...

So we crated four Jet engines and had them loaded for dispatch; this would be the first Jet Powered Lancaster in history...

Before the vehicles left, one of the "Proper Engineers" from RAF Duxford came to take a look and inspect the loads.

I was requested to accompany him to explain how we had restrained, packed and loaded the components. When he saw the engines, he looked at me and simply said...

"Are you sure that those engines are the right ones for a 1945 AVRO Lancaster Mr Holland...?"

"No sir I am not, however, I think you will find that your "Graduate Engineer" is..."

Didn't see the "Graduate Engineer" again but we did have to pack and load four Merlin Engines, and received a commendation from the RAF for a good job finally done..

People in authority are not always right...

 AVRO Lancaster B X KB889 is still on display at The Imperial War Museum, Duxford in the UK although unfortunately without Jet Engines... 

Present Tense - Lesson #2

Christmas 2013 - It's you, not society that makes a difference...

If you choose to look for stuff to worry about, there is plenty out there; here are a few just to get you started..

1. USA - on Christmas Day the National Debt Clock, New York will show that the USA has debts totalling around $17,500,000,000,000...

 2. World - there are around 7,131,000,000 people living on the Planet; in 2013 there are 80,000,000 more people than there were in 2012.

3.Trees - since 1980 about 245,000 square miles of the Amazon Rain Forest has been cut down; an area about the size of France...

4. Species - the WWF estimates that each year more than 10,000 species are becoming extinct, that is just over one species every hour...

5. Great Pacific Garbage Patch - due to human waste, there is an "island" made up of plastic bottles and other rubbish floating in the Pacific Ocean. No one knows its exact size but estimates vary from between 270,000 sq miles (back to France again) and 5,800,000 sq miles; approaching the size of Russia...

These statistics are a consequence of the lifestyle, society and economy we have chosen to create for ourselves - imagine if Aliens or God, depending which conspiracy theory you subscribe to, visited Earth and we had to explain how it all works...

How would we justify our collective behaviour; the wars, poverty, treatment of other species; and most of all human arrogance that we were made in the image of our creator and had the right to do all this...?

I don't know anyone who thinks that USA Debt is a good idea, or that exponential population growth is sustainable or useful. Yet these same people continue to buy Smart Phones, fly in Planes to go on holiday, drive cars and buy branded consumer goods. 

All to fuel the ridiculous global capitalist economy using credit provided from the very institutions that they will moan about over Turkey and Mince Pies in the celebration of the birth of a Christ, who assures their continued dominion over nature and enshrines their freedom to cause all that which they cannot defend.

Individually, people are great. Look to the likes of Neslon Mandela who sadly left us in 2013, look to the carers, the givers and artists who enrich the lives of others. Some of the best people in the world are those who simply work hard, get (and stay..) married, raise a family and contribute without recognition, medals or fanfare.

These individuals are the Rock Stars of society - not the Facebook Celebrities, Reality Stars or Sports Icons; here is where the salvation of humanity will be found, not in the glossy brochure, or the Kardashian lifestyle, but the passionate determination of the real people of the world...

It's you, not society that makes a difference... 

Future Uncertain - Lesson #3

Christmas 20XX - stop worrying, you don't know enough... 

I used to be a worrier. My Mom would say that I can build a mountain out of a molehill, and she was right; Mom's usually are...

Worrying is simply praying for what you don't want, it is a waste of time and effort and destroys our ability to enjoy the present. Anyway, it is not what we actually know about that we should be worried - it is what we don't know about that should worry us.

It is rarely the foreseen circumstance that gives the biggest challenge, it is the unexpected that we have to overcome; if it was expected, we could have fixed it...

So this Christmas, although the Future may be Uncertain remember it is a lot more uncertain than you think - if you believe in God and want to give him a good laugh, tell him your plans..

So relax and enjoy the festive spirit, safe in the knowledge that whatever happens for good or bad, you will be OK and life is amazing...

Stop worrying, you don't know enough...

Have a Happy Christmas and a Prosperous New Year...

PS - If there is a God, perhaps it would be best if she was a woman I think the world would be a much better place...