The PR Blog

I was a very happy camper to see my daughter, who recently returned from an unfortunate trip overseas. Having been hospitalised and in a pretty bad way from bad food, bad water or bad who knows what, I finally got to wrap my arms around her and say " Thank God you are OK. " 

Her life, and those of her fellow travellers, had been in jeopardy. Some were ill and some were gravely ill. Hospitalised in a foreign country where language barriers made it even more challenging. Our anxiety " back home " was extreme. We felt so helpless. Because we were, well, helpless. 

It's a funny thing being a parent. No matter how old you are or how old your children are, they are our babies and we love them as if we still held in them in our arms and rejoiced in the miracle of their birth. 

So, after a brush with death from an horrific bout of God knows what that saw her so very ill in that foreign place along with her fellow humanitarian travellers, I finally saw her today. Still magnificently gorgeous, thank goodness.

My " baby " was home. 

Were they mere mortals after all?

Some time ago while standing in front of my fridge, door open, I was struck with the, “Old Mother Hubbard” syndrome. Visions sprang to mind of shuffling along, tin mug in hand, just one of many poor wretches in a soup kitchen line-up. Boldly demanding more. In thinking of soup kitchens…

The following is an account of two great contributors to mankind, Florence Nightingale, an English nurse, and Alexis Soyer, a French chef.

Few would argue that Florence Nightingale epitomised Victorian propriety. 

Most have forgotten Alexis Soyer who was characterised more as an artistic and liberal thinker. A bit of a peacock as the saying goes. 

My research, however, indicates by the omissions in their own written accounts that they, the heroes of this story, were perhaps mere mortals after all. The reader will decide.

The Crimean War, which took place from 1853 to 1856, was primarily fought over a combination of religious, territorial, and political issues. On the 25th of October, 1854, 600 men rode into what is now known as the Valley of Death. 

The Battle of Balaclava was a conflict that pitted British, French, and Ottoman forces against the Russian Empire. 

But it seems to me that it was the direct opposite of the successful Charge of the Light Horsemen at Beersheba. 

As we, including me, wallow in disappointment and disgust by the lack of leadership from our political and civil leaders with their weasel-worded utterances, I would like to indulge myself in writing this exposé on one aspect of Australia’s past heritage. 

I hope it will inspire us, despite the despondency we are deriving from our present leaders.

For almost 1,400 years, the Muslims dominated the Holy Land and the surrounding Levant. 

Australians are living in the latter days of the Anglo/American Empire.

For centuries now, world power centres have been moving west – from Mongolia, to Europe, to Britain, to North America, and now Asia beckons.

The Anglo/American Empire today resembles the decadent dying days of Rome. Europe is becoming a green energy wasteland, the British Empire died with Churchill, and America has dodderers and adolescents in charge.