First I had to cope with the ticket machine.I made a mess of putting in my password. I was either pressing the letters and numbers too hard or too soft. Eventually I mastered it and walked away with my tickets, only to find a young lady chasing after me because I had left some tickets behind. Having survived this I crossed over the bridge and waited for my train. I am always excessively early for things like this. I boarded the train and had an uneventful ride to Plymouth. I soon found my way by foot to the place I knew I would find the Mayflower building. I had looked it up on the internet. The building I had thought was the right one was clad in scaffolding and there seemed no way in. Next door was The Salvation Army building so I decided to ask them for directions. The building I wanted was on the other side of the S.A. building. I went in and asked the security man where I would find the passport office. He directed me upstairs. I took a look at the right door and then came away again as I was far too early to go in. After eating a pasty out of doors I returned to the passport office. I had imagined being questioned by two burly and aggressive men, but instead, happily I was spoken too by a pleasant woman of forty or fifty. We chatted about me. She asked about my family, my children and my brother and sister. After a while when she asked a question I was thinking, "Ah, so you know that information about me?" Soon the interview was over and she said I would get my passport in 5 working days. I went on a Wednesday and received my passport that Friday, two days later. It was all worthwhile the effort.
I have written in previous posts about disasters. In the case of Concorde, decisions by people, plus other factors were directly to blame for the event. In the case of the Penlee disaster it may have been avoided if someone had made a better choice in the time beforehand and as a consequence brave men and the ship's crew and the captain and his family died. 9/11 was certainly the result of wicked men committing a terrorist act, but even in this there was heroism notably by another Cornish man, Rick Rescorla who helped many to safety and left it too late to help himself. In situations like this we see what the human spirit is capable of both good and evil. What of disasters that come on people because of the earth restless movement of tectonic plates. Often people live near volcanoes because the land is rich and fertile and they have the chance of a better life there when the volcano is resting. We cannot blame them for that but sometimes people become complacent...
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