And to be TOTALLY pedantic, don't forget:
Antigua, Australia, Barbados, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, New
Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, St Kitts and Nevis, St
Lucia , St Vincent, The Grenadines, The Bahamas, and Tuvalu.
The royal family is the titular head of quite a few nations.
Shows what a good navy and a desire for some edible food can
accomplish. ;>
Thats' a good question!
I'm dimly remembering some war movie where drunken british
soldiers sing about Tuvalu.
So...
Off to check the rest of the internet for an answer (since I started
this)....
...and I'm back!
Why, it's north of Kiribati! In the land where they speak...Tuvaluan!
So seriously, it's apparently nine coral atolls, population about 10,000,
somewhere east of the Solomon Islands. North of Fiji. 353 centimeters
of rain a year. Which, if I did my yankeemath right is 11.6 FEET of
rain. Dang, that's wet.
Hope that answered your question.
And yes, I DO have WAY to much time on my hands.
🙂
"(...) WAY toO much rime on my hands." Isn't that sad? Having TOO
much time on hands? Do something about it, so that you become
short of time. don't ask me how it happens, but since I retired on 1
November 2001, I'm short of time. More so than when I was working
full-time. No black abyss to fall in. I praise myself lucky for that. Days
seem to be a couple of hours.
Would that be a worthy subject to exchane ideas on? How do we live?
What are our interests, opinions, hobbies (apart from chess), life-
values...? Just a thought that popped up. Jan
My knowledge on this subject, the Commonwealth, is poor. But did you
leave out Zimbabwe on purpose? Or is that because of the recently
held undemocratic elections? Or... am I wrong?
All the same: my sincere condolences to those whose Queen Mum
passed away at an age we can only dream of. Jan
Being a total nerd, I listed countries (besides UK) that considered
Queen Elizabeth II as the head of state. Zimbabwe, as well as many
other countries of the commonwealth, apparently do not. They why's
and wherefore's are beyond me...which is why I find it so interesting.
And yes, our sincerest condolences. A Grand Lady has passed, who
lived to an amazing age and lived through incredible times. When I
think what the last 100 years have entailed....it fills me with awe of
her life.
My mum is not a queen. She's 95 and has lived quite a life as well,
though a very sad one. Not being able to attend school longer than
when she was 9. Suffered 2 World Wars. In WO II the last V1-bomb
on Antwerp decided for unknown reasons not to go down on an empty
factory, for which it was aiming. Instead of diving down on it, it hit our
house 200-300 meters farther. Casualties: my dad, grandparents, two
uncles and one aunt, all died in a sec. Mum was under the rubble for
two days. She recovered. But was left with three children, who she had
brought in safety outside of Antwerp. She revovered, but... never
mentally. Neither did I. My dad is not more than a b/w photograph.
Mum told, and still tells, me what a wonderful husband and father he
was. Would you believe me I have missed him all my life? And still
do? At 95 she keeps reminding that he also loved to play chess, his
head going all red due to total concentration. Just imagine... How
much better a player I might have been, 'educated' by my father. So
much more of a chess life...
That was not the last atrocity in her (and my sister's and my) life. In
1952 my brother, then 17 and me 12, became severely mentally ill:
schizophreny, hebephrenic variant was the diagnosis. Was in and out
of mental institutions. More in than out. Just couldn't cope with the
life 'out there'. Very intelligent, wanted to live so desperately... 13
suicide attempts, and yes, irony, the 13th was lethal. Will never forget
mum's words when I arrived at the hospital and she embraced me,
where he had died a few minutes before: "Our boy has, at last!, found
his peace." 31st November 1969... It is still a day of remembrance. It
always will be... Forgive me for having become soft and sad for a
while. Sometimes I feel the need to be so. Jan
Hi! I know that 'pax' means 'peace', but of 'vobiscum' I haven't the
foggiest. Bye the way, r., you're a graphical designer. Interesting. I'm
retired now since last November, but most of my career I was a
copywriter and account-executive for medium-sized Belgian advertising
agencies. Loved the job enormously. and now... I'm reading Naomi
Klein's 'No Logo'. Should I feel guilty? However, many times I
convinced accounts to tell the truth, instead of trimming the it...
Otherwise you get a backlash. I like truth. If the product is good, it's
easier to sell. I've done many campaigns for Royal Caribbean Cruise
Lines, based in Miami, HQrs in Oslo, though. And yes, I could praise a
cruise into heaven or just demolish it. In that case you praise it into
heaven, but only for the right target audience. The nicest part of it was
that the company's ceo asked me: "Have you ever been on a cruise,
Jan?" The answer was 'No'. "So", he said, "you can't write cruise-copy
without having been on a cruise yourself; So, off you go!" And there I
was, in the Caribbean. Made some 12-13 cruises in total. It gives one
a kick, at least that's what I experienced, enjoying something I
couldn't possibly pay for. Jan
It means: "Peace be with you". I'm not familiar with Naomi Klein's book, so I
absolve you of any guilt. I can't say I've ever been on a cruise myself, we don't
get such great perks at my agency. They did offer to give me a cruise to either
Switzerland or Bolivia, but that fell through for "technical" reasons...
Never mind, r., you really didn't miss much. Sorry for the Americans,
but they can't even dine properly... Ordering a Florida Lobster, and
pouring loads of... ketchup over it. Ordering a bottle of Château Neuf
du Pape and... filling half the glass of it with, yes!, ICE! Brrr! Jan