- Before I tell you about today I need to catch up on a few things first of all the below article is taken from the sports channel and yesterday was the anniversary of the horrid disaster at the Hillsborough soccer stadium in Sheffield, England…my home town and also the ground I worked many games as a Police Officer!!
It has been 23 years exactly since the game changed forever in England.
Such a terrible shame that it took heartbreaking loss to force much-needed action in the way supporters watch soccer there.
On April 15, 1989, a total of 96 people died because they went to a match to support their team. The Hillsborough disaster of that awful day still reverberates so meaningfully.
Ninety-four fans died at the site during the notorious FA Cup semifinal. A 14-year-old boy died four days later and yet another supporter died four years later, having been in a coma the entire time. In total, 766 people were injured.
A subsequent inquiry into the horror by Lord Justice Taylor blamed police decisions and crowd control failures at a devastating level. The Taylor Report simultaneously provided cathartic vindication, following initial reports that cruelly attached blame onto “drunkenness” among Liverpool supporters.
But from all those awful events did come some good. As England’s Guardian explains:
Hillsborough and its consequences changed forever the way supporters watched football in England. Taylor’s report condemned the primitive conditions in which spectators were expected to watch their teams. The result was a dramatic switch to all-seat stadiums and the abolition of perimeter fences which, as Hillsborough demonstrated, could turn grounds into death traps when people had no means of escape.”
Yesterday was also another tragic anniversary!!
Titanic's dead mourned 100 years later in poignant ceremony at sinking
1 of 5. A wreath floats after being thrown into the sea during a service of remembrance aboard the Titanic Memorial Cruise, over the Titanic disaster site 100 years after it sank in the western Atlantic Ocean April 15, 2012.
ON BOARD MS BALMORAL | Mon Apr 16, 2012 6:41am EDT
ON BOARD MS BALMORAL (Reuters) - At the shrill sound of a ship's whistle in the North Atlantic, relatives of some of the more than 1,500 people who died when the Titanic sank after hitting an iceberg remembered their ancestors in a poignant ceremony a century later.
On a still, starry night and with little glare from the moon, the memorial cruise ship MS Balmoral floated above the wreckage of the famous 'unsinkable' luxury liner precisely 100 years to the day it foundered.
"At 2:20 am all was quiet, as it would have been 100 years ago when it went deathly quiet, when the screaming stopped," British Titanic historian Philip Littlejohn told Reuters on Sunday. Littlejohn's grandfather, Alexander Littlejohn, was a 1st class steward in charge of lifeboat 13 when the ship began to go down.
About 700 people were rescued that night, including his grandfather, but there were too few lifeboats to save the rest.
David Haisman, 74, a retired seaman from the English port town of Southampton, mourned the loss of his grandfather who had been on his way to Seattle to start a new life in the United States with his wife and daughter.
"I've been brought up with the story but now I could feel it," he said.
"My mother used to tell me how she got into lifeboat 14 and her feet became soaked with the 3 to 4 inches of water that remained in the bottom despite bailing."
The last time she saw her father was when he cupped his hands and shouted "I'll see you in New York".
The story of the world's most famous maritime disaster has gripped the world's imagination, inspiring Hollywood films.
While some of those on board the memorial cruise were relatives of the victims, others had paid thousands of pounds in order to retrace the vessel's fateful journey from Southampton to New York.
The ship, the biggest in the world at the time, foundered in frigid Atlantic waters off Newfoundland on April 15, 1912.
On Saturday, Balmoral's ship's whistle pierced the air at 11.40 pm, the exact time the Titanic hit the iceberg, followed by a two-minute silence.
"I had this feeling that this is the place where all the suffering went on," said retired seaman Haisman of the somber moment.
Most of Balmoral's 1,300 passengers then squeezed onto the deck for a service and hymns, and to watch three wreaths be thrown into the calm waters at 2.20am Sunday morning, the moment she sank.
Members of the Belgian quintet ensemble Grupetto played in honor of the band members who played on even as the Titanic went under the waves.
The sky was clear and the nearest iceberg was about 100 nautical miles north.
"It's just so moving, it feels like you were part of something so special," said Susie Millar, a journalist from Northern Ireland whose great grandfather Thomas Millar had worked at Harland and Wolff, the shipyard where the Titanic had been built, before becoming a crew member.
He was one of the people who lost their lives when it sank.
"As the wreaths went in, I thought of people in the lifeboats as the Titanic sank, who didn't know whether they would be rescued or not," she said.
"It all happened in real time and I thought that people wouldn't have had time to say all their goodbyes, it all happened so fast."
The anniversary was marked in other parts of the world too, including Belfast, the ship's birthplace, where a plaque was unveiled listing the names of those who were lost, including 28 from the city.
Professor Robert Ballard, the American oceanographer who found the wreck in 1985, said he'd been moved to tears as he joined relatives of the dead for the Belfast ceremony.
Meanwhile, on a beautiful lakeside in Ireland's west coast county of Mayo, people in the tiny village of Lahardane gathered to hear a bell toll for the 11 locals who died onboard, and three joyful rings for the three who survived.
Also from yesterday I omitted this photo of the trail I took to that wonderful waterfall…
Now imagine this photo above and me coming around the corner and seeing this baby right on the path..
Still on yesterday who won the hockey game you might ask??
Does this answer your question!!!!
Series score Kings 3 games …. Canucks 0 games…..one more loss and the Canucks can get their golf game ready!!!
The other event that I did not tell about was two weeks ago I received an e mail from Heather stating that Visa called for me and I had to contact them right away..when I did they informed me my US dollar Visa card which I had only used once in 5 months and that was a few days ago had been compromised they thought..they asked me if I had made a purchase of $1200 In Bubba’s store in Florida..I said no and they told me they had cancelled the card….when I said what happens now that is my only means of accessing my US dollar funds, they apologized and said when I get home and to contact them and they will refund the exchange rate when I use my Canadian card!!
Well yesterday as always I check my bank statements on line and saw a charge on my ATM card
that was not mine and I skyped them at least 6 times getting cut off each time when I did connect they asked me if I was in Panama and when I said no they said that card had been compromised and they were cancelling that one too…..the moral of the story is that I was smart enough to have an extra credit card and an extra debit card with me but still a good job I shall be home soon!!!
Ok I think we can now start with today…I picked another great place for a quiet and good sleep and again woke up to cool, windy rainy skies!!!
I decided this morning that it was going to be a shortish driving day and I was heading into Oregon to an RV park where they have hot tubs at the RV site…it is a Passport America site so I get it for half price…so by 9am I was on the road!! This would be my first and only stop at a RV park since I left Mexico!!!
It should say wet Oregon!!
Being a little bit frugal I like to arrive at the RV park early and take advantage of all the facilities and I arrived here at 10.45am..
The three sites with hot tubs were reserved so that was a bit sad but the park looked lovely and I paid my $16 dollars and got set up!!
It was raining so I did inside work, computer work, route planning, shopping lists as Oregon has no sales tax and then the rained stopped so I immediately went for a walk down to the beach just adjacent to the park!!
The ocean looked cold and angry!!!
This next photo is of a tree stub and I messed with it in Picasa….
I enjoyed the walk then decided to do outside chores so took care of all the tanks and some cleaning then went to the washrooms and I became an instant Happy Camper!!!!
If you were to ask me one of the things I have really missed on this 10 month odyssey one of the things at the top of my list would be a hot bath so imagine my delight when I went in the shower stall…..
I immediately got my bath stuff ready and had a 45 minute soak…it was divine!!!!!!
Had a nice read and by 4pm I was in my bathrobe and safely tucked inside Ramona reading and just relaxing listening to music..whatever I was cool!!!!
Had a great dinner…. blog done it is time for tea and NO not cookies….I found a piece of strawberry/rhubarb pie in the freezer…now I really am a happy camper!!!!
Tomorrow it is heading north to a big center for some serious shopping……I have to be home on Friday so now countdown to being home!!!!
Blessings to all….
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