Pirates of the Indian Ocean

Skipping the singleness topic for a brief look at something completely different:

Bizarre as it seems, I have good reason to take note of the steady trickle of news involving Somali pirates. A week ago I passed through Denmark as news broke about a pirate attack in which seven Danish citizens were taken hostage. Among them a family with three teenagers. None of the articles I read quite portrayed my own first reaction to this, which can be summarized as:

What. The. Feck.

And more specifically: WHY. THE. FECK?!

Why the frack, why-y-y-y-y-y? Why do people sail their yachts in this region? I’ve asked myself this hearing of middle-aged couples getting themselves kidnapped; I ask it ten times louder when families with children sail this route. Isn’t it a tad irresponsible to take kids sailing in the north-western Indian Ocean these days? Not just because of what you might put your kids through – trauma even if you all come through safe and sound, plus piffling details like risking their lives, or risking them becoming orphaned. But spare a thought for the people who have to patrol the area, who have to go negotiate your release and (hopefully) get you home... My main concern, though, is that you sponsor a growing criminal enterprise. Ransom money feeds straight into the piracy industry, increasing its power, giving them the (a) incentive and (b) means to keep going and to expand their hunting ground.

Aren’t pirates enough of a safety and economic issue for the maritime world* without pleasure sailors adding to the problem? Why should a little yacht venture where big ships fear to tread?  The amateur sailor contribution to pirate income may be a mere drop in the (Indian) Ocean - but it is an avoidable drop. There are enough people who have work-related reasons to enter [with trepidation] into the piracy high-risk zone; or want to but are forced to avoid it. Like seamen on commercial freighters. Or fishermen. Or scientists.

Not only big companies with valuable cargo or rich Westerners are targets of pirate attacks. Last year I heard radio interviews with poor Indian fishermen who had been kidnapped. And with their wives: what went through their minds during the months when their husbands were gone and they didn't know if they would ever get their loved ones – and their main source of income – back...

So when people take their rosy-cheeked teenagers for adventurous voyages via the Gulf of Aden, and they get taken hostage, and some hundred thousand euros are paid in ransom, and this keeps the engines of the Somali piracy venture running for some additional hundreds of nautical miles, it ultimately affects other innocent people who get their livelihood from that ocean!

I'm not saying "let them rot" or "let them die" - once someone’s kidnapped of course the prime objective should be to get them home, alive and healthy. Stupidity is not punishable by law in our countries; certainly not by capital punishment. But if you plan a sailing holiday: please, SKIP the Gulf of bloody Aden!



Update: Since I wrote this, there has been an attempt at freeing the Danish family; 3 pirates and 8 soldiers killed...

*>700 people currently held hostage!

Prologue: The lady doth protest too much

Soon I'm finally going to get on to a topic that was one of the initial inspirations that made me feel like I might one day have to start a blog, because I had so much on my mind, so many bees in my bonnet... This risks becoming a long-winded story, so we might have to split it into multiple parts. So, this whole post is just the preamble!

Background: A long time ago, in a galaxy not so far away, there was once a discussion about singleness. Here's a simplified version of that story as I see it. A group of singles were talking between themselves, saying "we're happy being singles. We're fed up with being told that you're somehow incomplete if you're not part of a couple". Certain couples heard this and barged in, smooching ostentatiously. Singles booed and chased them out. Some coupled-up people heard this and said "hey, if you're so happy being single then why do you get so upset about happy couples? In reality, this probably means you're not happy at all!"

Now, first of all it's worth pointing out that the smooching couple did so jokingly, and the singles reacted in like manner. Both the provocation and the protest were really in good humour. But in the ensuing discussion there were a few points that one might think a little bit more seriously about. If so inclined. I feel like I want to write about the topic of being a happy single. What does it mean? Is it possible to be one? If it is, why would a happy single object to people snogging in his face*, as it were... And other related topics that might come up along the way.

Exciting, isn't it?


*Actually, this isn't really the issue. I just couldn't resist writing the phrase "snogging in his face". Also, it should of course read "his/her face". Anyway, there are couples who also aren't particularly fond of witnessing other people's PDAs [Public Displays of Affection]. So it's not really about the snogging at all...

New beginning

Happy new year! It's still fairly new, you know. There's still time to do (almost) all those things we might have been thinking, as we stood there with the prickling of champagne still in our noses, while the bells were ringing and thousands of birds were falling dead from the skies possibly frightened to death by fireworks*, "this year I'll..."

For me the year started out rather oddly, with experiences even in the very first day of the year ranging from what I hope I won't have to do again anytime soon - or preferably ever again - to what I hope there'll me much more of. As for the less good of the two, it would be tempting to say that at least with such a bad start to the year, things can only get better. I'm not quite stupid or naive or spoilt enough to think that, though; sometimes, unfortunately, you might think you've hit rock bottom only to find that this was merely a soft, sedimentary rock which crumbles beneath you and leaves you tumbling head-first towards the real granite floor... But let's hope that's not the case here. What we can say for sure is that there's room for improvement - do you hear that, 2011? Let's make a deal, dear year, I'll do my best if you do yours. Let's see where we can get from here, upwards & onwards!



...and the above was written on the 11 January and not posted until now. Sorry! Is the year still new-ish? In that case a make a new-ish year resolution right now: I'm going to post more regularly and frequently in this blog. Let's say at least once a week! (ooh, that's a bold undertaking, but I'm all for bold undertakings, so here goes)