It feels disingenuous to bear witness to a profound hardship of which one has been largely spared. But how can I not express my admiration and gratitude for the heroic triumph of the commanders and crew of HMS Soton-ECS and Soton over this undeserved and unprovoked assault from Nature? It was indeed reminiscent (again from a distance, to someone spared the tumult) of Dunkirk. And not just reminiscent but a direct embodiment of that same Brit grit that an outsider may perhaps be excused for alluding to directly. Its emblem is always the same (and has already been identified by others): “Oh dear. Never mind. Let’s get on with it.”
Well done. Indescribably, inimitably, well done. And duly, indelibly, noted.
Stevan Harnad
(safely, gratefully following the recovery from the colonies)