Cultured Views

Ten years on…Diana

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Today marks the tenth anniversary of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. Ten years!. It seems only weeks really since the world woke to the news of that accident. Not in Australia though, we watched the whole thing unfold on TV as it happened because it was during daytime for us. Most of us in Australia were just waking up when the accident occurred at 8.30am Sydney time.

Where were you when itn happened? Where were you when you heard?.

I was reading the morning papers as the accident happened, no way could I have known that those same papers would be reissued later that same day with the news of the car crash. Such a thing was unprecedented in Australia.

About 11.am reports were filtering through on the radio and TV that Diana had been injured in a car crash and that Dodi was dead.  Serious stuff indeed. I had been at the shops that morning and heard it first on the car radio. By the time I had gotten home and turned on the TV the reports had changed gear and things were sounding worse for Diana but still no report of her being killed. Just in a coma; severely concussed.

On the TV there it all was; the tunnel, the flashing lights, the wreckage of the car and the BBC news. That was a sign all was not well, our own news service was replaced by the BBC coverage. James Whittacker was being interviewed.

I sat watching the TV until just after 1pm when my Mum came out of her room where she had been listening to the radio…’There’s reports just coming in that the Princess of Wales is dead’…my Mum was not really a Diana fan but she looked shocked. Almost immediately the wording changed on the TV to ‘Diana reported to have died’. Still disbelief!.

One moment we were being told she was concussed with a broken leg, now we are told she is dead. Then came the confirmation and a whole new topic of conversation for James Whittacker and the BBC news host. That is how I heard about Diana’s death and it was strange that most of the UK was still asleep and unaware of anything.

We are all familiar with the events of the following week and weeks. The funeral and it’s aftermath. The tributes. The two young Princes. How they have grown and how proud Diana would be of them today. This is where we must credit Prince Charles, what a wonderful father he is to them, it is such a shame we were never shown what a great and much loved Dad he is and was while Diana was alive.

There are so many ‘ifs’ and ‘whys’ that could explain how this whole thing could have been avoided, but it seems to have had a kind of inevitability to me. Real ‘tragedy’ involves ‘inevitability’. Maybe if she had worn that seat belt she would still be alive; most probably would have been; but we will never know.

One thing is sure though, maybe Diana - through her death - has taught us more than she ever could have if she had lived. You cannot leave a legacy until you die.

Popularity: 25% [?]

Expectations and realities

I wrote recently about my son and his decision to leave France and return to Australia. I thought I might go a little more into detail because it is important  to really consider your childrens options when you decide to live in another country. I wish we had given some things alot more thought before we came here, if only we had the benefit of hindsight at the beginning!.

We had assumed that going to school here would not be an issue. Now, many of us have seen those ‘move to France and never regret it’ shows on TV and especially noticed how easily the kids of those familys were accepted into the local schools. They glided into the system and, voila!, the kids were fluent in French within six months and topping their classmates as well.

It ain’t that easy!.

In reality this works if your kids are under 12. Once they are over that age they are attending College and Lycee. Those schools demand a very high degree of French for them to admit a non-French student. William had always been a good student but his French was minimal and absolutely no school in the Perpignan region would touch him. And he was only 16 when we arrived here.  We tried every College, and then Lycee, within a radius of 50 km’s and got the same answer…’no’.

So in effect William’s education stopped when we came to France. In desperation we finally paid a visit to Inspection Academique in Perpignan where the lady informed us we should just sod off back to where we came from. ‘Her’ schools were for French speaking kids only.

What I am saying is this, do not assume that France is the promised land. It is not. I do not know of any other country that refuses a kid education simply because of his/her language skills, but they do in parts of France. We were not prepared for this attitude and it has caused us a lot of grief. Especially for William.

Popularity: 11% [?]

Compare and shop

The world wide web has revolutionised the way we do most things now and one great innovation is online shopping. From the comfort of our own home, or office, we can browse literally thousands of websites offering the consumer anything they wish to buy. Amoung all these I have found one site well worth looking at, Shogging, as it offers more products than I have ever seen on one site - literally millions - and shopping there is fast and easy.

What ever category you are interested in you will find it here: automotive, electronics even computors, this is a search engine that will satisfy all your shopping needs. The site is easy and uncomplicated to navigate with good descriptions of the products on offer plus photos so you can see exactly what you are getting. All the top leading brands are here and a bonus is the products are all offered at prices that are very competitive, you will certainly save some money shopping here.

A great new feature I find at Shogging is that this search engine has it’s own blog where consumers can talk about the products they have bought, or intending to buy, offering a great feedback facility. This is a bonus as other sites do not offer this to it’s customers and most of us like to comparison shop these days. Who better to ask for opinions than other shoppers?. There is a blog category for each product so before you buy why not check out other consumers experiences with the product first?. You will also find that along with some of the blogs is a special offer neatly tucked in. This is a great way to become more shopping-savvy.

With Christmas coming just around the corner Shogging must surely be the place to do your gift buying. For that special person in your life what about a fine piece of jewellery?. Ultra Diamonds provide a way to really spoil that loved one of yours and what better way to say those three little words than with a diamond?. And not just at Christmas, but at birthdays or just as a special and unique gift. Ultra Diamonds are one of the top leading jewellers in the world and are passing on their best savings to shoppers at Shogging.

What impresses me with Shogging is that there are so many great deals on the best items, you will surely do well shopping at Shogging. While you’re there have a look at their podcast too featuring some well known voices!.

Popularity: 12% [?]