When the ocean liner Queen Elizabeth II (QE2) was sent out for its first sea trial in the North Sea, turbine trouble arose, an imbalance problem which caused very severe vibration. There was some uncertainty as to whether the ship would be able to return to port without assistance, but somehow, the crew managed to accomplish that. When I read about this in the newspaper, I envisioned that it would probably be a long time before the ship would actually be put into service.
I was wrong.
Just a few weeks later, the QE2 made its maiden voyage across the Atlantic and when it arrived in New York, the ship's welcome to the city was a tremendous celebration. The QE2's captain and his top officers were standing in full view on deck, dressed in their finest uniforms with lots of medals, the City of New York fireboats were deployed sending huge cascades of water arching into the air, Mayor Koch and all of the top city officials were on hand as the welcoming committee and the Key To The City was presented.
All of this was reported by the press in multi-page spreads with many photographs and many articles.
I was quite surprised.
Having seen all of this in the newspapers this one particular morning, I read everything with pretty much moderate interest and then I went to work. Shortly after I got to my desk, a co-worker arrived and he was in a state!
This man was from Great Britain and he absolutely adored Queen Elizabeth and the entire royal family, so much so that it was beyond my comprehension how such ardor could exist. My non-understanding not withstanding, with him, it was very clearly the case.
An aside:
My father, back in the day, had purchased a copy of the Coronation Edition (Queen Elizabeth II) of The Illustrated London Times and when I happened to mention it to this man one day, he practically begged me to allow him to borrow it.
When he took it, he held it as though it were on a velvet pillow. He kept it for three days and when he returned it, you would not know from looking that it had even been opened. It had been though. He and his wife had been up every night to all hours looking at it. The man was clearly dealing with serious sleep deprivation effects after those three days.
The thing that had given him the greatest surprise however, as he told me, was to have discovered that at one time, Prince Philip had worn a beard!
Back to this story:
"John! John!", he gasped as he came in. "Did you see? The Queen Elizabeth the Second sailed into New York Harbor this morning!!!"
I responded quite off handedly, "Yeah. They finally got that thing under way."
The man froze. He stared at me
"John. .. .... (long pause) ..... We do not refer to a ship named for Her Majesty as .....:'that thing'."
I laughed so hard, it was like a breath-suppressing spasm. I really didn't mean to insult him or anyone or anything or give him offense in any way, it was simply my surprise at the success with the ship's repairs combined with the man's phrasing of the admonition that got to me.
Of course, I had to apologize to him. He was really a good fellow and I had not meant to harm or offend him in any way.
It was a cultural difference, I suppose.
Comments