Ah the great Dicky Holt, in my day a better leader never born. Going thru the things he did for us, amazing. Yes we did have to share accomodation, I remember my first officer and myself had to share in Cairns one night, neither of us getting any sleep due to the very amorous goings on in the room next door. We ended up playing cards all night. (we later found out it was one of our very own flight attendents with a new found boyfriend and yes, I did have a little chat with her!)another great leader was Buck Brooksbank, always on the side of the pilots, both he and Dicky had the ability to negotiate and convince even a eskimo he needed to buy a fridge. Two excellent pilots, two good Australians. Buck is still with us, hale and healthy living in BNE. My regrets of the dispute: never to get to say goodbye to my father who died before I could get home from Europe, taking the children away from beloved grandparents, ditto their school, the destruction of a much loved family dog, the sale of a family home, the loss of friends, who I thought were true, terrible homesickness for us all, the bravery of my little kids, trying so hard to understand a new language, a new culture, and my dear wife who suffered a breakdown, and so bravely tried to cope for my sake. On the good side (and there always is a good side) the children learnt another language, it taught them to consider other races, it taught me how flying in OZ is a piece of cake compared to Europe and gave me new skills, we visited art gallerys, zoos, that we enjoyed, but most of all it taught us that we live in the best country in the world and to appreciate it. So my hope for you all is that you are NEVER forced to leave what you love, but do so because you want to, you are NEVER forced to leave your job, you do so because you want to, and you are NEVER forced to take sides against mates you would normally walk over glass for. If it never happens again to our fellow pilots then at least we have achieved something.