Sorry to make you feel bad again Clunkdriver but I was talking to a journo today and she said something that made me shiver. It seems there is a rumour - just a rumour mindst - that TCT was up for an OBE and that this may have been deferred until New Year. Perhaps the smell of a scandal was in the air and it was hoped that an air-freshener of statements and a timely delay would clear the atmosphere. As this is a Rumour Network I think it fair to throw that into the mix. Very much in the same vein that there used to be a rumour that these flights were not solo as had been claimed - suckering vast wads of sponsorship out of beguiled old men.
If there is any truth in it then it still stinks and would be one of the greatest abuses of the Honours system we are likely to witness. People far more adept than I at fact-finding are on this.
One thing that still niggles at my curiosity are the career claims. I said in an earlier post that the dates don't stack up. How long would you need to be at the Foreign Office to call it a career? How long would you have to work at De Beers to qualify as a career diamond-valuing gemologist? ...and still have time to fit in the trans Africa flight in an Antonov, the months long journey back in a truck, a move to NZ and working to get a PPL, CPL and Instructor Rating - paying for it all piecemeal on waitressing tips. She must have had some good tippers because all this was done and she managed to buy the PT22 Ryan back in 2004. As a matter of interest, how much would one of those set a mere mortal back in smarties?
Nah, pull the other one chuck, it has bells on. You're going to need a mighty powerful air-freshener because this smells fishier than a barrel full of rotting cod.