Titanic

All week we have been plagued with documentaries about the Titanic.  As my Mother has been staying with me I have been subjected to watching most of them.  There is definitely a macarbe fascination with watching all the films.  The story line is the same, rich pompous people look down on the steerage passangers, and then it sinks.  It is a stark contrast to today's society, no risk assessment, no health and safety, just build a massive boat, stick the wrong bolts in it and it point it in the direction of some menacing ice bergs, oh and don't bother with life boats, no point as it is unsinkable.

What is fascinating is the way society has changed.  In those days it was very heirarchical and rigid.  A lot of you can't do this or that.  Thank God we are not like that anymore, today the lines between the classes is a lot less divided.  We all love the stories of people from humble beginnings doing well for themselves.  In those days if you have had done well for yourself your upbringing would have never been forgotten by the chattering classes.  Surely, life would have been really boring, talking to the same people about the same stuff, afterall, our individuality is what makes us interesting.

In the same week there was the documentary about the Costa Concordia that sunk on the Almafie coast.  It was scary watching it.  Most of the crew seemed bewildered with the events and the evacuation looked like utter chaos.  If the Titanic films are to be believed, at least they appeared to have the evacuation under control, just a shame they were in the middle of the Atlantic with not enough life boats.  I am surprised after watching the real footage that only 32 people died out of 4,000.  It was lucky that it happened so very near to the coast, if not it could have been a very different story.  Well, it has certainly put me off cruises for life!