Canuk

Great exposition on the value and benefits of family! Do US citizens find the contradiction between of an age to be allowed to join the military and drive a car, but not have a glass of wine just plain weird?

Exactly why it took me so long to "rate" this chapter.... fun followed by angst followed by..... que? The writing is so good I yell at characters.... Thanks

Family! Everything else may be perfect, but there is something about family....when its good its amazing, when its bad...nothing worse. Great chapter. Thanks

Pickjng up on your last point, ethics "trainng" seems to be something missing from a lot of professional development, not only the military. The issues with the Blackwater soldiers trump just pardoned, as well as the asutalian soldiers currently going through the courts suggest that its all very well to have people trained as you depict to become the ultimate physical specimens (hmmm drifting off to fantasy there for a moment!) but they also need training in what is right, particularly when decisions are being made under pressure. War is never going to be nice, but it needs ethics and basic ru

Sounds like a sink or swim training camp. Though I do recall ghe only worse than being tortured with continuous activity was the boredom of haveing nothing to do and yet not being allowed to go anywhere! Look forward to how this progresses! Thanks

Great story, but I am amazed my children (now late 30s) survived without the level of attention Cameron and Elizabeth get! And the little vignette about the wine on the boat; one reason I avoid telling people my "favourite" foods, drinks, flowers etc, as suddenly thats what you are offered, instead of being able to try the new and different! I liked the descriptions of the islands. They can be very touristy, but as our heros discovered every now and again it is possible to discover the quiet, the calm and serene spots that make for perfect memories! Thanks

Will just discovered the problem with Bondi; when the waves are good, every man and his dog are out. The trick with all the surf beaches is to be there just as the surf gets good, but before said men and dogs get there too! Nb that all sounds sexist: women do surf and surf well, but some how when you try and include "and women" into something like "every man and his dog" things get pear shaped rapidly....🤔🤐😶

Yes, the thought of having to perform on a less than clean albeit enthusiastic woman, even for ready cash and an overdraft, would certainly put me off my breakfast! Mr Arbour, Happy New Year, but you do put your long suffering characters through some extraordinary tests of stamina and fortitude... Can't wait for the next test; mounting the cavalry, perhaps?🤗

Id recommend NEVER fly private like the boys have. I have done it once and honestly no other flight ever lives up to it! Great story. Those babies are the best ever!

Happily I can confirm it was legal in 2004 to have sex at 16 in all states in Australia and in the NT it was 14! So he's just fine. That said there is/was a common misconception that age of consent was 18. Too many people watched too much American teev!

Mr Arbour, you manage to convey the tortuousness of the Russian court in so many ways. It must have been exhausting to participate on a daily basis. Frankly the Duc seemed to have managed the perfect balance of being disliked enough not to have to attend but not so much he was confined to a dungeon or similar. As for Grainger having to do his duty with the Tsarina...its enough to bring on major performance anxiety. I just hope his imaginination of times with Pavel and von Beckendorf will provide him the stimulus he will need....

It was here but for a fleeting moment...and then it was gone! Hopefully back soon!😃

As some one who came out to their swim team well after (like years after) I agree that in hindsight its all, "oh! Its fine", but at the time, pre coming out, the natural language of the change room, common discourse, bar room chat was not gay friendly. What I realise later is that for better or for worse that bar room, change room chat was exactly that. It did not represent any of their views. But at the time, this was a risk I and I suspect others, felt they couldnt take.

Yes, I think we'd like to belive we'd all be just fine, but the average fan...nah! When Roberts came out, and that was one of the worst kept secrets ever, the popular press turned it into either the end of football as we knew it, or a catastophe. It was neither. It was a bloke coming out. However he was put through serious heavy shit before he got on top so to speak. I think Will is niaeve here. The bloke's body and what he can do with it is somewhat blinding him to reality at that time..... Great read....thanks again, Mr Arbour!

You could have made his first Australian-in-australia a decent bloke! Mind you in 2004, Oxford st was probably not going to find you class... Glad he's made it to Australia, while I have stayed at the Four Seasons, never that high up! It is sad when relationships like he had with Kai vere off into a mess of clingy, needy, whiny crap. It tends to blur the good times if it goes on for too long. Thanks for my second Mark Arbour before breakfast! Always a treat!