Earlier this week in Sydney a drone display using colourful lights had to be abandoned as 90 drones suddenly fell out of the sky and plunged into Darling Harbour. The organisers put it down to a "technical hitch", a handy expression when everything goes wrong. With drones infiltrating the news so much these days it is almost reassuring that they can also be fragile just like humans.
Drones have long been used for spectacular light shows, but they don't always behave themselves. There was a similar incident in Melbourne a couple of years ago. Spectators witnessed 350 drones plunge like lemmings into the Yarra River. But at least these shows were for entertainment purposes.
When I was a youngster back in medieval times the word "drone" was either a reference to a lazy male bee or a monotonous dull sound, epitomised by people like teachers, preachers or politicians "droning on" in boring fashion. But times have changed and the word "drone" has been hijacked and become a key modern military weapon.
The current usage of "drone" is derived from the male bee. In Britain the first remote controlled aircraft developed in the 1930s by the Royal Navy was known as the "DH 82B Queen Bee". It made a constant buzzing sound and soon became nicknamed a "drone" after the bee.
Bores and bees
You can still hear people droning on if you so desire. Just switch on the television news or attend a conference anywhere in the world. The dictionary defines droning on as "to speak for a long time in a dull voice without saying anything interesting". I know the feeling.
Drones can of course be useful in many positive ways including emergency rescue and medical support. However, it is its role as a weapon of war that we will have to get used to and in this context they sadly make the news every day and not in a nice way. It is not very encouraging. I would rather listen to the drone of a honey bee any time.
Political pets
Readers will be pleased to learn that the Bangladesh buffalo named Donald Trump has been spared from its planned sacrifice at the Eid al-Adha festival and moved to a zoo. The buffalo has become quite a celebrity, which is what ultimately saved him from the knife.
Last week's item about the buffalo prompted several responses from readers concerning pets named after politicians. My thanks to a French reader who sent a photo of his cute dog named Boris boasting a mop of hair resembling a recent British prime minister.
It is quite common for pets to be named after politicians. In Britain there have been thousands of dogs that answer to Winston or Churchill. The name is particularly prevalent amongst bulldogs and goes back to the days of World War II when Churchill's leadership was felt to epitomise the British Bulldog spirit reflecting courage and determination.
Order in the house
The current Speaker of the House of Commons, Sir Lyndsay Hoyle, has a number of pets named after former prime ministers. His parrot is called Boris and is not shy about performing its party piece in which it amuses house guests by screaming "Order! Order!" Mr Hoyle also has a turtle named Maggie because "she has a hard shell and is not for turning".
Cross at your peril
You may have read about former F1 racing driver Mika Salo recently suffering a gash on his leg requiring 28 stitches after being struck by a motorcyclist while on the Sukhumvit/Nana pedestrian crossing. It is still not entirely clear what happened, but the Finn is convinced it was just an accident and nothing more sinister. Earlier reports suggested he may have been deliberately hit and one newspaper in England got a bit carried away and referred to it as a "stabbing rampage".
Whatever the case the incident is a reminder that Bangkok's pedestrian crossings are not necessarily the safest way to cross the road as they give a false sense of security especially to unwitting tourists.
Streets of London
The pedestrian crossing incident triggered memories of when I took my wife to England for the first time many years ago. We spent the first few days in London and it involved a fair amount of walking. But something seemed a bit odd -- motorists were actually stopping at pedestrian crossings, even on quiet side-streets. The wife was both impressed and puzzled and it took a while for her to adapt to this strange phenomenon -- an understandable reaction for someone having regularly experienced the joys of Bangkok crossings.
Unhappy hound
Following on from last week's item about singers who hated their own hits, Elvis Presley was another star who became weary of certain songs. As he got older Elvis was reluctant to perform his early great rockers like "Hound Dog", "Jailhouse Rock" and "Heartbreak Hotel", having moved on to a more sedate ballad style while performing in Las Vegas.
Elvis had become disaffected with "Hound Dog" at an early stage when on the Steve Allen Show they made him sing the song to a Bassett Hound which was wearing a top hat and a bow tie. Elvis felt ridiculous and one suspects the dog wasn't too happy about it either.
