Good on you Corsair, Boyo!
There’s a heck of a lot of xenophobic nonsense on that other forum.
By “surrounding regions”, are you including us wild haggis munching ginger bearded savages in kilts running round the misty mountains beyond the far northern reaches of England with big swords chasing big hairy cows?:)

We’re feeding the Troll by even talking about him, so best let it lie.

Pre-dating all that was the Clyde steamer ” Queen Mary”, which was launched before the big ‘un, so the one youre all admiring should be named Queen Mary 3 ! The Clyde steamer is now a restaurant on the Thames.

Pride of the Clyde mate!
Unfortunately, these days appear to be well and truly gone.
A trip Doon The Watter on the Waverley is very depressing as you cruise past the empty shipyards with their redundant cranes and empty slipways….

Would have been, if it had been built here.

Turning this round a bit- If it were going forwards at mach 2 and shot a shell out of the back-a la tail gunner-which left the barrel at mach 2-would it just drop out of the sky?

A wee book I got for Christmas when I was pre school; called “Pete The Pilot” about a teddy bear bloke who goes up in a plane and ends up decending in a parachute after an altercation with some geese (still got it!), then Airfix models, and as a teenager, ATC flights in a Chipmunk and visits to Strathallan.
Its the freedom of movement in three dimensions, being remote from the earth, and dancing with the clouds, yup all that romantic stuff, combined with the legends embossed in my mind from films like Battle Of Britain and The Dambusters, from childhood. 🙂

Parker 25!