A few days ago Ongemak sailed into the Northern hemisphere. It was early in the morning and the sea was rough, but we drank champaign from the bottle and gave some to Neptune as well – it was an important moment.

Babu asked me in November whether we had crossed the equator yet. We had not, but I told him that we had crossed the Greenwich meridian to pass from the Eastern into the Western Hemisphere.

“No, no,” was his reply, “Greenwich is not important, it is man’s line, the equator is God’s line.”

This is indeed so. The position of the zero meridian had been decided upon by people, but the existence and position of the equator is a fact of the revolving planet we live on. Thanks dear friend Paul, often you have reminded me of the distinction between the lines of man and the lines of God.

Let us not forget this important distinction.