Implications of Independence for Bermuda? One answer might be to take a close look at the list of "organisations and individuals'' who made submissions to the Committee on Independence, which was responsible for the final document, self-labelled "a factual, objective position paper''.

Name 17 -- Sir Randeville Flash -- is a fictitious character who exists only in the mind of a writer of letters to the editor under this nom de plume.

So was Sir Randeville the one who came up with the figures on the estimated financial costs of Independence? A Halifax man who bypassed Bermuda on Wednesday is seeing much more of the world than he first expected when he boarded an oil tanker in Halifax last Saturday.

The man was only expected to pilot the Exxon-leased tanker Eagle Orion out of Halifax Harbour, then return home a short time later aboard a pilot boat.

But the Eagle Orion sailed just as a severe winter storm hit Eastern Canada, and the seas were too rough for the pilot to return to his home port.

Instead, he found himself bound for Colombia.

Not a problem, he was assured. Bermuda was only a short distance off the ship's course.

But when Eagle Orion arrived at the Island on Wednesday, seas were too rough to risk transferring the pilot by rope ladder onto a Government pilot boat.

At last word, the wayward pilot was expected to reach Colombia on Sunday...weather permitting.

Do pilots pack a toothbrush? "Prudent ones do,'' says Capt. John Moore of Meyer Agencies.

Nothing is for free, a Royal Gazette reporter found out this week when trying to gather some information on Court Street about a fatal stabbing.

While talking to some guys along the way, she came across some people who clearly did not know what had happened.

But then she came across a couple of guys who said: "Cross my palm with some money and I will tell you the whole deal. You'll be bigger than Connie Chung and Barbara Walters with what I have to say.'' And if that was not enough, one man, who told her to come closer to him for what she thought would be some juicy information,... the story,...the big scoop, suggested that she "sleep with him'' and if she agreed, she would hear it all, everything that happened.

But, of course, the reporter settled for less and left Court Street empty-handed, finding out her own information free of charge.