Breakfast time on Monday September 27 last; that day’s Australian spread out on the kitchen table; the cat eyeing off my buttered toast, with strong hints that she wouldn’t mind a slice for herself. Situation normal in the Ryan household. My eye caught a short news item: a teenager in Albany, Western Australia, had swum out and climbed onto the back of a southern right whale swimming some twenty metres off shore. “Good boy,” I thought. “So Australia is still breeding some spirited striplings. We need every one we can get. I’ll make another cup of coffee, and enjoy reading…