At first, I was irritated with myself for not buying that Gulfstream jet a couple of weeks ago; I could have rented a good-looking pilot and had him fly me to Sealand. But after I took a closer look at the photos, I realized that there is nowhere to land! After all, this tiny little country used to be a fort!
I have always been sort of a history buff, so it was fascinating to learn that in 1967, a little spot in the ocean called Sealand actually became its own independent state after Paddy Roy Bates, a former British pirate radio broadcaster, moved in with his family and dubbed himself H.R.H. Prince Roy of Sealand. He had squatter's rights, I guess.
Anyway, before being renamed Sealand, Bates' state was one of the Maunsell Sea Forts, small fortified towers built during WWII to help defend the United Kingdom. After a nasty little skirmish involving bullets and guns and a formal court ruling, it was determined that since HM Fort Roughs lay outside a three-mile radius of the British coastline, it was outside government control. And Sealand was born.
I can't believe an actual country is built on an artillery platform on top of an old fort on top of a sandbar! The whole place measures only 5,920 square feet—geesh, my house is bigger than that! Most of it is cold, rusty steel, which I don't look forward to seeing. It's going to need massive redecorating, especially after that devastating fire last June. Perhaps I can get Ty Pennington from Extreme Makeover: Home Edition to spruce it up for me. I saw some glass tile flooring in a magazine last week that would look great in an entryway...I wonder if a fort even has an entryway? Hmm…this is going to be an interesting trip!
