LIFE AFTER OST

OST is finally over and has been for 11 days. The second and final see week was reasonably tame compared to the first couple of weeks. For Navigation we received a Satisfactory for our final assessment, which I was pleased about, as the whole team had put in a lot of work. I think it has helped put what happened with SJ behind me.

We escaped from the clutches of FOST on the Thursday and made a fast passage around to Portland. The weekend went too quickly but of note was the Christening of little Elizabeth. It was a wonderful day and she was so well behaved.

The RFA Chaplin Bernard Clarke, who is also a Chaplin to the Queen, conducted the christening. It was a lovely service moving and light hearted. Elizabeth is the first to be christened onboard since Fort Rosalie became Fort Rosalie. We will be getting the bell engraved with her name. The christening was followed by fizzy wine on the Bridge, then down to the bar for a pub lunch. It was nice to see everyone that managed to come down to the ship on he day.

As mentioned the weekend went far too quickly and we were straight into our ISM audit on the Tuesday. This seemed to go quite smoothly which was a relief. Debbie stayed onboard for the week, which was really nice. I know it can’t have been much fun stuck in the cabin all day when I was working. It was nice being able to spend the lunchtimes and evenings with them. We did get ashore for a brief wander on the Wednesday and had some not so nice fish and chips in Weymouth.

Thursday saw Debbie departing to honalee to spend a couple of days with my Mummy before heading back to Devon on Sunday. In the meantime I went to RM Poole for a meeting on Thursday afternoon. After the meeting I headed back to Portland arriving back in time to join the Bridge team and Terry ashore where we had an enjoyable BBQ on Chesil beach near the Cove. It was quite civilised with Venison burgers and Fizzy wine. Needless to say I had a little bit too much to drink and I felt a little shabby on Friday morning when we came to sail from Portland for Scotland.

The passage up over the weekend was really pleasant. The weather was gorgeous and it was lovely just standing out on the bridge wings watching the world go by. As we were ahead of time we spent Sunday anchored of Holy Island.

We are now back alongside for three weeks or so, it will be quite nice having the chance to read my book again at smoko or lunch.