Yippeeeeeeeee

 

The end is nigh as I have a relief and a relief date. My relief joins this Friday and so I will be home Saturday after a long and at times eventful trip.  Having first joined the ship in early July the trip was expanded as I had three weeks at home recovering from my gall bladder operation.  It was all a bit surreal having spent a week in hospital and then going home.  Its sodding typical though as I missed the best port visit of the whole trip as the ship had 10 days in Leith during my period off sick.  Saying that though as much as I would have liked to have gone to Leith at least I had a few weeks at home with Debbie and the little ones which is far better than any port visit.

 

I do feel I have achieved a few things this trip, even though much of the time has been spent alongside.  We finally got little William Christened and a great day was had by all. I still can’t believe he slept through the whole service though, he didn’t even stir when the vicar poured water over his head. Mind you he did wake up when the wine started flowing. 

 

I managed to cycle 50 miles in one day (the day before I was admitted to hospital with Gall Stones) which was a great achievement for me and I think that over the course of the last 5 months I have managed to rack up about 600 miles on the bike. I just hope I can keep my levels of fitness up over the winter months so that I can achieve my aim next year of cycling 200 miles in two days.

 

Finally I also made it to XO if only for a week when I was transferred to another ship. It was a great experience and I feel that I proved to myself that I am capable of doing the XO role.  As I like to say “Self realisation is the first step to enlightenment.”

 

Anyway 5 days to go, and then it is home to Debbie and the little ones, I am really looking forward to seeing them as I haven’t seen them since the christening, although I must admit I am not looking forward to nappy duty as I am quite slow when it comes to changing nappies and little William always manages to escape when I am half way through. The joys of fatherhood I suppose. Well I wonder what the next few months will bring?