Rewarding Week

We have now been at sea for over a week which has been good. It has been a busy and stressful week, but rewarding.  The most stressful part of the week was when I found out my little girl was unwell and was having to go into hospital.  Although we have email and welfare phones information flow isn’t guaranteed and waiting for news can be horrible.  Anyway thankfully she is back home now, it turned out she had tonsillitis so she is on antibiotics until it has cleared up.

 

For the first time since I have been here I finally feel that I have broken the back of the information overload.  I have even started getting the niff naff and trivia jobs out of the way.  In addition I have had three or four ‘Well Done James’ from the CO in the last few days which is far better than ‘That’s a can of beer James’.

 

We have now started regular intelligence/Ops briefs onboard for the ship’s company so they are aware why we are out here. I gave the first one in the week and it had a really good reception and thankfully I didn’t get any questions at the end that I couldn’t answer.

 

As we are going to be at sea for a while I have started running a Sunday Service onboard, today was the first one and it was quite nerve racking as I am not used to leading services.  Thankfully I wasn’t the only one there.  Ok 3 people isn’t a lot but when I go to church at home quiet often there are only about 9 people so I don’t think we did to bad onboard.  Hopefully in coming weeks more people will come.

 

For the first time since I have been here I took the time to go out on the bridge wing with a cup of coffee and look up at stars.  The night sky at sea will never fail to amaze me and it was absolutely stunning tonight, although strange to see the stars in slightly different places compared to back home. I even had a look at the stars through the night sights, which was amazing as so many were visible, although it was strange seeing a shooting star through the night sights.

 

The bioluminescence, although weak tonight was beautiful to watch, it seems ages since I saw any.  I just remember back in 97 I was on a ship and the bioluminescence was so strong it was magical, there were dolphins in huge groups all around the ship and all you could sea were streaks of light, like torpedo trails cris-crossing the ocean. Occasionally one of the trails would stop and then you would hear the plop as the dolphin entered the water and the trail would start again.

 

Well that is enough swinging the lantern for one blog, so I am going to leave it at that for this entry. I wonder what the coming week will bring?

 

Two Weeks In

I can’t believe it has only been two weeks, it seems so long since I have seen Debbie or the little ones.  Even our last Skype call seems an age ago.  I have settled into a routine onboard which always helps it is just ashame that the Paradigm phones are not very reliable at the moment so our supposed 30 minutes of phone calls a week turns into 30 minutes of queuing for the phone, 30 minutes of trying to get connected and then once connected you either get cut off or can’t understand what they are saying as the quality is poor. At least the emails work OK and at the end of the day it is so much better than 20 years ago (OK yes I am feeling old but at least I should get my long service medal this year) when we had nothing.

 

We did our first RAS today all 5 hours of it.  It is good to get back to sea and do the core business and even after all this time it is still impressive seeing two ship’s of 20000plus tons steaming along 30m apart.  For the evolution today I was running between RASCO and the bridge which meant I got a go at the station keeping, it is great driving the ship and keeping it in position, especially in the weather we have out here (not so pleasant in the channel in winter). I had great fun standing on the bridge wing with the wind in my hair, however it was mentally draining after a while.

 

Things have been busy as always this end but at least the time is going quickly.  I have managed to get down the gym most nights, although last night I did take some work down with me however I have decided it is not that easy trying to highlight sections of an oporder whilst pedalling on the exercise bike. I should have left it back in my cabin and just taken my book down instead.  Tonight is the first night that I haven’t been down for a while so I must make sure I go down tomorrow night for a good read.

 

 

10 Days In

I can’t believe I have only been away 10 days, it feels more like a month.  The joining blues seem a dim and distant memory; this is mainly because of the amount of information I have had to ingest over the past week. There has been no room in the sawdust for anything else. 

 

Whilst we have been here it has been really good being able to go up the mall, have a good coffee and talk to Debbie and the little ones on Skype.  However we are finally sailing tomorrow and we will be at sea for five weeks so there will be no more chances of skypeing for a while, at least we get 30 minutes of phone calls a week and emails.

 

It is going to be good to get to sea proper and actual do my proper job for once. For the last few years I have been stuck around the UK coast, or stuck alongside in Scotland which always makes the trips drag.  It is very different out here though and it does seem strange sailing with all the guns mounted and manned, but as always it is best to be prepared.

 

As you can imagine I have been keeping a good eye on the news of late, things seem to be getting interesting in an awful lot of places at the moment.  I really wonder what the next few weeks will bring. I know the commentators have said that there isn’t a domino effect, but I think they are wrong, the dominoes are certainly falling, Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Bahrain will Saudi or Jordan be next I wonder? I don’t know if anyone else feels this but I just have this gut feeling that at the moment the world is standing on the brink of something.  I am not sure what that something is, just that we are on the brink. OK call me paranoid or mad, just something doesn’t seem right.

 

Well I have managed to get into a reasonable routine of going down the gym and cycling on the exercise bike. The saddles are really uncomfortable and because they are in the hangar it is quite toasty and humid so the sweat pours off and hopefully so do the pounds. Luckily my predecessor left some scales in the cabin so I have got in the habit of weighing myself and I recon that I have lost 3 pounds since I have been here.  It helps that I take my kindle up and read that while I am exercising as it helps me take my mind of how brain numbingly boring sit on an exercise bike can be. I am re-reading the ‘Hitch Hikers Guide To The Galaxy’ at the moment; I had forgotten how entertaining it was.  And one quote from it sums things up at the moment after the information overload of the past 10 Days:

 

            “I only know as much about myself as my mind can work out under its current conditions. And its current conditions are not good.” (Zaphod Beeblebrox)

 

 

 

Five Days In

I can’t believe I have only been here 5 days it feels more like two weeks and I miss Debbie and the little ones (bar the pooey nappies) more and more each day.  At least I had the opportunity to go ashore yesterday and use Skype in Costa’s.  It was really great to be able to see everyone.

 

It seems really strange though going ashore as I remember coming here and it felt like a foreign county and things were dirt cheep.  It has all changed now, it just seems like any other touristy/Americanised city with huge shopping Malls (they are quite impressive though).  OK I must admit I would come here on holiday if I ever had the money and I know Debbie would love it here but I do miss the feel of the old place when there was the feel of being on the edge of civilisation.

 

Work wise things are still intense but I am settling into my routine of getting up nice and early so I can start going through emails, signals etc at 0615 to get ahead of the game. It is always the same for the first few months whilst I get my head around things plus I don’t like having to go past 1730-1800 if I can help it.  All the information is slowly getting into my grey matter and I am slowly getting to grips with all the organisations out here.  I know that once we get to sea things will be a lot easier and we will soon get into a routine.

 

I am really going to try and loose weight this trip as last summer I had done so well but then I seemed to hit a brick wall and I didn’t manage to loose anything last leave so I am a stone heavier than I was in August, saying that I am still 2 ½ stone lighter than I was in 2009 so I will get there. At least the exercise bikes are in the hanger on here as there is nothing more depressing than staring at a blank bulkhead for 45 minutes. Being in the hangar with the doors open at least I can see things moving outside and I get fresh air at the same time. I only did a gentle 45 minute cycle today as I was engrossed in a book. Well is it wrong to sit on the exercise bike peddling away and reading the kindle at the same time. It certainly keeps the boredom away and I had a good 45 minute bout of exercise for not only body but also the soul.

 

I am really pleased Debbie got me the Kindle for my Birthday as it has been great, I am getting through about a book a week at the moment and the best thing is that it weighs next to nothing so I didn’t have to worry about lugging lots of heavy books away with me. Yes I know there will always be something about the smell and feel of tree books that I will always love, but it is good to embrace technology.  In addition it has worked out as a great cost saving, I downloaded about 46 books before I came away (all sorts Dracula, Shakespeare and some modern thrillers) 40 of which were free and 6 of which I paid for, even then a lot of the books available are less than a pound. If anyone out there loves reading I would recommend getting one. The only downside is that all the formats don’t work on all the different readers but Amazon has over 500000 titles so there is plenty to choose from.

 

Anyway I suppose that is about it for now, hopefully we will get this week over and done with quickly and get to sea so that we can settle into a nice routine and then hopefully the trip will fly by.

 

 

First Day Back

I am now back at sea and as I can’t access Facebook I am going to make a conscious effort to keep my blog upto date.  I will endeavour to avoid the doom and gloom and post apocalyptic thoughts of some of my previous blogs and keep things more relevant.  Of course names of places and ship’s will be left out as I can’t really give to much detail but hey ho.

 

The last week has been horrible as we knew I was going back and I think little Elizabeth picked up on it as she was really grumpy for my last week at home. This is unlike her as she is always so chirpy.  William didn’t seem to pick up on it and he has started saying his first words. Unlike Beth who’s first word were ‘Oh Dear’ William has gone a bit more risqué.  When we go to get him out of his cot in the morning he just keeps repeating his first word, which is ‘Sex’. He just keeps on saying ‘Sex, Sex, Sex’. Now this doesn’t really make any odds at home but can be quite strange when he is running around the pub saying it.

 

Anyway I flew out of T5 which was a novel and almost pleasurable experience. I had checked in online to ensure I got plenty of Leg Room as due to cut backs we now have to fly cattle class. I took Beth to the bag drop off and she stroked my suitcase as I put it on the conveyor and screamed her head of as it got whisked away. It is always hard saying good bye to loved ones when you go away to sea but having to say good bye to the little ones is horrid.  It is so hard knowing that I won’t see Debbie and the little ones for months. The only thing at the moment is that Beth and William are a bit young to understand but I am dreading it when they get a little older and can understand more. At least we have all the modern communications now so we have email and twenty minutes of calls each week. I will keep my eye out if I get ashore to see if I can find a WiFi hotspot then I might be able to skype them.

 

The flight was uneventful and apart from having to wait for ages for my bags to emerge at the other end it all went smoothly.  It is a long time since I have flown out this way and baring 2003 it is about 12/13 years since I was here. Things have changed so much, the first time I came here last century (95) the drive from the airport to the port was mostly desert, now it is all built up for the whole 40minute drive with a five lane motorway and skyscrapers the whole way. The first time I was here you quite often saw camels being driven around in the backs of pickups; I doubt I will see that this time. I suppose that’s progress for you.

 

Anyway I am now all unpacked and setting into my cabin, at least there are a lot of familiar faces onboard which always makes things easier, I just have to get my brain back into work mode now and hopefully with the busy programme the next few months will fly by.