You've Gone To Far This Time

I have just finished a superb, and inspiring read, ‘You’ve Gone Too Far This Time, Sir!’ by Danny Brent.  The book describes the journey he made from London to Chembakolli in India, it was 15000km from A to B and he travelled the whole way by bicycle.  I must say I did try and get into the spirit of the book by doing my usual trick of sitting on the exercise bike in the Hangar whilst I read it and it certainly helped me pass the time as I cycled for an hour, which when it is over 40Deg is going some.

 

To cycle that distance, much of the time with no company and across some quite rough terrain I think is amazing. The book really painted the picture of the different countries and cultures that he passed and I thought he managed to express the emotions felt during the journey really well. 

 

I think what is even more thought provoking is how he got treated on the journey by total strangers.  People who have very little compared to those in Europe openly welcomed this chap into their homes throughout his journey, well basically from Eastern Europe onward.  You wouldn’t see that happen in the UK, very few people would invite a total stranger into their house, feed them and give them a bed for the night. Most of us would probably just cross the road and ignore the traveller or automatically be suspicious and think the worse of someone. Yet throughout this mans journey people with nothing put a roof over his head and fed him, asking nothing in return.  Perhaps this does show that humanity has hope after all and maybe we could all learn something from this.

 

I know I could never undertake such a journey as I wouldn’t want to be apart from my family for that amount of time, (I know I am away when I am at sea but not for that length of time) it has made me even more determined though to one day cycle from Lands End to John O Groats need to get a little fitter before I even think of doing that though. Anyway it was a great book and would recommend it as well worth a read.

 

Forty Degrees and Rising

It reached 40Deg C again today so it is certainly warming up out here and it is not even July yet.  I looked in the log today and yesterday it had topped 43Deg so no wonder it felt a tad toasty when I had a wander ashore.  I really do not know why anyone would want to live in this heat with the constant sunshine and no seasons.  I know today with the advent of air conditioning people can stay inside but how they coped years ago I will always wonder.  I assume that being a nomadic people they moved around to try and find cooler areas dependent on time of year.

 

We have now been alongside for a week and the novelty is wearing off, I just want to get back to sea now, purely for selfish reasons as I am a lot busier when we are at sea so the time goes by quicker.  I know when we are alongside I can get up to the coffee shop for Skype but that just makes me feel more home sick as I miss everyone back home.  It is quiet funny doing Skype though as the little man tends to wonder about and when I am skype he comes up to the study door and peers around it with a smile on his face as if to say ‘hello what’s Daddy doing on the computer’.  Where as little Beth just sits there and plays peek-a-boo.

 

As we have been alongside I haven’t been doing my daily intel briefs which has been quite nice as it does cut my work load down.  However I thought I had better just bring myself up to speed again today and as usual I have come to the conclusion that the world really is a depressing place.  Why can’t we all just learn to get on, work together and build a brighter future, why is there so much misery in the world.  The scary thing is I think things are only going to get worse, or at least they are not going to get any better.  Oh to be back in the Green Dragon with a pint of Rattler and the little ones running around.

 

It’s not all bad though as I am still managing to get up the gym most days, although it is bloody warm cycling in the hangar.  I am quite chuffed with myself though as I managed to do 40 minutes today which doesn’t sound a lot but when the temperature is up near 40Deg it is quite hard going.  I am still keeping myself amused by reading the Kindle whilst I cycle and I can’t believe I have read over twenty books this trip so far which just shows how great the kindle is as those books would have weighed a ton in the suitcase.  I had been running short on the ones I had downloaded but having got up to the coffee shop I have managed to download a few more. Needless to say I am still being a skin flint and I tend to go for the free ones although I do occasionally splash out and get the ones that are a couple of quid.  The nice thing about going for the free ones is that I am reading all sorts of styles and authors that I hadn’t necessarily heard off before, admittedly some are pants but generally they are all good reads. The latest freebie that I have downloaded looks really good and is about a chap that cycled from London to India, hopefully it should be a good yarn but it does put my longest cycle of 50miles to shame.    

 

Well that’s about it for today, I am off to mope about my cabin and get upset as the telly has just gone off, typical as Doctor Who was supposed to be on tonight. Hopefully it will get reset in time.                                                                                         

 

Alongside and all is quiet.

It is surprising how quickly things quieten down once we get into port. We have now been alongside for five days and I seem to have finally caught up with all my work so that I no longer feel the need to start work at 0615ish in the morning.  After the hectic time at sea it is good to get some down time, although it will be good to get back to sea at the end of the month.

 

We have a good bus routine into town so it is nice and easy to get in to go on Wi-Fi. It was really good to see Debbie and the little ones on Skype and to play peek-a-boo with Elizabeth. It does make it hard though as I am missing so much of the little ones growing up.

 

I really thought it would be easy to write my blog this trip, however I think it gets harder each time. Firstly I always have to be careful about what I write for security reasons. Secondly I seem to be sat in front of computers most of the day so I find it hard to write. I really must make more of an effort. Perhaps I just need a good blow out to clear my head, unfortunately there is no cider onboard at the moment, hopefully we will get some before we sail.