Ramblings in the South West Monsoon

Since Sunday we have been enjoying the South West Monsoon in it’s fully glory, fighting our way through 35-40kt winds and being bounced around by a steep 5m swell.  As we are heading into it things aren’t that uncomfortable though and we just get the odd shudder when we take a wave at the wrong time.  Because of our tasking we have broken into watches with Navs on the 12-6 and myself on the 6-12. I must say the novelty of doing six on six off soon wears off, especially with work outside of the watches as well.  I must admit though now we are settled into them I have managed to get quite a few jobs squared away which is always good, just ashame that I haven’t managed to get to the gym in my down time. That is just me finding excuses and blaming the weather.

 

I have slowly been running out of ‘Quotes for Daily Orders’, the little one liners I put on each day. It is quite hard to find decent quotes when the internet is slower than a slug in an ice cube. However I have come across some real gems of late and am particularly fond of the one I found today which is attributed to someone called W. M. Lewis:

 

“The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it.”

 

I think it is quite powerful as in modern life we can get so distracted by the pressures around us and by entertainment that we forget to live.  We worry so much about money or what the Jones’ have. We all try to conform to what is expected whilst everywhere is amalgamating so that there is no individual character anywhere as the Costa’s, MacDonalds and Starbucks appear everywhere. It is so easy to turn the TV on and lock ourselves away watching other people have adventures. We forget that there is a real world out there.  Then of course we often put things off until tomorrow, and then never do them.

 

In the grand scheme of things we are here for such a short time we need to make the most of every minute, especially in this job when for so much of the year time is not our own. I only hope that I can make the most of every minute so that when the end does come (hopefully many years from now) I can look back and say to myself that I did not wait to long for life to begin.

 

Running From Zombies

It is about ten days since I last wrote my blog, I seem to find it harder and harder to find things to write. Whether that is because I find myself in front of the computer all day or because much of the time days merge into one I am not sure.  All I know is that things have been busy since we have sailed, we have got a lot done in a short space of time with flying and gunnery serials to ensure that we maintain our currency whilst on task.  There have been some notably long days, especially last week when we had a choke point transit and Navs and I ended up staying up for 24hrs. When the morning came we had said that we would have breakfast as we thought that we would finish the transit just after 7 but as we finished at 0600 we both whimped out of breakfast, a fact that father didn’t let us forget as he had stayed up for breakfast.  Mind you it wasn’t that bad as I managed to get a lot done over the course of the transit and for once I felt that I had caught up with everything.

 

This time out the weather has been noticeably more bumpy with the South West monsoon finally setting in across the area. I had forgotten how much I hate rolling around as it does make one feel awfully tired but at least things are better now that we have our stabilisers out.  The rough weather has kept the pirates back in their camps which is good news as well.

 

I just can’t believe how quickly June is going, I definitely feel like I am on the home stretch now with August just around the corner.  I am really looking forward to getting to the airport and seeing Debbie and the little ones. They will have changed so much by the time I get home.  I just hope we have a bit of an Indian Summer so that I can take them to the beach, down the Tarka Trial and have some BBQs.  I am starting to look forward to being able to cook again as the food has got very repetitive on here with stale baguettes generally for Lunch Monday and Wednesday, Spud you dislike Tuesday, over cooked pasta bar Thursday and Battered Grey fish and chips Friday.  Saying that we usually have a nice steak (honest we have had some really good steaks not the normal shoe sole, tough as old rubber steaks that are the norm) and Sunday morning we get croissants which are always nice.  The local sliced bread is horrible, it is like white hairy cardboard, in fact it reminds me of the toy bread that Beth has in her play house.  I have made the mistake of watching some cooking programmes (The last Navs gave me a few episodes of the F Word) and I really want to make some fresh bread, fresh pasta and have a general play in the kitchen.

 

I have decided that I need to be more careful with what I watch and read before I go to bed at night as I have been having some very strange dreams. Yesterday I watched Shutter Island (definitely worth a watch even though it had Leonardo Di Caprio as the main character) which was quite disturbing and then I continued reading the ‘Diary of the Displaced’ which is a very strange book but quite intriguing. Needless to say all sorts was going on in my dreams, running away from Zombies and leaving suitcases in a hotel room which was identical to my cabin.  No wonder I woke up feeling like a bag of wotsit.  I think I will find a gentler book to read when I have finished this one.

 

Well that’s about it for now, off for a bike ride in a bit to read my book. At least if there are any zombies in it I can pretend I am cycling away from them which is much more civilized and far more effective than running from them.

 

Back at Sea

It has now been a week since we escaped from our AMP port, it was nice to have a bit of a stand down and it was especially good to get on Skype and see the little ones.  However after the frustrating weeks over run it was good to get back to sea, well at least until we hit the tail end of a cyclone and got thrown around for a few days. The forecasts had been a little out so the weather was worse than expected. The first night the wires holding the bridge awning parted and spent the night banging against the bulkhead outside my cabin, keeping me awake all night. Thankfully the next morning I managed to grab hold of it and with some help we got it secured. I think the worse bit though was trying to work in the Ops room as my chair is adjustable but with the motion of the ship it felt like I was sitting on top of a pogo stick, which is fine if you want to bounce around but no good if you are trying to type at a keyboard.

 

I have achieved one of my aims for this trip and have managed to save up for a bicycle trailer for the little ones. I only got a cheep one for £70 pounds but it should do the job and doubles as a push chair.  Debbie has put it together and it sounds as if it is really light which is good. More importantly the little ones seem to like it which is good. I am really looking forward to taking it down the Tarka trail, it will be nice to be able to cycle to Instow and watch them play on the beach while we have a nice Ice cream. Instow is only about 10 miles away on the Tarka trail so should be able to do it in a hour easily. I suppose next year little Beth should be big enough to start riding a little bicycle with us, I am looking forward to teaching them how to ride.

 

Well now we are back at sea the work load has gone through the roof again, we seem to be swamped by emails and signals and they come in as fast as we can clear the ques, saying that though I am definitely on the downhill stretch though with two months left to go and a reasonable programme to keep me busy for the next two months.

 

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.

 

So Near and Yet So Far

It has now been 67 days since we sailed and we have once again anchored of a port where we were supposed to go alongside.  I think many are getting frustrated now because we can see land but we can’t go ashore.  As the port had no berth for us we have tweaked our programme slightly as they offered us a berth on the 1^st May for 48 hours so we will finally get alongside to load some fresh stores.  It does seem strange that we sailed in February and we aren’t going to touch land until May, ah well at least it is sunny.

 

Over the next few days we have quite a large change over of crew which is going to be strange as there will be lots of new faces onboard; I just hope that the people coming in are as friendly as the people that are going. I always find it a little unsettling when you get use to working with a group and then everyone changes. 

 

As always with this part of the world everything has been a bit of a cluster, we are not allowed to run our own boat to shore so we have been reliant on the harbour tugs to conduct the crew change over.  Needless to say the bureaucracy in the port immigration those going home all missed their flights and have so been put into hotels until new flights can be booked.

 

If and when we do get alongside it is just my luck that I am duty so won’t get ashore the first day and I don’t think I will bother the second day as the country we are going to doesn’t allow Skype so there is no real point of going up the road.  Anyway we get into our AMP port the following week and that country does allow Skype so I will be able to get ashore and see the little ones and Debbie which I am looking forward to.

 

The Donkey

As it is Palm Sunday I thought I would share this poem as it is one I have always liked.

 

THE DONKEY – by  G.K. Chesterton

When fishes flew and forests walked 
And figs grew upon thorn, 
Some moment when the moon was blood 
Then surely I was born; 

With monstrous head and sickening cry 
And ears like errant wings, 
The devil's walking parody 
On all four-footed things. 

The tattered outlaw of the earth, 
Of ancient crooked will; 
Starve, scourge, deride me: I am dumb, 
I keep my secret still. 

Fools! For I also had my hour; 
One far fierce hour and sweet: 
There was a shout about my ears, 
And palms before my feet. 

 

 

55 Days at Sea

We have now been at sea for 55 Days and the days are certainly blurring into each other but our next port is in sight in two weeks time. People are certainly getting tired onboard now and although there was a bit of griping a couple of weeks ago everyone is still getting on well. It helps that we have a good crowd onboard and everyone seems to get on.

Needless to say we have well and truly run out of all the fresh produce that we picked up when we were at anchor last month. Saying that the food is still good and its Sunday tomorrow so croissants for breakies, something to look forward to.

We have been through some really large schools of dolphins this week which have been amazing, we went through one school yesterday and there must have been well over 100 dolphins. (Have tried to attach photo, hopefully this time it has worked, if not when we get in to somewhere with WiFi I will upload some)

The sights we can see at sea are amazing and do give hope that it is not all bad in the world. I get tired of reading about all the violence that is tearing this region apart as every day I give a morning brief on what is happening in this part of the world. I am sure that when all these protests finally come to their conclusion the world will be a very different place.

I do find it interesting though, how the different newspapers are reporting what is happening and you can definitely see the different types of spin placed on the same stories by the western papers, Al Jazeria and the Tehran Times. The question is will all the posturing by different politicians become a self fulfilling prophecy or will they realise that they approaching the brink and stop before they jump off the cliff like a load of lemmings.

One thing is certain though and that is that the world is changing rapidly and I just hope that when the dust does settle and new regimes emerge that they are better than what went before. This is my hope as the world needs to learn to work together to resolve the environmental and economic storms that are approaching in the next 30 years or so. We must remember that there will always be hope as that is what was left in Pandora’s Box.

Other than work things have been somewhat stressful this week as I have been worried about Debbie, I rang home on Monday and she had had to go to the Doctors, they had been really concerned and were close to sending her into hospital but because I was away she persuaded them not to send her in because of the little ones. She did however have to go back in to the Doctors a few times during the week, but she is now much better which is a real relief and at least my Mum had been visiting so at least there was someone there the first day she fell ill.

I also had an interview for a shore post during the week, this interview had been postponed twice for numerous reasons over the last month and so by the time I took the interview I was a little tired. I actually think it went OK and thankfully our comms stayed in for the whole time. I must admit I was a little shaky afterwards but at least it is over now and hopefully I should hear how I did in the next week or so.

Well only twelve days or so and we will be back in the land of the Land Lubbers, it is going to be a bit strange after so long at sea but hopefully we will get alongside so we can have a proper stand down as I think we all need it.

A Quiet Sunday Afternoon

I have had my first quiet afternoon since joining and it has been quiet pleasant. Although I have plenty of work to be getting on with I thought that for once I would stay shut away in my sound proofed box all day. I must say I am feeling quite mellow now which is nice.

 

Well being Sunday we held our weekly church service and our numbers doubled today as four attended.  It is nice just to have that one quiet time each week to reflect on the world around us.  I do feel more at peace now than I have done for a long time and I think that is because I force myself to ensure I have at least 10 minutes of reflection every day.  I still find it hard as there are always so many distractions but I do notice now that if I don’t have my ten minutes I end the day far more stressed.

 

I spent a few hours reorganising the photos of the little ones on my computer so that when I get home I can make up a couple of albums. It is amazing how much they have changed over the last couple of years and I still can’t believe how small they were.  I just can’t wait to get into port in the middle of the month so that I can go on skype.

 

Well as always the news is depressing, it just seems constant violence everywhere and I often wonder if there is any hope for humanity or are we destined to wipe ourselves out, either by war or ecological abuse.  It is a shame that we are so violent as the world we live on is such a magical place and it doesn’t take much to remind us of this. Today I went up to the focsle to watch the flying fish again. They were amazing as they left criss-cross patterns ahead of us. The sea was as smooth as silk and so they managed to fly some phenomenal distances, I watched one and it must have gone at least 500m.

 

Whilst on the focsle I also saw something that I have never seen before, loads of crabs swimming on the surface. I was quite surreal for as we passed them they would wave their claws and it looked as if they were waving at us.  No doubt they were actually trying to swim for their lives away from this great big ship steaming towards them, but it did look like they were waving at us, it was quite funny really.

 

Well we are now starting our seventh week at see and it is going to be another busy week which is good.  It is far better for a ship to be at sea working I think as everyone seems happier onboard. Also I think by being at see the trip goes a lot quicker. Well I will write again later in the week and hopefully when we get into port I will be able to put some photos in my blog if I can get WiFi access.

 

42 Days at Sea and Counting

It has now been 42 days since we sailed. It seems quite strange thinking that we sailed in February and it is now April. I really can’t remember the last time I was at sea for this long, it really makes a nice change from my last few trips when we spent most of the time alongside. Although as ever it is hard being away from Debbie and the little ones.

 

It has, as ever been incredibly busy onboard but it is good working with lots of different nations, so far since sailing we have refuelled Brits, Dutch, Danish and French ships and should be doing Italian and Spanish ships in the coming week.

 

It does get a bit depressing watching all the news out here though and watching the region erupt in turmoil. It seems every week a different country is on the verge of following in the foot steps of the Libyans. I do however have a theory of why this is happening. It is basically down to the weather, out here it is quite warm and so as people get hot they get tetchy and decide to go out and fight each other, where as if you look in places like Norway where it is cold people feel it is better to stay indoors in the warm, rather than go out in the snow to fight.  If we expand the theory a little further and look at the UK, it is neither too hot, or too cold but it does rain a lot which is why for years we built an empire trying to find somewhere that was a bit dryer.

 

As always there has been some wonderful wildlife around and as the sun set last night we were surrounded by a huge school of Dolphins. It was really great watching them frolicking in the bow wave. I had taken my camera down to get some shots but as the light levels were low I didn’t manage to get any reasonable ones.

 

Anyway that’s about it for today’s blog so until next time good bye.

 

36 Days at Sea

We have now been at sea for 36 days, and we are still steaming around in circles.  We were supposed to have a 3 day port visit last week but as the embassy messed up our DipClear we ended up just going to anchor.  After the first day there was a limited boat routine during the working day but needless to say with everything else going on I didn’t manage to get ashore.

 

It has been a long time since I spent so long at sea without a port visit and it will be another three weeks until we are programmed to get back in. It is not so bad though as everyone has settled into a nice routine and it can be quite peaceful at times.  As we are now getting later in the year the temperatures are starting to warm up quiet nicely. It was about thirty degrees the other day so it gets quite toasty on the exercise bike in the hangar.  With the warmer weather there is less wind and so the sea is like a mill pond. Glassy smooth as far as the eye can see.  We are still seeing quite a few flying fish, and the other day we passed through a school of them and about thirty or forty all took of at once, it was stunning but unfortunately I was to late with my camera so didn’t get any shots.

 

We have had some engineers out to mend the phone system and although it still has many faults it is now working of a fashion. I actually managed to have a clear call home the other day which was nice. Although I am looking forward to getting in, in the middle of next month so that I can use skype.

 

There is still lots happening onboard so I am being kept very busy, it seems every day I have a plan at 0600 of what I will get done but come 0800 when everyone else is up it all changes. I do prefer to be kept busy though as it makes the time go by so much quicker and all the days just merge into one.

 

I have managed to get some reasonable phots over the past few weeks which I had hoped I could put in the blog when I email it, unfortunately this doesn’t seem to work so I will just have to upload them next time I get on the internet proper.

 

Well I think this will be an interesting week, which is a good thing as we will hopefully get more direction. Also mid week I have an interview for a shore post with the battle staff, which I really hope goes well as it is based in Plymouth so I should be able to commute.

 

Sunset At Sea

 

It has been a busy weekend at sea, in fact it has been a busy week but I did manage to have a bit of quiet time yesterday.  We are supposed to get into port tomorrow but have just found out there is no berth available so we will be anchoring instead and awaiting berth availability, the joys of commercial ports.

 

Although it has been busy I took the time this evening to go up to the focsle and watch the sunset, it was so peaceful and quiet.  I know that the world is falling down around us, especially in this part of the world. There are some days when I wonder if there is any hope for humanity, but then I look up, and although there is a lot of violence and misery on our planet it is still a stunning place. I just hope that one day we all learn to live peacefully.

 

 

Sunset Over the Arabian Sea

 

Chasing Pirates

It has been another busy week onboard, but at least that makes the days go quickly. We have now been at sea for a month and we head back in to port next week to pick up a few stores. It is hard being away from the Debbie and the little ones, as I do miss them but I suppose that is life in a blue suit. Saying that however, this is definitely the best trip I have had for a long time, it is so good to be spending so much time at sea, as although it is busy it is peaceful in a strange sort of way.  I had some good news this week as well as my request for an extension was approved so I will be out here until August.  Hopefully the longer trip will help me save money so that next leave we don’t have to scrimp and save so much.

 

I am still taking the night airs of an evening. It really is peaceful under the starlit sky with just the sound of the waves.  The moon is almost full at the moment so there are lots of lovely silvery reflections on the waves. Admittedly it was a tad windy up there tonight as we are heading into wind but at least out here it is a warm wind.

 

We have had a little excitement this week as we have been where all the pirates are at the moment.  It is like something out of the films as daily convoys go past us being escorted by warships.  They look quite impressive especially on the radar where there are huge blocks of uniform contacts. We have just been loitering looking for anything suspicious and have closed in on a few contacts to see if they were pirates.  Earlier today we chased after a Dhow that was towing three skiffs, although it looked suspicious we had to assume it was just a fisherman in the end.

 

I am still managing to keep up with the exercise bike, although things have been that busy that I tend to only get down the gym every other day at the moment. I must admit I don’t think I would be able to keep it up if it hadn’t been for the kindle as exercise bikes are really dull. 30 minutes on an exercise bike feels like exercise where as when I go for a real bike ride it doesn’t feel like exercise.  I am determined to keep it up though as last year I managed to cycle up the hill at home for the first time and I want to ensure I maintain a level of fitness so that when I get home I can still cycle up the hill.

 

Well I had better get back to the grind stone and check my nightly signals to see what’s happening in the world. Then a quick read before I look the Bars.

 

1 Month In

I can’t believe I have been here a month already and we have spent the last three weeks at sea. This has been really good as my last few trips have been stuck alongside in the UK. It is really good to be back in a proper operational environment and at sea.

 

The days as always are very busy, but that helps as it makes the time go quickly, however no matter how busy I am I still miss Debbie and the little ones terribly.  At least I have some nice piccys of them on the bulkhead and hopefully next time I m in port I will get to skype them again.

 

Although we have been busy I have still been able to appreciate the beauty of nature all around me.  The other day when we were doing a RAS I looked over the side and there was a huge turtle swimming along. The poor little fella must have jumped out of his shell when he looked around and saw two great big grey ships steaming along 15m either side off him.  I have also seen a few flying fish; I always find it amazing how far they seem to manage to travel.

 

Although I am usually snowed under with work I did take the opportunity the other night to go and stand on the bridge wing with a nice hot cup of coco at about 2200.  It was wonderful being outside with out the sound of airconditioning fans. There was just the crash of the waves and a lovely warm breeze blowing across the deck as I sat and stared up at the night sky.  It was so peaceful and relaxing, I could have stayed out there all night.

 

I have even managed to have a day out this week as well as I had to go to a meeting on another ship. Obviously being at sea makes transport a bit more interesting and more enjoyable.  We have a 25 foot rib onboard and we lowered that into the water and went across. The swell was about two or three meters so when we went into the troughs the waves towered above us, but they were such a wonderful shade of blue with little white horses on the crests.  Thankfully we arrived at the meeting dry.  The way back however was a little different and we go absolutely soak.  I won’t complain though as it was an exhilarating journey and the weather was glorious and 25Deg so I was quiet happy getting soaked

 

Anyway that’s my lot for today as I want to stick my feet up and read a book for a bit before doing my final check of all the signals.

 

Two Weeks at sea, where has the time gone.

I really can’t believe we have been at sea two weeks now. The time just seems to have melted away, although I think that is because of the 12-14 hour days seven days a week.  There is talk that the RFA are going to change the schemes of complement again and I can see them going to singleton Nav/Ops on all ships which is absolutely crazy. With the hours the Navigator puts in and the hours I put in as Ops there is more than enough work for three people, so to expect one person to do it is ridiculous.

 

Saying that it is really good to be an operational ship and being busy as it makes the time go quickly. Especially at the moment with everything that is happening in the MENA region. There is just so much information flowing in it is hard to keep abreast of it all.

 

This week has been especially hard as on top of my normal work I have had to prepare a brief. When I say prepare, the slides were already done. Basically because we didn’t get an introductory brief to the theatre before sailing from our local HQ we downloaded it. All 80 slides.  I managed to weed it down to 50 prior to presentation to the HoDs and thankfully I managed to get through it in 35 minutes.  Only problem was that I hadn’t managed to type up all my notes so half way through I had to revert to my hand written note. Problem here was that I couldn’t read my own writing so I had to wing the remainder of the slides.  There was some really juicy stuff in the brief but I can’t write any of it down here due to the classification and I don’t want to get arrested.

 

Well I hit the first month marker next week, the time really is flying by this trip which is good and it helps that we have a good Captain. It is surprising how much difference it can make as we have some true Hitlers and some true gentleman as Captains throughout the fleet.

 

The mood onboard at the moment is quite sombre as the company has to cut 150 officers jobs. They are going to try voluntary means at first but if that doesn’t work it will be compulsory redundancy.  I am just hoping that my rank and branch remain untouched as in the last year at least 9 have left so there can’t be many of us first officers left.  I have heard rumours as well that the Merchant fleet as a whole is starting to suffer with rising fuel costs and are so laying people off.  We are certainly in for a few hard years.

 

Well next week should be interesting with where we are going, the security advice for going ashore doesn’t bare reading.  At least I should have something to write about next time.

 

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.

 

Snow

The snow, although pretty to look at is a real pain. I feel like I have been trapped in the house for days. I have tried to get out but their is very little I can do outside with everything covered in snow and the road out of the crescent is sheet ice at the moment.

I did manage to go out on the bike on Monday. I needed to go to the bank in Bideford so rather than driving I decided to cycle. It was really hard going and made me realise that all the effort I made getting fitter earlier in the year is rapidly being undone. The cycle was good though and it was wonderful to see all the snow everywhere. The views in this part of the world are so wonderful all year round with the rolling hills and views out to sea. Anyway I did learn two valuble lessons. Firstly when cycling in the snow make sure you have water proof foot ware as after the first mile my feet were soaking wet and by the time I had done twenty miles there were frozen solid and I couldn't feel the pedals. The second lesson is avoid the icy bits as it is a bit hairy slidding all over the road but at least I didn't fall off and I did manage to get there and back. Other than the frozen feet it was an exhilarating cycle.

Foolishly we braved the supermarket in the week with the two little ones. We parked alright but I should have realised it was going to be bad when there were no trollies. We finally managed to find one and then had a tortuous shop with William screaming the whole time. I think next Christmas I will do the food shop without little ones in tow.

Tomorrow should be good though, the little ones first real white Christmas and I am really looking forward to the little ones opening their presents. Then of course there will be a trip down the Green Dragon for my first pint of Rattler this leave.

Day At The Zoo

Well as you can see by my lack of updates and moans about the world I have escaped the ship and am now back on leave. I feel shattered already and have only been home 10 days. The little ones have been up every night so it is hard to get a full nights sleep. I really don't know how Debbie has managed to stay sane for the last four months what with lack of sleep and daily bouts of Cbeebies.

This weekend we took the little ones to the Zoo to see the animals and Santa. On arrival we walked around in circles trying to find the big cats. The tigers hid at the back of the enclosure but the lions came right up close which was great. Little Elizabeth got all excited pointing at them and started going 'eow' as she hasn't quite got the M for meow yet.

Most of the animals were hiding away as it was a bit cold but we did see some of the apes around which always give good pictures.

After having a look at the animals we took the little ones to see Santa. We had hoped to get some pictures of the little ones with Santa as last year Elizabeth burst into tears. Unfortunately when we went into into Santa's grotto this year Elizabeth took one look at Santa, Screamed and ran out of the Grotto in tears so no pictures this year and little William wasn't much better. I don't know why she is afraid of Santa, I don't think I help matters now as I tell her that if she is naughty Santa will come and visit her. Maybe it will mean cheaper Christmases. Anyway it will be interesting to see what happens tomorrow as I have been roped into dressing as Santa for the kiddy group that Debbie goes to on Wednesdays. I wonder if little Beth will burst into tears or give me a big cuddle?

Finally no trip to the zoo would be complete without a visit to Alexanders relations.

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?

 

Mankind's Final Century?

Is this the final century of mankind? If not the final century almost certainly the beginning of the end. How long can the earth go on supporting an exploding population whilst the politicians turn a blind eye. You only have to look around to see that we are on the edge of destruction. World population is doubling at an ever increasing rate and yet resources are dwindling, how will we support ourselves in twenty to thirty years?

There is so much we take for granted, and assume that emerging technologies such as solar power, wind power etc will save us. However all these sources rely on petroleum products, whether it is in the materials to produce the solar panels and wind turbines or the transport of them. I hate to say it but I really think we are going to live through some very interesting times and I really think that in the next 30-40 years the human race will make decisions that will either ultimately destroy us or allow us to continue in much smaller numbers. I do worry what the future holds for my little Elizabeth and William.

I think we should all learn from Easter Island as what happened there is a good analogy of what may happen to us. They were an isolated society who were advanced for their time. They were capable of great feats of engineering, moving stone heads of 70tons across the island and erecting them. However when their natural resources (mainly wood) ran out they descended into anarchy. Now if one translates the island into modern thinking, the island would be the Earth. The tribes on the island would be the nations of the world and the trees would be the equivalent to our oil. When the island was discovered by Europeans the few remaining islanders came out in canoes and the first thing they wanted was wood to build canoes with. We are not going to get rescued by some alien race, we are it and we have to deal with the problem we are creating.

Maybe I worry too much and I should say sod the future live for the present but then where would that leave Elizabeth and William. I wonder if I am alone in thinking that the end is nigh or whether we all know it is coming and we just turn a collective blind eye to it.

Not Long To Go

Things are finally busy and I only have three weeks left until I escape on leave.  It is good to get back to sea though rather than being tied up alongside; it is just ashame that it has been so rough as it is a little uncomfortable getting thrown around.

 

I had a good start to the month though as I was transferred to another ship and had a temporary promotion to Executive Officer for a week.  It was a great experience and helped me build my confidence for the future. Although I am pleased I transferred back when I did as I think some rather irate Marines were about to rejoin the ship.  They had been away for the weekend and left all their kit neatly layed out on the tank deck ready for Monday, however as we were expecting rough weather over the weekend I had the lads secure it all so we scooped it all up on a couple of pallets and threw a cargo net across it.

 

The transfers to and from the ship were fun.  I got picked up by the marines in one of their big ribs; it was quite an exhilarating trip out to the ship doing 30-40kts across Falmouth bay in choppy seas.  I thought I was going to end up with whiplash or get thrown out the boat.  The trip back between ships was much more pleasurable though as they sent a Lynx to pick me up and I had a nice flight across the rolling hills of Devon.  It was nice transferring and getting taken from door to door so to speak as I didn’t have to worry about anything.

 

Well I came back and had little time to get my feet under the table with a backlog of a weeks work to catch up and the ship had already embarked our flight.  However because of the weather during the first few days much of the flying was curtailed.

 

Well not long to go now, I have started righting my end of term report and will start compiling my handover notes in the next few days and then home in December to Debbie and the two little ones

 

 

 

So That Was October

October was a strange month and quite frustrating.  The first two weeks were spent undergoing a maintenance package so operationally we had little to do.  As always I had lot of planning to do for next years programme and liaising with the squadrons for Novembers programme kept me busy.  For the first two weeks I put a lot of effort into planning for our involvement in staff college sea days.  I know it was going to be a horrid week but we would have been busy which is always good.  Anyway surprise, surprise we broke down and ended up swing around an anchor for 12 days waiting for a dry dock.

 

As we broke down our plans for having little William christened in Portsmouth were scuppered but we managed to have it re-organised for Falmouth. Only problem was we got stuck at anchor so we had to postpone it a further week.  Thankfully we finally got into Falmouth and the christening went ahead.  I had been quite worried how it was going to go as the little monster was screaming his head off an hour before the service and we couldn’t get him to settle. Thankfully he calmed down before the service and then managed to sleep all the way through, even when the Chaplin poured water over his head.  It really was a great day and it was lovely having the little ones and Debbie onboard for a few days. Both Elizabeth and William have such great little characters it does make it hard to go away but I have to earn a living I suppose.

 

Well came sailing day the wind got up so the ship got stuck in dry dock, however I did manage to get some sea time as one of our other ship’s was in the Bay and was loosing it’s XO for a few days so I was asked to transfer. Although I knew I would have to return to a pile of work I jumped at the chance as it meant a promotion, if only for a few days.  I had quite a hairy joining as I had a lift from some RM chaps in a fast black boat; it was quite exhilarating at first but once we got out into the bay the ride was quite jarring.  I thought I would get to the ship suffering from whiplash and incapable of doing the job. Thankfully that wasn’t the case and it was a fun boat ride.  At least I had been on the ship before so things were familiar and having to Dock up and down on the LSDA’s is reasonably straight forward. Well only another two days of being Executive Officer and then it is back to my other ship for my final month before leave. At least the transfer back should be a bit smoother and I will be getting a lift door to door as our embarked flight are coming to pick me up so I get a ride in a helicopter, it’s all good fun.

 

Well only a month left and then I will be home and on leave for a couple of months. It will be good to get home and see Debbie and the little ones.  After almost five months I am sure Debbie will need a rest as it can’t be easy looking after the little ones day in day out.

 

As always I have started drawing up a jobs list for when I am on leave as there is always so much maintenance to do around the house. I just never seem to get on top of it. This leave though I am determined to get it cracked and get the jobs ticked off.

 

Well so that was October, I wonder what November will bring.

 

Are We Insignificant

We can get so focused on the here and now and yet we are here for such a short period of time. But in the here and now things change so rapidly, just think of what has happened in the last hundred years. Man has learnt powered flight and made it to the moon. He has developed amazing cures and drugs such as penicillin. Yet at the same time we have developed weapons with the ability of wiping out our entire race.

Yet I still ask are we insignificant, I have looked at the last hundred years and what has been achieved. Yet Boxgrove man first walked the rolling hills of Britain 500,000 years ago. I know he wasn't quite what we would call a modern human as he was a homo heidelbergensis but he was a sort of ancestor. Even if we think of Homo Sapiens the group we belong to, we have been around a awfully long time as it seems we had inventiveness and hunting skills some 50,000 years ago.

All that history and we only really focus on the last 2000 years, if that. We have so little understanding of the past and yet should we study the past to learn from previous mistakes so as to secure a bright future for our little ones?

Are We Doomed?

Are we doomed as a civilisation? I know it seems a strange question but it has been playing on my mind recently.  We all know that we live on a world of finite resources with an expanding population, but technology will surely protect us. 

 

Over the weekend I watched an interesting programme called ‘Doomsday 2210’ in which they theorised on what will happen over the coming decades. The programme first looked at ancient cultures such as the Mayans and others where great civilisations disappeared almost overnight due to changes in climate etc.  The programme also looked at Rome where the continual expansion of the empire provided the resources to expand further, however when they got to a certain size they more or less imploded.

 

Many parallels can be drawn today as climates change and population expands we face water, food and resource shortages around the world.  One just has to look at the water behind the Hoover dam to see how much lower the water level is now compared to twenty years ago and that thousands still die of starvation around the world.

 

One scary fact is that whereas when the ancient civilisations collapsed it tended to be a very localised collapse, today it would be world wide. You only have to look at what happened during the recent banking crisis to see that we are all connected and in many ways what happens to one happens to all.  Another example of this was seen over the summer with the droughts in Russia affecting world Grain prices.

 

We are literally at a crossroads it seems; we can either ignore what is happening around us, hope for the best and face a total collapse of civilisation as we know it in the next few decades. Or we can embrace new technologies, discard fossil fuels and adjust planetary life styles so that civilisation may continue to flourish.

 

 

'Still your eyes are on the ground'

Dante wrote “Heaven wheels above you, displaying to you her eternal glories, and still your eyes are on the ground.” I have pondered over this for the past few days and it has had an impact.  It is so easy nowadays to get bogged down with all that is around us.

 

We have:

 

24 Hour news that in reality has about 15 minutes of news which it repeats 96 times over the course of a 24 hour period.

 

The majority of programmes on TV are reality TV with no plot and tend to be voyeurism at its worse showing us people that are generally rude, ignorant and have probably never done a good days work in their life, in other words they have scrounged of the state and us tax payers have supported them.

 

Computer games, internet etc are taking away peoples ability to interact with each other.

 

I won’t even go on about Global Terrorism, War, Famine, Fossil fuels running out and Economic power centres shifting etc

 

All in all what have little Beth and William got to look forward to as they grow up.

 

However back to where I started, “Heaven wheels above you, displaying to you her eternal glories, and still your eyes are on the ground.” As I say it is so easy to get bogged down without realising it and as Dante implies we just need to look up once in a while.

 

Standing out on the bridge wing just now I forced myself to take a step back and look up.  It is a gorgeous evening, mild with wonderful clear skies.  The full moon has left a silver road across the velvety darkness of the sea, leading to the horizon.  The stars are shining and although the sound of the water passing the ships hull is noisy it is still peaceful. It is amazing how five minutes of tranquillity makes the world seem an altogether different place.  I think that there are many of us in the western world that easily forget how lucky we are. We don’t have to deal with famine, floods, war, disease, as people in Africa, Asia and the Middle East do. I think we should be thankful for what we have and always seek to improve the lives of those around us, whilst appreciating what is all around us, a wonderful if sorely abused world.

 

Anyway that is enough of my rant for the time being and now a little dit on what has happened since I last wrote. I think the last Blog entry was just after Debbie and the two little ones came onboard. As always things have been busy and I have been crap at keeping my Blog up to date so here goes.  After a few more days on the south coast we headed up to the waters around Scotland again for some trials, during which I ended up doing watches for a few days.  It wasn’t too bad and I soon got back into the swing of things remembering all the old routines after all it is a few years since I last did a watch. Anyway it wasn’t to bad bobbing in around the Islands as at least it helped us shelter from the 60kt winds.

 

I did manage to get ashore once while we were up there and had a wonderful bike ride along the side of a Loch. After the initial hills the road ran nice and level right along the waters edge which was wonderful and peaceful.  It was just ashame I didn’t get ashore until gone 5 as there wasn’t much daylight left and I had no light fitted.

 

Anyway we are now back down south and I am looking forward to Friday as I am actually going to have a proper 72 this trip, makes a change, so I will get to go home and spend the weekend with Debbie and the little ones.