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27th November 2006

Dateline: Warsash, England.

Here I am at the maritime academy learning the joys of life on the open sea. And after some trepidation, turns out it's not so bad, really. All today was death by PowerPoint as is usual, and also by informative videos. We were all asleep by the end of the day. We have more of this in the morning and all day tomorrow, before going on to the practical fire-fighting phase, which should be interesting if nothing else.

Last night, when i arrived, another new arrival asked if I liked beer, and after i said I did, he invited me to accompany him to a local hostelry for sampling of the local brews. Dave is a mate, which means he is deputy captain, or whatever the proper tem is, and we had a few; and gave me the benefit of is knowledge on life, the sea, and music. well, he was nice-ish, and the thought of earning the sort of wages he does; well, the possibilities are endless.

My room comes with a LCD TV with cable, a shower and wc en-suite and coffee machines, and room cleaning service; all very nice, especially on this, my first day in what may as well be called the merchant navy.

No news on when we get issued with a parrot.

28th November 2006

What have I learned today? Water is not wet enough for most fires, and instructors love the sound of their own voice. And there was some other stuff, but my mind really started to wander, and it was hard to get it back on track. Tomorrow is the day of the big practical, lots of fire fighting, and lots of smoke, but it should be fun, most of us seem to be looking forward to it, but some, mainly the girls who will be working on cruise ships, do not.

Last night Dave called round, although his name is not Dave after all, it's John. And we went to a different pub, which sold the same beers, and then on to the curry house for some nice sub-continent cuisine. All in all it was wonderful, doubly so when John said he could claim it on his expenses account, and just cost be the beers. Jools says Molly getting settled in, and she managed to open Jools's wardrobe, and was well into the task of getting all that she could out; now Jools knows why my wardrobe door was tied shut! But, it is good to hear that the kitty is settling in, and with the news that I could be at sea by next Wednesday, that means that the plan to have Molly back home will have to be shelved.

2nd December 2007

Home; although cat-less now, of course. It feels clod and unwelcoming to be honest, but it will have to do. I did not write the rest of the week due to being tired and just socialising too much.

So, I am now a qualified merchant seaman, just need to learn how to do the job. The rest of the week was taken with mainly practical stuff; Wednesday was the fire fighting practical; scary, but fun. And it ended up being fun, especially the end scenario where we entered the burning building, rescued the casualty and tried to put out the fire, all the time wearing breathing gear and all the fire fighting gear. Wow, that was real fun; but an eye-opener as to what a tough job that is.

Thursday was the emergency escape theory and practical; and we ended up in a pool jumping off a 4 metre board and having to swim to the inflatable raft, getting in and that sort of stuff. And once again, it was fun; but we learned so much from it; and just how hard it would be to get into a raft if we ever had to abandon ship in cool or cold waters.

And Friday we had to sit through a seven hour first aid lecture, which was the last thing we wanted to do, as all we wanted was to get on the road and back to our loved ones; me to Jools's. In a bid to liven up things we ended up swapping grisly stories about whatever we were supposed to be leaning about, upsetting one tender young lad from Essex who was not pleased to hear about blood and gore; quite what he was expecting on a first aid course though. He plans to get a job on a yacht in the Caribbean, which is something I am sure we would all like to do. Good luck on that one kiddo.

So, back home for a day, and then into work on Monday, and I might find when i will be heading out to work; exciting days!

Well, it's December 2nd, and the buds are on the trees and the spring flowers are sprouting. Another year of crazy weather draws to an end. It's official; this has been the warmest autumn ever, since records began here in England in 1659. The trees are only now losing their leaves, and that is really just from the storms we have had this week. In Europe, there is no snow; the Alps are green, and in the après ski bars, they have sun loungers out as the sun still beats down, and the weather is like it is in May. September here, was the seventh warmest month on record, and July the warmest ever. I have yet to wear three layers of clothing this season, and it still feels great to go for a walk.

This does not prove global warming, but it does nothing at all to dis-prove it. Maybe winter will come next week; or next month. With it so warm even now, I have no heat on in the house, it seems odd to see Christmas decorations going up everywhere. And when was the last time we had some of the white stuff at Christmas here? 1969! Christmas is either cloudy and drizzling, or more likely, glorious sunshine.

Happy holidays

3rd December 2006

Britain is a small and crowded island. There are something like 60 million of us living in the same area as the average US state. And a lot of those live in and around London in the South East. Travelling around can be a problem, not IS a problem, and coupled with the fact that most decent roads go north/south rather than east/west, makes some trips very tricky. On Friday, I travelled from Portsmouth to Dover, a trip of about 140 miles, and according to Mapquest, should take just over two hours. In reality, this trip meant going up from the coast to London, or rather the orbital motorway that goes 360 degrees around it, the M25. The road is about 22 years old, and opened in 1984, when I passed my driving test. In the intervening years, it has been widened and adjusted, but as traffic continues to grow, travel at rush hour almost becomes impossible. Friday nights and Monday mornings are especially troublesome, and so it turned out on Friday. Traffic reports on the BBC raid that the M25 was blocked in THREE places along the part I wanted to go along, and the rest of it was very busy. Now, as both Portsmouth and Dover are ports on the south coast, it is true there is a road that runs along the coast, but it just a two lane thing, and it would have taken forever, as it would have meant going through maybe a dozen or so major towns. The one other road, which is what i took, weaves it's way through the Sussex and west Kent Wolds, and passes through some wonderfully beautiful towns and villages, as well as numerous woods and forests. But, it not the best road for going any distance. In the end, it took just under four hours to get to Dover; had I have gone the M25 way, it could have been double that.

When the M25 was first opened, it was planned to take traffic away from London, and to speed traffic along it's way. Through the years, this has been forgotten, as more and more malls and big box stores have opened, coupled with the fact it has junctions with many minor roads it passes, rather than just the trunk routes. Thus, creating more and more local traffic, and slowing traffic, if it moves at all.

And the answer to all this, make it even wider! As if this is going to make any difference, as our past experience shows us it just creates more traffic. Spending needs to be on public transport, and taking as much of the freight off the road is possible; trucks from Poland and further a field are now so common as to be not noticed.

At the moment, Britain pays some of the highest gas prices; it equates to something like $9 a gallon, and over 70% of that is tax. On top of that, we have to pay up to $300 a year just to take our car on the road before we drive an inch; this is called road tax. These tow taxes alone could have paid for a modern, efficient railway network decades ago; but instead it has been used to prop up successive governments other policies, and now even those taxes are not enough, and it is now being suggested that every vehicle is fitted with a tracker, and we get to pay for each mile we drive, maybe as much as £1.50 a mile! So far, it is not known whether this will be on top of, or instead of, the other two transport taxes. So, in the future, only the rich will be able to afford to travel at peak times, and the rest of us will be trying to get around on country lanes. Wonderful

4th December 2006 Well, first day at work, and i really don't know much more than I did this morning. We, Tony and I, had to be in at nine, and the promised talk with HR dept fail to happen, and after being taken aboard one of the survey boats, Kevin, our boss, forgot about us for 5 hours and came to collect us at half five. In-between we were shown around, met the crew and had lunch, and watched daytime TV as they had been in port the best part of 5 weeks waiting for a window in the weather. They only have 36 hours of work to do, but so far it has taken them 5 weeks, and they are not a quarter through yet. Tony or I will join the ship at some point, and see how we get on. It all seems fine; nothing too much expected of us at first, and learning as we go. The ship is well equipped, it has a small gym, satellite TV, broadband internet, a good DVD library, and much more. And each crew member has his or her own room.

In short, it all seems fine, and nothing really to fear. The ship is heading out to Holland after this job is finished, and then on to Norway, which could mean seeing the Northern Lights again; which of course would be good.

I should know more tomorrow, so until then, avast ye landlubbers, etc