There is something about me and aircrafts... For so many years I did a really good job avoiding them, but lately I don't seem to get enough of them! However, tomorrow will be the worst ever - THREE flights in one day and one will take nine hours. Shit, I'm scared to death, it's going to be the worst day in my life, I'm sure about it. My favourite blogger Tony (who's almost as bitter as I am) recently wrote something in his blog about airports and how he hates them - "For the third time in less than 20 hrs is my backside cleavage firmly anchored and attached to the stinky, blue carpet of Copenhagen Airport. My former so bubbly butt will become as flat as a football-field and impossible to ever place in a pair of CheapMonday, size 31”s again." Yeah Tony, if you say so! Then I will have the flatest butt in Norhern Europe after tomorrow, and that would be wonderful! If I would survive the flights, then at least I got something to look forward to!!! I wont take any notice about the thing he wrote about looking like Beyonce in widescreen...
As you might have guessed I'm signing on Compass again, a little earlier this time. Because of the lack of engineers (and the fact that I'm probably incapable of living a normal life) they asked me if I could join in Halifax. My last trip was a bit weird, I have tried to summarize it and this is what I came up with...;
- Christmas and New Years Eve - (almost) everyone on board competed in going to sleep first. I did a pretty good job myself.
- US Coast Guard in NY, they were happy about everything they saw, except the cleaning in the engineroom - my responsibility = not the best day in Susanne's life - far from!
- I had a very nice vision about everything I wanted to do in the engineroom - it ended up in panic to get SOMETHING done... (not unusual for me)
- For the first time since my first vessel (1999, the 6000 tons tanker Tärnvind, trafficking the North Sea), I got seasick.... In port... I boarded our bunkerbarge in Antwerp, the weather was a bit rough and I got sick right away. So much for deepsea sailors...
So, I'm signing on now with the strongest intentions that this trip shall be a lot better. My vacation has been a bit weird as well, lots of things going on in my life right now. I heard a rumor about Internet in port next trip, if it's true I promise I will update my blog before signing off. And by now you all know what my promises are worth:-)
After a week in Eskilstuna I'm back in Gothenburg. It's raining (A LOT), it's cold, my upstairs neighbour has a loud party and I'm in a pretty depressed November mode. However the fact that Sweden is actually ready for the European Championship in football makes me feel a lot better. Other wonderful news is that the two footballteams in Eskilstuna have finally decided to start cooperate and will hopefully be in "Superettan" within a couple of years. Hihi, I haven't followed the football in Eskilstuna since I was really young, but perhaps it's time to start now.
I'm not really that interested in football at all, all of this came to me during the day, as I was complaining about the weather, which made me think about summer, which in turn made me look at some pictures from last summer. That's what made me post this picture, it's from Hannover and Fifa world cup. For a person not so interested in football I guess I surpriced everyone when I got this idea - I want to go to Germany and follow the championship right there! So first we went to Hamburg, then to Hannover and finally to Berlin and it was just great. The polizei was everywhere and though the cities was crowded it was very nice and calm and I had a really nice time there.
Hm, don't know why I even started this, my blog is not supposed to be about football. My week in Eskilstuna was very nice and most of all relaxing! I spent a couple of days together with a friend at her countryhouse a bit outside Eskilstuna. We spent most of the time in front of the fireplace (it was COLD, 3 degrees inside the house when we arrived...) , just took a few walks in the neigbourhood with the dog. My cellphone was quiet all the time (perhaps because I switched it off) and I felt completely relaxed when I came back to my parents appartment.
I guess the fresh air in the country should have helped me get rid of my cold that I caught before I left Gothenburg, but it didn't. Instead it got worse when I came back to the city, so I was pretty off for a couple of days.
I'm back in Gothenburg now as I told you in the beginning. I guess I will stay awake until my neighbour turns the music down (it sounds like they're in the same room as myself), but somehow I find it nice to hear my neighbours sometimes. First of all - they can't complain if you want to invite friends yourself sometimes and second - it's Saturday, I'm on vacation and it's nice just to hear something else than the rain and wind for a change.
So, despite my complaints in the beginning I must say I love the noise, the autumn and to be back in my appartment after a week away!
Piston overhaul/change is one of my personal favourites. I love those big jobs with the main engine.
This time we were in Baltimore, no stress at all, wonderful weather (nothing that we in the engine department ever notice however) and everything went well. The engine crew on Compass is very nice and we do have a lot of fun together, so I was really enjoying this.
Right now I am home and just enjoying my time off, though I feel I don't do very much for the time being. In a couple of days I will go to Eskilstuna (where I grew up, if I haven't mentioned it before) and stay there for a while and meet some of my oldest friends.
Yesterday I went to the vet with my dog, and everything seems to be fine. I haven't updated anything about that, but we've been there regularly since March, because of her eyes and the injury that doesn't seem to want to heal. I hope she will be completely free of this very soon, but since she is so old, I guess it will take a while. In January she will be 14 years old, so I guess I should just be greatful for every single day I get to spend with her.
I will get back soon with more pictures and information from my last trip.
Believe it or not, I survived the flight! I didn't even have to get drunk to get through it, though I think it would have made it a lot easier:-) Anyway, when I boarded the plane I was so tired I just took the pillow and fell asleep about five minutes after take-off. I had a tough time when I arrived. It started right away in the passport control;
- Hm, what do we have here? A Seaman's discharge book?!? Are you signing on a vessel?
- Yes!
- Why didn't you tell me right away??
- I'm telling you now!
- That kind of attitude wont work if you want to come to Canada!!!
- What attitude? I just answered your question!
- Hm, when I'm done with you, you can go to the Immigration's desk! Standard procedure (oooh, do I hate those words or what) for seamen! You MUST tell us if you are signing on a vessel!!!!
Five minutes later I was at the Immigration's desk and went thruogh my second round with the Canadian authorities;
- Good afternoon, I was told to visit you, because I'm signing on a vessel!
- Hm, which vessel? Can I see you discharge book?
- Atlantic Compass. (The guy was studying the book, going through every single page)
- Uhum... It says here that you have been on the Atlantic Companion?
- Yes!
- So, why are you signing on the Atlantic Compass?
- Because I have changed vessels.
- Hm, why? Hm, I don't think... WHAT?!? It says here that you have also been on the Atlantic Concert?!? How come? Why is that?
- Well, sometimes you have to change job, right?
- Hm, strange. Well, let me see the papers from the agent!
- Papers? What papers? I have no papers!
- Hm, you have to have papers from the vessel's agent, confirming that you are signing on the vessel!
- Oh, I'm sorry, nobody told me about that and they didn't give my any papers.
- Hm, that's too bad... Well, give me the name of the agent and I'll give them a call.
- I have no idea what agent we use in Halifax...
Well, finally he let me in and told me to go to the next desk. It took me about 20 minutes to explain everything I had already explained to the Immigration and while we were standing there a guy from Canadian customs came to me and told me to visit their desk when I was finished. I must admit that by the time I was pretty annoyed and tired of begging all authority persons to let me into the country, so perhaps I wasn't all that nice when I finally was standing at the custom's desk, watching a guy put on latex gloves before searching my luggage. I KNEW he was going to try to nail me for something, I could see that in his face, so I tried not to sound too hostile, and I failed big times. I was his lucky day, after some calculating he could certify that I had 60 grams of tobacco that I hadn't recorded in the form I signed before arrival. He told me we had a problem and I told him there was a very simple solution to that problem - throw those 60 grams away and we could both be happy. I was once again told that this kind of attitude wouldn't help me getting into Canada. However he said it was a very lucky day for me, because he was in particularly good mood and would not charge me for my terrible crime. He even let me keep the 60 grams, am I lucky or what?!?
Well, after that I crashed at my hotel room and went on board shortly after midnight. I had a very nice trip this time (as well), lots of work and lots of fun. Half of the crew joined the Halloween party, need I tell you I was one of them? Halloween parties are the best, instead of trying to look handsome (way too difficult) you just have to look as terrible as possible, that's the way I like it:-) The picture above shows the engine crew. Haven't asked for permission to show it, but since none of us is recongizeable I did it anyway...
I will be back with more pictures, next will be about the piston overhaul we did in Baltimore.
Life is full of surprices and just when I thought that my vacation had started...
...the crew manager called me to ask if I can join Compass in Halifax next Monday...
Well, I have realised that I will never get a normal life (whatever that might be) and it's October, rain, cold and I'm in a pretty confused mode in all thinkable ways, so why not? I haven't yet signed off mentally, so no big changes there. Besides, I have never been asked to join any of the vessels in order to cover up for someone else before, so I shouldn't complain too much about this.
BUT... And it's a big BUT... The flight... Two hours from Gothenburg to London - fine with me, I can almost find my own airway across the North Sea by now, after my last three trips. But then we have the big issue - the flight across the North Atlantic. The North Atlantic is perfectly fine to cross with a large vessel, but NOT in an airplane. I've done it once and I'm still surpriced that I survived that, but can you be that lucky twice??? Hardly... Well, MAYBE a couple of other persons have crossed the Atlantic the airway a little more than once and survived, but as I've mentioned before - when it comes to aircrafts, I don't rely on statistics. So, this weekend will be all about this flight. By Sunday I should have come to the point where the panic takes over my life, let's see if I can share it with the rest of you.
Hihi, my promises are worth absolutely nothing, if you haven't already noticed! The terrible truth is that I (as you can see) never updated my blog in Dunkerque and I didn't take ONE SINGLE PICTURE during the time in dry-dock... However, I was working a lot (not trying to excuse myself) and despite some troubles we did a lot during our time in Dunkerque.
Unfortunately I never got the chance to go ashore at day-time, only in the evenings and for some strange reason you always seem to end up in a bar or restaurant at this time of day. From what I saw I really liked Dunkerque, it was a nice city, very close to the see. Long beaches, nice pubs and restaurants and I believe the shopping was pretty good as well. So, I have an excuse to go back there on vacation some day.
I signed off Compass in Liverpool a couple of days ago and I was really exhausted. Though I have only been on board for four weeks it has been a tough trip in many ways, but now I am enjoying my time off and will hopefully be ready for my next trip in a couple of weeks.
Dunkerque, here I am!!!! We arrives here the day before yesterday and drydocked yesterday morning, EARLY! I went up at 5.45 and was sent out on deck to help the people from the shipyard to connect the fire water. It probably was a beautiful morning, but I wasn't awake enough to see that. The problems started right away, the two guys I was supposed to assist didn't speak english. I tried to tell them that they had connected one of the hoses in the wrong place, but they didn't understand. Finally the captain helped me out, he had an english-speaking guy with him on the bridge, so I told the captain how I wanted the hoses, he told the guy on the bridge, who told the guys on deck... Hm, longway communication, but it worked out. After that I was awake and in good mood and have been since. They work really fast and I think everything will be finish in time, if this continues. I haven't brought my camera downstairs (I've only been on board for six days) so no pictures yet, but there will be!
I will get back with an update soon, hopefully tomorrow!
