October 2007

Monday 1st of October 2007 and we had left TUXPAN behind when I woke up

It was a beautiful morning. MORNING!!?? Who do I try to shit? It was almost 12 when I woke up, I got to bed at 4 or 5 this morning. But I checked out my window, an old habit. I noticed the nice weather, but where is the crew? I took a second glance and I saw them chipping and water blaster on deck. Before going to bed I handed a work list to our 2nd Officer, stand in Chief Officer and next Chief Officer.

The painting was also in full swing and, well, as she looks now we can put her under Swedish flag any time.

At lunch they said that there was a possibility that we would load gas oil in France for Mexico. I'm not sure, it would be nice. I will do the ship gas free I'm running low on Diet Drinksand we can weld the last tings on deck. BUT SNUS! I need more snus, I have 8 rolls in order but last time in US we had a different Agent and I never got my snus.

DIET DRINKS!!! I'm down to 5 cases and I banned our 1st Engineer from my fridge first thing when I heard the news about France.

OK, from now on it's no joke anymore, it's a new month and this is what I have been waiting for. I had a serious talkI found a design on the internetwith our Cook after the dinner. I tried to look as stern as possible.
- Now it's NO fåcking joke. If you see me eating anything but meat and vegetables you have to kick my arse so hard that I will never forget it!

Then I went to the day room for a chat with our Chief Engineer.
- Do we have a truck scale or something similar onboard?
I told him about the scale the engine department on Astoria had made for me. This one was perfect and they assembled it once a month for me. Well, it was nice. It was like a happening, the whole crew meet in the work shop and, well, I felt a little stupid getting on the scale with the crew in front of me with cameras.
But, well, we had a good time and if I have to expose myself and my disadvantageous sides in order for us to have a good time it's OK. Someone has to do it and this time it was my turn.

Tuesday 2nd of October 2007 and it was a nice day when I woke up. I had my morning tea in the CCR while preparing for the tank cleaning. We will start when our 2nd Officer is ready with his breakfast. He wants to learn every moment of the cleaning so he is well prepared when he comes to relieve me in March. Well, as our Electrician said: Getting experience- This is good for him! The only thing you can't buy for money is HEALTH and EXPERIENCE.
So right, and I take every moment I can get to drill him in whatever we expect him to encounter when he is back as Chief Officer.

So I'm sitting next to him giving stupid pointers and it's nice to have company in the CCR. If it wasn't for me running very low on diet drinks I would have brought two cans to the CCR.

But at breakfast they said that it was most likely to be France.
- We will get news after 12.

Before we started the cleaning I did a throughout inventory in my cabin. No matter how many times I counted my diet drinks there was only 5 cases. But more alarming is my 7 rolls of snus.

We were ready with the tank cleaning just after 10 o'clock and a little later we got the order to proceed to France, Lavera next to Marseille.
-OK, we start to hot water wash after lunch so we can get gas free.

At 1300 I held an AFTERNOON PEP meeting with the crew in my office. We talked about the cleaning, gas on deck and stuff. But it was most frolic and lark.

Heavy duty a kickin' is about to go down
Team Tank cleaning
Our afternoon PEP MEETING before the 2nd tank cleaning

Hot water cleaning and that required hot water and our 1st Engineer had our heat exchanger up and running in no time. We transferred our SLOP to 1CT and as soon as Busythe water was hot we started the cleaning.

Our 2nd Officer came skidding in to the CCR just after we had commenced the 2nd tank cleaning.
- Time again, he said.
Well, he will get a million worth of experience in one day. We were sitting there screaming at the AB's on deck and starring on the computer screens. Our Electrician was hovering around us all the time and when the 1st Engineer came we were a crowd. I asked what date it was.
- 2nd of October, our 2nd Officer answered.
- 2ND OF OCTOBER! I said looking at the 1st Engineer
I wanted to shock them a little and I continued.
- So I and the 1st Engineer will throw a little party tonight.
- Why??!!
- It's our anniversary! We meet on internet 2nd of October last year. Now we have decided to apply for an adoption and we will celebrate it with white wine and shrimps, I said.

Well, I got different reactions, our Electrician and 2nd Officer looked shocked. Our 1st Engineer looked embarrassed, he was red like a tomato.

We were ready with the tank cleaning at 1800 and I had to eat my dinner in the CCR. I'm very happy that my diet had taken off with a remarkable success. Broccoli and Busychicken for lunch, no bread. Dinner was cauliflower and some nice meat, no bread.

Who knows? Maybe I will dust off my language course tomorrow.

We started the ventilation and I hope we are gas free tomorrow afternoon so we can start the work on deck again. We kept ourselves busy on deck until after 9 o'clock in the evening and it was nice to go for a shower and a cold diet drink in my cabin.
Well, we have another exciting day tomorrow to look forward to.

Wednesday 3rd of October 2007 and I woke up 10 minutes after 8 dead tired. I had Wasting valuable time with alco testnot been sleeping all night due to rolling. I had an excuse ready:
- I was delayed by an unexpected telephone conference.
Well, I didn't need that on. I said that someone had changed the time on my clock (Which was true) and our 1st Engineer got all red in the face again.

I started the day with gas measurements of our cargo tanks and we had 2% LEL in 5 and 6 CT so we have to ventilate a little more before changing the fans to the next tanks. I was just ready with the gas measurements when it was time for alco test on the bridge.

All crew were on the bridge at 10 and it took us a few minutes to finish the whole thing. The ship is red like a FOX and we're wasting valuable time on alco test, picture taking and laugh on the bridge. No sound from the chipping machines.

Alco test, what a waste of time
Team Alco test

When it was my turn to blow in the darn machine all crew were screaming:
- DIET DRINK TEST!!
- ENOUGH WITH THE GAMES AND LARK!! OUT ON DECK!! FÅCKING CHRISTMAS EVERY DAY AROUND HERE!

I took my shower after the meeting, I didn't have the time when I woke up late this morning. I measured the gas again at 11 and we had ZIP in the tank so I asked Sometimes there is time to sit down relaxthe crew to move the blowers to the last tanks. Expected to be gas free tonight.

After lunch I was with our 1st Engineer on deck checking what we needed to weld on deck and after a lot of blah-blah-bla it was time for coffee break. Captain told me that we will pass Miami tomorrow and if I was lucky I could upload my web page. I certainly hope so and I told our Chief Engineer that maybe we could upload his web page as well.

We had planned to upload his web page in US, but now we are bound for France and he will sign off. To use a FTP program to upload his web page, this is the last lesson in my web page school and he will pass with flying colours.

I like to have our Chief Engineer's web site, why? It's like fåcking winning the lottery for me. I will never ever have to call the company again telling them that something is wrong and thus being a pain in the behind. Instead of calling them saying:
- Hello! Yes, well, we have a problem......Substandard..........
I can call and say:
- We have a VERY VERY big problem........I found a web page......blah-blah-bla.....It's a disgrace......

I can stretch the use of this until and hopefully all problems are forgotten. And just to show that I'm on top of things I call again the second day:
- The big problem is just escalating........The web page I found......blah-blah-bla.....It's a disgrace......Logos and cargo telex......
Well, by now we can imagine that the guy in the other end of the line must believe that the sun is shining bright from my behind. And when the shit really hits the fan I can blow his web site right out of proportions just to make every other problem look trivial in comparison.
- NUISANCE!!! I have discovered.....Vexation.....Blah-blah-bla......Source of trouble.. This is a shame.....The sun is shining from my behind..... I take this personally....... Irritant...... A gross insult to the company.....PLEASE GIVE ME RECOGNITION!

While going on with my drivel we draw all the attention from more serious problem and I'm dreaming of soon to be something nice in the company and the guy on the other end of the line is very impressed by my trite and he thinks: “Aladdin seems to be on top of things. Let's promote him to something nice!”
His web site is like a gift from above and I will soon be something in this world.

What the BIP did I spend my afternoon with? Yes, they want to know how much cargo we can load. Now it's gasoline and before it was gasoil. But full cargo for Pajaritos, MAX draft 36 feet fresh water and MAX cargo to TUXPAN, no draft restrictions. And how much can we load if we stop in Houston and load 4000MT MTBE on top of the gasoline. I was busy for about 3 minutes with the calculation. But when I went to the Captains' office with the cargo plans I kept my self busy for 30 minutes talking with the Chief Engineer and Captain.
Well, anyway, I think it was after about 30 minutes they got tired and threw me out of there.

OK, this is the second of two consecutive days with my KICK A diet and I'm in a very good mode. Only meat and vegetables and I'm full of vim. OK, to see the work on deck may help a little. But I have been in a very good mood since I started my diet. It's a little embarrassing to see all the bread left over. Before our Cook had to make fresh bread for lunch and then again for dinner. Now it's the same loaf lying there all day long. I mean, it was a remarkable change in the bread consumption and I felt like I had to say something
- Have you noticed? After last Captain signed off there is an exceptional amount of bread left after each meal, I said.
I made the same remark in the day room where our Cook's fresh cookies laying on the plate all they long.

At 7 o'clock I made the last gas measurements and we were gas free and I could stop the fire pump and the ventilation. Our blowers are water driven and thus I have to run MY SNUS!!!!!!the fire pump to drive our blowers. I was back in my cabin and fresh out of the shower at 8 and I had just opened a diet drink when our 1st Engineer came.

He threw himself in my sofa (after grabbing a box of snus) and he helped himself with the biggest portion of SNUS that I had ever seen.

My heart stopped, fåck, we have 2 weeks to go and I'm alarmingly low. But I'm a nice guy so I told him to keep the TOO LATE!whole box and he thanked me by pulling down his trousers and he started to stamp zeros on my TV pillow.
- MOTHERFÅNKER!!! I screamed and I rushed away to his cabin. He was running after screaming NO! But I beat him and I was in his bed stamping zeroes with my camera STAND-BY when he came skidding in to his cabin.

Well, a long day has come to an end and I will finish the movie I started yesterday before going to bed. I will read a few pages in a book and I will try to sleep and it will be yet another exciting day tomorrow.

Thursday 4th of October 2007 and I was tired when my alarm went off. I didn't feel asleep until 5 o'clock in the morning and I can't but blame my diet drinks. It must be them making me roll around in bed until 5 o'clock.

I had time for half a bucket of tea before our 2nd Officer and I went on deck to check the gas in our tanks. Our 2nd Officer told me that there was a possibility to get internet between 1600 and 1800 something.
- We will pass Miami around 2000, he said.

We were finished with the tank measurements just after 10 and we could issue a HOT WORK PERMIT. I took the opportunity to have a LEL and gas class with 2nd Officer and 1st Engineer in my office. Believe it or not, my white board came to use again. 2nd time I use it almost 6 months onboard.

I had the crew banging on the nitrogen lines with sledgehammers and chipping machines. Removing the N2 pipeThe crew found 2 pipes with hole in and the crew carried the pipes back to the poop deck so our Fitters can weld them. We only have the chance to do this when we are gas free so we take this opportunity to check pipes and stuff.

At our GOOD MORNING PEP meeting I told them to be angry at the pipes and hit them as hard they could. Now we have one left, they removed the bolts and we will check the pipe tomorrow. They have been all over the pipe with sledgehammers, but the pipe is sitting behind a frame. But the crew don't give up, they will remove the pipe and continue tomorrow. And when they are ready with this pipe they can continue on deck.

Aladdin's adventure on board M/T Barcarolle
Aladdin's adventure on board M/T Barcarolle
Aladdin's adventure on board M/T Barcarolle
N2 pipe to 5CT on the way to the poop deck

While the deck crew were busy with the pipes we had one of our Fitters and a Motorman renewing pipe supports to the cargo line to 8CT. I will say that this is the Hot work on decklast to do, well, there are some small things to do. But this is nothing in comparison with how it looked in January. The Fitters have been busy 24/7 on deck.

Seriously, Barcarolle has been upgraded from a Junker to a Swedish flag standard tanker in less than a year. When I joined the ship January 2007 this was the worst ship I had ever been on. I have already mentioned that I was about to fall of the pilot ladder when I came onboard in Panama. I caught sight of the deck and I got a shock. Then remember she came straight from dry dock and first I thought they were joking with me.

OK, in comparison with Marimba she was in new built condition. Marimba is the worst ship I have ever been on, without hesitation. But Barcarolle, yeah, she is in a god shape Hot work on decknow. OK, a little rust on deck.
- Hmm, maybe more than a little. But this will be gone in December! (Weather permitted)

I spent the evening walking on deck giving pointers to the crew. But at 1930 there was a heavy shower passing and I returned to my cabin. While I was on deck walking we could see Miami but there was no internet when I came to my cabin and thus I could not upload my web page.

Hmm, I can't say that it wouldn't be nice to make a stop in Miami. It was fun and especially after the face lift the place had been through since last time I was there. Last time it looked like a war zone.

I remembered me and my friend trying to go to some area, where we expected to find some action. Most of the taxis we stopped refused to go where we wanted to go.
This has nothing to do with jet lag- I'm not driving to that area of the town after dark!
Finally when we found a taxi (We paid 50 US for a 15 US ride) the driver told us:
- You're crazy!

But I don't know if it was because we went to this special part of Miami or if it was because No hangoverwe agreed on the hefty taxi fee. Never mind, we had a good time. Drinking water all day long and beer all night long no need to sleep back then.

Back in Sweden my friends picked me up at the airport and we This has nothing to do with jet lagdrove right to a bar. No need for sleep back then, but finally the jet lag and motion sickness caught up This has nothing to do with jet lagand I felt asleep in a sofa.

But no one thought it was strange with me sleeping in the sofa. This has nothing to do with jet lagI was not the only one sleeping at the place that night.

Well, where were we? OK, the shower. I went back to my cabin and a hot shower. I opened a diet drink, I have given up trying to get them to last until France.

Friday 5th of October 2007 and it looked wet when I looked out my window. The wind had picked up during the night, but it was nothing to worry about. As I say, painting a ship is notin' like painting your car in a garage. There is always salt in the air, no matter what you do. The crew wash the deck with fresh water in the evening and it's full of salt in the morning. And that's even though the sea is like a windmill pond.

OK, our crew had the chipping machines up and running short after our GOOD MORNING PEP meeting and our 2nd Officer and I checked our tanks for gas. No homeworkWhen we were ready our Fitters could start welding on deck. Our 2nd Officer and I returned to my office, I made a bucket of tea and we could start with the paperwork.

I really like to have the 2nd Officer around. The time goes quick and it was soon time for lunch.

I was in my cabin enjoying a diet drink after the meal when our 1st Engineer came by. We talked about the good old times when we were students and there was a party going on every day. Neither of us attended any classes and, OK, I didn't do any exams on my second year, but we managed to get through the school. With flying colours? Well, not really.

I came home one month too late for school, I had been stuck in India and when I came back for school I was low on money. I went to the bank and I got a loan, I think it was You must be joking5000US and a week later my student loan arrived, another couple of thousand dollars. So it was party every day and I had to go on a ship two months later to get more money.

Next semester started the same way, bank and student loan. One year as a student and I had spent 2 minutes in school. So when I did my last year I had to take exams for two years.

I was sitting at my desk and the 1st Engineer in my sofa. I told him that I had never had any problem with math in school. I don't know if he tried to prove something, but he threw himself from the sofa to my desk. He grabbed WOW!!!a piece of paper. He wrote down a formula: PI X d²/4
- What is d?
- Are you joking me? You need to put a sign of equality and something behind the equal sign.
When he had done that it took about 4 seconds to figure out how much d was.

I spent the afternoon with cargo calculations and when it was time for my constitutional after dinner I gave up after 3 minutes. It was blowing too much so I returned to our day room for a chat. While in the day room I selected a DVD and I returned to my cabin.

I had been in my cabin for 5 minutes when our Captain dropped by:
WOW!!!- It's pool time!
I had my swimming trunks on in a jiff and a few seconds later I was in the pool with my camera. I asked Captain to inquire with the Agent in France for a new CANON 950 IS so I can afford to be a No teaDARE DEVIL with my camera.

It was nice water, fresh from the Atlantic and, well, it was cooler than the water we got in TUXPAN. But 27 or 29 are good enough. Our Mess man was soon coming with coffee, but no tea or a diet drink as long as I could see so I had to enjoy my snus. But it doesn't take much to make me content, but, well this is how I am.
Aladdin's adventure onboard M/T Barcarolle
Aladdin's adventure onboard M/T Barcarolle
Last picture, my lens is full of water
Evening swim
I had to stop taking pictures, my lens was blurred with water

Saturday 6th of October 2007 and the sun was shining when I had my GOOD MORNING LOOK out of my window. Windy, but nothing to be worried about. I started my day with Yeah-yeaha bucket of tea and then I went on deck to check the gas in our tanks.

It was a pretty uneventful morning and the lunch break saved my life. I was about to do a stage dive from the bridge wing just to alleviate the boredom. I was in my cabin writing on my web page after the meal.

Our 1st Engineer came skidding in to my cabin. He caught sight of my web page and he started to read.
- What the BIP is this! Not a true word!

Saturday, gas free and we can have a BBQ. We will start at 3 o'clock at the pool with some competitions. We started with a combined open-air walking and quiz competition, Preparingthe crew were on the bridge while the Chief Engineer and I went out and put up the questions. 18 total and when we came back on He will kick athe bridge we sent away the first guy, our Cook. Our Electrician was the last guy we sent away and he was back on the bridge just after 5 o'clock.

2nd man to leave for the track was our 2nd Engineer. The first question was by me and, well, it was a question that took some time to answer. The answer was quite simple but it required some reading.
- Hmm, actually not. Just by looking at the answer should make it possible to figure out the right answer.

I made 4 of the 18 questions and, well, I think they got enough after 4.
QUESTION #1 It's a sunny Sunday afternoon in TUXPAN. We are discharging PUG-B from 2+4+5+6+7+8 CT and MTBE from 1+3 CT. You are walking down the catwalk with your index finger up your nose enjoying the weather. Suddenly you see a busted cargo line with a big leak. What do you do?

1. I pull my index finger out my nose and I inspect the catch before sticking the finger in my    mouth tasting my catch.

X. I forget everything our Chief Officer had told me and I start run around screaming, paralyzed    and scared.

2. I stay calm remember everything our Chief Officer taught me during numerous oil spill drills.    I run to nearest emergency stop and push the STOP button while trying to get the attention    from the watch and duty Officer.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
QUESTION #2 It's a rainy and windy Wednesday morning. I'll be damned, I even think I can hear the thunder rolling over Jetty #4 in Beaumont. Well anyway, you are cold and scared wondering:
- Where is Chief Officer when I need all the comfort I can get?

Deck is full of water and you open the scupper plug. You see that the water is pouring out through the scupper with a loud splash. What are you thinking while holding the scupper plug in your hand?
1. I think I go for a coffee. Nice to sit down on my arse for a while.

X. I will go see Chief Officer, I'm so scared since the thunder and lightning started.

2. I'm about to jump overboard, everything to alleviate the boredom. But Chief Officer had told me    never to leave open scuppers unattended so I stay until deck is empty and the plug is back.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
QUESTION #3 FÅCKING HELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MOTHERFUNKER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Why must it happen on a Saturday night??????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have just bought a case of beer from the slop chest and, damn, it's cold outside.

Yeah-Yeah Blah-Blah! Oil spill don't give a damn if it's Saturday, cold and if you have the girl (or boy) of your dreams in you cabin with TWO cases of beer. Hell, even if you managed to get Aladdin's music treasure no oil spill will give a damn.

You are highly irritated when the oil spill alarm goes off at 2147 Saturday night. What are you doing?

1. I don't want to lose any time with Aladdin's music treasure on my computer so I just run out    on deck half naked trying to save as much as quick as possible.

x. I forget everything our Chief Officer had told me and I start run around screaming, paralyzed    and scared.

2. I stay calm remember everything our Chief Officer taught me during numerous oil spill drills.    I quickly forget about the girl/ and boy of my dreams and I stay focused. I go down to the    muster station and get my orders. I would never dream of running out on a deck full of gasoline    half naked. I would have donned my protective clothing and make sure that all source of    ignition were secured.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
QUESTION #4 Christmas Day (Christmas every day in this company) and you're on you watch below. Laying on your bed staring in the ceiling thinking:
- Our Chief Officer is a real HE-Man..... This must be the best guy in the world..... I don't think there is anything that he can't do.... Darn! I even think I saw the sun shining from his arse the other day.....
- HEY!! Don't try to scratch my back. Get back out on deck with you chipping machine!
- Our Chief Officer is a real pain in the arse. He is ugly, start getting bald and he is the most stupid guy I ever meet. But I must give him credit for the successful diet. What the hell was it he told me during the last oil spill drill?

1. It's very easy to start the cargo operation again after a stop so it's better to stop one time    too many than to have an oil spill on deck.

X. It's OK to smoke on deck when we have an oil spill.

2. Our 1st Engineer wants us to go knocking on his door every second minute asking for COMPUTER    tips when he is winning the WWII all over again on his new computer. If you want to make sure    to see him smile just ask questions like:
   - Is it true that SUNKEN 250 is the best computer in the world?
   - Does your computer features stuff like AUTOPLAY on the DVD drive?
   - Does your computer comes with a warranty?
   He is getting especially happy if we mention Chief Officer's new computer. HIGH END
   NASA standard


When we were ready we prepared the grill, table, chairs and stuff. Our Bosun took Preparingcare of lightning the grill. It wasn't that easy to get the fire up and running so they sent our Engine Trainee to get some magic liquid from the engine room. A few minutes later they managed to get fire on the charcoal.

When the charcoal was glowing our Cook took charge, but not for long. Everyone wanted to cook and, well, I had too much to eat. Our Cook is making a very good Our Cook is busyAvocado salad and together with a few sausages I was full.

MY DIET! Now I know why I feel so good and I'm full of vim when I'm on diet. It's not because of the healthy food. It's because I'm successful, this feeling starts after the first skipped meal so it's instant pleasure.

But going from failure to failure makes me a little Bosun in chargegrumpy and tired, the vim and good mood is nowhere to be seen.

BBQ, I don't like it. I drink too much! When we got orders to proceed to France I took an inventory of the diet drinks and I found out that I could drink 7 diet drinks a day until arriving to France. Mingling with the crew at a BBQ and I was way above the average 7 diet drinks.

But never mind, I will quit the diet drinks, it's I'm off to bedno good for me and water is the best. So the quicker I run out of diet drinks the better.
- Hmm, what about the 30 cases I ordered for France?
Well, I guess I have to invite our 1st Engineer for some diet drinks.
- Hmm, think if could get a cent every time I write “diet drink”.

I expected it to be hard to fall asleep after all the diet drinks when I went to bed. I read a few pages in my book and I heard when the advanced ships time. Suddenly it was 1 o'clock and I think I felt a sleep shortly after.

Sunday 7th of October 2007 and the Atlantic Ocean was like a mirror when I woke up.
- It's a shame I told the crew that they could sleep long today, I thought.
At the BBQ I told the crew that they could sleep long today, of course you need a rest. You're on the ship for 9 months and you sit with a chipping hammer for 10 - 12 hours a day.

But I was almost choking myself on my morning tea when I saw the crew coming with all the chipping hammers and stuff. It didn't take long before we heard the sound of the chipping hammers. Great, the crew is up. And that's even though we advanced the ship's time by one hour during the night
- This is the spirit we are looking for!

Monday 8th of October 2007 and blah-blah-bla. I don't know where to start, there is so much excitement to choose from. Maybe that I woke up several times during the night due to rolling. Or wait, when I took my GOOD MORNING LOOK out of my window.
- NO NO! My bucket of tea was the thing that made my day.
Well, I could not enjoy it fully due to the rolling.

Nice weather but the ship was rolling and there was water spray on deck, but never mind. Our commando “ Rust Removing ” were soon on deck and the chipping was in full swing. I went with Bosun to check our cargo hatches and to measure the gas. We brought a sledge hammer and we were angry. We managed to break two pipes with the sledgehammer and we were pleased with the morning.

Our crew have managed to repair 4 nitrogen pipes and numerous supports on deck. I hope they are ready tomorrow, that is aft of the deck crane. Then I will transfer our slops and we can weld forward of the deck crane. If we find something that's broke, but we will do our best with the sledge hammer. If it can't take a sledgehammer it should be renewed.
We will advance ship's time by 1 hour tonight, 3rd hour since we left Mexico, there is no end to the adventure!

Tuesday 9th of October 2007 and I didn't bother looking out my window. I had been awake all night due to heavy rolling, I felt out of bed several times during the night.

The weather was nice and I enjoyed checking the gas during the morning. I listened to the chipping machines and enjoying the weather, the only thing that was annoying was the swell. The rolling decreased during the morning, but it was still annoying to have lunch holding on to something sturdy at the same time.

We had a nice afternoon, but in the early evening we ran in to some waves and we started to roll again.

Wednesday 10th of October 2007 and it's our 1st Engineers birthday. I had put my alarm clock at 7 so I could go down and prepare his breakfast. He will be served breakfast in his bed with a song. Now imagine me running in to your bedroom singing Well wellearly in the morning, enough to shit your pants.

This is exactly what happened to our hero when he was a young dashing AB. I don't know if I have told you this story before, but anyway, it's time to go back in the days. And if you heard the story before, just hit the page down button a few times!

Our hero was working as a young (some people even called him handsome and dashing, especially after a few drinks Now he is straight up gross and it requires more than a bottle of Vodka ) AB on a ship. Our hero was standing the 12-4 watch and his reliever, the AB on the 4-8 watch had his birthday.

It was bad weather and the ship was rolling, but our Hero managed to make him a breakfast. Our Hero took the tray and went under deck. The crew lived under deck and he had to hold on to something all the time just to be able to stand up when the ship jumped up and down. Our Hero managed to make it all the way to his door and he was pretty proud of his next move. Our Hero was holding on to a rail while holding the tray with the other hand.

Our Hero started to sing and he opened his door with his knee and at the same time the ship rolled over heavily. The door slammed in to the birthday kid's bed. Our Hero came flinging after the door screaming “Happy Birthday”. While flying by his bed with the tray our Hero could see him standing up in the bed with eyes of the size of pizza plates.

Well, those were the days. But back in 2007 (3 years later) and it knocked on my door at 0700. It was our Chief Engineer. We had planned to meet in the galley at 0720 to Early morningprepare the breakfast for our 1st Engineer. I was on my way to the shower when it knocked on the door. I had watched a movie, I went to bed at 9 yesterday and it started to roll in the middle of the night so it was impossible to sleep.

When I came to the mess room our Chief Engineer was busy preparing the breakfast. Our Captain was up as well, so instead of two singing our 1st Engineer will get 3 guys singing for him in the morning.

OK, before we left I had to prepare something green for the tray. I cut a few Early morningbranches of something we have growing in the mess room and I put it on the tray.
- HEY! WAIT!
Before leaving I need to take a picture for internet and when I had my picture we left for our 1st Engineer's door. We made a stop outside the door for yet another picture.
- I tell you, these guys are crazy about being on the internet!

Two quick knocks on the door and we stepped Early morningright in. Singing, well, it was more like screaming and our 1st Engineer looked shocked when he woke up. He looked like he was dreaming one of those nightmares when he caught sight of us. The first thing I did when I opened the door Early morningwas to take a picture and luckily enough we wasn't exposed to something of a more private nature.

It took some time to bring out the smile, but when he realized what was going on he started to smile. OK, I have to give him that smiling is not the first thing that springs to mind when you see me early morning. First thing when you open your eyes. Aladdin singing and taking a picture.
Early morning
Early morning
Reading the card, and reading and reading and reading.........
We handed him the breakfast and we were out of there. We returned to the mess room Early morningfor tea and at 8 we held our GOOD MORNING PEP meeting in my office. It was a gloomy and grey morning so I had a few of the guys on chipping detail and the rest was doing a little washing.

- Hmm, what the BIP did we do during the day?
I relieved our new 3rd Officer (Former Bosun) on the bridge so he could go and take care of his fire fighting stuff.

After lunch I was chasing the crew on deck, giving a pointer here and there when they are painting and chipping. A tedious afternoon for sure didn't became any more exciting when I started with the ballast exchange plan.
- WHO THE BIP BUILT THIS SHIP??!!
Seriously, all the desks are placed longitudinal and it's impossible to sit when the ship is rolling. The other day I almost felt backwards, dangerous!
- Yeah-yeah, I know what you're thinking. Fat chance that you will see me sitting in my office with the helmet on!

Our Captain and Chief Engineer have a living hell up in their office. Hold on to the desk while reading binders and stuff. As you understand the work is slow. If the desk were placed atwhartships we could have squeezed ourselves in between the drawers and thus we would be able to work, even in heavy rolling.

Our beds, they are longitudinal and as you understand it's impossible to sleep when the My clothes line get was it deservesvessel is rolling. I will try to do as our 1st Engineer does, sleep in the sofa. But the darn thing should have been 1m longer.

But before worry for my sleep I have to throw out our 1st Engineer. He pitch camp in my cabin every night, drinking diet drinks and use my snus.

And sure as hell, he has to give my clothes line a last biff on the nose before leaving. I don't understand how a simple clothes line can be such an irritated. We all have the other pictures fresh in mind and I don't want to expose you to the ghastliness again.

Thursday 11th of October 2007 and we were still rolling when I woke up. But the rolling Busywas not so bad and the sun was shining. Our crew were soon busy painting and chipping on deck

When the crew were put in work on deck I did the gas measurements and I think we will be ready with all the welding aft of the crane today. Then I can transfer the SLOP from 1CT to SLOP tanks and we can do some welding forward.

Our Bosun was running around on deck with a hammer. He managed to break 2 supports.
- That's the spirit! This is the last day so destroy everything you can! I said.
Tomorrow it will be too late and the more things we discover the more they can weld before tomorrow. Then next day for welding is on Saturday so I can use Friday for transfer and ventilation.
- BLAH-BLAH-BLA! WHO GIVES A YOO?!
Busy on deck
Busy on deck
One of our Fitters
He is like a Carpenter but he work with steel
It was a sunny day with perfect temperature and it was nice to be on deck pestering Busythe crew. I brought them some soda pops and it was like Christmas all over again.

We rolled less and less with the decreasing swell and the afternoon was perfect. The crew put back the last IG pipe and one of our Fitters welded our cargo tank hatches. Now it's time to put everything together and get ready to load.

During the evening the last wind disappeared and the only thing left was some swell. I hope we get nice weather tomorrow when we are transferring the slop.

Friday 12th of October 2007 and it was a beautiful morning. Our crew got right on the Busychipping and painting and I prepared the SLOP transfer with the OS on watch.

The transfer was ready just in time for lunch and after lunch it was time to clean 1CT. But first I had to go check our Pleasechain stopper with the 1st Engineer. I think they may have made a slight mistake when they did the chain stopper on the fo'c's'le. They forgot that there should be a chain in the darn thing, but our Fitters will soon have it fixed.

Our 1st Engineer was soon to find out another way to use the chain stopper. But I think our 1st Engineer got it all wrong and I had to be exposed to his private life.

The tank cleaning was ready in the afternoon and I could enjoy a quiet evening with a diet drink. I was very tired, we have advanced the ships time two nights in a row and now I need some sleep. But maybe I will start a movie before sleeping.

Saturday 13th of October 2007 and it was a nice morning. The wind is gone, but it's getting a bit chilly, 22°C and our Filipino crew wear winter jackets.

We discharged our SLOP and it took the whole day, always the same problem and it should be illegal with this ODME. First of all it should be forbidden to do tank cleaning between clean petroleum products and then, of course, it should be forbidden to discharge the cleaning water in to the sea.

Otherwise Saturday the 13th of October 2007 will go to the history as a pretty uneventful day. Well, we will advance ship's time by one hour tonight. The 6th hour since we left Mexico and then it's only one more to go.

- Watching a movie, is there a better way to end an uneventful day?
PleaseI was in my sofa watching a movie enjoying myself. OK, it would have been a wee bit more if I could use my TV pillow. But we all remember the horror story when my TV pillow was trashed beyond fitness for use.

I had been in my sofa for 19 seconds, hell, I did not even had time to put my index finger up my nose before our 1st Engineer came skidding in to my cabin screaming:
- MOVIE NIGHT!(Now I remember why I always lock my door. Hell, he did not even bring popcorn) I almost soiled myself. He brought a DVD and he ejected my movie. 12 seconds later my DVD player had a heavy list and a moment later the darn thing capsized. My DVD player never worked again.
Beyond saving
Beyond saving
My capsized DVD player
I don't think anyone will be surprised when I tell you that I had to retreat to my bed with a book. Well, I don't think I have to worry about good or bad movie for a while.
- Hmm, where did I put my language course?

Sunday 14th of October 2007 and I woke up to yet another beautiful day. It was dark outside when I looked out my window. The ship was moving a little, but it was more shaking than rolling and the horizon was yellow in East so it looked to be a nice and sunny day.

I spent the morning to measure the gas in the tanks, 10% LEL in 7CT and 70% LEL in 5CT so I gave up. Most likely there had been a leak in an IG valve when I transferred the SLOP and I gave up the idea to do any more welding on deck. I told our Bosun to secure all hatches and we will start to purge our tanks this evening. We will purge our tanks with IG until we have less than 5% oxygen in the tanks.

Well well, when I came to my office after the coffee break there was a new DVD player on my chair. Same brand and model as the other one. MARQUANT® DVD-1122, the very same quality they sell at home in the convenient store under the trade name Scooby Doo 9000.
Buy a bottle of milk, 2 apples and a DVD player. If you pay 3 dollars you get a DVD player with hard drive, a recordable. They bought 40 or so of the MARQUANT® DVD-1122 and I bet the salesperson is still screaming of laughter. I don't think we will ever see the guy again, one of those shady characters running around in the harbour High end appliancearea selling LOLEX watches and stuff.

- How many of you have heard of MARQUANT® before?
- Yeah, that's what I thought.

You notice that the name is protected with the registered trademark sign ®. Hell, yeah, you never know. When LOW END brands like Phillips and SAMSUNG etc is brought to their knees in the fierce competition they can come up with the brilliant idea to steal the well known HIGH END name MARQUANT® and thus multiply their turnover.

And I can mention, just to make you understand what a shock wave that hit the market when MARQUANT® launched their home entertainment series Scooby Doo 9000. My broker called:
- Aladdin, I've heard a rumour about a new home electronics giant. High end and top quality stuff. They will sweep the market!
Well, he had lost more than one night's sleep over this inside tip-off and now he suggested (to all his clients) to sell all their shares in Phillips, SAMSUNG and other LOW END home entertainment companies ASAP.

So here I am with my future invested in MARQUANT®. Our Captains DVD player lasted for a few seconds and our 1st Engineer managed to kill 4 players in 1 day. My DVD High end applianceplayer was the last one to die.

My DVD started to take water a few days ago and NE of the Azores the darn thing got a dangerous list and finally capsized. The DVD player is beyond saving and it was a total loss. I threw it were it should have been from the beginning, in the trash can.

So as you understand I didn't had that High end appliancemuch hope for the “NEW” DVD player I found in my office.

I was right, it only took me a few seconds, or as long as it took to plug the darn thing to 220 to realize that the DVD player was trash. And if I'm allowed to say it myself:
- I think that even Sverker himself would have been impressed, I filled up the darn trash bin in 0,3.
- Warranty??!! Yeah, fat chance I will drag this junker around town making a fool of myself.
High end appliance- HEY! LOOK AT THE WANKER! HE BOUGHT A MARQUANT DVD PLAYER!!

I don't even think it would have been possible to extend the warranty by having a diet drink with the guy selling the darn thing. He was off as soon as he had the money in his hands.

But the sweat shop owner make good money. A basement full of child labour working for nothing and the success is a sure thing.

But our Captain has been in touch with the ship chandler in France and hopefully we can get new DVD players. We have asked for REGION FREE players, but, well, that should not be any problem. I hope!

OK, let me tell you a story from back in the days. I and my friend went to buy a cordless phone and true to my habit I asked for the best one. My friend caught sight of a better deal, a SUNKEN 250 and it was a quarter of the price.
Well, he is not quality minded and he bought the SUNKEN 250 and needless to say, he was back a few days later to buy a new phone.
Sun set
Sun set over a calm Atlantic Ocean
We will pass Gibraltar tomorrow evening
Monday 15th of October 2007 and it was a beautiful morning. I discovered it first when I came on deck at 0820. I woke up at 0810 dead tired. All the advancing of the ship's time and I didn't felt a sleep until 4 o'clock. I was just rolling around in bed trying to sleep.

Our guys managed to start themselves in the morning and when I had my tea I helped our 1st Engineer to remove the sample pump to the ODME. I assisted him with stupid questions and one or two jokes, highly appreciated.

A nice morning turned slowly to a nice afternoon and we came closer to A windy eveningSpain and Morocco. We expect to pass Gibraltar around midnight if we can keep our speed. During the late afternoon the wind picked up and in the evening we had strong head wind.

Strong wind or not, the crew were busy on deck Busyand our two Mess men were busy stripping and waxing the floors in the accommodation. Soon Christmas!

Well, I kept my self busy pestering the crew on deck. We will arrive in 2 days and we need to get paint on the platform around the deck crane. We need to paint it 6 times and the painting is done in a jiff, but it's the curing between the layers that takes time. We need to get the grating back before arrival. We're running on a tight schedule but we are on track and last layer will be done Wednesday morning (weather permitted) and the grating will be on in the afternoon.

When the deck crew found me annoying it was time for the engine department. I went down at 7 o'clock in the evening after delivering the last instructions on deck. The whole engine department was busy with the sample pump to the ODME.
Evening in the engine department
Evening in the engine department
Evening in the engine department
Engine department busy with the ODME
Ville, Valle & Viktor

Well, believe it or not. The engine department grew tired of me in a jiffy and I returned to my cabin. I will try to get to bed early tonight without the language course, but I got a bunch of books from our Chief Engineer so I will do a little bit of reading.
Evening in the engine department
Engine department busy with the ODME
Our 1st Engineer came to disturb me in my cabin at 2030, but he left 10 minutes later when he saw land from my window.
- Oh! Land, maybe there is a message on my phone!

Tuesday 16th of October 2007 and the weather left much more to wish for. Windy, gloomy and grey and it soon started to rain.
- DARN! WE NEED TO PAINT DECK B4 ARRIVAL!
Well, the deck is dirty and the crew spent the day washing deck. Amazing how much dirt and dust that spreads over deck when they are chipping. They have been sweeping deck and they managed to collect tons of rust in buckets. But there is still all the dust we need to get rid of.

While the crew were busy washing deck our Bosun, OS and I pressure tested and measured the electrical resistance in our tank cleaning hoses. We kept our self busy until lunch and we were running back to the “HOUSE” trying to dodge the rain. Well, without success, I had to eat lunch wet and as I discovered (Our Chief Engineer asked what I had been doing that made me black in the face) black in my face. Oldest trick in the book:
Just before lunch you smear yourself with dirt and the reaction won't take long:
- HEY! What have you been doing? Working hard as always?
And all I had done was to sit on my arse.

I had a nice shower after lunch and when I came out of the shower the weather looked nice through my window. So I went on deck and reorganized the work. 2 guys on painting and I moved 1 gay to our AC room for chipping of the deck. Our guy had been working for 10 minutes in the AC room when the fire alarm went off.

It doesn't look like I will get a new DVD player in France, the ship chandler could only Busydeliver DVD players for the European region. My camera, I got the price for an 850 when I had asked for a 950 IS.

Well, our deck crew was not the only ones busy washing. Our Mess men were busy stripping and waxing the floor and today they were outside my cabin.

Tonight is the last night at sea, ETA 2200 tomorrow night and then they expect us to stay for 2 days. Maybe 3, there is a “National Strike Day” in France 18th of October so we might have to wait for 24 hours before any cargo operations. We don't know yet, but our Agent will keep us updated. Maybe I can go ashore to update my web page, now it's about 200 pictures since last upload.

Wednesday 17th of October 2007 and it was a gloomy and grey morning. There had been some heavy rain during the night, and I mean heavy. It sounded like they were hosing down the superstructure (house) with a fire hose.

But, well, I can't run through my whole life with bad luck. After 22 years of mishaps and setbacks it finally turned around. When I finished my morning tea the sun was shining and I put the whole crew on painting. We can get back our gratings on a freshly painted platform around the crane.
- Hmm, but it looks strange. The red Jotamatic is a white spotted after the rain.

Well, we only have 2 pots of Jotamatic left and then it's all Penguard and FLEXI so then it's never mind the rain.

We spent the afternoon preparing for arrival and at 1930 I was in my shower, pilot at 2100 and I have to look GOOD.

Thursday 18th of October 2007 and Loading Master left us at 0050, almost 2 hours after we had all fast. He had been onboard since 2310 yesterday together with the Surveyor.

It was almost 0130 when the Surveyor left. He was happy to met Swedish people.
- We only have Swedish people here once a year, he said.
He had spent a Christmas outside Gothenburg in his youth and he remembered Swedish Christmas food. When he heard my music he told me that it was very good music and that Sweden was a very good place for party.

We started loading at 0245 and I was in bed 30 minutes later. I was looking forward to go ashore buying a camera and a DVD player in the afternoon, that is if I can find a region free player.
- Upload my web page? Yeah, I hope so.
It will take us 14 days to Houston and next upload will thus be in the beginning of November.

My alarm went off at 9 o'clock and I was tired. I felt asleep at 5 and I didn't feel like going up. But with a Port State Control and Internal Audit it won't look good with a Chief Officer in bed.

OK, honestly! I don't know if I improve any looks by being up and around. Hmm, well, maybe if I take a bag over my head. Maybe it's just my imagination, but I swear on that one of the Port State Inspectors found me dashing. I was up with my oil record books when he gave me a smile I didn't cared too much about.
- Did he try to pick me up?
I don't know if it was because of this, but we passed the Port State Control with flying colours.

Inspections are fun! I remember one vetting with EXXON, I was tired and in a hurry to my bed. I chased the Vetting Inspector around deck, well, it was more like I pulled him around in his collar. We only got one remark, a life buoy with both light and line. But in Lavera Oil Terminalthe report it was "Rectified during inspection". Our Captain was so impressed that he wrote poem about the Chief Officer from Skåne and then he posted it on the bulletin board.

They were onboard from the Seaman's club and they will pick us up at 1800 and I hope I can get my camera and DVD player.

I missed the transportation to the Seaman's club so I had to ask the watch in the gate to call a TAXI. A few minutes later one of the Mess men and two ABs came to the gate and they joined me in the taxi.

While waiting for the taxi one OS and another AB came as well, but the wanted to wait for the next service to the Seaman's club. I caught sight of a car on the parking lot, a Parking at Lavera Oil Terminaltypical Latino car. Yeah, we have seen some strange vehicles in Spain, Italy and France. Well, I can just imagine coming down the road in one of those cars.

It took about 30 minutes for the TAXI to come pick us up. We took off with roaring engine and we arrived to the shopping center some 10 to 15 minutes later. We passed a bridge and I recognized the place where I had stayed when I signed off Bro Jupiter.
Back then this was the #1 HOT SPOT in France for good night life, a real holiday resort with party people roaming the roads at night. Obviously he must have been on drugs, I found BIP all and I asked our TAXI driver if there was any disco in town
- BIP all to do around here, he said.
Well, as I suspected and 3 minutes later we arrived to the shopping mall. HIGH END according to our French telephonist that we have to have onboard.
- You should go to AUCHAN, Carrefour is on the LOW END. This is where the riff raff is doing the shopping, he said
- I don't mind quality. I'm looking for a DVD player and a camera, I said.
- The AUCHAN is the place for you! He said.

We arrived and I asked for a chashomatrix so I could pay the driver. I asked for DVD players.
- I need two region free players, I said in my home made French.
- You need to talk with the guy selling the TVs, a girl said.
I went down to the TV department to check out the selection of DVD players. There was all kind of brands: SUNKEN, Scooby, Snobben and a few other brands I never heard of before. It took me 30 minutes to get in touch with the only guy working in the TV department.
- I need two region free players, I said in my home made French.
- We only have region 2!

Motherfunker, where ever I bought DVD players in the world they have been able to take away the region lock, but not here. I skipped the DVD players and I bought a cord to my computer so I can connect it to my TV. Then I went to the camera department and the girl only laughed at my home made French. But I ended up with AUCHANthe only CANON they had, an 860 IS for 399€. I was looking for Pumpernickel when our ABs and Mess man came and told me that they wanted to leave. We called a TAXI so we could go to the seaman's club and internet.

OK, I think I will make a summary of the shopping place. Comparing to Beaumont, BIP, we spent hours at the shopping areas in Beaumont and so far we had seen exactly ZIP beautiful girls. After 20 minutes at AUCHAN we had seen more beautiful girls than in 100 years at Wal-Mart. We were almost running in to trouble because of the beautiful girls.

We were waiting for the TAXI and I took my first picture with my new camera. We had been waiting outside for the TAXI, but it was cold and our crew wanted to go inside. I was still outside doing something at the trash bin. I could see two girls and a boy coming out. Looking angry over the shoulders at the ABs and Mess man. What the .... I thought.
I donned my boxing gloves ready to protect the crew from these racists. I went in and asked what had happened. It turned out that one of the ABs had said hello to one of the girls. At least we got a laugh out of it and I suggested that he should leave the HELLO business to the handsome guys.
Evening at the Seaman's club
Evening at the Seaman's club
The Crew at the Seaman's Club
When we came to the Seaman's club the rest of the crew was there with their laptops
Our TAXI came and it was the same driver again. He had left the number in the At the clubinformation at the mall so when we wanted to leave they should just call a TAXI for us.

When we arrived to the club there were already 12 crew members from Barcarolle. Most of them had brought their laptops for WIFI. There were two other computers so I managed to upload my web page. I should also transfer money to my brother, but the browser didn't support JAVA.

We were 17 people or so from Barcarolle so they had to send two buses. The first left 2115 and I had to stay, 200 pictures to upload since last upload so I was busy until 10.
Evening at the Seaman's club
Evening at the Seaman's club
At the Seaman's Club
Our transportation should leave at 2215, but we were delayed by 30 minutes and we Going back onboardwere onboard just after 11 o'clock.

The bus dropped us at the gate and we had to take the Last picture5 minutes walk to the ship. It was windy and cold, but we had time to stop for a picture with Barcarolle in the back.

When I came in to my cabin there was a note from the Chief Engineer: Have a nice time and Good Bye! Our Chief Engineer is leaving early tomorrow, but I went to see if he was up. He usually goes to bed early, but now it was 11 and he was still up. He was writing on his web page and we had a chat before we went to bed. I will see him for Christmas again when he comes back onboard. With the luggage full of Christmas gifts!
Going back to the ship
Going back to the ship
In the bus
Only games and larks
Friday 19th of October 2007 and when I woke up at 0820 I was dead tired. It knocked on my door 2 o'clock in the morning.
- Loading computer is not working!
- OK, I will be down in a few seconds, I said.

Well, our loading program stopped to work and nothing helped.
- OK, we have to do it old school, I said.
Duty Officer could use the off line computer in my office to get the rate and stability and I turned off our loading computer. The first thing I did after my morning tea was to install our loading program.

I turned on the program, ERROR on all tanks and I dismantled the whole console to track disconnected cables. We got a new Electrician onboard early this morning and I asked him at lunch. He remembered when they installed the new computer. There is something wrong with the program and CONSULTAS had to send us a file. I found the file in my e-mail program and I uploaded it on the loading computer. Ipsi wipsi wu and it worked again.

During lunch our 1st Engineer came to my cabin to see my new camera and to admire Impressivethe pictures. He wanted to buy my old camera and he offered me 100US.
- What??!! Then I can as well give it away, I said.
I will use it as a party camera and if I lose it I lose it.

During the coffee break I was with our 1st Engineer Cat watchwatching a cat on the jetty. Seems like the cat lives on the jetty begging for food from the ships. Our 1st Engineer went in to get some sausages for the cat.

We were talking about going to the Seaman's club at 6 and then I can upload my last pictures to the web. 2-3 weeks until next time and I know you need a little something to read. And maybe I will go to Carrefour to see if they have real pumpernickel.
We ordered from the ship chandler and when the provision came yesterday we discovered that it was ordinary RYE bread. The pumpernickel we get in the US, well, we can as well eat a Danish.
Feeding the local animals
Feeding the local animals
Feeding the local animals
Feeding the local animals
The bird was a little scared of the cat
After dinner we left for the Seaman's Club. We took a walk to the gate and the waiting On the waybus. We had soon left the terminal behind with screaming and smoking tyres.

It took us about 4 minutes to come to the bridge over to the other side of the port and I had my camera stand-by. We passed the bridge over Martigues and I got a few pictures of the place just for you to know how it looks. Now I have grown tired of the darn place and I will never mention it again. I don't want to lose any visitors by go on and on about the darn place. So have a last look, if you want and then we skip it.
A boring place
Martigues
I have put an arrow on one of the pictures and I think this was the hill where I stayed when I signed off Bro Jupiter. And who can forget the drama with my portable home? The hotel was on top of a hill. And we remember back in the days when I was travelling with my portable home, pre “WHEELED UNIT” era.

The hotel was on top of the hill and no parking lot, just stairs and I was half dead when reaching the reception.
Easier to leave, just to drop the bag and it ended up on top of the taxi.
Martigues
Martigues
Absolutely noting is happening in Martigues
I'm convinced that the driver that took me there in 2004 was on drugs
OK, enough of that already. When we had passed the bridge we turned left and we Hungrypassed Carrefour and we were soon at the Seaman's Club in Port De Bouc. Just before arriving to the Seaman's Club we passed a Pizza restaurant on a parking lot, and it was a real junker.
I can't say that I was tempted to stop for a pizza.

I have seen some FUNKY restaurants in my days, but mostly in less developed countries. Well, that is if you want to call France a developed country. But what do I know, maybe they make world famous pizzas in the Hungrydarn van.
We arrived to the Seaman's Club and we were the first visitors. No one at the computers and I had my web page uploaded in a jiff.

I wanted to transfer money to my brother and I brought a JAVA program Internet on the Seaman's clubon my USB stick. Impossible to install, the computer came up with a warning. All in French, but it was something about défendu and Soon to be on internetadministrateur. Well, he has to wait until we're back in USA.

OK, my web page was uploaded and one of the staff came by to say he was sorry that he didn't visited my web page yesterday, but he will check it out first thing tonight. I Soon to be on internettook a few pictures of him and I told him to check in 2 or 3 weeks when I had uploaded my page in US.

When I was done with the internet I left the computer to our 1st Engineer and I asked the staff to call me a TAXI.

While waiting for the taxi I took a few pictures of the club and 10 minutes later the taxi arrived and I could leave for Carrefour. But the Seaman's Club in Port De Bouc was a very nice place with a very friendly staff. But they didn't have diet drinks, only beer and orange juice. But I had a can of orange juice, and, well, it was OK. A wee bit too many calories.
Martigues
Martigues
Seaman's Club in Port Du Bouc
I took this pictures while waiting for the taxi
I bought a few French CDs and some plants at Carrefour. They didn't have any region free DVD players so I bought an S-video cable for my computer. Maybe I can connect my computer to the TV. After 40 minutes the TAXI came back to pick me up and we returned to the ship.

Saturday 20th of October 2007 and I woke up at 7. Good, I went to bed at 10 o'clock yesterday and I needed the sleep after 2 nights of a little sleep. I called 2nd Officer on my radio and I told him that there was no need to give me a 1 hour notice for Early morning actioncompletion of loading.
- I'm awake already, I said.

Well, I opened a diet drink, I didn't call the CCR until after the shower so I was ready to go. But I was thoroughly rested after 7 to 8 hours of nonstop sleep and I enjoyed the morning. My diet drink made the morning a wee bit more enjoyable.

I went to the galley and I made a bucket of my new Earl grey tea and I went to the CCR. I told our 2nd Officer to take charge and when the 3rd Officer came on watch he was sent to check the draft Early morning actionfrom the jetty. Our 2nd Officer adjusted the draft sensors when he got the draft via radio from the 3rd Officer.
- Well, what was it our old Electrician said? Yeah, Health and experience can't be bought for money.

We completed loading at 0955 and when the arm was disconnected we shifted 6 m forward so they could connect our bunker arm. Well, when we shifter the barge with our stores arrived and a truck with lub oil rolled up on the jetty. So we were pretty busy during the afternoon.

At 1725 the Loading Master and Surveyor came onboard and we could finish the paper work. They expect us to be ready with the bunker around 2200 and departure at 2300.
Well, I had time to set up my computer and TV in the cabin and I could finish a movie I started a week ago. I spent almost 20€ on cables and I had down loaded a program to my computer so now I watch region free DVDs.
- Hmm, 20€. I think I could have 20 MARQUANT® players for that price. But they would not have last through my first SNICKERS®

During our early morning training of our 2nd Officer he checked out my new camera and he took a picture of me busy talking in the walkie talkie. It was not a nice sight and I will spank myself every time I caught myself in self-indulgence.

Sunday 21st of October 2007 and I started my day with tea and 2 slices of rye bread. I'm so happy that I found Earl Grey tea in France, what a difference to Lipton Yellow Label. Actually, it tasted so good so I had 2 quick buckets of Earl Grey tea.

It was a beautiful day, no wind and sunshine so our crew were soon busy on deck. We Action on deckgot new hoses to our high pressure blaster in Lavera so I had one of the ABs to start with the hydro blaster. Well, It's more like a high pressure washing machine, but it's very good to take the worst of the deck before they start with the grit blaster or chipping machines.

But most important, we got fresh vegetables onboard and I'm back on salad and I also had a one hour constitutional after my evening salad. So I'm on the right track to beauty, health and well-being. And on top of that I'm in a very good mood.

We have about 15 days to Houston and I have bought cables to my computer so I can watch DVD on my TV when we cross the Atlantic. I bought a few bags of SNICKERS® and a bag of FRUIT something, FUN SWEETS I think it was. Well, anyway, this is nothing you want to have around when you're on a KICK A diet so I'm very great full to our 1st Engineer.

I was in my cabin yesterday evening waiting for the engine department to be ready with the bunkering. I was busy setting up my TV and computer and I made my cabin, well, as we say in Sweden: Riktigt hemma bio mysig

I had decorated my cabin with the potted plants that I bought at Carrefour and I must say that my cabin was Riktigt hemma bio mysig. Our 1st Engineer arrived to the scene and he caught sight of my SNICKERS® within 0,2. And that even though I went through all the trouble hiding the stuff.
- Hmm, did I hide them from myself or from the 1st Engineer? I'm not sure.

- Can I have a SNICKERS®? He asked.
- I bought these for us to have during tedious nights watching movies and munching on candy, I answered.
Well, he didn't understand my argument and I'm a nice guy so I told him to help himself. Now I don't have to worry about the SNICKERS® and my diet anymore.

Monday 22nd of October 2007 and I relieved our 3rd Officer on the bridge after our GOOD MORNING PEP meeting. It was a nice morning, but a force 6 head wind. But the sun was shining and the grit blaster was up and running.

We entered Cabo De Gato TSS just before 12 o'clock and I went for lunch, salad. I spent the afternoon with paper work and I had a one hour constitutional after my dinner, salad. We will retard ship's time by one our tonight so it will be nice to sleep an extra hour tomorrow morning.

I was sitting in my cabin minding my own business, feeling good about myself (1 hour Always up to somethingconstitutional on deck) sippin' my diet drink. Our 1st Engineer came skidding in to my cabin and I had not even time to think “What is it now?” before he had his hand in my bag of SNICKERS®
- I need a hair cut! Can I borrow your trimmer?
- Now you going to wreck my trimmer, my TV pillow are just a sweet memory and you are hitting my candy bags like a swarm of locusts.

He disappeared with my trimmer and I followed him with my camera. I was in stealth mode so he never noticed me when I took a series of pictures of the HAIR CUTTING action
My trimmer is never to be used again
My trimmer is never to be used again
My trimmer is never to be used again
Well, I don't know......
I will put my trimmer in the same box as my red shoes, TV pillow etc
Tuesday 23rd of October 2007 and the Atlantic Ocean was like a windmill pond when I Gorgeous weatherchecked out my window.

I went for a shower, just a little tired. We retarded the ship's time by one hour during the night so it was like sleeping until 0830. One hour extra, but I wouldn't have minded two hours or even three.

True to my habit I made a bucket of tea first thing when I came to the mess room and then it was time for Gorgeous weatherour GOOD MORNING PEP meeting. Beautiful weather and the grit blaster and chipping machines were soon up and running.

After lunch I went to the bridge to check out if our 3rd Officer had something to do.
- I can take over you're watch, I offered.
- Not necessary, he answered.
I left the bridge a wee bit disappointed and I continued with
Sint Eustatius
or Saint Eustatius in English. The island is also called Statia island of the Netherlands Antilles, in the Caribbean Sea. Sint Eustatius measures 10 by 5 km and has a total land area of 21 square km.

The island is dominated by two extinct volcanoes, with a flat central plain separating the two. Sint Eustatius lies in the trade wind belt and receives an average 1,125 mm of rainfall annually, mainly between May and November.

The island, first colonized by the French and English in 1625, was taken by the Dutch in 1632 and named Nieuw Zeeland. Dutch control was not absolute, the island changing hands 10 times in 1664-74, yet Sint Eustatius began to grow as a commercial centre.

The island was probably the major source of supplies for the rebellious North American colonies, arousing British antagonism during the American Revolution. On November 16, 1776, Sint Eustatius became the first foreign government officially to recognize the fledgling United States.

Britain could not ignore the situation; seizing on the opportunity presented by an impending American-Dutch commercial treaty, Admiral George Rodney was ordered to capture the island and did so in February 1781. After destroying storehouses and homes, the British continued to fly the Dutch flag, luring many American and other enemy ships to their capture. This marked the end of Sint Eustatius's prosperity, which was never regained.

The island is governed locally by an elected council headed by a lieutenant governor and is represented in the Netherlands Antilles legislature. The spoken language is English and the entire population is concentrated in Oranjestad. Population 2,100 (2000).
some paperwork in my office. For what? Yesterday I did the loading plan for Houston and today we got message that there is a possibility that we will discharge in St. Estadius.

Well, we see what happens and I'm sorry for the deck crew, but I had nothing to do except chasing them during the afternoon.
Making dinner
I spent some time in the kitchen supervising the making of my salad. We eat dinner at 1730 but I came up with this master plan. I asked our Cook if he could have my salad ready at 5 and I eat 15 minutes after 5 and I'm ready when the other guys are coming for dinner.

The plan is that I should be on deck when they eat. When I eat with the rest of the guys I must sit there cracking jokes and to be social. Then it's so easy to take a third and fourth portion and that is not very good for my diet. Better to be there alone with my salad.

Wednesday 24th of October 2007 and it was still dark when I woke up, but we will retard ship's hour by one hour tonight. The crew started with the grit blasting and chipping. Bosun and I tested our ballast valves with the emergency hydraulic pump, so it was a pretty exciting morning.

After lunch we continued with the valves and, well, it wasn't any more exciting in the
Too
adverb
• [as SUBMODIFIER] to a higher degree than is desirable, permissible, or possible; excessively: he was eating too much Semla / his diet was a wee bit too successful.
To
infinitive marker Among numerous other things
1. used with the base form of a verb to indicate that the verb is in the infinitive, in particular:
• expressing purpose or intention: I set out to paint the deck / I tried to eat less / I am going to look nice when I sign off.
afternoon. Luckily enough we were soon finished with the valves. (We will continue tomorrow morning when it's a wee bit too damp to paint.)
- Lo and behold! I think I made it again!
I can't think of any better example on the difference between TOO and TO. A wee bit too damp to paint
J's English Teacher will recover from the ileus in no time and we will all live happily ever after.

Well, the afternoon turned pretty quick. Testing the lifeboat davit, cleaning a filter in the ODME and I don't know everything we did. At 5 I had my dinner (salad) and I was soon off to deck for my constitutional.

Thursday 25th of October 2007 and it was a, well, first let me tell you about the lunch! I'm back in my cabin after the meal and I have a little time to kill. So I write a few words on my web page.

The lunch was a monumental setback for my diet. It started all good with salad and chicken, but things went out of hand and I lost the control. But as I'm used to hear from all the SLIM LINE gurus: “It's important not to give up, just to have another go”
- Yeah-yeah, Blah-blah!
But anyway, that's exactly what I am going to, even though I suffer from severe agony. I will have another go and I will never mention this set back again.

Well, The Atlantic Ocean looked like a mirror when I looked out my window. I had a shower and I went to the mess room and I made a bucket of Earl Grey. It didn't take long for the guys to get started on deck after our GOOD MORNING PEP meeting. Our More trainingDeck Boy and I tested the rest of our remote valves.

As a part of the training of our 2nd Officer I printed 100 pages with CDI questions for him. I told him yesterday that this would be a good training in finding stuffs. He looked happy thinking that it would be 2 or 3 pages. When I handed him a 3cm thick sheaf of A4 papers it was a different tune.

But it is really a good training. When I came onboard here for the first time we were about to have a CDI inspection and I got the same papers. This is the questions the CDI Inspector will ask you and you can write notes and references on the questionary. So when the Inspector asks you the questions you have all the answers with you. Or as we say in Skåne:
- We are kickin' behinds!

I relieved our 3rd Officer on the bridge at 2 o'clock so he could finish his work list. Inspecting fire extinguishers and stuff. Then I can update our maintenance program on my computer.

After my dinner ( A bowl of salad and olive oil) I was back on my track Off the beaten trackon deck with my iPod on full blast.
While walking up and down I gave pointers to the crew when they painted the deck.

While in the track I was dying for a SNICKERS® and I started to wonder how I ended up liking SNICKERS®. I mean, chocolate and peanuts don't sound yummy to me. But it was when I was trekking in Nepal I had my first SNICKERS®

I was trudging along the dust path, I had not had electricity for days. Only eating rice and drinking water (I was looking good) We had just left Puna Hill where we had stayed for 2 days. My trekking buddy wanted to see a hill and they had to leave early morning. - Aladdin, do you want to join 5 o'clock tomorrow morning? It's a beautiful view!
- No thanks! I think I get the picture.

So I stayed at the guest house ( And for sure, I didn't go up at 5). Owned by a retired Ghurkha soldier. His wife and two daughters were running the place. One of the daughters, a Teacher in the village of 3 huts and a school.
She took me to the school and it was interesting to see, anyway, more interesting than running up on a hill 5 o'clock in the morning.
Off the beaten track
Village school
I just had to ask her where all the school children came from and she told me they Cookinglived all around in the mountains. Some of them had hours to go to come to school.

We returned to the guest house and I was busy entertaining the daughters, remember, I was good looking. OK, there was a mother hovering around all the time. Well, we were sitting in the kitchen cracking jokes and the Teacher threw a potato in the fire.

Wooden fire was the only means to cook. And after a few minutes she handed the potato to me, this Cookingwas some kind of speciality in Nepal, at least at Punhill.

It was interesting sitting in the kitchen listening to their stories. They told me that there was also a son of the house. But according to the daughters he was just running around doing notin'.
- Why?
- In Nepal is only the women working. The men are only hanging around doin' notin'.
A sad good byeThen it came like a bolt from a blue sky:
- Are you married?
- Well, hmm, mumble and mutter. Why?
- European guys are so nice!
Well, I started to look at my watch wondering where the hell the HILL EXPLORERS where. It's time to leave.

We left the day after, early morning, well it was 10 or something. It was a sad good bye and I can't help thinking about the Teacher. What is she doing today? Married with 9 children? Is she happy? Would she have been happier ending up married with me? NO, I don't think so. But I hope she is happy and healthy.

Well, where were we? Yeah, eating only rice and drinking water (and one potato) and we left Punhill Off the beaten trackand the girls behind. I needed energy and after a few hours walk we passed a hut and there was a small shop. Selling souvenirs and water and I could see 4 SNICKERS®
- What the heck, I thought and I bought all 4 of them.
It was sensational, what a taste. I finished them in 0,3 and I loved them ever after. But still, thinking of a peanuts and chocolate mix is nothing that makes my mouth water.

But when I was in Singapore to join Rainbow I will end up like an ANTI AIRCRAFT BALLOONWarrior I was in for a pleasant surprise. We stopped at a gas stop on the way to the ship and they had SNICKERS®Almond. What an invention, almonds and chocolate, this is the mix we're looking for.

And well, too much of the good is not good. Our Captain and Chief Engineer (On holiday now) is terrorising me with these SNICKERS®Almond. They can't leave the ship without coming back with a box to put outside my door.
- I WILL SOON LOOK LIKE A ZEPPELIN!!

Friday 26th of October 2007 and it was a gloomy and grey morning and when I came on deck I could feel a few drops falling. Well, the ship is covered in dust from the Busygrit blasting so a heavy rain would be nice. But of course, then we can't paint so it's better if we get rain just before arrival.

It was time to calibrate our gas detectors and our 2nd Officer took the opportunity to get some Busypractice.

While calibrating the instruments it started to rain outside and we decided not to take any more chances with the grit blaster today. DARN! But we need to paint and I hope it will be dry enough for painting. I have 4 guys on the chipping machines and then we have greasing and washing of deck to do.

I managed to keep an eye on the kitchen department at the My salad. I will have it for dinner insteadsame time I supervised our 2nd Officer with the gas detectors. They were busy with the lunch and my salad. Our Cook was making a leek Health foodand potato soup, my favourite.
- This is like health food, I suggested to our Cook.
- Yeah, he replied.
- OK, HOLD THE SALAD FOR TONIGHT! I WILL HAVE SOUP FOR LUNCH!

We were finished with the gas detectors just in time for lunch and, well, I was in a good mood because of the leek and potato soup. But the rain was like a black cloud over my good mood and I was a wee bit sullen. And for sure, the fact that I was going to use the ODME after lunch to discharge slop didn't improve my mood.
Busy
Raining or not, our kitchen department is always busy

Well, I spent a half day with the slop and we managed to discharge ZIP, well, maybe we managed to discharge a 1m3 before givin' up.

Just when I had put the rest of the crew on greasing detail the sun broke through the clouds. Well, it was 4 o'clock and no time for shilly-shally. Greasing it is, and there is some spray over deck so we're better of waiting with the paint until tomorrow.

I had my one hour constitutional on deck, giving pointers and planning tomorrows work with Bosun at the same time. But I can't say I enjoyed it, the wind picked up and there was salt blowing over deck. I went in and, well, I had a sandwich. They were still eating in the mess room and I had the pressure on me to be social. I sandwich and when I started to running my eyes over the chocolate cake and the whipped cream I left for my cabin.

Always pressure, at lunch I was in my cabin when our 1st Engineer came by. It only took 2 seconds and he got off complaining.
- I never see you anymore! Never at the coffee breaks! Your cabin door is always closed!
So now it's 1945 and I'm sitting at my desk writing on my web page, WITH MY DOOR OPEN! Well, maybe I will watch a movie and then it's time for bed. Maybe reading for a few hours.

Saturday 27th of October 2007 and the time turns quick, it's weekend again.
Weekend or not, I had my GOOD MORNING look out of my window. Gloomy and grey and I went down for a bucket of morning tea. When I passed my office the crew were waiting for me and I had a look at the watch, 0803.
- What the .....!?
In my cabin the clock was 0755 and I should have time to make me my morning tea. Well, obviously not and we started the GOOD MORNING PEP meeting without tea. As you see, our house is in need of some chipping and painting. Rust everywhere. But first we will finish our deck.It was raining, so it was water blasting, greasing, washing and to put new tiles on the floor in the kitchen.

Well, I had our 1st Engineers complaints about me not going for coffee break in the day room fresh in memory. I went to the day room for coffee and I had a cancer stick and 3 (Three) pieces of chocolate cake. So, well, I'm better off elsewhere.

The sun broke through the clouds just before lunch and we prepared for some painting on deck. But it was still Hard workin'raining so, well, anyway, it's ready to be painted if the weather allow us in the afternoon.
Drill'
Mess man in chem suit
A drill is planned for the afternoon, at 1515 we will have a fire, lifeboat drill and some other things. We gathered on the bridge and our 3rd Officer demonstrated our chemical suits and one of our Mess men donned one of our Trellechem suits.

We also held a smoke diving drill, search for missing person. C deck was all dark and a dummy was placed somewhere for the smoke divers to find. It was pitch dark and I was stand-by, hiding in the dark with my camera. I was full of expectations
C deck
C deck
Not very much going on on C deck
I was hiding in the dark with my camera stand-by
I was standing in the dark, could see BIP all when I heard a noise. I shot a picture in the dark just to find an empty C deck in the light from my flash.
- OK, they will soon be here, I thought
After a few minutes in the dark I could hear a door open.
- YES! FINALLY! Something happens, I thought shooting my second picture just to discover that it was our 1st Engineer.

More waiting in the dark with our 1st Engineers words still ringing in my ears.
Drill'- You and the camera!
He was screaming, of course you walk in to the dark just to have a flash in your face.
- Hmm, I wonder if there was a little something coming in the pants.
Well, waiting and waiting and I were about givin' up. Standing Drill'in the dark like a dirty old young man with a camera. And what will the company think, paying me for standing there growing old in the dark.

Finally I could hear a door open and someone came in and when my flash went off I discovered that it was the smoke divers. The searched the deck and they found the missing guy (They were lucky that it wasn't Drill'me they had to carry out) and the drill was over.

We had a SAFETY MEETING on the bridge and when we were ready I was off to deck to give a few instructions. (No good weather for painting so finish the paint and go have your dinner)

When on deck I was up for a disappointment, the wind had picked up in force and I had to skip my constitutional.
Well, I took a Saturday afternoon shower and I went for dinner, tomorrow it's a new day and I will kick behinds in the track.

Sunday 28th of October 2007 and I saw our Bosun on deck when I had my GOOD
Netherlands Antilles
two widely separated groups of Dutch islands in the Caribbean, in the Lesser Antilles; capital, Willemstad, on Curaçao.

The southernmost group, situated just off the north coast of Venezuela, comprises the islands of Bonaire and Curaçao. The northern group comprises the islands of St Eustatius, St Martin, and Saba. The islands were originally visited in the 16th century by the Spanish and were settled by the Dutch in the mid 17th century. In 1954 the islands were granted self-government and became an autonomous region of the Netherlands.
MORNING look out of my window. Sunshine, but it is still spraying water over deck so no painting. Well, we are coming closer to the Caribbean and Sint Eustatius

Our deck crew started the chipping and greasing while I and Bosun reorganised our oil spill equipment and we keep us self busy until lunch, well, actually we were 5 minutes late for lunch.

Afternoon, hmm, what did I do. Well, we continued the reorganisation of the oil spill equipment and we got rid of some old samples. Then I went for a shower and it was a pretty uneventful day.

Monday 29th of October 2007 and it looked good when I took my GOOD MORNING look out my window. No wind so I was looking forward to a day with chipping and painting.

But when I had made my tea and I was in the office for our GOOD MORNING PEP meeting the storm was over us and we had to cancel the chipping and painting on deck. The deck around the nitrogen tank looks like .... and as you can see on the picture below the tank doesn't look any better. You can also see the poop deck, no it's not a picture from a PanamaGreek ship. I have never seen something like that before.
Maintenance urgently needed
Chipping around the nitrogen tank
As you see she looks like .... The whole tank deck looked like that, even worse in January
Well, as soon as our tank deck is ready we will do the fo'c's'le and then we will put all our TOP GUNS on the poop deck. Well, the area around the nitrogen tank will look good in a few days and we will make the tank red instead of the present indeterminable colour. Give the guys a few days with sun shine and the poop deck will be ready.

Well, 2 more days and we arrive and we have spent about 1 month crossing the Atlantic Ocean, 2 times. A lot have been done and I'm especially happy for the welding of nitrogen pipes and the renewal of the IG pipe to SLOP port and numerous supports on deck. It was a good idea to give a sledge hammer to the Bosun with the words.
- Be angry and go out on deck and destroy everything you can!
As I said when I came onboard here the first time. They were gaping at me in disbelieve when I was on deck with a sledge hammer
- What the BIP are you doing?
- If it can't take a sledge hammer it has notin' to do on a tank deck, I answered.

Tuesday 30th of October 2007 and when I looked out my window I discovered that it was a gorgeous day. No wind and sunshine, well I discovered this after my shower. At my GOOD MORNING look out of the window it all looked gloomy and grey.

It was sunshine and the crew got right on the chipping detail. A few of them had to start with a hose and flush deck with fresh water. The deck was full of salt and typical enough there had been no rain during the night. Yesterday I told our Navigation Officers to look out for rain on the radar and try to hit the shower.

Passing a real shower is the best thing for getting the salt of the deck. It's like going Dodging the rainthrough a high pressure wash with the whole ship.
Well, sometimes it's important to dodge the rain. As we all remember how we managed to dodge the rain north of Curacao on the way to Mississippi. The crew were painting on deck as nothing happened and I was on the bridge laughing. But now we want rain.

It was a hot day and I decided to put some SODA POPS for the crew's dinner. I was in a good mood in the late afternoon after a day where I had been exasperated most of the day. A tank deck 150m long and 30m Always busywide. That's 4500 square meters and then we have all the webs and pipes so multiply it with 3 and you get 12 - 13 000 square meters. 3 chipping hammers and you understand that it will take a very long time. 2 days at sea between Mexico and US, then 4-7 days loading with no chipping on deck and you really understand the crews achievements when we reached the manifold today. (Starboard side is passed the manifold)

We have finished starboard and port side and we have a middle section, 50 % of the area between two big frames. This mid section of deck, going from the house (superstructure) to the fo'c's'le is divided by a big frame used as a cat walk. We only have 8 center tanks where ships normally have 8 divided in 2 tanks and the bulkhead between the tanks will be like a support of the deck.

We don't have this support in the tanks and thus we have to have it on deck. Well, anyway, now we are finished with this mid section up to the manifold and we have about half of it left. But the crew have finished almost 75% of the whole deck.
Maintenance urgently needed
Tank deck
Yet another picture to elucidate what I try to say with words
Section 1 & 2 is ready and 3 & 4 is ready from the house and up to the manifold. We only wait for red paint so the crew can spray paint the area.

But today I was just feed up with the tank deck and the eternal job to remove the rust. Some days are like that, just feeling that we are going nowhere with the darn chipping machines. So I decided that we will paint Always busydeck when we get our red paint.

My original plan was to wait until the whole deck is finished, but I'm sick'n tired of seeing the yellow and blue spots on deck. And it's also givin' a sense of, well, moving forward. Something is happening, progress and we keep ourselves in a good mood.

But these yellow and blue spots have saved the nature from hundreds of liters of paint that would have been thrown in the garbage. We also saved us a lot of money, 5 - 600 liters of paint that would never had come to any use is used. I got a price list from Jotun and the paint is between 6 and 10 US/ liter.

Wednesday 31st of October 2007 and MOTHERFUNKER! MY SNUS! At lunch Captain told me that Pajaritos was cancelled and that we will proceed to the Panama Canal after loading at Sint Eustatius. We will not be in US for at least another month. My shoes and hard drive is also waiting for me, but SNUS is the most important.

I'm down to 6 or 7 rolls and I'm not going to make it. Well, I hope we make good speed and that we will skid in on Dock #4 at EXXON, Beaumont 1st of December.

Well, we have a nice day and the crew are busy on deck with the chipping and painting and I must say that we are pretty much on schedule. I have been here for 3 months and we are at the manifold and 2 months to go and we should be at the fo'c's'le at New Years eve.

The only good news with the Panama Canal is that I can use the very same picture as last time.

I spent the afternoon on deck pestering the crew. 7 full days of grit blasting on port side and 2 - 3 days chipping on Starboard side, and we are well forward of our deck house. (Forward of the manifold) I hope they can deliver 140 liter barrier and 500 liter red FLEXI in Panama and we will have this spray painted before soon. If the crew is finished before New Year's eve they have managed to make the whole deck in less than 10 months. Our Crew started the grit blaster the 8th of February 2007 and when I review my notes I find the following:
Wednesday 24th of January 2007: I walked around deck and I planned a little of tomorrows work with our Bosun. I can't recall being on a rustier ship, there is plenty all over th deck. They are talking about a voyage to Buenos Aires and that's a three week trip around Cape Horn. Believe me, we need it so we can get our sand and hydro blasters up and running.

Friday 9th of February 2007: We have had some problem with our grit blaster, but now our engine department have opened the air supply to full out on deck and they are kickin' behinds with the grit blaster. I was in good mood thinking.
- Soon we can take down the Liberia flag and hoist the Swedish flag.


Wednesday 14th of February 2007: and it's Valentine's day. Our lines need welding before arrival and I was in a bad mood. Everything you touch here turns to shit. The grit blaster had not been out for several day, and the deck really need some serious grit blasting. But we need to repair broken stuff first.

Interesting to go back in time a little. I remember my reaction like it was yesterday. The first thing was to make a list of things that needed immediate attention. I had a PRIORITY column and after a while I noticed that everything had HIGH priority. So I started to give stuff HIGH HIGH priority, and remember that she came straight from dry dock in Poland when I joined the ship in Panama.
Maintenance urgently needed
Well, now the only thing remaining is the deck
I started a list when I was on Marimba, but things got out of hand

But now we see the end of it and maybe, AND I SAY MAYBE, we will have a look inside the funnel when we are finished with everything important. We did the pipes Bosunon the funnel, but those needs to be done again. We all remember the picture of our Bosun (Now our 3rd Officer) in the funnel.

Well, but there is plenty more to weld on deck. We destroy more and more stuff as long as the chipping is progressing. But if we are going through the Panama Canal we have a few days back to the Canal and then we will be gas free. I will pinch our Bosun in the behind a few times to steam him up. And when he is furious I will give him a sledge hammer so he can go out on deck and destroy.
If it can't take a bang from a sledge hammer it should not be on deck.

Well, yet another month of our life has passed by and we swing right on to the excitements in November without spending any more thoughts on how quick the time passes, just to try to forget that we are growing old and ugly.




       
                  

OK, it has come to my knowledge that we have senior citizens visiting my web page. How hard can it be? So it's not very easy for them to see the blue coloured
Jiffy (also jiff)

noun [in SING.] informal a moment: we'll be back in a jiffy.

ORIGIN late 18th cent.: of unknown origin.

So as you understand, in a jiff pretty much depends on your internet.
links to the next page. So I put a “Next” button here and I hope that there isn't any problem to understand how to use that one. So just CLICK the “Next” button on your left hand side and you will be on the next page in a jiff!

Marunong ka mag-tagalog? Walang problema! Magpunta sa kabilang pahina pindutin ang “NEXT” button sa itaas

Faites vous parlez le français? Pas de problème! Pour arriver à la page suivante faites s'il vous plaît un déclic le bouton “Next” ci-dessus!

Haga usted dice el español? Ver la siguiente página sólo hacer clic el botón “Next” encima!

Farla parla l'italiano? Non problemi! Per vedere la prossima pagina lo scatto per favore giusto Il bottone “Next” sopra

Sprechen sie Deutsch! Kein problem! Wenn Sie die folgende Seite sehen wollen gerade klicken der Knopf “Next” oben!

คุณพูดภาษาไทยได้ไหม ไม่มีปัญหา ถ้าคุณต้องการไปหน้าถัดไป ให้กดปุ่ม “Next” ข้างบนนี้

Вы говорите по-русски? NJET PROBLEMA! Просто нажмите синюю кнопку "Next" с левой стороны и Вы моментально переместитесь на следующую страницу!

E ni Svenskar och inte förstår Engelska så ska ni skämmas. J och Björn, med det menar jag inte att alla mina stavfel ska ältas varje gång vi träffas.

Flag of Skåne / Skånska flaggan Well, the flag of Skåne, just a BONUS flag.



                                       

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