Same shit, different ship

[Mendip]

This is fun...

[bsnub]

Getting a bit choppy there! Best make sure you have battened your porthole.

[Edmond]

Looks like the final scene from a Die Hard movie and Bruce Mendis pushes that big red button, then the oil rig explodes with badguy Dastardly Dill on it.

[Mendip]

^ It would be nice to get a happy ending for once.

[helge]

then the oil rig explodes with badguy Dastardly Dill on it.

Or so you think

But in reality Dill manages to cling on to the rudder of the Mendy vessel.

More in the sequel

[PAG]

Or so you think

But in reality Dill manages to cling on to the rudder of the Mendy vessel.

More in the sequel

and to be picked up Jason Bourne style by a passing fishing boat, to resurface and plot his revenge.......

[helge]

plot his revenge.......

Which will be ...sweet and spectacular

[Reg Dingle]

Get a proper job, ya slacker

[Mendip]

^ What in God's name is wrong with you?

I must admit I'd love to bring Anna along with me.

[david44]

.sweet and spectacular

An International English school of Dolphins in football shirt revive him and flip him off into a passing pedalo will the queue for Barbie mouth to mouth russleasian work , get in the BBQ

[Topper]

I'm surprised you're allowed out on deck in weather like that...

[Reg Dingle]

^ They use him as the stabiliser

[helge]

I'm surprised you're allowed out on deck in weather like that...

You reckon ballast should stay below ?

That's harsh

[Mendip]

^ They use him as the stabiliser

I just sent you a Green for your hard work on Anna's thread but I'd like to rescind it now.

Is it possible to call one back?

[Bettyboo]

^ I'm happy to send him a red on your behalf, Mendip.

(His Photo abuse has been a crime for years...)

[Mendip]

^ Please do Betty. There's nothing clever about abusive photoshops.


Anyway, it was that time again... the best view of all.



Infinitely better than the view for the oncoming crew.



While waiting for my taxi to the airport I had a wander and took a couple of pics of my second home (for now).

A familiar story for me, she looks better from behind...



Than from the front.



A word to the wise... if your ship docks in Tananger and you're flying out of Stavanger's Sola airport, get yerself a starboard side window seat... And there she is, the good ship Edda Flora, my home for the last four weeks.



I was well-impressed with this picture taken enroute to Copenhagen... until a colleague on a later Aberdeen flight (who I gave the 'window seat, starboard side' tip to) sent me this. Either the cloud had drastically reduced, he was at much lower altitude, or his Sony phone has a better camera than my old Samsung.

The Edda Flora is in the centre of the pic. It makes you realise how small we are in the scheme of things, out at sea.



I had the 'pleasure' of spending eight and a half hours in Helge's homeland after that flight. As always when flying from Norway to Thailand I was faced with the old dilemma... travel without a jacket and be cold during connections or travel with a jacket and risk losing it. Having left two or three coats on long haul flights over the years I chose the former option and packed my coat in my hold baggage, but it was a bit chilly.



My first beer in four weeks...



Expenses cover food but not alcohol, so I have to pay separately. To apologise for the bother of this, and as I was feeling flash after four weeks offshore, I attempted to tip the barman. It's all by card on machines these days of course, but he was happy to show me how to leave a tip, but then looked at me daggers leaving me a bit confused.

Maybe Helge can help here, but I have a horrible feeling I got the decimal place wrong and left 50 Ohre instead of 50 Krone, or 6 new Pence, or 2.5 Baht? If so, I can probably hide that in my expenses!



I felt bit guilty until my meal turned up and I discovered that I'd been conned out of 3 quid for two onion rings. Bollocks to 'em. The coleslaw was a funny pink colour as well.



This is why I don't like the SAS option via Copenhagen to get home. The Bangkok flight is the last of the day from CPH, and by the time I board the plane I've been awake for around 26 hours having pulled a night shift on the boat before disembarking. With beer onboard as well I'm a bit of a mess by the evening.



The KLM option is way better... a 1 hour connection at AMS and around 5pm departure that arrives in BKK at midday rather than SAS's 5pm arrival, right in the middle of rush hour. But KLM were too expensive, apparently... Both KLM and SAS serve up inedible slop to be eaten with this horrible wooden cutlery, so no difference there. Oh, and SAS charge for all alcohol, even for a bottle of wine with the 'meal' on long haul flights, so another one up for KLM.

The Danes are at least honest about the dismal state of long haul flights these days... had they replaced 'some' by 'all' they would have been spot on.



Eight hours in any airport is a struggle and you have to make your own entertainment. If I could make one observation about Denmark it would be that many women seem to walk around braless. I must have spotted four or five but maybe living in Asia where this just never happens, makes you more tuned in to spotting free-hanging knockers? I even saw one woman openly breast-feeding while shopping for duty free, but I didn't get a very good view due to the baby's head getting in way. After four weeks offshore it still automatically went into the old 'memory bank', mind you.

The airport pretty much shut down in the evening, so by 10pm I was forced to sit like some hobo with a beer from 7-Eleven.



But I wasn't alone!

[Edmond]

Top stuff. Welcome back.

[hallelujah]

@ Mendy

I'm pleased to say that the no bra thing is now relatively common all over Europe.

The state of flying these days is shocking. I had a work trip recently and they booked me on Austrian/Lufthansa with changes in Vienna and Frankfurt on the way back.

I didn't even get a bag of nuts, but it was manageable in Europe (not one screen for any kind of in-flight entertainment on any of the planes either). They're basically all just low cost airlines these days though.

However, on a long haul this would be unbearable, so wouldn't it be worth stumping up any extra out of your own pocket for KLM or, even better, one of the Middle Eastern airlines?

Flying with European/US airlines is almost an endurance test these days; the whole experience is no longer pleasant from the minute you arrive at the airport.

[Mendip]

^ I'm a bit out of touch, but it's a nice trend. You'd have thought it would be a bit cold, especially in Scandinavia.

How on earth are you supposed to maintain eye contact if you're lucky enough to strike up a conversation with one?

Hal, the cost of last minute one-way tickets is extortionate. The company books us on Seaman's tickets which are at a huge discount and it just wouldn't work booking my own flights. I could upgrade to Premium Economy or the likes, and get an extra 4mm of leg room but I'm too tight. I just take what I'm given and moan about it.

Travel days used to be a bonus of the job but now they're pure hell. I guess at least I don't pay for the flights and get paid while I'm on them.

[hallelujah]

Travel days used to be a bonus of the job but now they're pure hell. I guess at least I don't pay for the flights and get paid while I'm on them.

I used to enjoy it too, but now you're treated like a criminal from the moment you arrive at the airport, forced to pay extortionate prices while there and then packed in like sardines with a load of other unfortunate proles for the next 13 hours.

That fella who did the tuk tuk all the way to Thailand was onto something.

Regarding the bra thing, the most important thing is to show respect, avoid giving in to your male urges and recognise that we are all free to dress how we please.

That was what the judge told me last time anyway.

[helge]

This is why I don't like the SAS option via Copenhagen to get home. The Bangkok flight is the last of the day from CPH,

The Thai flight leaves at 2:25 pm if I remember correctly

Maybe Helge can help here, but I have a horrible feeling I got the decimal place wrong and left 50 Ohre instead of 50 Krone, or 6 new Pence, or 2.5 Baht?

Yes you did

Scottish ancestry ?



You don't have to tip in Denmark (most waiters in the airport are swedish anyway and no reasons for tipping those asians)

I guess at least I don't pay for the flights and get paid while I'm on them.

Swine !

Getting paid while looting cutlery ?

No easy access through them pearly gates for you !

[Mendip]

^^ There's a lot about the modern world I find confusing.

When we used to leave a vessel at the end of a trip, a firm handshake with 'have a good leave', used to be the order of the day. Now a lot of guys do these 'man hugs', I mean, FFS, I rarely even do that kind of thing with the wife. Even worse is when we have these young female trainees and hugs are on the menu... I feel really weird hugging some pretty, buxom Norwegian young enough to be my daughter.

It just feels wrong but sometimes it's easier to go along with it than to try and avoid it, which can get a bit weird.

[helge]

hugs'

Not a big problem, but yes

Getting too much

[helge]

It just feels wrong but sometimes it's easier to go along with it than to try and avoid it, which can get a bit weird.

"I've got Corona" usually helps

[hallelujah]

hugging some pretty, buxom Norwegian

It's hard work, but a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do.

You should see if you can talk pyjama girl into some kind of farewell routine.