Same shit, different ship

[Edmond]

Interesting, tanks.

[david44]

Interesting, tanks.

Very good amost poetical whimsy to be sure Flahertie McNeice face

[DrWilly]

Happy birthday, Mendy

[Joe 90]

He will be getting pissed up in Sukhimvit celebrating around shout now!

[cyrille]

Seems a bit 'fan boy'.

[malmomike77]

Been on Channel 5

No access outside UK

Somerset: Wonder Of The West Country TV programme

[baldrick]

[Edmond]

Happy birthday you great big sexy beast of a man.

[Edmond]

It's inescapable really. It's also the future of trucking.

While innovative, it's also a bit sad. The lad beams with glee 'Our ultimate vision is for these vessels to have as small a crew as possible', with a ship like that going from 70 crewmembers down to just 16 at its current level of technology.

54 people that could be bread winners for their families losing their job, their career, on just one ship. How glorious.

[Shy Guava]

It's inescapable really. It's also the future of trucking.

While innovative, it's also a bit sad. The lad beams with glee 'Our ultimate vision is for these vessels to have as small a crew as possible', with a ship like that going from 70 crewmembers down to just 16 at its current level of technology.

54 people that could be bread winners for their families losing their job, their career, on just one ship. How glorious.

Not necessarily. The crew will still be required but relocated. As an example, Mendip will have have to install a work station on board his luxurious yacht sailing on a pond in Isaan and then continue his work as before. A waterproof internet connection may be required, but then he will be home at the end of every shift.

[Edmond]

Not necessarily. The crew will still be required but relocated. As an example, Mendip will have have to install a work station on board his luxurious yacht sailing on a pond in Isaan and then continue his work as before. A waterproof internet connection may be required, but then he will be home at the end of every shift.

Obviously they'll still need some lazy sods that are happy sitting at a computer all day, but quite a few less?


I've been rong before.

[katie23]

Happy Birthday, Mendy! Many happy returns...

[katie23]

I've been rong before.

Back when my mom was much younger, she attended a "cultural night" wherein international students perform something from their country.

The Thai students were costumed and on the "stage". They were all ready to dance a traditional dance. The music played. One TH student said, "the music is long. Please put on the light."

The Filipino technicians (or those in charge of lights & sounds) thought they wanted "lights out" for a more dramatic effect, so they turned the lights off. The Thai students had to tell the instructions several times before someone finally understood the message.

True story, sometime in the 80s.

Edit: I think y'all could figure out what the Thai students wanted to say.

[Mendip]

Happy birthday, Mendy

Happy birthday you great big sexy beast of a man.

Happy Birthday, Mendy! Many happy returns...

Many thanks for the Birthday wishes guys, I think that I've now officially entered 'middle age'. Not a great feeling to be honest, but of course, better than the only other alternative.

Along with my families, Thai and UK, I almost made double figures in the 'Happy Birthday wishes' messages this year! The gardener usually gives me a box of Leo for my Birthday and if he's remembered it will make the magic '10'.

To be honest it wasn't the greatest Birthday I've ever had, but probably not the worst either. I spent most of it in the air before eventually landing at Swampy last night, and I was quite glad that this year's Birthday was 7 hours shorter than usual. It was good when it finally ended.


On Wednesday we came alongside at Peterhead around midday and with a 13:45 crew change bus booked for Aberdeen Airport there was no time to lose. I marched up Peterhead High Street and stopped at the first supermarket I found.

I had some help as well, I'd roped in a couple of my new geo colleagues as bag carriers. In fact, I first worked with the one in black on the left in around 25 years ago. The offshore survey world is a very small one indeed.



And look at this... only 50 quid for this little haul. It would have cost three times that at Villa Market (and they've had no tinned salmon for ages).



My new boat alongside Peterhead docks. I'll be back onboard towards the end of April in Norway somewhere, for a four week trip... maybe six weeks as this company doesn't object. Six weeks will cover a summer trip to the UK with the daughter and this time I'm planning on a boating trip with Reg Dingle, although he doesn't know that yet.



And an hour later I walked down the gangway for the last time (untill May or June... ish). That guy stood at the bottom is also from the West Country, by the way.



My luggage, the bags a lot fuller than on my outward journey from Korat five weeks ago!

As it happened, I discovered at Aberdeen Airport that the combined weight of my two checked in bags was only 32kg. I could have bought another 8kg of bacon, sausages and cheese at Iceland... a mistake I won't make again the next time I work in the UK. I have to keep work in the UK (within the 12 mile limit) to under 40 days per tax year for tax reasons, so it's one work trip a year, max.



Once onshore, 'Parched March' lasted around an hour and a half, the time it took to travel to ANZ and check in! But I did do a few days of Frugal February in advance to make up the days. And just to make quite clear... I won't be doing any of this 'Gaypril' thing, sounds like it has nothing to do with alcohol if you ask me. Some things shouldn't be messed with.



The first pint in a month... Tennents, what else in Scootland?



From ABZ I started my journey with British Airways to Heathrow... another reason to definitely avoid UK work. No spoons at all by the way, not even plastic or that compressed wood stuff the airlines like to use now for yet more greenwashing. I have a membership with the British Airways 'One World' bollocks as I collect airline points religiously, but with no noticeable advantage these days.

I have racked up a load of BA's silly 'Avios' points with their partners; I regularly fly Qatar and spent a season working on NordStream when I continually flew with Finnair, but you need one BA flight per year for these points to count towards the tier system, so I have remained at the lowest 'Blue' level for years despite my points. I hoped that this first BA flight for yonks would lift me a level, a hope that backfired in a big way a few hours later.



Yeah, Heathrow... a reason to avoid UK work at all costs. Excuse my language, but I had to get a fucking bus just to transfer from Terminal 5 to Terminal 4... and we're talking a proper bus journey here, like one village to the next. The acreage of Heathrow must be bloody huge, yet it remains one of the most awful, worst organised and confusing airports that I ever have the misfortune to fly through. Charles de Gaulle only beats it on that front.



And Terminal 4... after my endless bus trip I couldn't find a bar for love nor money. There was one likely looking place but you had to wait to be seated... and there was a huge queue. I didn't want to sit anyway as I like to lean on the bar while waiting for a flight, or at any other time for that matter.



I eventually found some poncy bakery place that sold lager... none of the usual ones of course and I wasn't allowed to 'take it out' so had to sit at a silly little table amongst a load of pastry and sandwich eaters. Was it 'Pret' or something, a new one on me. What is happening to the UK?



I had to resort to Smiths for a rounded, healthy dinner but I can't help thinking that I didn't make full use of my expenses.



And eventually I arrived at my departure gate at Dohar for my Bangkok flight, after a fucking 6km walk. Maybe Qatar should borrow some of Heathrow's buses?



When I entered the gate at Dohar the guy informed that because I was a frequent flyer, they had upgraded my seat to an emergency exit seat. Great I said, thanks, thinking about bloody time they appreciated my custom while wondering if this was because of my earlier BA flight - that could have finally lifted my tier level? I tried the old, 'I heard that Qatar always upgraded to Business Class on your Birthday', but had the usual response. Wankers.

My initial feeling was that this 'emergency door' malarkey was OK. I could stretch my legs out as far as they'd go with no obstruction, FFS, Edmond could lie full stretch in that space; but no, it was bollocks.



As became immediately apparent, there's nowhere to bloody put anything. No compartments in the back of the seat in front, no nothing. So I had to balance my water bottle, headphone case and book (which I never read but makes me feel better) on my lap for the entire journey.

Furthermore, you get a continual view of all the weak-bladdered wankers staring at you while while queuing for the toilet. Maybe they're thinking, 'that's a nice seat, he must be important', but I would have swapped this bollocks seat for any other, even a middle seat, neither window or aisle.

Another issue was the meal... the ridiculously over-engineered tray table that comes out of the seat arm was way too low, and way too far away... so I suffered the inevitable result of slopping gravy all down the front of my shirt.

This was the end of my meal (sans spoon ), although it has to be said, despite my personal issues the food was way better than the inedible microwaved slopped served by the European airlines. And to balance out my criticism, Qatar were very regular with the G&Ts. All airlines are absolutely awful to Economy passengers these days, but the ME airlines are definately less awful than the European ones.



And another issue (s), the stupid entertainment screen, mounted on some over-complicated lever system of these awful emergency escape seats, just didn't come close enough to focus on properly without my glasses. And yes, I had my 'normal' glasses in my shirt pocket, but my 'computer' glasses were somewhere at the bottom of my carry on, which in turn was several seats back... The cabin crew seem to use the first row of overhead luggage bins for storing extra blankets and pillows, so I had to go back a few rows to find some vacant space for my bags in the overhead bins. I couldn't be arsed to go back searching for me specs... and this also meant that on landing at Swampy, I couldn't exit the plane as I usually do like a rat up a drainpipe because every other wanker on board was up, crowding the aisle and grabbing their luggage before the plane had even stopped taxiing. I really fucking hate other air passengers.

Where was I... so despite not being see the movies properly, having all my belongings balanced on my lap, having half the plane staring at me while queuing for the bog, every bastard that walked past also bumped into my screen that meant me having to constantly re-adjust it... some tossers even used it to grab hold of while they walked past. Why do people on planes lose the ability to walk past things without banging into them?



And I do have one more gripe about these 'premium' emergency exit row seats. My fucking USB charging socket didn't work so I couldn't charge my phone up. On these stupid seats, the charging socket is alongside the headphone socket, on the inside of your armrest. I was already worried about snapping off my fancy noise-cancelling Sony headphone wire connection plug, as since the seat was so incredibly narrow I was squashed up against it, but my phone charging socket wouldn't even work. In a normal seat you can just ask your neighbour to borrow his socket for a while, but not on these seats because it's such an imposition... the sockets dig into your leg because the seats are so narrow.

Next time I'm offered a 'free' upgrade to an emergency exit row, I'll politely but firmly say, 'no fucking way, I'll stick to being crammed into one of your usual skeletally narrow seats with 2 ft of leg room', you fucking tossers.

But at least I'll never pay for the upgrade in advance, so maybe Qatar did me a favour. In my opinion, these bloody awful seats should be offered at reduced rate.

Rant over!

I'll address some interesting technical contributions to thisn thread when I ober up.

[david44]

I'll address some interesting

envelopes? dogs?
Welcome to senior land, the lack of specs annoying other people are the norm. you'll eae in perfectly jut got train Anna to fetch yer pipe, yogi to get yer slippers and PJ gal to adjust yer rod and tackle.

I shall be hearing confessions from spoon and spam Schmugglas at your convenience.
I am sure we all look foward to your next well illustrated wanderings. Bum Anniverssaire Jean de Gomme

[baldrick]

for my bags

one word - camocargotrousers - big enough for 8 kgs of bacon

[BLD]

Many thanks for the Birthday wishes guys, I think that I've now officially entered 'middle age'. Not a great feeling to be honest, but of course, better than the only other alternative.

Along with my families, Thai and UK, I almost made double figures in the 'Happy Birthday wishes' messages this year! The gardener usually gives me a box of Leo for my Birthday and if he's remembered it will make the magic '10'.

To be honest it wasn't the greatest Birthday I've ever had, but probably not the worst either. I spent most of it in the air before eventually landing at Swampy last night, and I was quite glad that this year's Birthday was 7 hours shorter than usual. It was good when it finally ended.


On Wednesday we came alongside at Peterhead around midday and with a 13:45 crew change bus booked for Aberdeen Airport there was no time to lose. I marched up Peterhead High Street and stopped at the first supermarket I found.

I had some help as well, I'd roped in a couple of my new geo colleagues as bag carriers. In fact, I first worked with the one in black on the left in around 25 years ago. The offshore survey world is a very small one indeed.



And look at this... only 50 quid for this little haul. It would have cost three times that at Villa Market (and they've had no tinned salmon for ages).



My new boat alongside Peterhead docks. I'll be back onboard towards the end of April in Norway somewhere, for a four week trip... maybe six weeks as this company doesn't object. Six weeks will cover a summer trip to the UK with the daughter and this time I'm planning on a boating trip with Reg Dingle, although he doesn't know that yet.



And an hour later I walked down the gangway for the last time (untill May or June... ish). That guy stood at the bottom is also from the West Country, by the way.



My luggage, the bags a lot fuller than on my outward journey from Korat five weeks ago!

As it happened, I discovered at Aberdeen Airport that the combined weight of my two checked in bags was only 32kg. I could have bought another 8kg of bacon, sausages and cheese at Iceland... a mistake I won't make again the next time I work in the UK. I have to keep work in the UK (within the 12 mile limit) to under 40 days per tax year for tax reasons, so it's one work trip a year, max.



Once onshore, 'Parched March' lasted around an hour and a half, the time it took to travel to ANZ and check in! But I did do a few days of Frugal February in advance to make up the days. And just to make quite clear... I won't be doing any of this 'Gaypril' thing, sounds like it has nothing to do with alcohol if you ask me. Some things shouldn't be messed with.



The first pint in a month... Tennents, what else in Scootland?



From ABZ I started my journey with British Airways to Heathrow... another reason to definitely avoid UK work. No spoons at all by the way, not even plastic or that compressed wood stuff the airlines like to use now for yet more greenwashing. I have a membership with the British Airways 'One World' bollocks as I collect airline points religiously, but with no noticeable advantage these days.

I have racked up a load of BA's silly 'Avios' points with their partners; I regularly fly Qatar and spent a season working on NordStream when I continually flew with Finnair, but you need one BA flight per year for these points to count towards the tier system, so I have remained at the lowest 'Blue' level for years despite my points. I hoped that this first BA flight for yonks would lift me a level, a hope that backfired in a big way a few hours later.



Yeah, Heathrow... a reason to avoid UK work at all costs. Excuse my language, but I had to get a fucking bus just to transfer from Terminal 5 to Terminal 4... and we're talking a proper bus journey here, like one village to the next. The acreage of Heathrow must be bloody huge, yet it remains one of the most awful, worst organised and confusing airports that I ever have the misfortune to fly through. Charles de Gaulle only beats it on that front.



And Terminal 4... after my endless bus trip I couldn't find a bar for love nor money. There was one likely looking place but you had to wait to be seated... and there was a huge queue. I didn't want to sit anyway as I like to lean on the bar while waiting for a flight, or at any other time for that matter.



I eventually found some poncy bakery place that sold lager... none of the usual ones of course and I wasn't allowed to 'take it out' so had to sit at a silly little table amongst a load of pastry and sandwich eaters. Was it 'Pret' or something, a new one on me. What is happening to the UK?



I had to resort to Smiths for a rounded, healthy dinner but I can't help thinking that I didn't make full use of my expenses.



And eventually I arrived at my departure gate at Dohar for my Bangkok flight, after a fucking 6km walk. Maybe Qatar should borrow some of Heathrow's buses?



When I entered the gate at Dohar the guy informed that because I was a frequent flyer, they had upgraded my seat to an emergency exit seat. Great I said, thanks, thinking about bloody time they appreciated my custom while wondering if this was because of my earlier BA flight - that could have finally lifted my tier level? I tried the old, 'I heard that Qatar always upgraded to Business Class on your Birthday', but had the usual response. Wankers.

My initial feeling was that this 'emergency door' malarkey was OK. I could stretch my legs out as far as they'd go with no obstruction, FFS, Edmond could lie full stretch in that space; but no, it was bollocks.



As became immediately apparent, there's nowhere to bloody put anything. No compartments in the back of the seat in front, no nothing. So I had to balance my water bottle, headphone case and book (which I never read but makes me feel better) on my lap for the entire journey.

Furthermore, you get a continual view of all the weak-bladdered wankers staring at you while while queuing for the toilet. Maybe they're thinking, 'that's a nice seat, he must be important', but I would have swapped this bollocks seat for any other, even a middle seat, neither window or aisle.

Another issue was the meal... the ridiculously over-engineered tray table that comes out of the seat arm was way too low, and way too far away... so I suffered the inevitable result of slopping gravy all down the front of my shirt.

This was the end of my meal (sans spoon ), although it has to be said, despite my personal issues the food was way better than the inedible microwaved slopped served by the European airlines. And to balance out my criticism, Qatar were very regular with the G&Ts. All airlines are absolutely awful to Economy passengers these days, but the ME airlines are definately less awful than the European ones.



And another issue (s), the stupid entertainment screen, mounted on some over-complicated lever system of these awful emergency escape seats, just didn't come close enough to focus on properly without my glasses. And yes, I had my 'normal' glasses in my shirt pocket, but my 'computer' glasses were somewhere at the bottom of my carry on, which in turn was several seats back... The cabin crew seem to use the first row of overhead luggage bins for storing extra blankets and pillows, so I had to go back a few rows to find some vacant space for my bags in the overhead bins. I couldn't be arsed to go back searching for me specs... and this also meant that on landing at Swampy, I couldn't exit the plane as I usually do like a rat up a drainpipe because every other wanker on board was up, crowding the aisle and grabbing their luggage before the plane had even stopped taxiing. I really fucking hate other air passengers.

Where was I... so despite not being see the movies properly, having all my belongings balanced on my lap, having half the plane staring at me while queuing for the bog, every bastard that walked past also bumped into my screen that meant me having to constantly re-adjust it... some tossers even used it to grab hold of while they walked past. Why do people on planes lose the ability to walk past things without banging into them?



And I do have one more gripe about these 'premium' emergency exit row seats. My fucking USB charging socket didn't work so I couldn't charge my phone up. On these stupid seats, the charging socket is alongside the headphone socket, on the inside of your armrest. I was already worried about snapping off my fancy noise-cancelling Sony headphone wire connection plug, as since the seat was so incredibly narrow I was squashed up against it, but my phone charging socket wouldn't even work. In a normal seat you can just ask your neighbour to borrow his socket for a while, but not on these seats because it's such an imposition... the sockets dig into your leg because the seats are so narrow.

Next time I'm offered a 'free' upgrade to an emergency exit row, I'll politely but firmly say, 'no fucking way, I'll stick to being crammed into one of your usual skeletally narrow seats with 2 ft of leg room', you fucking tossers.

But at least I'll never pay for the upgrade in advance, so maybe Qatar did me a favour. In my opinion, these bloody awful seats should be offered at reduced rate.

Rant over!

I'll address some interesting technical contributions to thisn thread when I ober up.

Good to hear your stint is over. 1. Parched march is over rated ..and bollocks. 2. I hope you stole as many spoons as possible. 3. Happy birthday

[Edmond]

Welcome back. Fok flying nowadays. Flew domestic a few weeks ago and the whole thing is a balls.

Thanks for quoting the entire multi photo post, BLD.

[DrWilly]

With a whinge like that you’re definitely English.

[Topper]

So, Mendy, I'm not sure if I understood....you didn't appreciate your upgraded seat?

[Mendip]

^ All things considered, no.

It was shite.

[DrWilly]

You’re a verifiable weirdo

[helge]

Thanks for quoting the entire multi photo post, BLD.

Give him time

He's a slow learner

Or at least..slow

[Joe 90]

Rant over!

Worthy rant!

[BLD]

Welcome back. Fok flying nowadays. Flew domestic a few weeks ago and the whole thing is a balls.

Thanks for quoting the entire multi photo post, BLD.

My bad