I’m back on the Perseus again, even though it feels like I just left. I only had two weeks off this time and we were busy doing a lot of running around. We did get a lot done during the leave and we managed to have a couple of relaxing days too. We managed to fit in a visit to Delgaty Castle (Even though it’s only about 4 miles from the house, it was the first time we’ve visited it) and also a visit to the “Winter Gardens” at the Duthie Park in Aberdeen. It was nice to take Dazzle round the gardens as it used to be a place I visited a lot in my dim and distant past when I lived in Aberdeen. It is a great place to take pictures and I used to take a lot there. The other highlight of the leave was taking the puppies to the local dog show. We had entered both Abbey and Prue in three of the classes at the show, and out of a possible six they won 4 ribbons 😀 . Prue won the “open variety, non-pedigree” and the “Pup Idol” for the best tricks. Abbey was placed third in the “Best Markings” and second to her little “sister” in “Pup Idol”. We didn’t enter Tessa in any of the categories this year as she hasn’t been looking her best. She had a problem with her skin and coat and the vet had to shave part of her butt to take tissue for a biopsy 👿 . The result of the biopsy was that everything seemed to be normal, so we’ve been bathing her twice a week with a special shampoo (which she reluctantly tolerates) and that does seem to be helping her. Anyway, as I said, I’m now back on the Perseus. A bit of a marathon journey to get here, which is ironic, as where we are is less than 800 miles from home. Taxi first thing in the morning (or BEFORE first thing as it was 4:30!) A flight from Aberdeen to Amsterdam, another flight from Amsterdam to Oslo. Then a train from the airport to the centre of the city, where I had to change trains to get one to Halden. After that it was a short taxi ride from the station to the ship. All told a journey of over 12 hours. And, of course, when I arrived, I was straight on shift. 🙁 I must admit that it wasn’t a very productive shift! We’re busy loading cable at the moment so it did mean that I could just let the guys get on with it. We’re loading out for the project that we’re going to be doing in the Gulf of Mexico and we’ll have three “carousel’s” full. One is full already and we’re just about finished the second. Once that’s completed we’ll have a short break to let another vessel (from our rival company!) along side. Once it has completed it’s workscope we’ll then come back in to load out the third, deck, carousel. One thing that has happened since I arrived, is that I have now been elevated to “Guru” status regarding electronic tax returns. After my success with my own tax return last trip, tonight, I helped one of my colleagues through the process for his return. So now he’s a happy bunny, knowing that his return is in and he, like me, should soon be getting a sizeable rebate from Mr Inland Revenue ❗
