"Allatsea", on the road with Britain's most popular marine warranty surveyor.

Ramping up

Tuesday and all's well, in the sort of way that not panicking yet is 'all well'. Fannit is reaching a crucial phase, the next 10 days or so will see a lot of running around headless type stuff but after that, I hope, it'll ease back. It has been busy lately, enjoyable but busy. Three ship surveys in as many days.

Spare a thought though for a certain well known subsea company, that has just, (it thought), completed laying a 24 kilometre 20 inch seabed pipeline in very deep water. It has been told to (essentially) do it all again as the work has been rejected by the client. OUCH!!!!!! We're talking tens of millions here. Heads will roll.

I'm hearing rumours that the world of warranty is in for a quiet summer. Not just here but for all concerned. I wonder how our new German masters will deal with that little nugget. Perhaps it's time to lay low and hope it all comes good in the end? I've been doing that for years, it's always worked up to now.

Very nice

Two days in Holland/Belgium and not a hiccup to report. Wonderful indeed. Considering there was no plan it all went swimmingly. There's a lesson there then.

Back to Blighty late Friday night, early to bed after a fine (late) dindins then up early to wander along to Ramsgitt to look at the vessel Meander. She was OK, quirkily named and quirkily designed (shallow draft for the Caspian) and a bit underpowered considering her size but acceptable overall. One of those vessels that couldn't decide what it was. PSV? Tug? Workboat? Result....pig's ear!! Nice chaps onboard though and they seemed to know what they were about, that's a result in its own right these days.

Back home for an afternoon in the sun in the garden. Too breezy to be overly pleasant or even do some planting but lovely to feel the sun's warmth. The evening was spent  over the road. They seem to take St George's day celebrations very seriously there (eeek) and with a bit of time lag. Anyway, Mrs Allatsea and myself dutifully donned the sick making red and white attire required by such events and wandered over. I've always regarded myself as a bit of a far right patriot but lately I can't be doing with all that flag waving, there'll always be an England nonsense. Genuinely felt very uncomfortable with the sanctimonious piety that was washing over most of them and had to come home. Probably taking it all far too seriously but maybe that's something to do with my age and general disappointment with life. Or of course it could just be that having opened my eyes during the last couple of years I've learned that there's nothing to celebrate in the nationalist sense.Tch tch.

Wash that mouth out lad!!

Anyway....all that disgruntlement will be swept aside later today. Carolyn has organised some midday entertainment for us, a kitchen 'designer' is coming round to do some 'designing' and I suppose, 'selling'. Bless.

Fersday

The lord of sailors wasn't being quite as kind as I'd hoped. Having to leave home at 0300 to make the first flight to Brussels out of Heathrow is a pretty damned inconvenient time for grumpy old mariner types. That said, I'm here now and the bacon rolls and coffee are having the desired affect. Thankyou.

Yesterday was long and a bit fraught and not helped by having to go to a meeting 'up west', just off Oxford Street at the same time as some ghastly tube drivers decided to go on strike. Bless them, let's hope they have an eternity in oblivion...or for that matter driving tubes. Anyway, I digress, on the sweaty walk back across town to Victoria I had a call from a honcho on Fannit wind who seems to think we're (warranty) spending far too much time on the project. Hmmm. I was rather under the impresion that we hadn't even got going yet but, hey ho, perhaps they're not used to 'big' projects. Meeting next week to get reamed ref costs and attendances so that'll be something to look forward to.

Scanning the business blogs I see that the smiling Brechnevian puppet, the one pretending to be the chancellor, has spent the country's gross  earnings for the next zillion years. Deep joy indeed. I do have to admire the man's acting skills though, you could almost believe that everything'll be all right in the end. Almost. In the meantime the vast,overpaid and mutually admiring public sector compete with the vast and overpaid civil service to suck up every last resource produced by the long suffering and rapidly diminishing private sector.

Time then, methinks, to join the MAIB or MCGA and gravy train it with the rest of them.

Ready steady change

Oh lord of sailors thank you. Just when I feared a whole week of commuting and office, a bit of divine intervention came along to change things for the better.

Tomorrow, London, West end, meeting at Ramboll, Okeydokey.

Thursday, Antwerp, meeting at Smulders, hmmmm.

Friday, wilds of urban Belgium, tug survey, better.

Lots of minutes to write down and boat details to note. Perhaps an administrative assistant is called for? Preferably of the female gender and into alcoholic parties.

 

Well fan my brow and blow in my ears, I've found the perfect person.

 

There really is a saint for sailors!!

Time

A tuesday. It's a day's leave. The weather, while not perfect is certainly bright and friendly. Madam allatsea has gone to work and all is well in Margitt. Ahhhh.

Seven in the morning, the phone rings. It's Tesco Direct. They have a delivery for us. When will it arrive? About 10minutes time. It's seven in the bloody morning for goodness sake. Uggh. Bad start to the day.

A new man started with us yesterday. Danish and had spent his life in the pretty and well ordered town of Svendborg. Where has he  moved to? Why the crime ridden building site that is Stratford in London. Poor chap. He'll get used to it......eventually.

Oh the wind blew

The wind added a quarter of a million pounds to the building budget over the weekend. It blew and blew, from the Northeast, and caused havoc with the carefully laid plans. The weather is always the boss on these sorts of projects, sadly, too many honchos haven't quite grasped that offshore. It could be a long hard disappointing season for them, bless.

 

In London today, busy busy, but not because there's lots of work, more because I'm inept at organising time. Ah well, I'll get there in the end with a bit of luck. There are thirty three bods form 'Group' holding court in the boadroom this morning. A cynic, bearing in mind that we're now part of GL, might think that they're working out their severance package or identifying a useful task to carry out (for once) but the optimistic amongst us, ahem, believe thay may simply be re-doubling thier efforts to 'grow the brand'. I'll re-visit that thought next April, remembering the motto 'Freedom through work'.

Zooooomy by

Coo, it's Friday, where's the week gone? It's just zoooomed by.

A busy week in Ramsgate with a trip to Sheerness (groan...what a dump) yesterday looking at potential layby berths. The nice lady Harbour Master much more positive than the chaps at Dover. Then again, Dover is a lot lot lot busier than Sheerness and they haven't really got the room for us to pitch up and start causing havoc amongst the ferries with our barges and things.

With a bit of finger crossing and rabbit's head rubbing (or is that foot?) the Jack should get into Ramsgitt tomorrow, load and sail again. All on a saturday... one single...saturday. Wonderful. Turbo mode will have been achieved. Project owners happy.

Bro is coming over from Oz in July. Three weeks in Blighty he's got. Might be a bit of a culture shock for the old lad. I'd better lay some supplies in, just in case.

 

I'll just take this opportunity to thank the wonderfully inept staff at Southeastern trains for cancelling the 0629 from Margate to Cannon Street this morning and not feeling it necessary to tell any of us waiting for it in the rain. Thanks lads, you're sh~#+!! Try shelf stacking at Nettos, it's more in line with your abilities!!

 

And on that happily grumpy note, I shall wander forth and write some more tosh about tugs.

When it works it works

When it works it does work well. The 0735 from Goes on time, change at Roosendaal at 0830, the international train from Brussels, straight to Schipol with no changes. Even managed to get onto the morning conference call. Wonderful. All well so far.

Checked in by 1000 and bag dropped in minutes, that's more like it BA. Keep it up and get it right at LCY. Into the lounge and log on, fresh coffee, fruit, papers. Coo, it's a nice way to earn a living some days.

Home all day tomorrow, london on Tuesday , more Hiras and plenty of documents to review. Not exciting but, there all the same. The Sea Jack is back into Ramsgitt this afternoon, the cargo barge is already there to meet here, that's more like it. There are more happy peeps on the project than there were on Thursday.

Happy Easter.

Slow and slow

Take off an hour late, land on the far runway and taxi for 15 minutes, arrive at the ramp but it takes 35 minutes to get the airbridge connected. Walk up the airbridge to find the door at the end closed. Wait another ten minutes, the phone rings as the door opens. The barge has had a collision and bent something, can I go to Hansweert and have a look? No, I’m going to Goes and nowhere else tonight.

 

Arrive Goes, hotel restaurant closed, walk into town for grubbywubby. It’s packed and gorgeous and holidaying in a way the Brits seem to have forgotten. Find an inviting café/diner, get fed and watered well and then enjoy the short walk back to the hotel through good natured crowds. Life feels very well.

Back in room, contact the transport people and arrange to travel to Hansveert in the morning, it’s only 10km away apparently, a taxi will do.

Morning, breakfast, taxi, feisty and disarmingly attractive lady driver. I explain that I’ll call the agent and get barge’s exact location. ‘No need’ she blurts confidently, ‘we’ll find it’. We did, 15 minutes and 30 Euros later (ouch). I arrived at the same time as the agent and the repair gang.

The attending tug crews are pumping barge ballast with the ever ready portable diesel pumps on deck. Why? Is she damaged below the waterline? Nope. They just want to get rid of the excessiveport list. List? How long been like that? Since the sea tug handed her over. Hmmm

Check all tank contents against the manual, discrepancies, big ones, very odd. Call people, make suggestions. Pump some water into 2 starboard and the draft resembles the plan. Good.

The Polish welders get a repair done by 1215 and the barge sails. An hour and a half to Kats. I go with the agent in his Volvo and we have lunch in Goes first. Wonderful, mussels and salad by the marina in the warm spring sun. Waitress presents bill, 60 Euros, ouch, for the second time today.

Volvo to yard, they’re already there and all ready, waiting for me. Sorry, carry on.

Whirr grind zoom zoom, done gone!! Blimey!!

Too late to get to Schipol and home tonight. Back to Goes, lift from the other Hans, it’s still a Volvo. Popular here. Shall walk to town and revisit last night’s venue. Have money in my pocket and a long thirst.

 

Night night.

The wonder of British Airways

The journey to LCY, was, even by Graham's exemplary standards, just about bangon, smooth as silk, perfect. Pity then that I foolishly opted to use BA instead of VLM or KLM.

An hour to drop my bag at the 'fast bag drop'  UUUUUUUGGGHHHHHHH. It was chaos as only BA can do chaos, eg with pomp and a complete lack of customer service. Why are they so far up their own bottoms? Ghastly organisation. Really bad today.

Finally in to departures to find the flight delayed by 2 hours. More wonderful BA efficiency. Lesson learned, no more fly the flag for me. KLM from now on. Thank god for choice. Imagine if the the train companies had competition, proper compettion, whereby we could actually choose between different autonomous providers on a given route. Now thatwould worth seeing. Live in hope, it may happen, but not in my lifetime. Sigh.

Said delay to flight means a very late arrival into Goes tonight, the restaurant shuts at 9 too. How quaint.