Work up time

Home now and we have been beavering away at getting the boat ready for
the water. I have scheduled the launch for this Tuesday the 3rd so we
have been restoring the winter ravages.
Maybe it was the mild winter but the decks were as filthy as I have
ever seen them with a mixture of algae and coal dust in every nook and
cranny. Fortunately a pressure washer is a wonderful thing and an
hour later and all is back to new again.
Please note the shiny hull, post box red propeller and immaculate
anti-fouling, many thanks to Julie, Dave & Lynne.

March madness

Dear loyal readers. As you will know from previous posts, I
frequently moan and complain about the weather in this part of the
world. However, if you live here in Scotland you must have noticed
how very un-Scottish the weather has been of late, particularly given
that it is March. It may be that the contrast between what we
normally expect and the recent cloudless skies with warm sun that
makes it all that more enjoyable.
We had a glorious trip South to Colonsay this afternoon and were back
home and all tied up for 5. Loads of passengers doing the round trip,
£10.50 for five hours on board, can't be bad.
The view out the cabin window was too tempting to not take a photo, so
here you are. Looking across at Mull over Oban Bay taken at 7:40 this
evening, British Summer Time.

Off out into the Atlantic

I've included a picture of one of our sailors on the controls of a
winch down aft, keeping us in place when we were alongside in Coll.
I've included the photo to give a bit of colour, because at this time
of year there sure isn't any ashore as you can see from my photo of
Coll Pier.
I guess that I don't know what it's like to live there, so I shouldn't
make judgements. Ten of their Primary School children came up onto
the bridge and they were a delight, mostly kitted out with wellies,
which seems to be the norm if you come from there.

Heading out West.

Some interesting news today that we are going to be doing the Saturday run out to Coll and Tiree.  Hopefully you are getting the same fine weather as we have here in Oban and as it looks likely to continue over the weekend, it should make for a pleasant trip out there and back.  Takes about two and half hours to get to Coll and then an hour between the islands.

Perk of the job

If the ship owner wants to operate his vessels he has to man them,
then these men require somewhere to sleep so need cabins and beds and
if that wasn't enough he has to feed and water them as well.
Fortunately on here we have a new cook who is doing us proud. If
anyone actually did manage to work through that menu, and some have a
go, then it seems unlikely that they would be up to doing much else.
Breakfast isn't on there but as you can imagine it comprises the usual
couple of eggs, bacon, sausage, mushrooms, slice etc. to get you
started on the day.

Chasing rainbows

It was a beautiful day but then here on the West coast no day would be
complete without a little bit of rain. There was a few isolated
showers about and this one we chased across the Firth to Oban which
had a splendid accompanying rainbow.

Looking down on Oban Bay

A view from Pulpit Hill looking down at the ship and McCaigs Tower in the background. Getting chilly without any blanketing clouds.

And it's good bye to New York, hello Craignure

I have been home nearly a week now and joined the ship yesterday to
take up the vital lifeline service to the Isles of Mull and Colonsay.
Looking back at our holiday some memories of our visit are Grand
Central Terminal and its wonderful marble staircase, balconies, gold
chandleries and green ceiling, another is the girl ahead of me in the
queue at Just Bagels ordering a "toasted onion bagel, the dough out,
with a scallion tofu cream cheese filling and a skinny de-caff latte
to go" and nobody turns a hair. Lots of other things like the night
time view of the city from the Empire State Building, and that there
is a Starbucks on nearly every corner.

There is a definite buzz to the city, it's a very fast paced
environment and I would think to live there you would have to be
willing to deal with the hustle and bustle. There are masses of things
to do, in our case we found a week of being a tourist was enough for
our levels of energy, but if you stayed for a fortnight you would
still only be scratching the surface to take up all the opportunities
to be entertained. It's probably a great place to be young and there
are many young people about but to live well I think you would need
money, a lot of money. Coming back to the West end of Glasgow it all
seems a bit slow I'm afraid, but at least we can afford it.

One of our guides explained that an attraction of the city is its
diverse population but he felt that, unlike Europe, it is not a
melting pot more of a mixing pot where many different people exist
together but continue to maintain their own culture. Manhattan has
its China Town and Little Italy, not too sure where the other ethnic
groups are but I'm sure they exist if you care to look. Anyway a
fascinating place and one I hope that we will be able to visit again
in the future. In the meantime back to my rather sedate life here.

A job has come up with Calmac as Safety and Security Manager based in
Gourock, pretty much the same as I was doing with Waverley. I have
the qualifications and experience but do I want to go back to an
office based job again? Applications have to be in by the end of the
month, so some time to muse over it.

USS Intrepid Museum

Friday and for our last day here in New York; we visited the retired
aircraft carrier USS Intrepid moored at Pier 86 on the Hudson River.
Along with the carrier there are a large number of aircraft including
a British Airways Concorde and a Cold War submarine the USS Growler on
display.
We took up the opportunity to have a personal tour of the Concorde
conducted by an amazingly enthusiastic and knowledgeable guide. This
particular aircraft held the record for the fastest crossing of the
Atlantic at 2 hours 53 minutes, pity about the fuel consumption and
the sonic boom that accompanied each flight.
The USS Growler was a submarine from the Cold War period and carried
four sea to surface missiles that were equipped with nuclear warheads
for "deterrent" purposes. The propulsion system was diesel electric
with electric motors as the main engines.

9/11 Memorial

A sculpture that survived the attacks
displayed nearby in Battery Park

Thursday and we visited the memorial for those who died as a result of
the attacks on the World Trade Centre. It consists of two enormous
square sided waterfalls with reflecting pools, covering about half of

the area occupied by the Towers. Surrounding the pools are walls or
parapets in bronze, these are inscribed with all the names of those
who died on that day, also those killed on the previous attack in
1993. The names are arranged by affiliation rather than
alphabetically, so for example those who worked in a particular firm
or were part of a fire crew are together in the same area. The
building in the background is going to become a exhibition which will
have information on all of the victims. If you want to visit you have
to book ahead on line, select a half hour slot that is available, then
print out your pass. Seems a good idea to avoid crowding and big
queues.
As there was a lot of visitors, many of them school kids running about
and making a din the atmosphere was more of a tourist attraction than
a memorial, but seeing a family taking a brass rubbing of a name
added a poignancy and reminder as to the reality of the monumentl.
All around there is construction work going on creating the
replacements for the Twin Towers. One of these is going to be the
highest building in the US when completed.

All at sea

As you can see by the pictures we went on a boat trip on Wednesday.
Catching a ferry from W 34th Street it took us right round the South
end of Manhattan with the skyscrapers of the Financial District, then
up the East River under the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges. On our
return we diverted out to Liberty and Ellis Islands to view the
statue. Such a lovely day with blue skies and warm winds, I think
that the few clouds are mainly aeroplane vapour trails.

Top of the world

We took the lift to the 86th floor of the Empire State Building last
night. What can you say? Fantastic views all around, little sign of
energy conservation but then it does look great.

On the tourist trail

The day started with a Bagel breakfast, confusing to a Scotsman abroad
under pressure with all the locals around. How do you want the eggs?
Easy, sunny side up, turned. Cheese, yes, what type, Swiss, Cheddar,
Montery Jack, Peppper. The humbling went on so that I ended up with
this enormous plate of protein and a foil wrapped bagel with
everything. Well I didn't need to worry about lunch.
Julie was off to the Conference at the UN and I caught the downtown
tour bus, this took me all the way South to Wall Street and back up
the East side, fantastic. I would recommend this way of getting your
bearings around the city, the guide was very amusing, though I doubt
the German and Norwegian visitors understood much with the fast
delivery. Saying that the locals speak at such a pace I have a
problem at times, or maybe it's just an age thing.
I alighted at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel then walked up to Grand
Central Station. I knew what it looked like from photos but the
reality quite took my breath away. Entry to the building is through
fairly non-descript doors and then you are presented with this amazing
space. Ceiling high windows at either end, which are actually
walkways between the two sides of the station, marble balconies to the
right and left with a vaulted ceiling painted in green with the
constellations painted on in white. In the basement there are a large
number of restaurants and the famous whispering arches, where your
voice is carried across the ceiling of the vault.
In the evening we went on an open top bus tour, the magical tour, of
the city and across the East River to Brooklyn to view the skyscrapers
from the mainland. Fantastic sights and Julie has just about thawed
out from the experience.

Visit to New York

We must be getting less cautious, we arrived at the airport to join
the very back of the check in line for our flight to Newark, everyone
else was there already. Unfortunately today was the day that
Continental was changing over to United Airlines and all check ins
were being done manually. I think that took an hour and then straight
up stairs and one of the last to board, we had been told that we had
great seats, great if you feel that you need to keep an eye on the
wing that is. 8 hours later we are being fingerprinted and
photographed by US Immigration and welcome to America.

The "Super Shuttle", that we booked to take us into Manhattan left a
lot to be desired. It is supposed to leave every 15 minutes but we
were left hanging about for an hour in the airport and stewing in the
bus until it was full plus there was a Dutchman in the back speaking
to a couple of Danish women, and I felt boring for Europe, anyone who
thinks putting leaf spinach into a pan and cooking it is awesome,
needs to get out more.

We are staying in the Manhattan in Times Square, 16th floor with a
great view out onto the streets below. Right in the centre of things,
we went out for a couple of beers in an Celtic bar before having a
lovely Italian meal in a popular restaurant. We were aiming to try
and stay up to avoid the worst of the jet lag but I couldn't keep
going so I think it was about 8pm EST (1am GMT) when we hit the hay.

Today we took a bus tour and walked around Central Park, and guess
what you're only allowed to go anti-clockwise, and everyone does!!
Also smoking is banned in the park, yes no outdoor smoking, can't see
it working in Glasgow.