1st Term ~ Week 8. ⚓🚢

Oh, gee. 8 weeks already. Which means I am very soon going home! It is like. Wow, already 8 weeks. It feels like only one month, to be honest. Especially now that I have had two pretty relaxed days in Sluiskil (Netherlands) because of rainy days and a weekend. I could catch up a lot 💤 and it was very nice not to have to set an alarm on this Sunday morning and to be able to go for a walk outside the harbour … yes yes you heard me right! Second time this week! 🙌🏻

So this week started in King’s Lynn 🇬🇧 to load wheat 🌾 in bulk. It went pretty slowly which took us two days. The nice things were that it was very sunny ☀️ and that they had very relaxed hours stopping before dinner! The crew enjoyed an afternoon off in the 12th-century old town and I enjoyed a very long walk after dinner (everything was closed in town) because we were still loading during the day. The first time we could go ashore! And for some crew that was 4 months ago the last time it happened! It reminded me of the old days back in Delfzijl when we would go almost every evening! Very enjoyable and not sore the next day either from all the walking 😂.
The wheat was loaded from a truck that would empty the cargo on the belt, and we were as full as we could be. For sure the guys knew what they were doing and it seemed that they had always been doing this as the cargo was perfectly flat till the coaming.

Then we left for Gent 🇧🇪 . A fast sail, less than 24 hours and two pilots onboard till the locks then on the channel. There we discharged with a sort of vacuum screw. Crazy! It looked like a toy and it went very fast! Pretty interesting…

W. our trainee, took a bucket of wheat for me and thought I could experience baking bread this time… 🍞 well… how to say… 🙃

Our next cargo was fertilizer (urea) for which the hold had to be in perfect condition: extremely clean and watertight. Till 4 am after the discharge of wheat the whole crew worked hard to clean and move all the bulkheads back to their parking position. The surveyor came around 9 am the next day so good that it was done ✅…. but we had to wait the whole day long to shift to Sluiskil where we would load…. waiting is not always the fun part. But I have enough small ”in-between jobs” to keep myself occupied so it is not too bad. Waiting, shifting 120m, waiting again. Oh well. Sailor’s life. And I am totally fine with it.

In Gent we had a crew change. The one I was fearing for sometime already. Captain H. drove home after quite some time onboard. I am happy for him, but it feels pretty empty now. It’s probably because “the” dog isn’t there anymore, and … it is quieter haha… – the dog doesn’t like me… she doesn’t like women, she is a jealous dog 😆- whatever I do. But yeah. Its like if a piece of my puzzle is missing and it doesn’t feel so right. Two months go by fast….

The new captain is very kind and has lots of stories. It is funny to hear them. I hope he will leave the vessel with only funny nice positive stories about us here 😂 but I am pretty sure it will be alright.

It is already two days since we are here and they don’t work on Sundays so we had a quiet Sunday. I went for a walk. Alone this time. No captain H or dog to talk to😕, but it was still nice. I had to replace the talking by Mark Manson’s voice from a podcast though… one day at a time. I hope I will not mess up. But someone once told me to not fear. That is the worst thing to do. So I am just moving one step at a time. And I am still there.

Our lupine forest is slowly getting smaller as we have offered a few and saving some for crew soon going home. The flowers are still there. I am the only one left to talk to them, so… I water them too now. I hope they will survive. Also once home. It should be fine!

This was a nice week although I already feel the nostalgia rising. We will be fine, me myself and I.

Big hugs to mainland. Sopietje 😘 ✌🏻 ❤️ ⚓️ 🚢
@ King’s Lynn Docks