Working on supply boats, the above is a hazard of the occupation. Plans are set and then changed, suggestions of keeping to the schedule and embarrassed insistence that these very same plans are not to be changed, is like expecting your dog not to sniff where a human would not. Plans are cast in stone, they are sent to all parties concerned, liberally coated in greens, blues, reds and capital letters and with all dates boldly underlined and then all of a sudden, just when the ball is about to enter the goal posts, somebody shifts them; the stone turns to a mound of coal slurry on the downhill move.

I expected nothing less than to be delayed once again! During this trip, I left the vessel once to go home to console my wife and once nearly got off due to our visas not being correct. Then I was told I would get off on 2nd October, then the 15th, the plans then stated that we would arrive in port on the 22nd October, then they changed to the 24th and now it looks like the 25th - there could be more in the pipeline!

Now that I am really close to departing this fine vessel, I think that I will allow myself a minute of two of retrospective mulling, a sort of cast the mind back over the trip and to sum it all up in few words.

It has been an interesting trip; there is no doubt about that! As new ships go, it has provided exceptional hands-on experience with a machinery layout that to-date I have never sailed with - that of 6000Volts and diesel electric. She is without doubt the highest horsepower supply vessel I have had the privilege to sail on and comes with the capacity to break up to 1.5meters of ice (although it is a bit early in the season to expect any of that). So yes, it has been an interesting trip. It has also been culturally stimulating; especially as I was for half the time the only expatriate on a vessel crewed entirely by Russians. They went out of there way to make me feel welcome, to share with me there daily lives and ensured that I did not go without. I must admit though that the language barrier often caused hiccups and lengthy silences, especially after I had asked for some word to be repeated three times and still did not fathom out what was being asked…………but we muddled along!

I cannot say much for the food. It is wholesome in some ways but described by one person as basic peasant food, and it wears thin after a few lunches and dinners that seem to bear no change or variety. I do like the weather, having lived and worked in Asia for the last ten years or so I am used to sweating and hiding from the often-unbearable heat. But here, opening the door and stepping outside certainly requires a jacket and for longer than five-minutes allot more. It is bracing and when the snow starts falling upwards it bring back allot of memories of my childhood in Scotland - the temperatures and lifestyle that the cold weather brings. It is getting colder now, December and January should see the ice starting to form over the sea and should I be allowed to return to this mighty vessel this is what I will be apart of.

I saw an icicle the other day, it was hanging from the end of a window-wiper, a tiny little one that was the leftovers of some window washing the afternoon before.. It may not have been much and may have melted before the sun even started to think about waking up but hey, it was ice! Not quite what they built a massive ice-cracking supply vessel for but to me it was the start of the beginning ……… maybe its time I went home.

I cannot say much for going ashore. To go ashore is a work-up as one really requires the protection of the local Mafia or a hefty Russian seafarer to ensure that the wallet is not stolen or a beer bottle is not smashed over the head by a drugged up Korean. I have not complained though, it has been a nice change to remain on the boat and to save money, something that I need just now having recently gotten onto the property ladder in Taiwan. So, although it is often nice to get ashore, to clear a muddled brain of the cobwebs that quickly appear I have not missed the opportunity. NB: It is not exactly paradise ashore, just a few dull grey council estate buildings and a pub or two - a village existing on the income from the port. I would have liked to get up into the mountains to see a bear, to ski down hill and to go fishing in the rivers but I can live without.

So that is my trip. I will be glad to get off, but the gladness born of having done a good days work and now it is time to have a break. Time to go home, to put the feet up and to paint the kitchen, clear out the garage, do a spot of DIY and to chase the kid around the park (he might be old enough to play football now). To clear those cobwebs away and to prepare myself for another trip further down the line.

Its time to go home.