Checked in. Waiting on the paraffin budgie to take me home. Put on the survival suit in 20 minutes. Walk up to the helipad and get on the chopper home. Probably fall asleep.
No more early morning starts. No more Bristow's breakfasts when I'm delayed. No more helicopter flights. No more having to share a cabin with some stranger. No more having to fit in with a bunch of strange men. No standing out just because I happen to be female and have been known to talk about testicles and bowel movements!
It's been interesting, exciting, boring, aggravating, annoying, enlightening, educational, useful, demoralising, frustrating, amusing and different.
No more offshore tigress...back to being a pussycat!
Career change awaits...I wonder what?!
Tuesday, 25 August 2009
Sunday, 23 August 2009
Freecycle...yeah!
Freecycle is great! Just managed to get rid of 2 sofas, 2 telly's and some old darkroom equipment that I haven't used in the 5 years I've had it.
Now - if only I could strike it lucky and get a spinning wheel on there...
Now - if only I could strike it lucky and get a spinning wheel on there...
Saturday, 22 August 2009
Offshore Tiger no more...!
As of next Tuesday I shall no longer be an offshore tiger. I have my last trip to the Claymore on Monday and after that my sub-contracting days offshore are finito...for the foreseeable future anyway. After 5 years I've reached the stage where I've lost interest in what I'm doing out there and I've had enough of sharing my time with strangers when I'd rather be at home with people I'd want to be with.I've got a new village and home to settle into. I've got studying to finish before Christmas. I've got a house to decorate. I've got a wedding to organise. I've got a honey to keep happy. I've got to work at getting a research job. I'm going to get back to my running. And I have some me-time to catch up on so I can knit and take photos and get some creativity going before I stagnate.
I'll miss some things. I enjoyed the helicopter flights - landing on this small bit of metal in the middle of a huge pile of water is exciting and the skill of the pilots is something else. I have met some really fine folk though I've also had to deal with an awful lot of ill-educated numpties...and educated numpties as well! It has probably increased my self-reliance and independence to know that I can do an awful lot of things if I have to turn my hand to them. It's given me the confidence to go and try a lot more different things. But it's also taken me away from people I want to spend time with and at the end of it all it's much more important to spend time with them than it is to work away all the time to pay for a lifestyle you don't need or want. Most importantly, it's taught me how to pack a bare minimum of stuff to go away with so that when I go on personal trips I can get off with carry-on baggage only ;-)
"9. Everybody has their own private Mount Everest they were put on this earth to climb.
You may never reach the summit; for that you will be forgiven. But if you don't make at least one serious attempt to get above the snow-line, years later you will find yourself lying on your deathbed, and all you will feel is emptiness."
Monday, 17 August 2009
Fit's happening like?!
It's been a wee bit busy these last few months to say the least but there is finally a wee glimmer on the horizon. So, to summarise...
1. Did the Baker Hughes 10k in May and managed it in 1:06:19 which was 2 and a half minutes faster than the Balmoral. Wanted to get under 1:05 but until I did the race I never realised just how pigging depressing those 3kms along the Beach Bouley are, especially when you look over towards Seaton and Pittodrie and see the fast sods heading on their way back. Ach well - got the Loch Ness 10k up in Inverness on the 4th October so I'll kick in with the training again in a few weeks and aim for a better time at that.
2. Went to Rockness and had a pigging ace time. ERol Alkan, Bassment Jaxx and the Prodigy were all ace. Was most happy that my honey took to the dance music in a big way. Roll on next year as I reckon Rockness will be the only festie we'll have time for. TUNE!
3. Went to TITP. 2 Many DJ's, Blur and Seasick Steve were all amazing. We even made it into the mosh pit and on the telly during Seasick Steve. Cool. My honey is working his youth in reverse ;-)
4. Holidayed in Orkney with DB and the boys and didn't end up killing each other. My first holiday in "Mum" mode.
4. Had someone offer to buy my house at a sensible price only for them to pull out on the day they were due to sign the missives...bastards!
5. Decided to rent out my house instead so that someone else can pay the mortgage until the market finally recovers enough for me to sell it. It went in a week! Now busy getting stuff ready for storage, packing up stuff to go to DB's house and chucking/sending to charity/Freecycling the rest.
6. Finishing off study for a Postgrad Cert in Performance Coaching. Assessments are due in 4 days after I move and we have to give a presentation on one of our papers on the 5 Sept!
7. Bought my wedding dress - or at least option no 1. If I see something else between now and next year I'll sell this one on Ebay.
8. Off to London in October to Ally Pally to collect craft stuff for the wedding - that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. Need to save pennies!
Think that's enough for now. I reckon I should be a lot more regular on all this once I've actually shifted. Think I'm going to collapse on the 6th September...! But it's all going to be worth it as I move to be with my honey and make a new home and a new stage in life.
1. Did the Baker Hughes 10k in May and managed it in 1:06:19 which was 2 and a half minutes faster than the Balmoral. Wanted to get under 1:05 but until I did the race I never realised just how pigging depressing those 3kms along the Beach Bouley are, especially when you look over towards Seaton and Pittodrie and see the fast sods heading on their way back. Ach well - got the Loch Ness 10k up in Inverness on the 4th October so I'll kick in with the training again in a few weeks and aim for a better time at that.
2. Went to Rockness and had a pigging ace time. ERol Alkan, Bassment Jaxx and the Prodigy were all ace. Was most happy that my honey took to the dance music in a big way. Roll on next year as I reckon Rockness will be the only festie we'll have time for. TUNE!
3. Went to TITP. 2 Many DJ's, Blur and Seasick Steve were all amazing. We even made it into the mosh pit and on the telly during Seasick Steve. Cool. My honey is working his youth in reverse ;-)
4. Holidayed in Orkney with DB and the boys and didn't end up killing each other. My first holiday in "Mum" mode.
4. Had someone offer to buy my house at a sensible price only for them to pull out on the day they were due to sign the missives...bastards!
5. Decided to rent out my house instead so that someone else can pay the mortgage until the market finally recovers enough for me to sell it. It went in a week! Now busy getting stuff ready for storage, packing up stuff to go to DB's house and chucking/sending to charity/Freecycling the rest.
6. Finishing off study for a Postgrad Cert in Performance Coaching. Assessments are due in 4 days after I move and we have to give a presentation on one of our papers on the 5 Sept!
7. Bought my wedding dress - or at least option no 1. If I see something else between now and next year I'll sell this one on Ebay.
8. Off to London in October to Ally Pally to collect craft stuff for the wedding - that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. Need to save pennies!
Think that's enough for now. I reckon I should be a lot more regular on all this once I've actually shifted. Think I'm going to collapse on the 6th September...! But it's all going to be worth it as I move to be with my honey and make a new home and a new stage in life.
Thursday, 30 April 2009
Bonkers!
I have decided that this week is the week of the numpty!
Numpty number 1 is the couple who came to view my house on Tuesday but weren't interested once they realised that the sale price didn't include the farm steadings across from me. Because of course you can get a 4-bedroomed house on the outskirts of Aberdeen with an acre's worth of steadings just ripe for conversion for a bargain price of £275,000...! They've been watching too many editions of Grand Designs (...love me some Kevin though...drool!)
Numpty number 2 is the individual that decided it was feasible to offer me £185,000 to buy my house...the house that's been valued by one of those proper people (who rip off a tidy sum for the Home Report) at the above mentioned £275,000. Because, of course, I am desperate to sell and I'm willing to do so for a 1/3 under my asking price. I suggested to the solicitor that they should perhaps "get tae f**k"...she worded that in a more appropriate and professional way to suggest that it wasn't a favourable offer.
My humble opinion on the numpties of the week is that they are officially bonkers...take it away Dizzee...
Dizzee Rascal - Bonkers
Numpty number 1 is the couple who came to view my house on Tuesday but weren't interested once they realised that the sale price didn't include the farm steadings across from me. Because of course you can get a 4-bedroomed house on the outskirts of Aberdeen with an acre's worth of steadings just ripe for conversion for a bargain price of £275,000...! They've been watching too many editions of Grand Designs (...love me some Kevin though...drool!)
Numpty number 2 is the individual that decided it was feasible to offer me £185,000 to buy my house...the house that's been valued by one of those proper people (who rip off a tidy sum for the Home Report) at the above mentioned £275,000. Because, of course, I am desperate to sell and I'm willing to do so for a 1/3 under my asking price. I suggested to the solicitor that they should perhaps "get tae f**k"...she worded that in a more appropriate and professional way to suggest that it wasn't a favourable offer.
My humble opinion on the numpties of the week is that they are officially bonkers...take it away Dizzee...
Dizzee Rascal - Bonkers
Sunday, 26 April 2009
Balmoral 10k...done!
Yesterday it was time to head the South Deeside Road and the Queen's Summer Hoosie at Balmoral. It was time for my first ever 10k race. This one is reknowned for an evil little section in it known, to me anyway, as "that bastard hill". You get 3.5km in and are faced with a steep hill that goes on for 1.5km. I would love to say that I ran/shuffled the whole way up it but that wasn't the case. It resorted to run/walk instead but after the 5km marker it got a lot easier. In fact I found that it took me until 6km before I got into my stride and settled in. Derek should have been doing the race with me but unfortunately he ended up with a cold that migrated into mild bronchitis so if he'd done it he would probably have exhaled his lungs which might have made folk a bit sick!
I crossed the finish line in 1:08:36...position 1709 out of 1997 finishers...or 222 out of 300 veteran females. Or, to put it another way...people came in behind me!!!
I crossed the finish line in 1:08:36...position 1709 out of 1997 finishers...or 222 out of 300 veteran females. Or, to put it another way...people came in behind me!!!
Sunday, 19 April 2009
A strange few weeks
It's been a strange few weeks really and it's difficult to say why in some ways. The 1st of April saw a second helicopter crash in the North Sea but unlike the first crash in February there was no lucky escape for anyone onboard.
After we first heard the news about this crash there was the dawning realisation that a happy outcome wasn't going to be. Anytime you hear bad news from offshore now the first thing we do is check round the list of everyone we know that works offshore to find out where they are just so we can know that they're safe.
The next stage is to find out which installation is affected. If you've been there then you start worrying that there might still be someone you know involved in the incident. They may only be someone you know in passing but it's still someone you've had contact with whether it be only the one conversation or many more. A minor relationship in the grand scheme of things but still some contact.
If you don't personally know anyone affected then you generally feel a degree of relief that you don't have to deal with the loss. But this time it doesn't feel that way. This time it knocked us all a little bit. I don't think I've ever really felt the offshore "family" as my family before but this time around it got under the skin. Probably not helped by the fact that I had to fly offshore the next day. It wasn't that I was worried about the safety of the flight I would be taking, more that I was thinking of those people who had said goodbye to the guys who'd flown offshore 2 weeks previously but who would never make it home.
When you're heading back home your emotions and your heart are already heading home ahead of you. I have 2 personas - Derek calls one of them my offshore persona then as it disappears and my home persona comes back and only then does he know I've arrived home. My offshore persona protects me. It has to be professional and have a degree of distance. There's a lot of compromise as you're thrown into a world of strangers on a monthly or weekly basis. People you have get on with because you can't escape from them. The choice is to get on with everyone (or as many as possible) and let the trip go quickly or be an obnoxious t**t, fall out with everyone, and let your trip drag on. Your choice!
So...you know that your chopper flight is on its way out to the platform. You start to relax as you know your time away from home is coming to an end. You get your suit on. You hear the chopper on the landing pad up above you. Go upstairs, get on it, belt up. Watch as she lifts from the helipad and as the platform fades into the distance you put your going home head on. You feel yourself relaxing as you get closer to the Beach. You start thinking about what you're going to do, who you're going to see, who's waiting for you at home.
The guys on the flight on April 1st from the BP Miller platform will never come in through the door. You do feel it could so easily have been you. None of us are any more special than anyone else. There was no pick of the draw. Any of us that fly out there could have been on that flight. It didn't have to be that chopper that went down. There are 3 companies flying out to the North Sea. Any of them could have had the fatal accident and anyone with a valid survival certificate could have been on that flight that went down. All you can be thankful for is that it wasn't you.
I had to fly out the next day for an overnight trip. There was an atmosphere at Bristows with a hyper edge to it. Everyone paid more attention to the safety brief than they would do normally. Offshore conversation centred around the crash. Speculation as to what had happened. I watched the names and pictures on Newsnight Scotland when they were released...and promptly phoned home to get a cuddle over the phone from my honey. I was delayed for an extra day due to fog - not unusual. I didn't feel the same relief that I do normally when the flight was finally on its way and I got on the chopper. There was a degree of apprehension on the way in, more so than I had on the way out, and there was relief when we landed.
I was with the other girls when the memorial service was on. We did think about going up to Union Street to join in the service outside St Nicholas Kirk but we thought that might be too emotional. Instead we listened to it on the radio in the office and bowed our heads and stayed with our own thoughts when the 2 minute silence was observed.
I suppose I'm thankful that I've made it home everytime. The majority of us that work offshore do but over the years some of us haven't. I'm grateful that I have someone who loves me to come home to. I'm grateful that I make it home and I'll be grateful if I keep doing so.
Perhaps I should do as Hamish requests and retire from offshore...but not yet...
After we first heard the news about this crash there was the dawning realisation that a happy outcome wasn't going to be. Anytime you hear bad news from offshore now the first thing we do is check round the list of everyone we know that works offshore to find out where they are just so we can know that they're safe.
The next stage is to find out which installation is affected. If you've been there then you start worrying that there might still be someone you know involved in the incident. They may only be someone you know in passing but it's still someone you've had contact with whether it be only the one conversation or many more. A minor relationship in the grand scheme of things but still some contact.
If you don't personally know anyone affected then you generally feel a degree of relief that you don't have to deal with the loss. But this time it doesn't feel that way. This time it knocked us all a little bit. I don't think I've ever really felt the offshore "family" as my family before but this time around it got under the skin. Probably not helped by the fact that I had to fly offshore the next day. It wasn't that I was worried about the safety of the flight I would be taking, more that I was thinking of those people who had said goodbye to the guys who'd flown offshore 2 weeks previously but who would never make it home.
When you're heading back home your emotions and your heart are already heading home ahead of you. I have 2 personas - Derek calls one of them my offshore persona then as it disappears and my home persona comes back and only then does he know I've arrived home. My offshore persona protects me. It has to be professional and have a degree of distance. There's a lot of compromise as you're thrown into a world of strangers on a monthly or weekly basis. People you have get on with because you can't escape from them. The choice is to get on with everyone (or as many as possible) and let the trip go quickly or be an obnoxious t**t, fall out with everyone, and let your trip drag on. Your choice!
So...you know that your chopper flight is on its way out to the platform. You start to relax as you know your time away from home is coming to an end. You get your suit on. You hear the chopper on the landing pad up above you. Go upstairs, get on it, belt up. Watch as she lifts from the helipad and as the platform fades into the distance you put your going home head on. You feel yourself relaxing as you get closer to the Beach. You start thinking about what you're going to do, who you're going to see, who's waiting for you at home.
The guys on the flight on April 1st from the BP Miller platform will never come in through the door. You do feel it could so easily have been you. None of us are any more special than anyone else. There was no pick of the draw. Any of us that fly out there could have been on that flight. It didn't have to be that chopper that went down. There are 3 companies flying out to the North Sea. Any of them could have had the fatal accident and anyone with a valid survival certificate could have been on that flight that went down. All you can be thankful for is that it wasn't you.
I had to fly out the next day for an overnight trip. There was an atmosphere at Bristows with a hyper edge to it. Everyone paid more attention to the safety brief than they would do normally. Offshore conversation centred around the crash. Speculation as to what had happened. I watched the names and pictures on Newsnight Scotland when they were released...and promptly phoned home to get a cuddle over the phone from my honey. I was delayed for an extra day due to fog - not unusual. I didn't feel the same relief that I do normally when the flight was finally on its way and I got on the chopper. There was a degree of apprehension on the way in, more so than I had on the way out, and there was relief when we landed.
I was with the other girls when the memorial service was on. We did think about going up to Union Street to join in the service outside St Nicholas Kirk but we thought that might be too emotional. Instead we listened to it on the radio in the office and bowed our heads and stayed with our own thoughts when the 2 minute silence was observed.
I suppose I'm thankful that I've made it home everytime. The majority of us that work offshore do but over the years some of us haven't. I'm grateful that I have someone who loves me to come home to. I'm grateful that I make it home and I'll be grateful if I keep doing so.
Perhaps I should do as Hamish requests and retire from offshore...but not yet...
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