Those daft questions passengers asked us

[John Arton]

e cable that provides the electrical power to the ship etc.
My classic was when doing a bridge tour for the 2nd class passengers on the empress of Canada, a middle eastern gentleman, who proudly informed me he had won a scholarship to study at Harvard university (don't ask me why he was sailing from Liverpool to Montreal), wanted to know what time we turned the BIG lights on at night. I took him out onto the bridge wing and pointed out to him the navigation lights listing how far you can see them from, but he kept asking about the BIG lights. I eventually realised he was thinking we had headlights like on a car in order to see our way across the oceans. I told we didn't need them to see our way at night as we were not on a motorway. He looked at me like I was a fool and looked like he was terrified at our attitude. From then on untill we reached Montreal he slept on deck underneath his lifeboat with his lifejacket.
A Dutch friend who had sailed on passenger ships told me that one time they were anchored off in the Thames estuary waiting for the tide to go up to the pool of London to berth, when a very irate American passenger came on the bridge wanting to know why they were anchored, saying he reckoned that the ship had been taken over by terrorist's. In the end the only way to get rid of him my mate told him, in secret, that because the U.K used a different type of electrical socket to the continent, they had divers down changing the electrical connection.
The guy actually believed him and went away to whisper the secret to his pals.
Rgds
J.

[vic mcclymont]

We are asked on the Vaal, what we did with excess electricity we generated, explained we only generated what we needed, still didn't believe us. One of the engineers whispered we have giant storage batteries, passes we awaysatisfied.
Vic

[Des Taff Jenkins]

John.
Maybe he had been living on the side of the Suez Canal and saw all the ships with the bow with the searchlight on, thought it was a regular thing.
Des

[Doug Hardie]

#1 There is no cure for stupidity I’m afraid!
Doug

[j.sabourn]

When we moved out here we brought out everything but the kitchen sink. We brought the washing machine instead. It only lasted about 6 months and was told by the repair man it was because the UK and Oz are on different cycles , think it is about 10 different. Got an Ozzie one 33 years ago and still have , it’s not the wife either. Cheers JS
Australia is 60 cycles and UK 50 . Or the other way round. JS

#3 if he asked where the indicators were should have told him , they were on the newer models but at moment had to put one’s arm out to show which way turning. JS

[Des Taff Jenkins]

John.
Hope you bought a house with a big garage for all those cycles, LoL
Des

[happy daze john in oz]

We brought a TV with us, no bloody good out here different wheels on the cycle.

But we had a Uni guy who came out from Uk and hired a container to bring all his household goods.
Poor bugger, it was one of many washed over the side in a storm.

[Doc Vernon]

We came here to Aussie with just 4 Tea Chests (They were good in the day) and just small items , like some Cutlery and a few Plates etc. Clothing, and some of my beloved Tools. Along with a few more small items ! That was it!
And of course 2 Young Kids 3 and 7 at the time. Money well honestly i only had some 300 Rand then , and on conversion not much !
So it was head up Bum down , and straight into work, a nasty shock for us both really, although more for the dear Wife, as i was used to a bit of hard Yakka by then.
Soon got settled and from there well no looking back !

Cheers

[j.sabourn]

#6 If had thought about it Des would have bought a tandem and taken a back seat and let her do all the work , after all work is for sharing and at 53 had done my wack. Cheers JS

The big thing out here I found was getting a credit rating. Even hiring a tv it wasnt a new one because of not having that rating. However on buying a new car my name was made in the bank and the sky was the limit, Even had my own financial councillor for a while until I sacked him and the bank the Commonwealth of course for too large bank fees . 30 odd years later have done the full tour of various banks and find myself in a bank owned by the Commonwealth. If you can’t beat them then join them I suppose. Cheers JS

[Des Taff Jenkins]

Well John, I know all that money in your pocket weighs you down, but I forgot to ask you how did you go at the Drs? all well I hope.
Des