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I was in Shrewsbury (the big City) this afternoon and looked in a shop 'Cotswolds' which deals in outdoor clothing and such. Horrified to see flip-flops on sale for £18.00.
After close inspection to see what commanded such a price I could find nothing, absolutely nothing. Sales assistant advised that they were ' xxxxxx ' brand!
I think you can buy them in M&S for less than half that.
Bill
http://www.instablogsimages.com/1/20...lops_xrktw.jpgThese are £300 a pair , so you should have snapped up the £18.00 ones
Hi All.
I got two pair for $6 at the regect shop two years ago still good as new, good rubber.
Cheers Des
two sailors applied for a job on a coaster sailing from glasgow to edinburgh. the captain asked where they were from. one was from glasgow one from aberdeen. the captain said i must take the aberdeen lad they are honest. the glaswegian said thats not fair, i'm also honest. the captain relented and took both.
going round the top of scotland they had very heavy weather and the aberdeen lad was washed overboard whilst getting a bucket of seawater.the glasgow lad went up to the wheelhouse and said to the skipper; you know yon honest lad from aberdeen. yes the skipper said. he's away with your bucket!
just thought it would fit in here
As a young lad of 16yrs deck training 3 months Gravesend Kent, We as Blue Flue trainee,s did. Came away with an E.D.H. Certificate and if you passed a boat ticket. It was then a matter of putting in the sea time to get your AB,s Ticket. Every task we undertook on deck wether aloft /over the ship,s side/ Was B.O.T. Regulation. If you were faced with a task that had to be carried out regardless of weather conditions at sea {example} navigation bulb change, You had to as much as you didn,t want to go aloft i was instructed by the mate in heavy seas to carry out this task obviously at sea you had to display your navigation lights. These jobs dont come about today on modern ship,s because there are backup,s in place. But there were many tasks undertaken by seaman that today under Elf @ Safety would be a no no. I wonder Capt Bill if the ship,s articles we signed 40/50 yrs ago are the same today. There are no sea collages to train deck boys the basics , Rigging a painting stage, Rigging a bosun,s chair, A bowser line, Bends and Hitches, Splicing, We had a mock dark room with a steering Wheel and ships compass, Were learnt what navigation lights were what and how to report them on lookout 2 off the port bow dead ahead ,etc... My point is how are today,s seaman trained as there are still ships around that would need these basic skills aboard. One thing i could make sence of that is credited to Blue Flu was painting the sticks topped. Spanish windless been mentioned i agree not the most efficiant way to secure deck cargo but we all used them. I wonder if many crew,s today would know what to look for if sent forward for a handy billy, A dogs leg, A turks head, Renew ingle field clips or even no what they are?, A ball of marlin, Carry out an inside turn on a drum end, Or surge on a head rope, How many could pull themselves aloft on a block or lizard and make themselves fast or dont they do that anymore, Paint the fore part job and finish, These were all basic B.O.T. Regulation not to mention checking and knowing the contents of a lifeboat. I noticed after t.v. pictures when the Costa Concordia turned over how many liferafts were hanging half way down the ships side i can only assume they were thrown over the side by panicking passenger,s lives could have been saved if those crew,s would have undertaken that task and if one inflates upside down then we were trained to right it. Or doesn,t Elf @ Safety like the idea???????? The mind boggles. Regards lads Terry.:11doh:
Hi Terry, they must have changed the system after I started in 52, If you got a boat and EDH tickets at the training school without setting foot on a ship.
We had to do a year as Deck Boy then a year as JOS and a year as SOS or if you were 18 years old by then you could go to Life boat school for a week in the Kings Dock in Liverpool then a week in the upstairs of the old white tiled NUS building in Canning Place, Liverpool and do a week of Seamanship and then Examined by a BOT Surveyor.Then if you passed both exams you were issued your EDH Certificate, Then you did four years as EDH with an increment in wages every year until you were on ABs wages then you went to Cornhill Mercantile Marine Office to get your ABs Certificate. Could take seven years to AB on top pay.
.
I joined a ship as Master and was piloting a ship through the Downs between the Goodwins and Kent trying to make the tide in London. and as I got to a dogs leg in the Channel I told the AB to go on the wheel to give an oncoming ship a bit more sea room, I told him to ease the ship to Starboard a little to give the other ship a bit more sea room when we were approaching the buoys, He put the wheel hard a port right across the bows of the other ship. I knocked him off the wheel, took over. and after leaving the channel brought her round the buoy back into the channel again to all kinds of abuse on the VHF off then other ship, I had to appologise.
I asked the [AB?] What the hell are you doing, I said ease it to starboard, not hard a port. ` he replied` he didnt know where starbd was as he had only joined the ship the day before the same as I did, He had never set foot on a ship before, and he had an ABs Certificate, He said he had done a two week course at Gravesend Sea School and was issued with an Able Seamans Certifcate.
I could not believe this was happening. When I got an ABs Certificate it was something to be proud of after 6 or 7 years on deck.
Brian.
Brian and Terry
I have a horrible feeling that the British seamen is now almost defunct regards skills that all of your generation had.
I found that the Filipino's had good seamanship skills and their colleges still seem to teach them the basics.
The Latvian guys I sailed with, well the older ones anyway, were excellent as they had been taught the old fashioned way when they were part of Russia.
Nowadays i put it all down to STCW as this covers all from the watch officer to the lookout.
More and more of the traditional deck maintenance jobs are now out of the hands of those onboard due to regulations.
For example, lifeboats and davits have to be now serviced by an accredited shore company annually, cranes and lifting gear have to be done annually as loads of flag states etc. will not accept the annual inspection by the Ch. Off or Ch. Eng and the 5 yrly load testing by shore, as being sufficient evidence of correct maintenance in your Chain Register.
rgds
JA
After 3 months training you joined your first ship deck boy, J.O.S. S.O.S.{ E.D.H. After 18 months sea time Then A.B. Gravesend sea school had an instructor that would take you out on the thames and put you through your {practicle} You would do classroom work on various including useing a model of a lifeboat and demonstrate tacking and wearing. The lifeboat school was still based in Lpool docks as not all the lads obtained there boat ticket but it was like riding a bike once you new it you never forgot, As for the E.D.H. It was stamped in your book E.D.H. Standard you still had to go through the ranks no substitute for experience. I signed on the M.V. Eucadia J.O.S. 12 MONTHS LATER I paid off E.D.H. There is no way that lad was given an A.B.s Ticket after 2 weeks in gravesend the only people i new done 2 weeks in gravesend were kicked out. Even the catering done 6 weeks. Hope that clear,s it up for you Regards Terry.:th_thth5952deef:
As a young lad of 16yrs deck training 3 months Gravesend Kent, We as Blue Flue trainee,s did. Came away with an E.D.H. Certificate
Where did you get this from Ted?
Bill
Hi Terry,
the lad from Gravesend who left with an AB. Certificate was in 1992. so it has changed since you were there.
.
At the Vindicatrix we did all the seamanship, for three months, bends and hitches, splicing rope and wires, blocks and tackle, calculating safe working loads, rigging stages over the wall and painting, as the Vindi was a Real ship, an old Cape Horner, up the mast on bosuns chair painting. rigging the derrick and driving the cargo winch when loading stores and coal from the barges. Lifeboat drill and lowering the boats and rowing and sailing around the Canal then recovering the boats etc, and all the many other sailorising jobs, We could have passed the AB exam in those days , We were trained on the real thing. but we still had to do from 16 years old upwards to 18 plus at sea before going in for the EDH and lifeboat exams then four years as EDH before becoming AB.
Cheers
Brian.