Trying to get rid of hibernation

16-th January.

Today, as always (except the last two days when I was delayed by an hour), I was at the bridge before the rays of the sun came up. I had been in hibernation for two days. I would eat and then sleep, then wake up and eat, then sleep, wake up and go to gym, shower and then eat and then sleep. I heard that this is also a way of getting sea sick.

They say that the rocking motion of the ship is such that it makes you sleep well. It is supposed to be like being in a mother’s womb – I am in the mother earth’s womb in some sort of way. You really feel like you are in a hammock being rocked very gently from left to right. I love it though I normally hate hammocks.

I do not think this can be related to any sickness, it must be a blessing. I use my precious internet bandwidth to google this one time and find the one article that fits to this explanation (just in case the link does not work, here it is spelt out: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/cruises/articles/why-a-cruise-could-be-the-secret-to-a-full-eight-hours-according-to-a-sleep-doctor/ ). I have already missed seeing 4 ships because of this hibernation.

A feeling of guilt welled up. The whole world was working, including the people in this little ecosystem we have here, and all I do is sleep.

My customer, my most important project the last 18 months, would have gone live yesterday. My boss was kind enough to inform me of this.

I am happy someone remembered to. I always had the opinion that, in corporate world,

people

forget those who leave very quickly – life continues normally for those who stay back in the trials and tribulations of corporate life after all. Out of sight, out of mind is after all a proverb for a reason. Since I received that email, I am happy that that is not the case – when awake, I keep looking at the customer’s logo with fondness – most of the refrigerated containers on this ship (many of the white ones that you see on my pictures) are powered by the customer.

While I was sleeping, down in the Galley, the chief cook and J, the mess boy, were most likely busy cooking different requests from all of us – each of us get our wishes fulfilled. I told you, we travel with really nice crew. In the ship’s office, the chief mate was probably watching over the whole ship and planning the maintenance. The Captain and the Chief Engineer were most likely busy controlling the ship from their computers. A, who played TT with M day before, had been working all day and looked completely fagged out when he came to play TT. The crew were all busy – I learnt this morning that they exchanged one of the old motors for a new one over the last two days. And, all I was doing, was opening a book on my Kindle and falling sleep (for the record, I gave up on the book Meritocracy Trap and finished only one books so far – now I am on Open City – this time it proceeds faster).

Hence, this morning, when I woke up at 4 am, I jumped out of bed and gathered all my worldly goods and came up to the bridge. R, J and G were on watch. I hope they were happy to see me up just around 1 hour after their watch started.

The first thing that struck me, when I came on board this morning, was Sirius. The star stood bright and drew me out on what I call the balcony of the bridge. (As aside: My mother in law asked us why the bridge is called the bridge. I do not know the answer to that – if anyone does, please leave a comment. One of the handicaps of not having enough internet is, I cannot google for everything. I have to learn to live with limited knowledge until I ask someone or until I am in this world with unlimited information all around me). All around, I could see stars – not as many as I would love to, and not as many as on good days in Heidelberg. The moon was still shining and there were still clouds up there. Now, I look forward to the new moon day and hope that it will be cloud free.

The meal times are from 7-8 am, 12 am -1 pm, 6-7 pm and with 4 time zone changes now (today will be the 5-th one). We are told “Good Appetite” by the Romanian officers who come into the mess room. My languages are all a bit messed up now – I always respond “Good Appetit” – a mixture of English and German. While R has learnt the Romanian way to greet, I have yet to learn it.

By the time I send email to family and some of the friends, it is time for breakfast. I go down for breakfast and run back up with my bag – leaving M to take up my hibernation mantle. He has seen that it is effective – I seem to have recovered more from my cold after this hibernation than before. So perhaps it will be his turn to hibernate and then he cannot pull my leg anymore.

So, here I am, back at the bridge, with all my worldly active goods in my bag, usurping the Captain’s perch. I have, in my bag,

· my ginger lemon tea

· my camera

· my three lenses – though I have taken a resolution to use my fixed 40 mm lens for 3 days in a row – one never knows when one might need the ability to zoom in. Everytime I do not have the right lens with me, the sunrise or sunset calls for the other one. A recipe for a good sunset is if Paru does not have the right lens to capture it.

· my Kindle

· my iPhones – old one for the music and the new one for the pictures

· my sunglasses (I have not yet used it)

· my airpods (not yet used on the bridge – there is always music here and I love listening to the interactions here – today I am here at the slot where the Captain teaches/mentors K, one of the young officers)

· my lipsticks (thanks to the girls in my team, at least they are always in the bag whether I use them or not) and

· this morning, I added my “how to draw in 30 days book” again.

I trouble the Captain with my internet bandwidth woes – I am at my last 1$.

“I can transfer the 70$ without him knowing” – he says referring to M not using his.

“I will buy it when I am finished – don’t worry” – I say.

I am trying to stretch mine for as long as it goes. Today will perhaps be the last day of my 70$. The day I entered the facebook cost me quite a lot and now I know not to enter facebook. I am still not sure whether he can sell me more or not. Perhaps he is limited in his bandwidth.

A and A, the electrical engineers on the ship, are here on the bridge and are singing "When the saints, go marching in" as a background to this blog. The atmosphere is light.