Part 111 Ladies who launch
Fiona’s an interior designer so I was half-expecting dado rails and frilly curtains in the JS cabin. We did bring some girly stuff …cushions and rugs and even warpaint. During some of the long and relatively incident – free stretches we had wimmin-type moments with creams and hairbrushes and bits and bobs that I’m sure Alan Priddy and crew never even imagined on their huge adventures…I brought loads of chocolate though Fi warned me my rear was expanding by the minute. (Just you wait till you reach my age Fi. It ain’t that easy you know)
Fiona brought her CD player which she gaffer taped to the console…the batteries lasted quite well
and we had an eclectic range of tunes from Fleetwood Mac to Bob Dylan. We sang all the time as well and then shouted at each other for not remembering more than the first two lines of any song!!!! Ideal tunes for future reference include ‘Show Must go On’…’Don’t stop Me Now’… ‘We all live in a Yellow Submarine’ (to be sung with fingers crossed !!! ) and loads more which I can’t now recall for tiredness……
Fiona speaks Arabic and taught me an Arabic song…my offering was a Kiswahili song. We thought we were brilliant but all we did was frighten the seagulls!!!
I’m not so sure I’d like my home redecorated by Fiona as she uses gaffer tape for just about everything…all our little talismans and useful items were taped on somewhere inside the cabin with the evil looking stuff… (Hey gaffer-tape queen; here’s a good page for you to google
http://www.exposure.co.uk/eejit/gaffer/ )
One of the big issues of the trip (so to speak) was toilet arrangements. Now I hope you RIB designers read this because it’s about time someone said to you it’s just not right to completely ignore the ensuite facilities. I agree about the importance of the hull and tubes and engine and it was great having a cabin…but I’m sorry ; it’s just not good enough to say ‘down the back and fire away’.
As it was we were quite alone for most of the time (cf Part 11 ‘the only eejits …’) so we were relatively unhindered apart from the fact we could have fallen off the RIB at night, never to be seen again. I was imagining that one on my headstone…’well she went to the toilet and, sadly, never came back’.
The other matter (apologies) was of course that the process involved an obligatory Jacuzzi ..indeed full immersion in a following sea. Suffice to say whatever we could produce, the Atlantic returned a hundred fold.
And that’s enough about that.
When we were attached to the lobster pot and waiting for the lifeboat we took a very practical female RIBSTER approach…checked the boat….tidied up a little (well people were coming round !!! OK OK my idea… ) and brushed our hair. (That was a morale-boosting thing
)
As an all-female crew we decided to give the equipment girly names as well…thus Eileen the Engine….Roisin the Radar, Geraldine the GPS etc. Which of course gave rise to another tune…’Come on Eileen!!!!’
Back in port now, the Jolly Sailor, Fiona and I are three ladies slightly the worse for wear…but hey; nothing that a little gaffer tape can’t fix eh Fi???
)
:d
