The Ship

Lazing About

The final leg of this research survey is four days of steaming back to Hirtshals.  We spend a bit of time doing work on the report, some time doing other work, but mainly just hang around taking it easy.  We gather for meals, and coffee and sandwiches are laid out for us at 3 every day.  Breakfast was particularly difficult this morning with large waves hitting the boat side on.

Eating: Difficult

In retrospect it may have been a good idea to stop my coffee from spilling instead of taking a photo of it.  But then by that point the table already looked like a group of 3 year olds had been eating at it.  During the day and evening somebody is always watching a movie in the TV room.  On my birthday to spice it up a bit we drank beer and played Shithead.  Despite all the talk from those new to the game about it being all luck, I never lost a game, and everybody else did at least once.

The TV Room: An Hour Of Sweden's Finest Doctor Kicking Off

Bestowing The Title Of 'Shithead' On Others

I also just roam about the boat, staggering in time to the sway, exploring the nooks and crannies.  This is one of the most complicated doors ever.  It takes forever to open by working that lever back and forth.  I guess if the hull were breeched I would be glad that this door was there.  Well, not glad, but less freaked out.

Safety Door

As I mentioned, this is a Danish vessel, so not surprisingly most of the signs are in Danish.  I like the 'ø' in Danish, always reminds me of a Simpsons episode when a Danish supermarket chain opened in Springfield, called 'Shøp'. Walking around the ship I imagine this is what it feels like for an illiterate person, trying to associate things with random collections of letters.  Although, being literate in one language can make other languages funny.  I like this order near the controls in the fishing room calling for the operator to 'Fart'.

Pardon Me

I noticed, when doing my laundry, that the washing machine has a 'Cowboytøj' setting.  I'm not sure I want to use that, I'm afraid it is going to churn up some river gravel to scrub my clothes clean.  Maybe its just a no fuss setting for cowboy-like characters.  "I don't have delicates or synthetics, I can't be bothered with whites, colours, temperature, softener...  I'm just gonna throw my clothes in, set it to 'cowboy', and let it do its thing."  I just turned it randomly and hoped for the best.

Set It To Cowboy

No, I am assuming that Cowboytøj means jeans.  Most of the other signs I can also generally work out, given a bit of time.  My grasp of English and my smattering of Dutch gives me a double-sided attack to interpreting most of them.  Fortunately the important ones like "Exit" are pretty clear.  Also these:

Danish: Understandable

'Telefon', that's obviously the opposite of 'Telefoff'. Not sure about 'Beboelse', so I never went there.  'Hobbyrum', that's where sailors recreationally drink.  'Branddør', that's 'fire door'.  These solid metal doors shut automatically when the fire alarm goes off, one of the few things I remember from the safety briefing actually.  "Don't stand in the way of the slamming metal doors".  As if a fire isn't enough of a hazard already, now I have to try not to get crushed while fleeing.  Although this one was tied open for most of the journey.  It also happens to be the one leading to the acoustics room.  I guess they weren't too worried about us burning up should anything have gone awry.

Some I understand but give mixed signals.  Like this 'No Smoking' sign on my cabin door conflicting with the ashtray attached to the wall next to my Electrolux toilet.  Every toilet on this ship has an ashtray next to it.  Again, not sure if this is a Danish thing or a sea going thing, but I'm going for the latter.

After Action Satisfaction

Anyway, I don't smoke on the bog, but I did use it once to prevent falling head first into the toilet while showering in particularly rough seas.  Finally, I found this box downstairs in a quiet part of the ship near the gym and sauna.  I sure hope this isn't Danish for 'Soylent Green'.

"Sol Gryn er mennesker!!!!!!!"