One day last week one of my meetings was cancelled and I
found myself with three hours to spare before the next one. I had had enough of the relentless stream of
e mails, and, indeed, the inside of Endeavour House, so I took myself down to
Felixstowe to look at the sea and the ships.
I do love to see the vessels great and small plying back and
forth along the sea lanes. I like the
vastness of the container boats, the ferries going to Harwich, and the more
interesting, smaller, boats which are probably making their way to and from
Ipswich Docks.
The sea front has been much improved by the removal of all
the concrete, and the sandy beaches, created as part of the renovation works, have
fared pretty well despite last winter’s gales.
I am pleased to report also that Suffolk Coastal DC has recently put a stop
to launching from the beach of paper lanterns that do so much environmental
damage. Now all they have to combat are
the jet skis!
I have been reading a book, Deep Sea and Foreign Going by Ruth George, the story of a woman’s journey on a container
ship from Felixtowe to the far East. In addition
to describing the life on board, which, being pretty dull, would not really
fill many pages, the book is a compendium of almost everything you need
to know about the world of modern shipping.
George covers a wide range of topics from modern day piracy and the role
today of missions to seamen, to the terms and conditions of crew members,
whales, and the issue of the refuse and plastic that floats in great abundance in
the oceans.
It is a must read for anyone interested in gazing at the
passing ships from Felixstowe promenade and wondering what it would be like to be on board.
No comments:
Post a Comment