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October 06 I'm Going to deleteJust in case anyone still looks which I don't think they do, i'm going to delete this space , forever consign it to the depths of cyberspace from whence it came.
Don't use it anymore so whats the point.
So toodleloo anybody everybody, it was fun while it lasted but in the end it was shite LOL.
January 21 Its A New YearRight then , here we go , this feels a bit strange after having a few months off from my msn space but its 2007 and its time to get going again. One of the main reasons I stopped is the old blog block thing. Just ran out of things to write about. To me any ideas I had just sounded boring and not worth the effort of moving my two tapping fingers about on the keyboard. Also have been concentrating a lot on MYSPACE. On that you don't feel the need to blog a lot, just leave messages on others peoples spaces which takes a lot less effort LOL.
But here I am again with a bit of encouragement from Deb ;o), sporting a new look and a renewed heart .
So What's been happening in the world of Smoggy since my last serious blog on the 26th October ( it seems a lot longer ago than that) . Well of course its still winter so there's not many motorbike journeys to talk about. Still waiting for the Spring (hurry up). I'm just not a winter person.
Still slogging my guts out at work here in the middle of the North sea. The place where I spent Christmas and New year.
Whats that all about? Which place would make you spend the full 2 weeks over the holiday period away from home? Come out here on the 20th December and go home on the 4th January. This place , thats where. But as they say...."swings and roundabouts" I'm at home for the festive season this year, it's someone elses turn to spend it out here.
I never made the Stone Sour concert on the 5th November (its a long story) but luckily they're doing a UK tour again in March so I'll be going to that. But managed to get to the Iron Maiden concert in December.
I suppose I could write more but I think long blogs can bore me a bit so I'll keep them short and sweet from now on but try to do them a lot more.
Finally what does this year hold for me what do I want to do with myself ? The draft list is as follows :-
1) Get out for longer Journeys on the bike, not just to the same place and back all the time. (CW
 )2) Buy a full weekend ticket for the Download Festival in June
3) Go to a lot more British Superbike race meetings.
4) Go to the MOTO GP at Donington
5) Try to keep this page alive
6) See Middlesbrough Football Club lift the FA Cup at the new Wembley Stadium
7) Keep in touch with all my friends
Well that will have to do for now, can't think of any more things to add to the list. If anyone has any suggestions feel free to throw them forward and I'll consider them LOL
January 18 Whats HappenedUpdate coming soon, but what the hell has happened. I can't link my videos anymore from the PCplanets website and Filelodge is down so at the moment my page is deathly silent. Gonna have to look into this some more. See what happens when i leave it for a bit, it all turns to shit !!!!!!!
YAY !!!!!!! ;o) , After a bit of tinkering about and some great tips off someones space who gives all the hacks, I've managed to get a video on to my space. And you may notice its all looking a bit different as well, this may not be the final look cos I'm still mucking about but i hope you like the current look ......for the time being. December 14 Time To Begin AgainSomethings just happened to make me come in here again. And I've got a bit of catching up to do !!!!!
I'll write something later
 .Until then take care XX October 26 Weeks Fly ByI can't believe its been such a long time since I wrote anything in here. So whats been going on in my life in the last few weeks. Nowt much really, on a bit of a downer because summers ended, less time out on the bike. Its my life now at the moment, its all I like doing. Anything to get out of the house and get a bit of freedom out on the road.
I've been spending a lot of time on MYSPACE making my page there if anyone wants to come and visit the address is in my links. A couple of friends are already there.
Had a good time on our work team building trip to Druids Glen golf resort near Dublin in Ireland. Copious amounts of Guinness drank, excellent game on golf on a bloody unforgiving course, I lost about 13 balls in all, terrible score but had a good time and thats what its all about.
So whats coming up, Stone Sour concert on the 5th November.
have to go to Holland for 4 days on a course for work. The thing is theres 11 of us going so we should have a few good nights out.
My thoughts go out to those that are going through tough times at the moment. I'm thinking of you.
Well looks like winters set in today at work here on the platform, wind speed has been up to 60 knots today and were getting hit by some nice big waves which is making the place rock a little, still at least it should rock me to sleep. September 25 Blog BlockAAARRRGGGHHH, Don't you just hate it when that happens, you write about 20 lines of blog then the link crashes and you lose everything you've spent the last 20 minutes writing . Then you have to try and remember what you wrote and do it all over again
 .Right , lets have another go.............. Oh and anything in yellow is a link
 .Does anyone else suffer from blog block. Haven't got a clue what to write about, maybe because nothing much has been happening.
Lets see if I can just let my fingers flow over the keys and see what I come up with.
So my birthday on the 23rd Sept came and went out here on the platform. Wasn't much of a celebration though. No booze, no party
 , no birthday cake and yes I did buy everyone a can of coke and a chocolate bar. Still I received some beautiful birthday cards and some truly fantastic e cards which really made my day. I also totally adore my new keyring for my motorbike keys, it was a totally unexpected surprise, thank you
. I received lots of birthday messages as well from lots of the members on the BLACK LABYRINTH forum. Cheers everyone!!!!! (saves draft of blog now before I lose it again)
What else............ oh yeah, bought my ticket to see STONE SOUR at The Corporation in Sheffield on the 5th November. Can't wait for that. Was going to see them on the 7th in Wolverhampton and even bought my ticket then realised that I'd be on a course for work and wouldn't be able to go. So if anyone wants to buy a ticket for STONE SOUR at the Wolfrun Hall Wolverhampton on the 7th November , let me know, or else it'll be going on Ebay.
Work team building trip coming up on the 4th and 5th October. 2 days at the Druids Glen Golf Resort in Dublin, Ireland.
Itinery for the 2 days goes like this. Pub Crawl and meal in Dublin on the first night.
Round of golf the next morning, team building exercises on the afternoon, evening meal followed by a Murder Mystery Night. All of these events of course come with a few pints of the old black stuff thrown in. (saves draft again)
I don't know whether its since all this changed to LIVE SPACES but I'm finding myself drawn away by the twinkling lights of MYSPACE . I find it a lot easier to send messages and stay in contact than on here, though I'm not using it for blogging, I think I'll keep doing that here. So if anybody wants to add me just follow my link above.
Well I don't think that was a bad effort considering I had nothing to write about. And I didn't lose it this time!!!!
September 18 Missing The WeatherAAAArrgghh
 , I'm missing all the nice September biking weather. I'm back at work at the moment and don't get home till the 27th Sept. I'm even out here for my birthday on the 23rd when I'll be (cough,cough) years young but as they say you're only as old as the woman you feel, or something like that  , so I'll really be celebrating.......not. Plus as is tradition on the platform the person whose birthday it is has to buy all rest of the shift team a can of pop and a choccy bar so that'll be 15 cans and 15 choccy bars.And to add insult to injury I've got my first cold of the year, so kindly passed on to me by Dave coughing all over me on the first day out here. I'm up to my eyeballs in snot
 LOL.As long as I get rid of it before I get home I'll be happy, its ok being ill at work but not in my own time !
Moto GP and British Superbike seasons are coming to dramatic conclusions. The mighty Valentino Rossi is now only 21 points behind Nicky Hayden with only 3 rounds to go. If he manages to win the championship this season it will be an amazing comeback after being so far behind. As for the British Superbikes there is only 1 point seperating Gregorio Lavilla and Riyuchi Kiyonari going into the last round at Brands Hatch on the 1st October. But double points are up for grabs as the race at Mondello Park in Ireland was cancelled because of the weather. Should be excellent racing in both Championships. September 12 ReunionFriday 8th September was my school reunion night. 21 years after leaving Sarah Metcalfe Secondary school.
A friend and myself decided it was time to try and get everyone together again after such a long time. So through Friends Reunited we sent out a message of a school reunion. We put up posters in and around the shops where we live and put adverts in the local press.
Of course we had the vision of a nightmare scenario of no one turning up but it seemed as though the word was getting around through our adverts and word of mouth.
So the night came and it was very good, about 30 people in all turned up.
There were some that said they'd come but didn't but there was some that just turned up unexpectedly.
It was surprising how much people hadn't changed in those 21 years, everybody had just matured nicely like a good wine, except their was defintely a little less hair amongst the male contingent ! Nearly everybody was instantly recognisable apart from a couple of people who I just didn't recognise until they said their names. On one of the walls we had loads of old photos printed out that someone had taken on school trips and at school discos which were to say the least quite an eye opener. Did we really look like that ?
So a few beers were knocked back over stories from the past, the school trips, the teachers, the fights, who did and who didn't get the cane (bring it back ,didn't do us any harm), ex girlfriends and boyfriends, drinking before the school discos (our school discos where second to none
 ). You just can't beat a good reminiscing session. Time flew by and before we knew it , it was last orders at the bar and time to say our goodbyes.
We're going to do another next year and try to get some more people to turn up. Hopefully the word will get around about what a good night it was and we can get a really good turn out.
So a special thanks to all those that attended, you made it an excellent night.
Sarah Metcalfe School Leavers 1985
   September 08 Normal Service ResumedWell that wasn't a very long break was it ! I just can't keep away LOL
.Somtimes you have to take a step back to see the whole picture , if you don't things can get out of focus.
By taking that step back you can see whats important and things will always get back into perspective !
Tonight is my school Reunion, A get together for all the people that left Sarah Metcalfe Comprehensive in the year 1985
 . Oh my god thats 21 years ago. So a few beers and a bit of a finger buffet and catch up with a few old school buddies, see who's the brain surgeon or the rocket scientist or the local binman or the ex supermodel LOL.
Not forgetting the few school friends that are no longer with us, we'll have a thought for them.
Big thanks goes out to BRC for helping me get my weather box sorted out. I can see whats the weathers doing now without looking out of the window .September 07 Normal Service Will Be ResumedTaking some time off for a bit.
Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible.
enjoy the tune. September 03 Flying By.Well that last week has just flew by. Thought I'd better put something down in writing before I pop out for a newspaper. Its only 70 miles to the paper shop but its a good excuse for getting out on the bike
.........and gets me away from the decorating for a couple of hours. Ceilings are painted, new coving is going up just the wallpaper to do ! No rest for the wicked even on my days off.New video on the Page, hope you like, Never heard of them before, a band called Rooster. but i like what I'm hearing up to now.......I like listening to new bands so this is a song for the person that introduced them to me.
.Right thats it I'm off for my Sunday paper, time to get the leathers on !!!!!! August 26 Just A QuickieJust a quickie on this saturday afternoon. At last peace and quiet, everything up and running, no problems whatsoever. Its nice to have a bit of time to sit down and catch up with a bit of computer work .... if you know what I mean
 . Even had time to do a bit of cleaning of the computer area. Feels much more comfortable now. Weather today in the North Sea has been absolutely glorious, blue skys, one of those nice getting on for autumn breezes, calm sea. Total pleasure to be out here when its like this, just like a holiday LOL. Well you get your meals cooked, your laundry done all with a lovely sea view, people pay a fortune for that. I'll still be glad to get home though on Wednesday, gonna have to take advantage of the last few days of summer and crack in some serious miles on my bike.
Looks like the rumour of an LCD tv as a bonus might have been just that......a rumour, doesn't bother me though I'd have had nowhere to put it, already got a house full of TV's including the 42" plasma I won in last years christmas raffle ! I would much rather have a voucher to spend at an electrical shop so I can treat myself to one of those multimedia pc's for under the telly.
One thing we are getting is an away day/teambuilding event. This is going to be an all expenses paid trip to Dublin in Ireland. Stopping at the Druids Glen Golf course for 2 nights. I've checked it out on the web and it looks very nice indeed. This is at the beginning of October so I'll blog about it nearer the time.
This is a weird one, looked at my statistics yesterday and I had a hit on my page from google. Someone had put in a search "days out children in north yorkhshire". Now if you notice Yorkshire is spelt wrong theres an extra H in the middle. Anyway when you hit search it only comes up with one site..........yep my MSN space, how it comes up with that I haven't a clue, but someone must have got a surprise. They had a look at my space anyway but they didn't leave a comment  . Ignorant or what LOL.August 20 Phew ! It was close.Can't believe its been a week since I last updated but chances to get a bit of time on here have been few and far between over the last few days since Wednesday.
So I've got a few minutes on this Sunday afternoon after just getting up off my nightshift. As you may probably guess I'm back here at work for another 2 week stint. Its just at the end of our 28 day major shutdown and today was the deadline for us to start up on time and according to plan.
Thats why opportunities to update have been rare. It's been totally mad since Wednesday getting everything prepared for the reintroduction of Oil and Gas into the platform. I must have climbed the height of Everest in stairs the last few days, still its good exercise and saves me going to the gym LOL ( I hate gyms, they're so boring). I can't believe I've lost 1/2 stone in a month. Gonna have to get started on the puddings again LOL.
Of course there's a little incentive to get everything up and running on time and of course safely without any incidents, accidents or injuries to people. Which I must admit we are very good at here. Over the last 28 days with an average of 120 people on the platform there has been 3 very minor first aid injuries which didn't even require a sticking plaster from the platform Medic.
So it looks like our little bonus is good to go
 .Rumour has it that everyone involved in the shutdown is going to get a top of the range 27 inch LCD TV. Haven't a clue where to put it but I'm sure I'll find somewhere LOL.
Hopefully everything will get back to normal now and we have a bit of steady running, sit back and chill for a bit !!!!!!
Take care everyone X
August 13 Last WeekendIt's the last weekend of my 3 weeks off and it looks like the summer has ended. The weather the last few days has been atrocious. Apart from Wednesday and Thursday, the sun shone brightly those 2 days !
Today (Sunday) I was really wanting to get down to the local racing circuit to see the latest round of the British Superbike Championship. I couldn't go last year because I was at work so was looking forward to this one but it is pouring down and I don't fancy standing there getting soaking wet for 6 hours. So it looks as though I'll have to be content with watching it on the TV with a nice cold can of lager in my hand followed by a nice hot Sunday lunch of roast Pork and all the trimmings
 . LOLWhere would you rather be? August 04 It All Looks FunnyStill don't know what to make of this new set up yet. It'll take time to get used to like all new things I suppose. Still got a bit of tinkering to do but at least my page is working. Unlike some friends spaces i.e Bikerrockchicks space. Every time you log into it , it shuts down your internet connection. Don't worry BRC hopefully it'll fix itself soon.
I've put on a new track, its off the new Stone Sour album which came out on the 1st August. Absolutely loving this new album it was well worth waiting for. Corey Taylor sounds so much better than in his Slipknot guise. I hope you all enjoy this track as its one of my favs but the best one on the album is still Through Glass. July 29 Chilling and relaxingWell I'm glad to see the back of that work stuff. Ready for a nice chilled and relaxed 3 weeks off. Everything work related just gets pushed to the back of my mind. Use this time to enjoy a few bottles of nice red wine and get the bike out........not at the same time I might add
 . I know i'm irresponsible but not that irresponsible LOL.
Talking about being irresponsible, why is it that young lads who drive Subaru Impreza Turbos always want to race when i'm on the bike. Must admit though I was impressed he managed to keep up, didn't pass me but kept up. I was surprised myself when I glanced down at the speedo and thought " yep that'll do I'll slow down now" but it certainly blew away a few cobwebs from the old brain
 .
Having a few problems with my internet connection as well. Its really weird , it seems to go off about 12 in the afternnon and won't come back on till after 6 in the evening. I rang the service desk, waited 15 minutes on hold as usual (yawn). To be told that there was no problems in my area and that it must be a fault with the box. He made me do all the obvious things that I'd already done , switch off, let it reset, check the connections. Nope still no joy so they're sending round an engineer on Wednesday to sort it out. Its like going through cold turkey not having the Net, even if you don't even intend going on , you just know in the back of your mind its not there if you need it! So they'd better get it sorted before i have a breakdown July 23 2 Days In2 days into the shutdown and probably the hardest thing to cope with has been the weather.
Of course its been non stop, hardly getting time to stop for a cuppa
 but its all going according to plan and on time. The platform had a visit form the P.U.L (another acronym that these companies love to use) or Performance Unit Leader. He just happened to tell us what a fantastic year the business has been having thanks to the effort from our platform which has been keeping all the other platforms heads above water.
Anyway he just happened to say ....... No pressure but you'd better get it back up and running ASAP as you're contributing 75% of the North sea production.
Yeah right .....no pressure.
Now the weather............ first day was just hot and claggy the second day it was foggy , hot and claggy. It was so humid the water was condensing on all the pipework and it was literally raining inside the platform.
So after climbing about a 1000 stairs during the day (no exaggeration) preparing plant systems for maintenance I was absolutely soaking wet through from the outside in and the inside out.
Oh well thats what you get when you have shutdowns in the summer!
Thank god I go home on Wednesday, I couldn't take another week of this , I've actually lost 2 pounds in weight this trip, any longer and i'd have fell through the grating into the sea!
 July 18 Calm Before The StormJust a quick update. All quiet here on the workfront but thats just the calm before the storm. This weekend sees the start of the platforms major shutdown for essential maintenance and vessel inspections.
The platform is to be shutdown for 28 days in which time all necessary work that can't be carried out while it is producing oil and gas can be completed.
That means that all plant equipment has to be stopped, isolated, flushed and purged to remove any oil/gas that may be in there before it is handed over to maintenance. This usually takes about 3 or 4 days so the weekend is going to be extremely busy so don't expect any more blogs until I get home on wednesday
.Every bed on the platform is going to be taken so we're looking at about 119 people on board.
Planning for the shutdown has been going on for about 7 months so hopefully everything should go as clockwork but I doubt it.
So wish me luck........ i'm gonna need it!!!!!
July 14 How Did I Get Here.Ok time for a work related blog seen as I've been here for 1 whole day now
 . Have been thinking for a while about what I could write about and what would be interesting to anybody else but me. So I got to thinking about the questions people ask me about what I do. One of the questions people sometimes ask is "How do you get out there to the platform?" So that is what this blog is about, how I get here.Our crew change flights on this platform are on a Wednesday, our team goes out to replace the crew thats going off.
My journey starts on a Tuesday because I live 280 miles from Aberdeen where the main business centre for North Sea Oil and Gas is located.
I then spend Tuesday night in a hotel just over the road from the Heliport with the other members of the team that don't live in or around Aberdeen.
I receive a wake up call 05:45 on Wednesday morning for a 06:30 check in at the heliport.
At the heliport Check In Desk they check our ID cards, Passports and personal information, weigh in our bags and do the security baggage checks.
I then head up to the departure lounge to watch the safety video about what to do in the event of the helicopter ditching in the sea and use of the lifejacket and rebreather.
I then get changed into my survival suit and put on my lifejacket/rebreather. A rebreather is like a small air pocket that lets you breather underwater if the helicopter capsizes.
Below is a photo of the survival suit and lifejacket/rebreather. (thats not me by the way
)
After a quick brief by the helicopter pilot we head on out to the helipad to board the helicopter. The helicopter is a Super Puma Mk2 which can carry 19 passengers and 2 crew.
The flight out to the platform usually takes about 1 hour depending if there is a strong headwind or tailwind. This time is usually spent reading the morning newspaper or getting 1 extra hour sleep which is usually what I do.
After landing on the platform we head down to the heli lounge where we check in with heli admin and hand over our lifejackets to the team going off. Thats when they get the best bit of the journey ............ heading back home !
 July 12 Back To It.Oh well, back here at work again, so expect work related blogs for the next 2 weeks.
The drive up to Aberdeen was steady yesterday, no problems encountered apart from a lot of traffic around Newcastle which added about 45 minutes onto the journey, which put the total up to 5 hours 45 minutes.
I was ready for the couple of pints of cider when I got into the hotel.
Have to be careful now though, the heliport is getting pretty strict on alcohol and carrying out a lot more breathalyser tests. If you're suspected of being under the influence they can stop you from flying. So even the morning after you can still be over the limit depending on how much you had to drink travelling up the day before. |
LOL.
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