A lovely quiet watch this morning with light winds and a decaying swell that lifts the ship and sets her down again with a slow, rolling motion. Behind the clouds the sky is streaky-blue, smudged with wispy mare’s tails that foretell strong winds in the future. Not today though. Today, all is calm. The sea is a shiny, metallic blue, except sunwards where it breaks up into a billion flashes of white light that’s too bright to look at. For 360° around me, I can see forever. Unlike the end of my watch last night. Then, I could barely see the front of the ship but, hey ho, when the fog bank came down, it was only five minutes before my bed time. When I came down the bridge steps and headed for my cabin, I left behind me the next watch and the newly woken captain staring glumly out at a solid wall of grey.
Earlier a huge, full moon had risen over the nearby gas platforms, silvering the sea and outshining the stars. This morning I have brilliant sunshine and there’s not a shred of fog. Mm, whoever has offended the god of the weather, it wasn’t the 8-12 watch. Snigger.
Shedward 