Day 68 – Final exam day in Leith

Well, it is now tomorrow and today was yesterday – follow!  Suffice to say, far too tired to write the blog so at the end of the day, so its being written a day late. Can I remember what happened yesterday – hmmmm…lets have a look at the photographs, they tell the story!

The day started with more study – chart work exercises just to ensure we all knew what we were doing with calculating tidal heights, interpolating from standard to secondary ports, computating tidal rates, calculating estimated positions, courses to steer, and just generally understanding what to do with a pair of dividers, a pencil and a course plotter!

That seemed to take the best part of the morning – so a spot of lunch was had and we all headed to the nearby shopping complex – Ocean Terminal, and set ourselves up in the cafe there to take our exam!

Ive taken lots of exams in my life, but never have I taken one in a cafe.  There were people milling around, music playing, children running around and 3 exam candidates amongst them!  We all barely noticed any of this as we were all engrossed in our work!

I did know what I was doing, honest!

Tank watched over us and 2 hours flew by! I tentatively handed over my completed chart and notes and awaited my feedback.  I was so grateful for the words “I’m happy you know what you are doing”   Gulp – thanks Tank!

I finished just in time to see our new neighbour – a minesweeper!  Here she comes

I had a feeling her fenders were set too low,

my training on the RBE is coming in handy – for the skipper ordered one of the crew to re-set them

"thats better!"

There were lots of people watching from the balcony of the shopping centre, and I did feel sorry for the sailor who threw the heaving line to the shore – and missed!  He had another go, and got it this time, the crowd cheered!

Coiling the heaving line ready to throw

And away it goes!

Here is Martin the Harbour Master chatting to the captain

They set up the gangway for him to board the ship

He was piped and saluted onboard

Meanwhile, Tank was busy giving John his exam feedback

"well you see John, Arbroath is on the chart, you didn't really have to ask an stranger"!

What a busy day – we returned to the boat ready for Mike to cook what is becoming his signature dish – “Thai Green Leith Curry”!  Yummy!  (Martin – can you think of another name for the dish??)

We were all truely exhauseted and ready to sleep – but this was not to happen, as we needed to give Tank a good send off!  I changed my top, Mike squirted some deodorant on and Tank brushed his teeth – we were all ready for a Friday night on the town!  Initially we planned to visit a local pub, and with the i-phone guiding us, we found one.  I’m not sure if it was the bars across the windows, or the drunks outside smoking which put us off – but we jumped into a taxi and asked the driver to take us to a happening place in Edinburgh.  He was South African and started to give us a bit of a tour of the city, pointing out landmarks as he went.  He said that you have to take ”The Knowledge” to be a taxi driver in Edinburgh, and it had taken him 6months to self teach before he took the exam!  Anyway – he took us to Whistle Binkies, a bar just off the Royal Mile in the Old Town which has live music and good beer.  Tank drank his usual – cider

This one was only 7%!

We met some interesting people and generally had a good time.  We chatted to a couple who had only just met 5 days ago via the internet – but I think it might be their last date – she was seriously wierd!  She seemed fine at first, and after 20 mins of chit chat, she asked me how old I thought she was.  I took a good look at her, and made a fatal error – I didnt lie!  I considered it carefully and said honestly “41”- she went mad, said she couldn’t believe I had said that as she was only 38!

I thought I had made a good guess, only being 3 years out, not a bad guess after all don’t you think but, as I said, it was a fatal error, I should have lied and said 31 and made her happy.  We all thought she was joking as she got more and more furious, then we realised she was being serious.  She said she didnt want to speak to me any more and walked off in a huff – he just shrugged his shoulders and followed her – but I don’t think that relationship will get very far, he looked as aghast as we did!

We didnt let that affect us at all, and had a great time

Im going to miss you Tank!

I hit the town with 2 gorgeous guys! What a Round Britain Experience this is!

We finally returned to the boat at 3am, straight to bed, but Tank had just enough time to finish packing his bag as his taxi was booked for 4!  He had numerous texts from his mum during the evening, warning him not to miss his plane, I promised her I wouldn’t let him do that (as I’m his surrogate mum right now!) but I will have to admit I was not conscious when his taxi did finally arrive……goodnight!