Ijmuiden

This week I went on a spontaneous but excellent trip to Amsterdam so that I could visit one of my company's ships which was at a dock in the port of Ijmuiden (means mouth of the river Ij). I found out about the opportunity on Monday, flew out Tuesday afternoon and came back this evening. Pretty good! The highlight was spending Tuesday night with the Chiefs from the ship at a bar (walking distance from the ship and my hotel) which was owned by a professional magician called Hermann. We stayed there late and he showed us some of his magic tricks which I am still boggling over. It is truly amazing how we see only what we expect to see...

The Triton, in all her glory in the stormy morning light

As I walked around talking to the various crewmembers, I spotted this rainbow in the background

 It felt great to be onboard a ship again - so familiar despite not knowing anyone there. Actually it turns out I did know someone onboard! My old colleague Wayne from Leeds Uni! I had seen his name on the roster, but I didn't realize it was that Wayne. Anyway, it was a great (and short) trip.