[BITList] Health & Safety & Oats & Sea Trials

[HUGH MCINTYRE]

Friday morning,

Our younger granddaughter stayed with us for a while a few months back, and as a legacy of that time there is a box of Ready Brek in our kitchen. I can't say who makes this stuff, and I now have a keyboard full of it after upending the box to look at the base.  The box bears the following in various places (my emphases) -- FINE PORRIDGE OATS -- 100% WHOLEGRAIN OATS -- 100% WHOLEGRAIN OATS (again) -- Ingredients: Wholegrain rolled oats (60%), Wholegrain oat flour -- Ready Brek oats are packed full of wholegrain oat goodness .... -- All our oats are grown in the UK .... -- Oats contain naturally occurring sugar and sodium.  In small print I also read -- Allergy advice : This product contains oats.  Well I never !  At least they didn't say it gets hot when heated.  Also, the box nowhere mentions BI, which is why I didn't mention it either.

And, changing subject, I liked Fred's account to another place about his service on not-BI gas tankers.  I was on the trials of a couple of these things, and it wasn't as exciting.  I didn't notice any change to the routine of - no cabin available, doss down in some office used by others 24/7 as an office, get up at 3.00 am for a trial that had been cancelled at midnight, etc.  Communications on sea trials were never all that good.  Some director who had played no part whatever in the planning and writing up (latterly, these were mostly down to me) would tear himself away from his cabin(!!) to interfere with things, causing confusion and resentment, eg, getting up at 3.00am, etc.  It wasn't unusual for the trials recording party to turn up on board with a load of gear to find no provision had been made for either gear or personnel, or for us to set stuff up.  BP were particulary finicky and hands on, and they would often duplicate a test for their own purposes.  At the point in the ups and downs of oil prices where the engine builder incurred stiff financial penalties for exceeding the specified fuel consumption, we went to great lengths to measure this accurately, with corrections for this and that.  We got figures under the limit, and BP got figures under ours.  I suppose we're back to that now.  Indeed, the oil price thing in the 70s/80s caused a redesign of the slow speed marine engine. What emerged was a long stroke (so higher) engine with lower service RPM - full power at barely 90 revs.

Elder granddaughter (17, stayed overnight) is up early at 20 to 12, and the cat is doing something interesting.

Hugh.
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