The forbidden kingdom And is

The forbidden kingdom

And is what our President and CEO Gerry Cahill told me to write when I met with him today and more about that later. Just bear in mind that the times cited in this blog are all estimates as it has certainly been a long couple of days. So, there I am. It s 6:05 am and the bridge have just called for the fire squad and I knew what was about to happen next. And sure enough it did. I farted. Next the other thing that I knew would happen next did as well, my phone rang and a slightly breathless voice said John, come to the bridge immediately. So I jumped out of bed and decided that immediately probably wasn t a good idea because a I was in my underpants and b I had been in the middle of a dream about Megans bottom. if you know what I mean. Anyway, I threw on a T-shirt and a pair of sweat pants little knowing that I wouldnt be separated from these clothes for the next 24 hours. I had gotten dressed and started my journey to the bridge in the space of maybe 2 minutes after the call had come and all the while my heart began to pound this wasn t a was the the forbidden kingdom thing. Yet, on my way to the bridge the thoughts in my head were that it was a small fire and that within the next few minutes it would all be over. In fact I guess it s safe to say that even though I had just heard the Alpha Team call that as I approached the bridge I was as unprepared for what awaited as a Frenchman who has been asked to write an essay on the joys of taking a bath. I opened the door to the bridge to the sound of alarms screaming from the fire station control which were doing battle with the crackle of walkie talkies and the commands of Captain Cupisti. It s funny that throughout the last few days how certain things have stayed lodged in my memory as clear as crystal while some things have disappeared from my mind totally. One such memory is of Captain Cupisti s hair. Whenever I see him he looks like he has stepped off the front page of GQ Magazine but as I walked on the bridge his hair looked like he had slept in a crash helmet which he had just taken off. I stood there not wanting to interfere but making sure I the forbidden kingdom myself in the captain s eye line so that he the forbidden kingdom I was there as and when needed. Let me try and explain what was happening. The captain had an internal ship s chart on the table marking off where each fire squad was stationed, where he wanted the cooling down teams and speaking slowly and with authority into the walkie talkie to the fire teams, the chief engineer and the staff captain. Meanwhile every deck officer was expertly doing what they had to do from checking the radar to assisting with the fire teams and organizing and putting on alert all the respective parties. What is so ironic of course is that just 24 hours earlier this same captain and officers and the same fire teams had done all of this in a simulation for our United States Coast Guard inspection which they passed with flying colours. Now remember all of what I have described so far has happened in a space of seconds but still I didnt realise how serious was this until something slapped me in the face as hard as the time I tried to grope Sally Pooles breasts behind the bike shed at school. At that wakeup call came when I heard our staff captain s voice come through the walkie talkie and say There is thick smoke, thick smoke.