Big Boy's Slide!!

Big Boy's Slide

4^th May 2011

Another day, another new port. 

This time Mariner of the Seas is docked in Ashdod, Israel. Half of the photographers have gone on tours to Jerusalem. Stu, Fede, Luci, David and I were given an easy day compared to yesterday. We were all up at 6am for Gangway at 7. Stuart was dressed up as the camel and paired up with Fede who’d be shooting him. David and I were on the rail. I was shooting while David smudged. Normally we work in twos but David could only stay until 8 because he had three hours of training. So, I was left to smudge and photograph on my own. Watching David smudge gave me some extra tips on how to improve. Even though I didn’t do as well as the others, I shot more than usual. Slowly but surely I’m getting better.

Everyone was working in different places today. At 15.00 David came back from training and we both wanted to go out for a bit. We desperately needed to get off the ship for a couple of hours. Sometimes, being on the ship feels like you're sitting around the house all day doing nothing.

Jumping on the shuttle bus David and I headed into Ashdod centre where the Captain of the Mariner said there was a huge shopping centre or “mall” as everyone calls it.

While walking towards the shopping centre we spotted this massive playground with an enormous climbing frame and slide. There were two kamikaze like slides. Running over to the climbing frame, like children, we started climbing up the ladders. 

After bashing our heads a few times on the frames we finally reached the top. Four ladders to climb before we got to the top - that'd never be allowed in the health and safety crazed country of England! Could you imagine Gordon Brown or Tony Blair allowing anything like that to be built let alone used by kids?? 

David was in his element. He’d found a “real big boy’s slide”. This had to filmed for future reference!!! I went down the slide first with David filming on my camera. 

Next he came flying down while filming… the prat managed to head butt my compact camera leaving him with a nice little bump!! 

After rolling around on the floor crying with laughter we ran back up again for another go. The joins in the slide really hurt your backside… wear some extra padding, unless you have a chubby arse like mine. Going down the second time was even better than the first, I flew down the chute but got ever so slightly worried when I saw the sparks flying off my trousers. Now I have a small patch of “slide burn” on my ankle. That’ll teach me for wearing three quarter lengths...

Heading towards the mall again David spotted the “Cookie Monster” and had to have his photo taken. It was one of the characters from McDonald’s, the purple hairy one. Well, it’d been made with flowers with great big eyes and even holding a metal umbrella. 

The shopping centre wasn’t so great but let’s face it, how could it be after finding something as grand as the big boy’s slide? We were trying to look for a birthday present for Luci but couldn’t find anything she’d like. Plus, Ashdod is so outrageously expensive! In the end I walked away with a small multiple card reader (I was stupid enough to put my card reader into storage) and batteries for my compact camera (I also forgot my battery charger – as you can tell, I’m smart like that).

At 17h we had to head back to the shuttle bus as I had work at 18h. Next time we are in Ashdod we are going to show a couple of the others where the park is. Both me and David we commenting how much Stu would love the park. At the end of the day, he may be 6’7 but he’s a big kid! I’ll upload the photos and videos as soon as possible.

From the Top!

Going Down...

Climbing Back Up For Round Two

Little Boy's Toy

David and The Cookie Monster!!