Cruising The Seven Seas: Frozen Gods

Frozen Gods

10^th October 2011

Gangway this morning was a bit of a disaster… and one we won’t forget in a hurry. The weather in Athens today matched the country’s financial status!

Decked out as the Greek God and Goddess were Zoran and I. Sandra and Hernan were shooting us while Alex had a short stint on the rail.

At 7am in October, you’d expect it to be cold, well today, it was freezing. Our costumes are little more than bed sheets! Zoran had his pyjama pants on underneath while I went for a warmer approach of wearing two pairs of socks and jogging bottoms. Our bums might have been snug with the extra layers but our top halves weren’t! Security were having a laugh at our expense when we lifted up our dresses to expose our multiple layers of clothing.

What Lies Beneath...

The thick, dark clouds were rolling and there’d been rain during the night. It wouldn’t be long until the rain started pouring again. We wondered how this gangway would go. Usually, if it’s cold and/or wet, people don’t want to have their photo taken. The excuses are great “I’m too cold for pictures”… we know the feeling!

On gangway the icy wind went straight through us and everyone was bobbing about. It was a miserable attempt to keep warm. Security made a couple of comments saying we’d all get colds standing out there. We’d often huddle together to keep warm or stand behind one of the others to block the wind from hitting us.

Warm Me Up!! Zoran, Me and Hernan

Keeping the God Warm!

Soon we started using our coldness as a way of smudging. “I’m cold! Give me a cuddle and keep me warm…now look at the camera” It worked. We were getting the counts due to people taking pity on us. Of course, we took full advantage of it! It'd be rude not to! I won’t lie, getting sandwhiched between two people in thick jackets was bliss… even if it did last a couple of seconds!

The rain soon arrived. It was like someone opened up a flood gate, it just suddenly poured. We got drenched in the time it took us to run from the gangway to the ship. No time at all. Security were offering their hot drinks to warm up. Bless!

Stripping off and getting into dry clothes we all popped upstairs to the mess for breakfast and a hot coffee. Zoran and I were finding it hard to get warm.

Forty-five minutes later the rain stopped and we headed back out again. It wasn’t long until the heaven’s opened up and it started to pour. Again, we were back inside the ship and getting out of our wet clothes.

We’d called Reuben, who had previously told us to wait until the rain stopped and go back outside again. We had forty-five minutes left of gangway. The phone rang. It was Paco the AMS telling us that gangway was over and to not go back out again. We love you Paco! That gave us all a reason to smile! Considering how the morning had gone, we hadn’t done too badly. Hernan and I had 155 photos and Zoran and Sandra had 145. Obviously we didn’t get even near out 400 (each) target!

Grabbing another hot drink, Sandra and I jumped into bed for an hour or so to get warm again.

Zoran, Sandra, Camilo and I decided to wrap up and brave the cold. We need to get off the ship for some fresh air and to touch land. The weather wasn’t as bad as what it had been… until we went outside. The floodgates opened again and we got drenched! By the time we were at the terminal, it was just spitting. Typical!

Before we’d got off the ship we’d been told about the strikes in Athens. There have been very few times we’ve come to Athens and there hasn't been a strike on. Again it was the metro and buses. What they were striking about, I don’t know. Pay was one of the whispers.

Rubbish collection must have also been on strike to as the place was a complete dump!! There were heaps of rubbish bags everywhere not to mention the endless sea of trash across the streets and roads from ripped bin liners. The place was in a real state. Things like this would stop people wanting to come back to the country. It seemed a little Catch-22 here in Greece. The majority of the shops, cafes and bars were closed too. Greece seemed as though it was almost at a complete stand-still. Question is, where does a country go from here?

Settling down in O’Connell’s Irish Pub we got online and had a drink. We didn’t have long until Camilo had to go back to the ship but it was a pleasure to be on land. No one mentioned the way things were in the team (which wasn’t improving). We concentrated on this morning’s gangway and some of the photos we’d taken while uploading them to Facebook. We concerntrated on the good times.

Walking back to the ship and we had no chance but to get soaking wet! On some occasions we were on tip toes trying to dodge the flooded areas as well as layers of trash spewed across the road.

During the evening I spent 30 minutes shooting Black with Cubes. Reuben's trying to make a few new changes to get some extra counts and revenue in. I can see where he was coming from, but it didn’t work. To be able to use the Cube props, you’d have to have a Black LSP for it to work. Posing with cushion puzzle pieces when you can only take photos from the knees up was a bit of a tough one. The puzzle pieces (cubes) just look odd and out of place. At least Reuben’s trying to think of ways to earn us some more money. You’ve gotta give him kudos for that!!