Its so hard being an England supporter, so near yet so far, as always. We can still qualify but it is highly unlikely as you know.
Dont want to build up any hopes, just to have them dashed. Silly question but have you heard any word yet Timmers?
I hav'nt heard a word yet John, one month to the day the application went in, could be waiting another two months yet for a decision, a lottery as you well know. Whatever the outcome I will have her with me sooner or later thats the way I look at it.
I see. There was me thinking it was just a couple of weeks ago. I reckon you will get it. The stats are in your favour anyway. I believe the success rate is high.
I wish I shared your confidence John. For some reason my smileys are not working, maybe its because I'm on my work laptop or something. I like the smileys, they say so much.
What sort of access do you get? When I was last offshore in 2007 it was still 10 minutes max per person and rig crew got priority cos it was their kit and all the usual nonsense.
On this particular rig there is wifi available throughout (only recent I'm told) and there are three pcs in the internet room, and yes they still have the ten minute rule if someone is waiting to use the computer. I'm sharing a cabin with another chap who is on the day shift like myself and that does'nt allow me any privacy of course when skyping with the loved one, so I am now in the music room where it is nice and quiet. On some of the rigs (like here) you have Sky Plus in the cabin with direct dial telephones. Nothing has really changed though, your life is suspended while you are working on the rig, a few home comforts make life a little easier of course.
It has improved but I was made aware of the dangers only the other day. One of the core crew was taken sick the other day with suspected heart problems. The Medivac helicoptor got here in two hours which was a record apparently, one and a half hours back to the beach making it a total of three and a half hours to hospital, a long time if you badly need a hospital. As you know, they always have a medic on board but they only have limited ability and resourses. The chap was thankfully okay by the way so the OIM told us the day after.
I was medivaced off a rig in 2005. Gall bladder problem and poisoned pancreas. I was in agony. Rig medics didnt have a clue. I fortunately got back to Aberdeen and then to Trafford General that night. I was on a drip that night.
Obviously, I knew we had no chance of winning it - but to go home so early is very disappointing. Hopefully, there will be some entertaining football to come for the rest of the tourney. Al.
I assumed as part of the squad they took at least 4 defensive players out with them. apparently I'm wrong!
Trying not to hyjack the thread but to be fair we're fairly comfortable on my drillship. Reasonable wi-fi through out, we can facetime (skype is banned) internet on most computers. TV's in every cabin with about 10 channels. My life doesn't really stop out at work because of the access to the internet we have. Shared cabin but generally crew are on opposite shifts so thats good. The food is pretty good as well!
Just been talking to a woman at work as her husband was in the Navy. She said he was often away for months at a time with just a 10 minute phone call each week.
Wh When I was in the RFA in theory we couldn't tell anyone over the phone where we where in port for the first 24 hours!! Security don't you know!
Nearly every ship I've ever worked on has barred skype because we're told the video takes up too much bandwidth. I mentioned this on here a little while ago and someone (can't remember who but alot more tech savvy than me) said this wasnt the case, go figure. Other apps are barred as well such as tango, facetime works though.
Nearly every ship I've ever worked on has barred skype because we're told the video takes up too much bandwidth. I mentioned this on here a little while ago and someone (can't remember who but alot more tech savvy than me) said this wasnt the case, go figure. Other apps are barred as well such as tango, facetime works though.[/QUOTE] I am surprised. Yes it was OSS who mentioned that Skype does not take too much bandwidth. I mentioned in a post that I always seem to have no problem Skyping the loved one even though she has a poor connection in the Philippines. To be honest I have never worked on a rig recently that does'nt allow you to use Skype but there you are, as you know different companies have different policies regarding the use of software etc. I'm knackered then if I turn up on your drill ship LOL
Me Stu, my guess is that the policy makers just don't understand the technology if they allow facetime and not Skype, Skype'c adaptive bitrate technology is much more mature than the alternatives, skype video is apparently poorer quality than Facetime but that would be expected if the bitrate is lower.
