Ireland

Ireland

Friday, April 8, 2011

Crew Change

Crew Change!
These relatively innocent words conjure up emotions that span the scale from one end to the other.

If I'm on the boat and nearing the time I am scheduled to get off, the words "Crew Change" are usually followed by a big smile.
It's as if you said Christmas or vacation or free Phillies tickets.
You just have to smile after hearing any of those words.

On crew change day, it's all good.
If it's raining, no problem.
Bumper to bumper traffic, not an issue.
It's crew change day.

But, if I'm home nearing the time I need to pack up and head to the boat for 3 weeks,
the words "Crew Change" are usually followed by a frown, an expletive or just a general changing of my mood to the dark side.
Sort of like the feeling you U.S. citizens get when you hear the words "Tax Time."

A few days ago it was "Crew Change" time. I was scheduled to get off the boat, so I was smiling from ear to ear.
It's amazing how good one feels to get off a boat after 3 weeks. I felt so good, even Delaware City, the Port we were docked at, looked like Heaven as I walked away from the Home Land Security guarded dock and headed into town.



The guard at the gate seemed especially nice.
I'm not sure if he really was, or I was just so happy to be off the boat.
It doesn't matter, he seemed nice.



The world renown town of Delaware City is only about 45 minutes from my house, so my wife
who has presently lost a step because of a broken ankle and is unable to drive, enlisted the help of a friend, who drove her to pick me up.

See, Crew Change is a special day. Wife has broken ankle.
No problem. Friend says I'll take you to get him.
Everything works out on crew change day.

After talking to my wife and knowing I had about an hour to kill,
I strolled down the street, getting nods of hello and some out right "good afternoons", as I passed the various locals.

I was thinking to myself, everything's working out nicely.
I have a ride home.
The people are very friendly, (they must know it's crew change day)
and an establishment that sells one of my favorite foods was just minutes from the dock.
Crab.


The menu at Crabby Dicks was everything crab and awesome.
I wonder if the food would taste as good a week AFTER crew change?
I think so.
Crabby Dicks had a former life as shown here.








I really thought this day was too good to be true, until I heard it.
A screaming, very upset lady, dropping the "F-bomb" like a seasoned sailor
because she parked in a handicapped parking place and a gentleman had the nerve to tell her she was wrong for doing so.

At one point she had thrown her body over her license plate, blocking the numbers from the concerned citizen who was on the phone with the cops, who was the brunt of her anger.
I thought it was hilarious...IT WAS CREW CHANGE DAY!

When it started getting really heated, I did what any concerned male would do when he hears a woman screaming.

I grabbed my camera!

I don't know what the skulls on her jacket signified, but she was scary.



For a while, it seemed like a quiet town.

It was crew change day.
It was all good.

6 comments:

Joey said...

Crew Change day must be the equivalent of Thursdays at 9:30am for me. Every T/Th I have to get up at 5 to train a 6am class. Then I have 7:30 and 8:30. At 9:30, I am leaping for JOY as I don't have to get up at 5 again for 5 days! Life is good!

Karen thisoldhouse2.com said...

You know... if she wasn't handicapped... what's the deal with the anger? I guess her car is that special.

When my mother sees behavior like that she just says..."oh, well.. she's special".

Karen thisoldhouse2.com said...

Ok, what's up with the underlined words in my comment that lead people to ads if they click them????

It's happening in my blog posts too???

Sueann said...

Crew change day...I am glad you enjoyed it. Sorry about your wife's ankle! That sucks...but glad you had a ride in spite of it.
And the yelling lady cracked me up too! She knew she shouldn't park there and was embarrassed!! But we all know that! Wonder what her fine will be!?!
Glad that didn't ruin your day!
Hugs
Enjoy home leave!!
SueAnn

Marilyn Miller said...

Crew Change day sounds good for sure. So happy you had a good day. Sorry your wife broke her ankle, but all in all you had a good day.

dcpeg said...

What a great story! Love the way you wrote it and your take on the town and its residents, especially the "bombing babe".

I'm sure your wife is ecstatic that your home and can carry her around! Take care and enjoy the down time.