 As of next Tuesday I shall no longer be an offshore tiger. I have my last trip to the Claymore on Monday and after that my sub-contracting days offshore are finito...for the foreseeable future anyway. After 5 years I've reached the stage where I've lost interest in what I'm doing out there and I've had enough of sharing my time with strangers when I'd rather be at home with people I'd want to be with. I've got a new village and home to settle into. I've got studying to finish before Christmas. I've got a house to decorate. I've got a wedding to organise. I've got a honey to keep happy. I've got to work at getting a research job. I'm going to get back to my running. And I have some me-time to catch up on so I can knit and take photos and get some creativity going before I stagnate. I'll miss some things. I enjoyed the helicopter flights - landing on this small bit of metal in the middle of a huge pile of water is exciting and the skill of the pilots is something else. I have met some really fine folk though I've also had to deal with an awful lot of ill-educated numpties...and educated numpties as well! It has probably increased my self-reliance and independence to know that I can do an awful lot of things if I have to turn my hand to them. It's given me the confidence to go and try a lot more different things. But it's also taken me away from people I want to spend time with and at the end of it all it's much more important to spend time with them than it is to work away all the time to pay for a lifestyle you don't need or want. Most importantly, it's taught me how to pack a bare minimum of stuff to go away with so that when I go on personal trips I can get off with carry-on baggage only ;-) " 9. Everybody has their own private Mount Everest they were put on this earth to climb. You may never reach the summit; for that you will be forgiven. But if you don't make at least one serious attempt to get above the snow-line, years later you will find yourself lying on your deathbed, and all you will feel is emptiness." Gaping the Void
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