Winter is coming, a phrase usually associated with a popular TV show and said in angst has become a jovial saying in my Engine Room and many across the globe too I suspect.

The moment you get to the end of the summer and the realisation that the idea of an easy winter with a short worklist swiftly disappeared within week two of summer, the moment you can actually start to remove all manner of questionable work arounds, some of which I’m surprised lasted weeks and not minutes.

I’ve had a seasons long war with a number of systems on the boat, the three primary candidates have been our Italian tender, the port generator and aircon systems, those three systems alone have demanded more expletives, more late nights, more parts and workarounds than the remainder of the boat and I cannot wait to get in there and put an end to the purgatory.

One must remember though, as winter does come, that we must look after ourselves, often this industry can become all encompassing, you can strain relationships to breaking points and you can just easily forget about yourself all together until you realise that actually you’re not in a great place.

A few weeks ago we found ourselves at a lull for a few weeks waiting for the final charter of the season on a relatively remote island in Eastern Europe. This put me in a pretty bad place, I couldn’t do the engineering work so desperately needed, yet we were so close to winter, I couldn’t go as far as the mainland in case the boss rocked up unannounced and I found myself in those weeks in effect without purpose and staggeringly lonely, almost home sick, which is a soul destroying situation for me personally and I was at the point where I didn’t want to shower, see people or even get out of bed.

Fortunately, I realised these markers as mental health and I go a long way back. I spoke to my considerably better half, which made me feel instantly better and my legend of a captain reached out to a best friend, of which I did not know about, who organised a zoom call with others which immediately made the last week of this lull easier and I found the bounce in my step again.

So whilst winter is indeed here for some of us coming for the rest and we do what we do, don’t forget about yourself whilst doing so.