I'll come to a slightly different topic: I think many of us always tell our family and friends about the exciting and new things that we experience every day on the journey. In general, things that are new or simply important to us, such as how you are doing or what happened today. That's why I want to list things here that I keep forgetting to tell, as these have become normal for us, as Pelican of London residents.
Three sheets of toilet paper, yes only three. An official instruction that we had to learn on day one. If you take more than three sheets of toilet paper, you risk a clogged toilet. If you need more than three sheets, it is recommended to rinse several times. The brave ones among us take three sheets of toilet paper and throw the rest of the toilet paper they need at the end of the flush.
The stairs from the Green Mile to the messroom are quite challenging. Exactly one step means ducking and not just for the big ones among us. I speak for everyone that we didn't just get a bump there, especially on the first day. However, this teaches you faster that you should duck your head when going up and down. As a joke, the spot there is also cleaned as a “point of contact” during “point of contact cleaning”. *(With the "Point of Contact Cleaning" all areas are cleaned that are touched frequently).
An important thing to always have with you, especially at sea, is a headlamp. Since we have the normal watches at sea and meanwhile also school, everyone has their own sleeping rhythm and many free seconds are used for sleep. Actually, whenever you come into the dressing room, someone is sleeping. If you're friendly, you don't turn on the ceiling light and wake everyone with it, you just use a headlamp. The people who are particularly in a good mood even turn on the red light.
What I have learned to appreciate here is the luxury of a large, free bed. Some, including myself, sleep with things in bed. Be it because you just have too much stuff with you, because you already have clothes ready for the vigil or simply because a shoe organiser fell down during the night. I belong to the category that has all three reasons. From clothes to books and hygiene products, everything is included.
It is always interesting to eat when there are waves. At breakfast, I recommend everyone to hold onto their toast, otherwise it will quickly slide halfway across the table onto the floor. The same applies to most of the things you find on the table at breakfast... even though the tables are covered with a sticky mat, which is supposed to prevent everything from falling off. However, this mat only keeps the wrong things on the table such as cards from card games or worksheets from class. Although First Mate Simon talks about a 20 minute rule for food that falls on the floor, I wouldn't recommend anyone to eat the food again. Even if the floor is cleaned more or less thoroughly at least once a day, it is always interesting how much dirt accumulates there. Also, several cups have already lost their lives on this floor.
If you want to heat up a small snack from leftovers from Abbie's food in the microwave at 4:00 a.m., you have to be careful. When taking the food out of the microwave, great care is required, the ship is often in a lopsided position so that there is a great chance of being killed by its food.
