On Wed, 21 Feb 2018 13:58:30 -0000, "michael adams"
wrote:


"Offramp" wrote in message
...

I was on the Isle of Wight ferry recently and it was obvious to me what a dull job it
was crewing that little boat. It's a ha;f hour journey every half an hour.

But each journey has the potential to be a bit different, even if its only to the
extent of counting the number of seagulls at various times of day, or watching
out for stuff floating on the water, potential collisions etc etc

Such a job will be far less dull than one involving a repetitive task that has to produce
identical results every time. Instead of making 8 journeys back an forth on a ferry
Imagine having to turn out eight ferry propshafts every day on a lathe. Where each
propshaft has to be exactly the same - within the specified tolerances - as the
last one. That's eight propshafts a day, five days a week, with maybe half day
Saturday overtime if you're lucky - so thetas an extra four propshafts making
44 per week. And whets more its not as if the weather, the time of day or the
seasons are going to make any difference to the "work experience"
either.

michael adams

...


The cargo, be it the self loading form or not, will also provide some
variation, not necessarily appreciated. To give an example......

As a young man some friends and I would go over to the island for a
long cycling weekend. One year we were waiting to board to come back
to the mainland. The ferry arrived, dropped the prow, everyone got
off and, naturally the boat rose as the load lassened. The first
vehicle they tried to load was a coach but because the boat had risen
out of the water the angle between the ramp and the slipway had become
such that the nose of the coach just buried itself in the ramp
accompanied by tittering from our group. They got a large wooden
joist and laid it in the angle and signalled the coach to try again -
the driver shook his head but they insisted and he drove onto the
joist and once again into the ramp except this time, as he reversed
off his front bumper fell off to cheers and laughter from us, I'm
afraid.

Needless to say, we weren't accomodated on that ferry!