All Aboard The Butter Train!: Feeling the the first signs of Fatigue

Sleep is a precious commodity during BOST. Tonight, after writing this, I will get a solitary hour, go on watch between midnight and 4am, then treat myself to 3 hours sleep before getting involved in a Galley fire exercise. That's not so bad, as I will be largely inactive for the rest of the day, but as our programme becomes more and more hectic, people's heads will be dropping on anything soft at any time of the day... if they can get away with it!

Today we had our first 'Thursday War', where we were thrown from port to starboard with up to 40 degrees of roll as we er.... dodged incoming bombs. Quite exciting actually, as we haven't done one of these wars in almost a year now.

So as exciting as it seems, it's already starting to wear me down, and I am already looking forward to my real travels that take place later this year.

I'm going to visit all these places over the next year: France, Belgium, Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Brazil, The Falkland Islands, Chile... and if I have my way, China, Bolivia, Peru and Brazil again! So if anyone knows any people in any of these places, or thinks there's something I should definitely not miss out on, please let me know, as I will mostly be on an aimless adventure! Many of these countries are part of 'The Mongol Rally', which I am participating in this year, over the summer. You can track my position on that by visiting http://www.gcgb.org.uk/

But right now it's back to fighting bomber aircraft and losing sleep...

What is the Butter Train?

My name is Doug, but in the last 3 years, I have become known as "Butters", because I look "very buttery".

I also act very buttery, regularly sliding off the pan of normal everyday life, usually collecting a few crumbs of culture on the way.

I am a Sailor, and that means that I am rarely at home where my friends and family are. In recent years, some people have become rather interested in my travels, to the point where, upon my return, they like me to spend time talking to them about it all.

So this is the Butter Train. It holds as many passengers as it wants, and it follows Butters everywhere. This means that when Butters returns home, conversation time is vastly reduced, and there is more Butter for more toast at EVERY mealtime.

Please leave a comment or send me a message- I read them all and I always reply. Sometimes if I'm away for a long time, a simple "Hello" can be worth a thousand words, even if it's from a complete stranger!