| I met a
Russian, Mikael, through a friend in Dublin. He had been
an engineer on Soviet Submarines. Now he was a civilian
working as a translator trying to earn money in the new
Russia. This Ukranian freighter had been stranded in dry
dock in Dublin and he was working with the port
authorities and the owners trying to get the ship fixed
and home again (Home was Odessa, on the Black Sea). He
invited me on board and I went. The crew seemed very
disconsolate, especially the Captain who seemed to spend
all his time on the bridge looking sadly out the windows.
No one had any English and I had two words of Russian so
I stuck close to Mikael. I was a bit suprised to find a
woman as ships cook, I can't imagine what it would be
like for her, she went about her job with an air of
desperation and Mikael alluded to things about her but
would not elaborate. She gave me some ceramic badges of
the old USSR when I was leaving and said a lot of things
to me which Mikael would not translate. I lost the notes
from these pictures so I don't even know the ships name
or the exact dates I was there. I still think about the
ships cook and the sad Captain. |
