Scottish Decorators.

For the last few years we have been involved with this company. It has been for myself particularly, an interesting venture. I had never considered myself as much of a traveller, but I have been afforded a view of the world that I could not have put a price on .

First was on the Oriana that was a revelation. First time I had spent on a large ship other than the cross channel ferry or the Waverly for a day on the water. The only other experience I had was the aircraft carriers we used to visit at the navy base near my first home in Shandon near Helensburgh, now the Faslane navy base. We (Fefe and myself) were under the instruction of John Beattie, it was a steep learning curve. We had to get to grips with new types of finishes, products and polishes. Finishes that I had never considered becoming 'au fait' with in our traditional polishing class. We went out with a group of about 16 others, some much more experienced than we were, but others just as much out their depth as I was. I survived and realised that I could problem solve and learn just as well as the next person, by the end of a fortnight or so we were a dab hand. Exhausted and happy I was a bit unsure whether I had done enough to be invited on a second trip, particularly as I was probably the oldest person in the team.
It took a while but I was eventually asked again.

just home we have been on the oceana for the last couple of weeks in glorious Bremmerhaven .

The thing about a refit is you are all lumped together in a very strange environment most of the time I imagine its a bit like a boarding school or prison. For a start you are sharing a room usually with someone you don't know very well, are working hours that normally would be broken by a long lunch or tea break ( as a matter of fact a twelve hour day is unusual for me unless I am waiting for polish to set!). Unfortunately or fortunately for the person paying for the dry dock that doesn't happen the work has to be done and the timetable is rigid.
We had a team of polishers we both knew so settled into a wee routine quite quickly, they included Terry, Jackie, Tilly, Colin, Tony, Paul and of course John.

Tea Break

The colour schemes are now becoming very similar, which makes colour matching much easier. I am so glad we learned how to use the Konig palettes properly they are a life saver for colour matching repairs.
Its always handy to take a few extra shades with you. Older ships still have a lot of old veneers and display cabinets , the QE2 has a lot of older wood shades and problems window sills on the top deck were salt damaged, this ravages wood and makes it more difficult to restore. Fefe and I had the devils own job with them.
While there we had Ians company too, he was with one of the other companies french polishers, he has a workshop a couple of hundred yards down the road from us he is a super polisher and has helped us a number of times. He was good company and we have arranged to meet up some time soon for a wee night.
The painters we met were a great bunch, faces I hadn't seen in ages and a couple of new ones, as a matter of fact it was really only Lee who was missing. He has been having a bit of a difficult time and hopefully things are more positive now.
James was there and we all had an interesting night with copious amounts of beer that eventually ended with a tray of sandwiches!

Oceana

It has been a hectic couple of weeks we had a huge amount of work to do so we are absolutely exhausted. The work undertaken was as follows Penthouse suites,cabins,restaurants, cafe's, bars, atrium and lifts to name but a few. All were in a bit of a sorry state but once we had brightened them up and carried out loads of repairs, large and small. They looked fantastic its surprising what a wee bit of tlc can do.
Here are a couple of the tasks we had to undertake.
The cyber cafe.

 
As you can see this had a flood all the desks were damaged, this was exacerbated by the polythene being placed on top and the desks still being damp, therefore the water caused blooming on most of the wooden structure. It was also freezing cold as the doors were all opened on to the promenade deck to try and dry the place off. We had a bit of a difficult time getting the watermarks off and then re-polishing each desk chair repairing walls and shelving.

  

Now here was a horrible job.
This is one of the units we encountered it had lost a lot of its gilding and front doors were badly scratched. I reinstated the gold and used a coloured polish to give the surface the aged look required.

The Shops
    
Tony trying to finish off, while staff are trying to restock.


Jackie working on chairs

      
 
missing veneer                                                                     reinstated

Quiz night is always popular we didn't do very well this time, we came a poor third. I think we shall have to brush up on the general knowledge ! Mind you I don't think Scott was terribly impressed he dematerialised once it was over.



Chad holding it together after a couple of beers, not for much longer though!

          

John and Tony                                                                              Michael and Duncan



Looking intellectual or is he just slightly sparkled ??
To all we met and did not see before we left, thanks for your company. It is always good to meet old friends and we hope to see you all again soon. eleanor and liz xx


Recently we have been on a number of ships including Azamara Quest, Ocean village 11 and The Artemis.
Here are some snaps from those happy days with some of the folk I have met and ships we have been on.



  
a tea break with John and Lee.                           sunrise
      

The Sea Princess, Bahamas, with John, Claire and James (lovely legs)!





     

waiting for the flight home in Miami.                   Clare on Miami beach

      

Ally and Robert Miami                                              Brian,John,Claire,Ally and Tony

       
         grand bahama dockyard                                                                                Dawn princess


Azamara Quest
   

      



Diamond Seattle
             

christine ,Nicola and Claire                                             diamond again seattle


                                                                                             


Christine and Nicola in Chicago                                            Sapphire Seattle
  

Fe,Robbie,James, Michael,Lee and self in Singapore           football grounds in Seattle


  
Tony seems pleased with our bar finish                                     Jools  and chad



Team scottish decorators last night on the first Artemis trip .

  
Ocean Village 11
This was an interesting experience, it had been some time since I had been in Bremmerhaven and I had not had much time at home after the Azamara Quest when John phoned me to ask if I would go on this trip, he had some family commitments he had to deal with . I thought it would be fine as my work partner Fionna was going along I did check it was ok with her that I went as I realised she was looking forward to catching up with old friends.
 I was very glad to see familiar faces from other companies as my work collegues were anything but friendly, most of the time onboard was spent on my own every evening for almost 3 weeks .  One evening I went to the supermarket just for a change of scene, it was horrible walking the road through the industrial area on alone .Fortunately the bar was not far from the cabin and I was able to have the occasional chat with others, anyway enough of that here is some of the work undertaken. I do not have to concern myself about it anymore as we no longer work together.
We had a huge quantity of work to get through, so our days flew past.



       
This is the kind of thing we fixed, a bit fiddly, upholstery can be a bit of a problem but as long as its masked off, we can work round it. LLoyd had the job of colour matching and polishing these I think he made a marvellous job of them.