Storytelling Manual - Let's Get Personal
Title: "Drill or No Drill"
By Robert Toet
Date: Tuesday, November 28 2006 & Wednesday, December 13 2006Location: Greenville (at Fluor Power Toastmasters Club #981611, later at Fluor Toastmasters Club #7785)
If you were asked "what would you do if you suddenly inherited a lot of money" the answer would often be; to travel! I have traveled since I was 6 years old. Not because my family were rich, but because my Dad wanted a better life for his family, by emigrating from the old world to the new world, his homeland Holland, and the country he emigrated to Australia.
The reason was
because of the dismal economy and unemployment Holland was experiencing, the
aftermath of the second world war. So my Dad convinced my Mum to move to a place
that was half the way across the globe, and get on a ship, along with my brother
and sister, that were both only knee high at the time.
Later my Dad also became torn between the two countries. So my family moved back
and forth between the two countries 3 times, each time traveling by Greek
ocean-liners.
I was just 11 years old when we made another journey at sea. We had another one
of those drills.
As we all know with travel comes risk. One wouldn’t think that traveling
by sea would be very risky… at least, unless you were on the Titanic and you
were surrounded by icebergs!
To cope with emergency situations a ship will put on drills. These drills were
frequent over the one month journey between Australasia to Europe (Sydney,
Australia to Southampton, England).
The drill meant that you had to put on a life-vest and proceed to the promenade
deck, as soon as you could.
This time it was 3:00 o’clock in the morning! We were right between NZ and the
islands of Fiji. We had just left Auckland, New Zealand the day before and were
on our way to the next harbor; Suva, Fiji. The night sky was dark and clear with
bright stars. And this time there was lots of smoke
being expelled from the ships funnels!
It was announced that a fire had broken out in the ships kitchen, a few floors
below deck, and that all passengers had to remain above deck and by no means
return again to their cabins until the fire was considered under control. That
left us a little anxious, as you can imagine.
The waiting lasted 2 days and 3 nights, with the ship simply going in circles.
We were told that we all might have to get into the life boats if the crew were
not successful at stopping the fire from spreading.
The fire had spread to the floor above the kitchen, and many cabins were
incinerated, turning them into black holes of soot, but fortunately no one was
hurt seriously. A few crew members suffered from inhaling the fumes.
What added to the damage was the fact that they had to flood many areas to stop
the fire.
Repairs had to be made which postponed our trip somewhat, so at the expense of
the ship company we stayed on the closest island, the island of Fiji, for 2
weeks! Passengers were given the choice to fly back to Sydney or to wait and
continue the journey after repairs were complete. We chose to wait in Fiji.
Local newspapers in Fiji announced their problems of coping suddenly with 1000
more in population, i.e., the increase of food eating visitors! They had a chore
importing more food to accommodate the extra people on the island.
During the remainder of the voyage the smell of burnt materials, such as
mattresses and personal belongings, lingered around me for the longest time. I
also remember the taste of lukewarm soda, as there was hardly much to chose from
when it came to refreshments.
Today, whenever
a fire alarm goes off, I am very wary of it being the real deal.
The next time a fire alarm goes off I will be wondering: 'Drill or no drill',
that is the question...
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