Finally missing the boat and yet missing the boat

Good news and bad news

Well, what can I say? Do you want the good news or do you want the bad news? Well, you have no choice, but first let me tell you the good news. The boat with our belongings arrived.

The arrival of the boat

This morning, at 7 a.m. he was lying there, Monday morning. And we were allowed to come by at 9 a.m. to receive our items. Or at least to ask how things are going. So of course we were there quarter to 9 at the port. Indeed … there was a barge, with something like 30 containers on it. Not a very large container boat like you sometimes see in Rotterdam. You can’t even put those on. But some kind of barge was docked. And the port staff was taking some containers off.

The waiting time

And the guy at the computer asked if I had a booklet number. Of course I have a booklet number. I entered it and said, yes I see he is on board. Come back in 2 hours. Well, sucks because we’ve been waiting for a week. Anyway, those 2 hours can be added back in. So back to the Red House along with Wouter. And back 2 hours later.

Disappointment and finally success

Well, you guessed it.”Yes, we know he is on board. And your container is still on board. Indeed, he was able to point out on a piece of paper which container our pallet was in. And he could actually say, he’s on board and he’s getting off. And we have a few more containers to do. So come back in 2 hours.” Well, we just stayed there waiting until noon. At that point, all the engines went out. Lunchtime….

All right, well, we had lunch too. At 1 o’clock we returned. We were solemnly promised that we would be helped quickly. Jozefine, a Greenland lady sitting in the little office, went to look into the computer again. At that moment a colleague also walked up; “Yes, that pallet is in that container. We just took it off the boat.”

Wouter then walked up to me. Meanwhile, he had made sure the container was open and took a picture of our pallet. And yes, at a quarter to 2 we got our pallet. Finally. With all the stuff in it. Everything is in one piece. Robert’s sled is whole. The food is there. All the boxes are there. So that’s really super cool.

No boat available

Quickly sent a text message to Robert and Volkert. Those were still in the redhouse. Those arranged a trailer here very quickly. Meanwhile, I had been called back to the redhouse. Because yes, for the same money, the text messages don’t arrive. By now, nothing surprises me. Just as I arrived walking, with sweat on my back, they got into a four wheel drive with a trailer attached. So I stepped in to ride down with them. Fifteen minutes later we had all our pallet on the trailer and drove back to the redhouse.

The new deadline

We spent the rest of the afternoon repacking. Wrapped up in the sleds. Together with Robert, I contacted management about transportation. Ideally, of course, we wanted to leave two hours later. Robert looked at me and said, “There is a whale hunt. It’s hunting season. There are no boats.”

There’s a bloody whale hunt. They hunt whales here. When a whale is spotted, everyone puts down work and heads out. And whether you are in parliament. Or being a cab driver. Then you go fishing. So if there are fish. Going fishing. So we don’t have a boat. That was the bad news.

On to tomorrow

Well. The good news is. The new deadline is tomorrow. 9 a.m. I hope that’s when we really get out. For I am beginning to take root here. And I’m not the only one. So. I hope you get an update tomorrow. From the ice. But I’ve actually been hoping that for a week. So until next time. Bye.

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