Chilly!
Saturday, December 18, 2004So, today we decided to actually take the fan cover off the truck heater and clean it out...mice make their nests in very inconvenient places for us humans, and I ended up straddling the fender, one foot wedged next to the engine, one leg handing over the side, clinging to the hinge that holds the hood up with one hand while trying to unscrew this panel with the other, a job that would have been 100% easier if I hadn't kept sliding back down the fender. (Almost slid all the way off the truck and onto the ground, but I managed to catch myself.) And I kept wondering, how did sailors manage to keep themselves from sliding off the spars? I know they had foot lines that they stood on, and all that, but I've seen them straddling those things, too...eek. (Also, read in Villiers that the sailors always stayed so that the wind was blowing behind them, so that it helped them keep their balance on the foot lines...and their hands free to work. Cool, eh?)
Anyway, I'm still getting warm from being outside for three hours, vacuuming the heating thingy on the truck, but it was such a nice, sunny day that it lifted my spirits. At least next time we use the truck, we'll actually have heat. And, I know how to do something else, for myself. Yay independant!me.
Here are lyrics to my very favorite sea shanty, "What shall we do with the drunken sailor"
What'll we do with a drunken sailor,
What'll we do with a drunken sailor,
What'll we do with a drunken sailor,
Earl-aye in the morning?
Chorus:
Way hay and up she rises
Patent blocks o' diff'rent sizes,
Way hay and up she rises
Earl-aye in the morning
1. Sling him in the long boat till he's sober,
2. Keep him there and make 'im bale 'er.
3. Pull out the plug and wet him all over,
4. Take 'im and shake 'im, try an' wake 'im.
5. Trice him up in a runnin' bowline.
6. Give 'im a taste of the bosun's rope-end.
7. Give 'im a dose of salt and water.
8. Stick on 'is back a mustard plaster.
9. Shave his belly with a rusty razor.
10. Send him up the crow's nest till he falls down,
11. Tie him to the taffrail when she's yardarm under,
12. Put him in the scuppers with a hose-pipe on him.
13. Soak 'im in oil till he sprouts flippers.
14. Put him in the guard room till he's sober.
15. Put him in bed with the captain's daughter*).
16. Take the Baby and call it Bo'sun.
17. Turn him over and drive him windward.
18. Put him in the scuffs until the horse bites on him.
19. Heave him by the leg and with a rung console him.
20. That's what we'll do with the drunken sailor.
*) A relative of the cat-o-nine-tails
This was taken from: http://ingeb.org/songs/whatshal.html it has links to the melody. It's slightly different from what I leanered in Chorus, but it's a ton of fun to sing...and loudly! It was a capstan tune, apparently....I quote: "One of the best known of all sea shanties, 'What Shall We Do With The Drunken Sailor?' is a windlass and capstan work song. It was a favourite runabout or 'stamp and go' shanty and, unlike many, it did not require a soloist, being originally sung by all hands as they ran away with the braces when swinging the yards round in tacking the ship."
Permalink Cindy scribed this at 6:00 PM
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