Arrh…so you think ye can cross the equator without payin’ tribute do ye. Avast matey’s ye have another th’ot comin’.
Sorry. I had to. Even though I wasn’t a pirate this year. This was by choice really, because being a medic is more fun, but also (though I didn’t realize this till after the fact) in the kind of weather we’ve been having lately (read boil-a-lobster) if you’re a medic you actually stay cooler because you’re ankle deep in pool water.
Granted, you’re also drenched head to toe in pink and blue meringue but hey, you can’t have everything…
In all honesty, I have to say that this morning’s crossing the line ceremony was probably one of the best I’ve been involved in (and by now I’ve done…five? Four? I’ve lost track). It’s hard to explain exactly why, but I think over all it just felt good. It’s been a while since all of us had that much fun.
There were fewer (vile) pollywogs than usual, sometimes they’re hard to find on the flagship as the returning crew have all gained trusty shellback status a long time ago in most cases. There may have been fewer of them, but they were much more into the spirit of the occasion than I’ve seen in the past, in fact, one photographer was literally carried before Neptune, begging for mercy. Of course, ‘mercy’ isn’t exactly a word that enters into one’s vocabulary during a crossing ceremony.
As usual, the pollywogs from the entertainment department went last. No one quite knows why this is so, but it always is. I suspect it’s because we’re the supposedly the most visible department. There were only two entertainment pollywogs this year: one of the lifestylists, and my fellow librarian. A couple of days ago, Langford had asked me what this whole crossing thing was about:
Well, I have two pieces of advice. First: wear something you don’t care about. Second? Pray you don’t end up on my table!
For a moment it actually looked like he was going to end up on my table, but at the last minute they swerved him over to the other side. Not that it did him any good really, the fact that entertainment department goes last means that they get hit with the dregs from all the medics. There were eight medics and only two pollywogs, so they ended up with four to a table. How to make people look like the creature from the black lagoon in only a few minutes. There’s one photo of the poor lifestylist that you can’t even tell who she is she’s so covered with goo. And then, just when they thought they were finally going to be allowed to slide away from us, Neptune slammed his trident on the ground and announced:
ENOUGH!…
And we all step back, prepared to help the hapless victims off the table and await their judgement. But Neptune wasn’t finished:
ENOUGH!! TURN THEM OVER AND FINISH THE JOB!
So we turned our poor teammates over on the slime-coated table and proceeded to attack their other side.
Mawhahahaaha! HA!
Once Neptune had taken his leave and the band had played their last drumroll, we all dived into the pool to clean off our rainbow colored coating. Shortly after that I made the mistake of taunting one of my ‘victims’ who then promptly threw me back in the pool. But I deserved that. Soon after that I returned to my room and threw myself into a very warm very long shower 😉
And so we are safe to proceed across Neptune’s domain for another season…