Pattaya Mail — Columns

Winebibber’s Grapevine  

Dolf Riks: Early days on the Sea

In my "Monsterboekje" (Seaman’s Book), a document that I have treasured over all these past years, one can find that I signed on as an apprentice mate on the MV Dalerdijk, a freighter with passenger accommodations of about fifty, on the fifteenth of September 1950. A couple of months before, I had successfully graduated from the "Kweekschool van de Zeevaart" or the "College for Merchant Marine Officers’ in Amsterdam and after I wrote to some of the big shipping companies for employment, I was accepted by the Holland America Line, the owners of the ship.

To sail for one year as an apprentice on the high seas before one could further the studies for third mate and subsequently second and first mate, was mandatory in those days. After successfully passing the last exams one was qualified as a captain to take command of an ocean going ship. A special tailor shop in Amsterdam, specialising in outfitting officers in the Merchant and Royal Navy, made the uniforms and other apparel, mentioned on the list the company had provided. This included unpractical items many items I never wore once during my travels.

Finally the day arrived for me to travel to Rotterdam in to join the ship. It was employed on the West Coast of the USA route. As usual, the weather was cold and windy, depressing and wet, and when I finally found the ship somewhere in the south bank of the river Nieuwe Maas, I felt discouraged and wondered if I would be any good at all in my roll as a sailor. I was received with total indifference by a fourth mate who introduced me to a formidable captain with a huge bulk and a ruddy appearance. This awesome man immediately started to lecture me on the duties awaiting me, which sounded pretty much below my status as a budding officer. I disliked him from the start and had the impression that he could well make life miserable. I met another apprentice with whom I had to share my cabin and who had the dreadful habit of sleeping with his eyes open, peering at me when I was writing a letter or keeping myself occupied with some other activity.

That night we departed for Hamburg and for this occasion, we were allowed on the bridge in full uniform. I was given the duty to note down all the manoeuvres in a little booklet called "Duty Book". While we proceeded slowly through the Nieuwe Waterweg towards the North Sea, I was freezing to death and a nervous wreck. The thousands of twinkling lights of the Perlis Oil refineries on port side reminded me of pictures I had seen of New York by night and the hundreds of craft on the fairway made me wonder if I could ever learn how to avoid a collision in such a situation.

As soon as the pilot went off at the Hoek of Holland, the first rollers hit the ship and made it pitch and roll in such a fashion that it took me about ten minutes to become desperately seasick. After my first offering to the god of the seas it became my sincerest wish to die there and then. Nothing else mattered anymore but seasickness is no excuse for a sailor, the work has to be done. Most people think that this most horrible of afflictions does not bother seagoing people. Let me assure you, although in later years one may get used to some bad weather and the symptoms usually become less when one gets older and develop the so-called "sea-legs", many a weathered sailor still suffers when the seas are rough and the gales howl angrily. One of our daily duties was to polish all the brass on the ship’s bridge with "Brasso" and my association with this strong smelling cleaner is still so, that the odour still causes me nausea and I will recall those early days of my career at sea.

At the time the North Sea was still full of mines from the Second World War and we had to follow certain mine free shipping lanes, marked with buoys which were hard to find in the greyish light. We made it to Hamburg where we discharged goods of the previous trip to California. We, the two apprentices, were allowed a few hours to go ashore. Visiting the Reper Bahn was a must, we ate German Bratwurst and drank some excellent beer. Timidly we visited the most notorious of streets of the era, the Herbert Strasse where pink buxomed matrons displayed their treasures and threw burning cigarette butts at us yelling that we were far too young to enjoy their charms.

A few days later we called at Bremerhaven, a vast, flat expanse of concrete and overgrown patches, as only the rubble of the war had been removed but construction of the new town had not began in earnest so far. Amazingly, right in the middle of the devastation stood one lonely church spire, which had survived the destruction of the allied bombs. From Bremen we called at Antwerp and from there the great voyage across the Atlantic began.

It was regulation that anybody clad in uniform had to wear their caps, a piece of apparel I detested, as it made my head itch, it deadened my hair and left a groove in my forehead. The captain, however, who scared the wits out of me - not for nothing was he called the "Mad Leen" - stood on protocol and uniform code and there was no way I could avoid the torture of the ornament. One night when I was standing in the wing of the bridge a strong gust of wind got hold of it and my precious cap sailed off into the darkness of the Atlantic Ocean.

When the captain found out about the mishap, he was outside himself with fury. He was convinced that I had done this on purpose, which I had not, the cap was expensive and my mother had paid for it. After he simmered down somewhat, he went into his cabin and after a while re-emerged with an antique cap out of his past which he, with a bleeding heart, gave me to wear with the stern warning that he would do something horribly old fashioned to me when I would lose this one as well.

Sailing South West after we had passed Land’s End and the Scillies, the weather became increasingly balmier and once we saw the Azores, we baked in the sun in our spare hours and acquired a tan. After four years I was finally in the back in the tropics. Four years, during which I often had despaired of the thought that I would ever be warm again as the chill seemed to have penetrated my very bones. My nose was always running and red and I sneezed the whole day because I was allergic to wool, a condition I did not find out about until many years later on a voyage to Japan.

Approaching the Caribbean my little radio would play wild rhythmic music and one day we could see the mountains of Hispagnola on Starboard and those of Puerto Rico on Port. In an another couple of days we came along side in Christobal Colon, the Atlantic port of the Panama Canal. It was there that in nervousness, caused by the constant critique of the Captain and other potentates, I, standing at the telegraph, stuck the point of my aniline pencil in the palm of my right hand. It broke off and it is still there, although it has travelled a bit more to the centre over the years. (Aniline pencils were used before it was proved that Ball Points were reliable enough to be used in records which eventually might end up in law courts. Aniline is considered poisonous).

Dear Hillary,
I recently went to Europe to visit my family. My son and daughter-in-law, who usually spend their vacation in Pattaya, took the opportunity to join me on my flight back. Normally I don’t have problems with my daughter-in-law. This time all went wrong. At the stop-over in Dubai, we went to the duty free shops to look for some jewellery. Each of us wanted to by a necklace. First, I strolled around by myself. When I joined them later, many gold chains were laying on the shop’s desk, while my daughter-in-law looked at more. I took one of the necklaces, which seemed very attractive to me, and tried to take a closer look. It was then when my daughter-in-law grabbed the gold chain I was holding, pressed it onto her chest and screamed at me, "This one is mine, I have reserved it already." Shocked, I put the chain down and asked the man behind the desk if he had another one of the same kind. My daughter-in-law got very aggressive and screamed at me again. She called me ‘greedy’ and ‘jealous’ and accused me of always wanting to have the things she likes. I tried to explain to her that I didn’t know she had chosen this necklace already. I also told her that even if we bought a similar one, nobody would ever see us wearing them at the same time. She wouldn’t listen to me, instead she tried to convince my son to give me a lecture about it. My son, very embarrassed by this behaviour, just turned around and left, not before telling us that we have to sort this out by ourselves. Of course, my daughter-in-law purchased this necklace and I didn’t buy anything, for I was too offended and embarrassed to look for something else. During the whole flight, she didn’t talk to me anymore and also during their stay with me, she was very cool and seldom invited me to join them for lunch or dinner, or to go out with them in the evenings, like all the years before. I really tried very hard not to show how hurt I was. I simply didn’t want to sound childish or bother my son with my feelings and mess up his vacation, but he must have sensed the tension in the air. He told me, shortly before they left, that this was the worse holiday he has ever had. Now I am not sure how he meant this. I just hope it was not because of me. I know he has to live with his wife and not with me and understand that he needs to have a good relationship with her. At the same time I believe, since I am his mother, he could insist that his wife shows me a little bit of respect. She loves her own mother very much and it would be hell for my son if he ever tried to treat this woman the same way as she did me. Right now, if they like to come back next year, I am thinking about how to escape during that time. What should I do?

Embarrassed Mother-in-law.

Dear Embarrassed Mother-in-law,
There can be many reasons for an outburst like the one your daughter-in-law had. Maybe she had a fight with her husband before that, maybe you offended her somehow during your stay in Europe, maybe before you really did something like what she accused you of - maybe she is just a spoiled brat, or maybe your son showed you too much attention and she got simply jealous. Don’t say now, how can she be jealous of his mother - women do sometimes act a bit strange. Whatever the reason is, I think her behaviour, in front of your son and the salesman and also afterwards, was rather a bit too over-exaggerated. On the other hand, her cool acting during their stay with you could have been a reaction to how you behaved towards her later on. It might be that you were unconsciously angry about the fact that you couldn’t buy this chain and you might have acted like that. One single word here and there can do a lot of harm. I believe, after you decided not to buy this chain, everything should have been forgotten. There is really no need to fight about such things.

Anyhow, I would advise you to send her a nice letter expressing your joy of having them with you for so long and at the same time telling her in nice words how sad you are about the incident in Dubai. You don’t have to apologise, but since she cannot answer you immediately and interrupt your speech, you could explain to her that you didn’t know that the chain was reserved for her already. Sure, your son and your daughter-in-law have to show you respect, but you can show them - and teach them - how to be generous and forgiving.

  Thai Idiom: Sia Form

To lose form

‘Hmm. At last, something sensible.’

‘Yes, Nigel. This shows some culture.’

‘Roight-O, Percy.

This idiom was brought into the Thai
language from British English. In Thai culture, form, in poetry, architecture and behaviour takes precedent over content.

So, to ‘Lose Form’ is to do something which does not conform with what is expected of one or one’s ‘self-conception’, i.e. Sia-Form.

An example would be the wife of a man who presents himself as ‘Mr. Cool’ asking him to hold their baby at a large gathering of people.

‘Could you hold the baby?’

‘I can’t do that. Everyone would see me and I would sia form.

‘But you’re the father.’

‘Women, please. Get you priorities in order.’

  Family Money

How valuable is your children's education?

Educating children can be very expensive nowadays.

Many expatriates working overseas have their children’s secondary school fees paid by their employer as part of their contracts. However, this rarely extends to tertiary education - university or college fees.

The costs can be staggering.

Home or College?

In the United States, the cost of a college education is rapidly approaching the cost of the average family home.

Tuition, room and board at a top private institution in the United States now costs over US$25,000 a year, and the average college course in the USA is four years - a total in today’s terms of over $100,000.

If college expenses continue to increase at the current 6% annual rate (as estimated by the U.S. College Board), by the time today’s pre-schoolers enter college in 2011, four years at a private college could easily cost over $250,000!

Painful choices

Without making advance provision for educating your children through secondary school and on to university, your family’s lifestyle could be affected - as well as your children’s choice of school or college.

If you cannot afford "the best" for your children, their future prospects can be affected also.

When the time comes to select the school, college or university and pay the fees there are basically three choices:

1. Pay the costs of education, accommodation, flights, etc. out of current income (which can make a serious hole in the family budget and affect your lifestyle).

2. Pay the costs from savings put aside for that purpose (which, if properly planned, will permit you to afford "the best").

3. Tell your children you can’t afford it, and send them out to work.

Advance planning pays off

Few parents would choose the third option; the best and least painful option is of course the second.

This involves not only calculating the total costs involved and taking inflation into account, but determining the best way to build up the capital required to fund the entire educational program, given current and projected family circumstances and cash flow.

How much to save?

To build a college fund that will ensure sufficient money has been put aside for when it is needed requires careful planning, and it is advisable to seek professional help in this regard.

No two families’ circumstances and needs are ever quite the same, so each case has to be addressed individually.

However, as an example of how much might be required and how much needs to be saved, let us look at the case of Peter’s family.

Peter expects his two sons, James and Ian, now aged 8 and 10 respectively, to go to college when they’re about 19. His overseas employment contract covers their secondary school costs, but not their college education.

He therefore has about 9 years to build up a college fund for them.

He wants to send them to a good school in the USA, and has worked out that with college fees there rising by about 6% a year - about twice the current rate of US inflation - by the time Ian starts college in 2007 current overall costs of $25,000 a year are likely to have risen to over $42,000, and by the time James starts college in 2009, to over $47,000.

The total cost of educating James & Ian for 4 years at college at $25,000 a year is $200,000 in today’s money, which, with expected costs rising at 6% p.a., will amount to just under $400,000 during the period they’re at college between 2007 - 2012.

Because he has only 9 years to build up his sons’ college fund, and because he doesn’t want to take undue risks with their prospects of getting a good education, Peter appreciates that a regular savings plan for this purpose should be invested relatively conservatively. Offshore growth at an average of 8% p.a. is not unreasonable given these parameters.

Peter also feels he will be able to afford to increase his contributions into his sons’ college fund by 5% each year, given his working circumstances and projected income.

How much will he have to set aside from current income?

Using one of the offshore savings plans specifically designed for these circumstances and criteria, he would have to contribute about $1,785 a month, rising by 5% each year, over a 9-year contributory period, to build up enough capital to ensure both James’ and Ian’s college costs were adequately funded.

Peter will have put a total of $236,189 into this college funding program, from which a total of $392,379 will have been drawn down over the following 6 years. (Remember that James goes to college when Ian is in his 3rd year, so costs will double during those two middle years.)

If growth of the investments were a constant 8% p.a. (which of course never happens in practice), there’d be about $3,000 left over in the fund at the end, which could be used for graduation presents.

If better than 8% were achieved, there’d be more left over; if less, Peter might have to dip into his pocket to make up the shortfall.

But planning for his children’s education and starting up a college fund now will certainly make it far less painful in 9 or 10 years’ time, and allow him the freedom of choice to give his sons the education they deserve.

If you have any comments or queries on this article, or about other topics concerning investment matters, write, fax or e-mail Leslie Wright, c/o Family Money, Pattaya Mail, or e-mail him directly at [email protected] Further details and back articles can be accessed on his website on www.westminsterthailand.com.

Leslie Wright is Managing Director of Westminster Portfolio Services (Thailand) Ltd., a firm of independent financial advisors providing advice to expatriate residents of the eastern seaboard on personal financial planning and international investments.

  Modern Medicine: When the rains come

With El Niño wreaking havoc with the world weather system, our dry season may well turn out to be wetter than usual.

When the rains come, everyone loves to sleep in the cool and comfy atmosphere. No one wants to get up at the usual 5 or 6 a.m.

And how about you? Are you ready for the rainy season? Aside from pumps, bailing equipment and sandbags for the inevitable floods, have you prepared yourself to fight the diseases which accompany the rain.

If you haven’t, let’s talk about what you need to do. First is to be constantly aware of the state of your health.

Remember to eat from the 5 food groups and drink 8 glasses of purified water. Sufficient rest should be included in fighting the bacteria which mushroom during the rains.

Don’t drink alcohol to excess or smoke too much. Also, stay away from people with respiratory disorders.

If you think you may be allergic to airborne allergens, and the medicines your doctor is prescribing, read on.

Allergy drugs usually have the side effect of causing drowsiness, so be careful when driving and operating machinery.

Aside from tablets, many physicians prescribe hypoallergenic sprays to keep the nasal passages open. These sprays should be used no more than once or twice in any four-hour period.

The rainy season need not be a time of stress if one is careful of one’s health.

  Health & Nutrition Facts: Butter vs. Margarine

Which do you use, butter or margarine? Which is better and what’s the difference?

A tablespoon of each has the same amount of calories (100) and fat grams (11.5). However, butter is an animal product and therefore contains cholesterol while margarine does not. Butter also has more saturated fat than margarine, so butter can raise blood cholesterol levels and increase your risk of heart disease more than margarine. So, the answer is easy, you choose margarine over butter, right?! Well, not so fast…

Margarine is made from liquid vegetable oil (an unsaturated fat) by a process called hydrogenation. All fats are composed of several fatty acid molecules linked together and their degree of saturation depends on how many hydrogen atoms are attached to these fatty acid molecules. Animal fats are typically more saturated than vegetable oils. The more saturated a fat is, the more likely it is to increase your blood cholesterol. During hydrogenation, additional hydrogen atoms are added to the fatty acid chains of vegetable oil, making the fat more saturated. As a result, oils become semi-solid and more stable at room temperature. As fats become more saturated with hydrogen during hydrogenation, some of the fatty acids change in structure and are called trans fatty acids, or simply trans fats. The term "trans" describes the chemical makeup of a fatty acid.

In addition to making oils more solid, hydrogenation also gives desirable qualities to food. Foods made with hydrogenated fats (like crackers, cookies, potato chips, etc.) have an extended shelf life, they don’t develop a rancid flavor and odor as quickly. Because they are less likely to turn rancid, hydrogenated oils are often used for deep-frying in fast-food restaurants. Hydrogenated fats also give margarines, some puddings, and peanut butter their creamy consistency.

Recently, there has been discussion about trans fats produced by hydrogenation and their effect on blood cholesterol levels. While regular unsaturated fatty acids (vegetable oils) lower blood cholesterol, studies have found that trans fats act more like saturated fats, raising total LDL ("bad") cholesterol. There is also some evidence that trans fats lower HDL ("good") cholesterol. Thus trans fats increase the risk of heart disease and other health problems. Yet, the increase in blood cholesterol caused by trans fats is still less than that caused by saturated fats (butter, lard, and coconut and palm oils).

So, avoid margarine and go back to butter you say? Maybe not.

Butter will still raise cholesterol more than margarine because of its higher amounts of saturated fat and the cholesterol it contains. Margarine is the preferred fat of the two. However, if you eat lots of margarine and many processed foods that contain hydrogenated oils, try to cut back. In general, the more solid the vegetable oil, the more hydrogenated, and therefore the more trans fat it has. Margarine in tubs is preferable to stick margarine. Liquid "squeeze" margarine would be best, but it’s not available in Thailand.

When cooking or baking, it’s better to use liquid vegetable oil rather than margarine or butter.

If you want to forgo both butter and margarine entirely, try a little olive oil on bread or put just jam, honey, or vegemite on toast. Or simply buy or make bread that’s good enough to eat plain.

The bottom line is that if your diet is generally low in fat, you need not worry about occasionally eating small amounts of butter, margarine, or any high-fat food.

Readers may write Laura care of the Pattaya Mail with questions or special topics they would like to see addressed.

Copyright © 1998 Pattaya Mail Publishing Co.Ltd.
370/7-8 Pattaya Second Road, Pattaya City, Chonburi 20260, Thailand 
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Created by Andy Gombaez