h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The bonfire finished with a burning Viking ship- brilliant display as always, that reminded me of the boats in my life.
The only time I've ever been seasick was New Year's day 1968 on a Dutch boat going from Tower Bridge up the Rhine to Switzerland. A couple of years before that two friends and I were nearly run down by the Isle of Wight ferry while rowing across the bay in Yarmouth. I lost my lower bridge down the heads on the boat from Shanghai to Hong Kong in 1985, and when the children were visiting me in China we took a trip up the Grand Canal and I managed to sleep through us crashing in to another loaded boat. My sang froid was much applauded.
I've also been rowed across Lake Chad in a dug out, and across an Ethiopian lake on a grass raft, but I think the best trip was the longest: the last mail ship from Southampton to Cape Town in 1978. one of my favourite books has always been Gavin Young's "Slow Boats to China", a trip I've always been jealous of.

That was impressive that you did the long journey from Southampton to Cape Town without getting seasick. Did you get seasick on the Rhine, or was it the crossing from London to Germany that caused it?

Neither - too much whisky the night before, as the Dutch skipper was very hospitable.

Ah!