Jack of all trades, master of some.

Welcome back to another blog hop, with #OpenBook. Here’s this week’s prompt.

Don’t forget to click the purple button to see what everyone else has to say on this week’s subject. It’s at the end of my post.

Besides writing, what other ‘subjects’ are you good at?

According to my teachers, I was good at not paying attention. Or learning things. However, that all changed when I found myself in a job I wanted to do, being taught by people who actually wanted me to succeed.

The fact that I failed all my school exams, yet passed all my professional ones the first time, kind of gives it away, doesn’t it?

Being on a ship out in the middle of nowhere, with nobody to call when something needed fixing, meant that you had to be good at a lot of different things. A sort of all-around ability to keep the job running until you got to port was required.

While my qualification is Master Mariner, really it means that I’m competent and knowledgeable in quite a few different disciplines. And in working out different ways to achieve the same objective, when I have to.

When I was piloting ships, on the river Thames, my nickname among the watermen, the people employed to work the ship’s mooring lines when they arrived and departed, was The Rocket.  

Partly because I was always 5 minutes early but also due to my habit of manoeuvring ships quickly and (usually) efficiently. Unless a tug line broke, or the engine failed to go astern, when things quickly started to get exciting. At that point, all bets were off. This wasn’t down to anything more than the fact that I knew we all just wanted to get finished and go home. Especially if it was raining or if you were holding Tower Bridge open too long as you squeezed through.

Away from my working life, I’m also quite good at quizzes, due to my brain’s ability to store random facts, often prioritizing them over more important information. I can tell you the most obscure and useless facts about all manner of subjects. But ask me what I did yesterday and I have to think for a moment.

I found when I was younger that I possess the ability of being able to carry on two conversations at the same time.  This means that, when people say you aren’t listening to them, you can repeat the last thing they said. It usually shuts them up.

As a side note, I was having a chat with someone at a party, years ago and I heard a conversation between another guest and my wife, “Isn’t your husband interesting,” they said.

Her reply was priceless. “He’s a boring old sod at home.”

Which goes to prove that it doesn’t always work to your advantage.

Until next time.

Let me know what you think about this week’s subject.

I’d love to get your comments, please leave them below. While you’re here, why not take a look around? There are some freebies and lots more content, about me, my writing and everything else that I do. You can join my newsletter for a free novella and more news by clicking this link.

Now see what the other blogs in this hop have to say by clicking below.

Check out the other great blogs here.