Thank goodness that is over.
Movember is the month formerly known as November when everybody is asked to grow a MOustache in aid of prostate cancer research fund raising.
On the three D class vessels, a great number of us grew one and looked a seriously dodgy bunch of spivs, don't know what the passengers made of it all.
Capt Steve Cockerill on the Delft organised the effort and our group on the Movember website was called the Cross Channel Furries.
http://uk.movember.com/team/520353/page/3
I was on leave at the start of the month and had nearly two weeks growth on joining the ship. The first thing I saw on entering the docks was this lorry engaged in tarmac relaying. As can be seen, one of the gang had scrawled some graffiti in the dirt. On remarking on this as I took the photo, I was told that the picture was of their boss in Northfleet!
Later that day, I was in the Ships Office in a seriously dirty hi-vis vest which I had grabbed on leaving the Engine Room for an urgent callout to a problem on the cardecks earlier. My wife had coloured my incipient moustache an unconvincing shade of black with her eyebrow liner before leaving home and the Captain immediately grabbed his camera and enthusiastically captured my reluctant image for posterity. I became the poster boy for the Dover Seaways fund raising.
The photo was emailed to Steve Cockerill and duly appeared on the Cross Channel Furries website with the legend "Ed "the edge" Connell looks to be over the moon to be sporting his new tache. Could be a living for him as a Loius Bleriot lookalikee."
This is a bit of a coincidence as I once wrote an article on Louis Bleriot for the Dover Express and they asked me for a photo to go with it so I raced up to the Bleriot memorial with my family and had this one taken on the granite outline of the aeroplane, complete with authentic beret, goggles, Gauloise cigarette, and onions strung round my neck. My sister in law Annette came rushing up to say "somebody's coming, try to look inconspicuous!" so she is included in the photo as Mrs Bleriot.
Movember is over and thankfully I have been able to shave the 'orrible thing off. This was the less than inspiring end result:
