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Chapter 1 Coffee with the Sheikh It was a cold winter day in 1969 and I had been waiting several hours before MT Sea Sapphire a 67 000 ton tanker emerged from the fog The Sea Sapphire docked in Finland to unload crude oil and then travel on the light to Das Island in the Persian Gulf with three Norwegian maintenance contractors and me a Swedish Reliability and Maintenance Management consultant aboard with the ship s crew After eight years at sea as a motorman second and first engineer and chief engineer I had just finished my engineering degree and started my first job with a Norwegian consulting company implementing Reliability and Maintenance systems for ships I changed careers because I was married had a young son and wanted to be home more with my little family Yet here I was boarding another ship My first job on land was setting up a Reliability and Maintenance system on a ship I was looking forward to working in an office but the client wanted me present on board for the best results Then as it may be for most young people who have spent some time at sea I quickly forgot the calling for another ship that got in my veins For me it is still there 50 years later Whenever I see a ship en route I still feel that pull wondering which watch is on the twelve to four the four to eight or the eight to twelve and what the destination might be Working as a maintenance consultant on the Sea Sapphire meant I wouldn t be stuck in the hot and loud confines of the engine room as I had been as an 18 year old apprentice I was assigned the super cargo cabin on the upper deck behind the Knocking Bolts 1

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Chapter 1 Coffee with the Sheikh It was a cold winter day in 1969 and I had been waiting several hours before MT Sea Sapphire a 67 000 ton tanker emerged from the fog The Sea Sapphire docked in Finland to unload crude oil and then travel on the light to Das Island in the Persian Gulf with three Norwegian maintenance contractors and me a Swedish Reliability and Maintenance Management consultant aboard with the ship s crew After eight years at sea as a motorman second and first engineer and chief engineer I had just finished my engineering degree and started my first job with a Norwegian consulting company implementing Reliability and Maintenance systems for ships I changed careers because I was married had a young son and wanted to be home more with my little family Yet here I was boarding another ship My first job on land was setting up a Reliability and Maintenance system on a ship I was looking forward to working in an office but the client wanted me present on board for the best results Then as it may be for most young people who have spent some time at sea I quickly forgot the calling for another ship that got in my veins For me it is still there 50 years later Whenever I see a ship en route I still feel that pull wondering which watch is on the twelve to four the four to eight or the eight to twelve and what the destination might be Working as a maintenance consultant on the Sea Sapphire meant I wouldn t be stuck in the hot and loud confines of the engine room as I had been as an 18 year old apprentice I was assigned the super cargo cabin on the upper deck behind the Knocking Bolts 1

bridge dining with the captain first officer and chief engineer at night with my only business below being an observer A couple of times per day I collected information about the equipment for the system I was setting up and then spent many hours working in the privacy of my single bed cabin It felt roomy and luxurious after the many years of sharing doublebunk cabins with small round portholes bobbing just above the surface Now I had a view For the first time on a ship I could enjoy the sea breeze admire the ocean and occasionally watch the land we passed the white cliffs of Dover the dramatic rocks of Gibraltar And I was glad that it wasn t me who had to try to create a balancing act down below as we hit bad weather in the Bay of Biscay as usual But it was by no means a vacation I had a lot of work to do in order to make sure the maintenance system was set up and functioning correctly Much of the documentation from the manufacturers was missing so I ended up spending quite a lot of time in the engine room studying aiming to understand things and then heading back up to my cabin to set up the maintenance procedure for the equipment and components Most of it was Preventive Maintenance and I took a lot of pictures we used Polaroid cameras back then to make sure nothing was missed While the crews on these ships were very great and capable craftspeople ever since the Merchant Marines introduced a new scheduling system in the mid 1960s rotating work with leave every two months to three months it became hard to keep track of which maintenance work was to be done and by whom Prior to this the crews signed on for much longer tours which required fewer hand changes regarding responsibilities Adding to the issue was the fact that it was hard to find competent crews Few had graduated as marine technicians or marine engineers so they had to take people with experience and move them up which meant that multiple skill sets could come into play This triggered a need for a comprehensive maintenance system one that was well documented and could be picked up by anybody as well as cross referenced with a log 2 Knocking Bolts

Laptops did not yet exist so I spent many nights burning the midnight oil documenting the whole system by hand on index cards covering inspection regularity oil testing filter changing and when to do piston overhauls Later all these cards would be typed up by a secretary organized and bound into a book that was easy to manage for the crew and I d deliver it to the shipping company as my final report Just south of the Cape Verde Islands we had a blackout That ever present vibration you feel on a ship changed and I heard the main turbine slow down then the lights went out a main switchgear had failed The switchgear had been hot for a while but the electrician had said not to worry We had used a candlestick to measure how fast it would melt when placed on the hottest parts an old school and up until then dependable trick According to this test all was good It may sound a bit dangerous but most of the ships at that time had DC direct current not AC alternating current which came later We had electricians who spit on their fingers and with a quick touch checked whether there was power or not I told them that there was safer test equipment to use like an infrared gun with a laser beam that showed where you measured the temperature but at that time it was considered too expensive Today an infrared camera would be used to monitor the condition of the switchgear and the blackout would likely have been prevented In 1969 very few could financially justify an IR camera on board a ship Nowadays they cost about 10 000 and you can even get an attachment for your cell phone that does a decent job for about 250 The equivalent cost of such high tech equipment in 1969 was about 450 000 While the repair crew worked on the overheated switchgear some of the crew fished for sharks A hook on a steel wire was baited with meat while the steward threw frozen blood in the water In seconds several big beasts appeared and one crew member reeled in an 80 pounder It was a truly magnificent animal its skin like fine sandpaper wriggling violently Knocking Bolts 3

snapping at us with a mouth full of razor sharp teeth When you get a fish like that you stay away Still somewhat conflicted about the idea of fishing instead of my former responsibility of carrying out the repairs I just watched relieved when the switchgear was fixed and we could set full speed ahead again We didn t make it very far until we ran into another delay This time it was worse personal injury The first mate fell while inspecting one of the oil cargo tanks hurting his back so badly that we had to make a stop in Cape Town and get him to a hospital We arrived at midnight and anchored so far out that we could only see the distant lights of Cape Town and their reflections in the ocean Finally we continued the journey rounding the Cape of Good Hope onto the final stretch for Das Island After finishing my work I said goodbye to the many new friends I had made on the Sea Sapphire and set ashore in a lifeboat with three Norwegian independent contractors My long trip home via five countries began at the very small airport on Das Island The pilot stood by the 30 year old Douglas DC 2 that would take us to the first layover in Manama City Bahrain smoking a cigarette Used to strict smoking regulations on board the tanker we were somewhat concerned with the smoking pilot especially since they were fueling We reluctantly boarded the DC 2 by climbing up the steep ladder at the rear end of the aircraft Luckily we took off without issues on the short flight and landed safely in Bahrain We were taken to a mediocre hotel to wait until we could get a flight via Damascus to Beirut to Istanbul to Vienna then to Copenhagen to Stockholm It took time to travel this far in the 1960s None of the hotel staff spoke English so we were left in the dark about how long we would stay and had to guess what we were eating After some reasoning we agreed on a principle I always used after that if it looks and smells good just eat it When working in the international arena you cannot be a picky eater 4 Knocking Bolts

By the third day we were getting restless and two of the Norwegian contractors and myself decided to find a taxi to take us around Bahrain for some sightseeing The third contractor Torleif killed time with a bottle of vodka and preferred to stay at the hotel The taxi driver drove around and showed us some old mosques and other landmarks At that time Bahrain was not as developed as it is today and we got a true glimpse of the old Arabic world After a while the taxi driver who spoke some English asked if we wanted to meet the Sheikh We thought it was a joke but he was sincere Once a week he explained anybody could visit with him and have coffee and today was such a day We pulled up to a whitewashed official building with a pillared passage that offered shade leading up to it We joined a crowd of about 50 people and waited until Sheikh Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa had entered the building Nobody was allowed into a room before him At this time Bahrain was still under British rule and Sheikh Isa as was his nickname was a Sunni Muslim who would witness its independence just two years later Once everything was set up we were shown into a hall and seated along the walls The Sheikh sat at the short end in a throne like chair It was dead silent All you could hear was the slight sound of people sitting down on chairs Except for us all of the men in the room were dressed in white robes and head garments I can t remember how the two Norwegians dressed that day but I wore a white short sleeved shirt and khaki pants Needless to say we stood out as the only Westerners After a moment s silence the tradition began The man sitting closest to the right of the Sheikh stood up and said something and then the Sheikh nodded and said something back And that s how it continued as one after another the men got up to address him Some people went up to him with envelopes I don t know if they were dues or gifts and others just said things we obviously didn t understand Knocking Bolts 5

Since we were the last ones allowed inside we were at the end of the hall I stood as the very last person and my Norwegian friends nervously asked to me for advice What should they say Say Your Highness I am from Norway and visiting while waiting for a flight home I whispered back During the many weeks together on the ship we had developed a witty jargon joked and laughed and they thought I was pulling their leg So when it became their turn they mumbled something even I couldn t understand bowed and sat down I wasn t going to make the same mistake and stated loud and clear Your Highness my name is Christer Idhammar I am honored to be here I completed an assignment on a ship and am on my way to my homeland Sweden The Sheikh smiled and said You are welcome in my country Then it was time for coffee which was served in small cups to six men at a time It was a mixture of several different types of coffee one that was very bitter another that was very sweet and lastly green coffee which is unroasted beans and very popular in the Arabic countries In between each group of six a man swung a brass cane which let out smoke probably some type of frankincense It was very ceremonious and I truly felt honored to be there Once the coffee was finished the meeting was over While the others began heading outside an adjutant told us the Sheikh wanted to have a word with us I shook hands with him and we exchanged some pleasantries it felt both surreal and completely normal as a conversation between any two men meeting for the first time In the taxi to the hotel the Norwegians talked about how embarrassed they were not having said anything legible I was lost in thought As I watched the Arabic cityscape swoosh 6 Knocking Bolts

Chapter 1 Coffee with the Sheikh It was a cold winter day in 1969 and I had been waiting several hours before MT Sea Sapphire a 67 000 ton tanker emerged from the fog The Sea Sapphire docked in Finland to unload crude oil and then travel on the light to Das Island in the Persian Gulf with three Norwegian maintenance contractors and me a Swedish Reliability and Maintenance Management consultant aboard with the ship s crew After eight years at sea as a motorman second and first engineer and chief engineer I had just finished my engineering degree and started my first job with a Norwegian consulting company implementing Reliability and Maintenance systems for ships I changed careers because I was married had a young son and wanted to be home more with my little family Yet here I was boarding another ship My first job on land was setting up a Reliability and Maintenance system on a ship I was looking forward to working in an office but the client wanted me present on board for the best results Then as it may be for most young people who have spent some time at sea I quickly forgot the calling for another ship that got in my veins For me it is still there 50 years later Whenever I see a ship en route I still feel that pull wondering which watch is on the twelve to four the four to eight or the eight to twelve and what the destination might be Working as a maintenance consultant on the Sea Sapphire meant I wouldn t be stuck in the hot and loud confines of the engine room as I had been as an 18 year old apprentice I was assigned the super cargo cabin on the upper deck behind the Knocking Bolts 1 Chapter 2- Excerpt

bridge dining with the captain first officer and chief engineer at night with my only business below being an observer A couple of times per day I collected information about the equipment for the system I was setting up and then spent many hours working in the privacy of my single bed cabin It felt roomy and luxurious after the many years of sharing doublebunk cabins with small round portholes bobbing just above the surface Now I had a view For the first time on a ship I could enjoy the sea breeze admire the ocean and occasionally watch the land we passed the white cliffs of Dover the dramatic rocks of Gibraltar And I was glad that it wasn t me who had to try to create a balancing act down below as we hit bad weather in the Bay of Biscay as usual But it was by no means a vacation I had a lot of work to do in order to make sure the maintenance system was set up and functioning correctly Much of the documentation from the manufacturers was missing so I ended up spending quite a lot of time in the engine room studying aiming to understand things and then heading back up to my cabin to set up the maintenance procedure for the equipment and components Most of it was Preventive Maintenance and I took a lot of pictures we used Polaroid cameras back then to make sure nothing was missed While the crews on these ships were very great and capable craftspeople ever since the Merchant Marines introduced a new scheduling system in the mid 1960s rotating work with leave every two months to three months it became hard to keep track of which maintenance work was to be done and by whom Prior to this the crews signed on for much longer tours which required fewer hand changes regarding responsibilities Adding to the issue was the fact that it was hard to find competent crews Few had graduated as marine technicians or marine engineers so they had to take people with experience and move them up which meant that multiple skill sets could come into play This triggered a need for a comprehensive maintenance system one that was well documented and could be picked up by anybody as well as cross referenced with a log 2 Knocking Bolts

Laptops did not yet exist so I spent many nights burning the midnight oil documenting the whole system by hand on index cards covering inspection regularity oil testing filter changing and when to do piston overhauls Later all these cards would be typed up by a secretary organized and bound into a book that was easy to manage for the crew and I d deliver it to the shipping company as my final report Just south of the Cape Verde Islands we had a blackout That ever present vibration you feel on a ship changed and I heard the main turbine slow down then the lights went out a main switchgear had failed The switchgear had been hot for a while but the electrician had said not to worry We had used a candlestick to measure how fast it would melt when placed on the hottest parts an old school and up until then dependable trick According to this test all was good It may sound a bit dangerous but most of the ships at that time had DC direct current not AC alternating current which came later We had electricians who spit on their fingers and with a quick touch checked whether there was power or not I told them that there was safer test equipment to use like an infrared gun with a laser beam that showed where you measured the temperature but at that time it was considered too expensive Today an infrared camera would be used to monitor the condition of the switchgear and the blackout would likely have been prevented In 1969 very few could financially justify an IR camera on board a ship Nowadays they cost about 10 000 and you can even get an attachment for your cell phone that does a decent job for about 250 The equivalent cost of such high tech equipment in 1969 was about 450 000 While the repair crew worked on the overheated switchgear some of the crew fished for sharks A hook on a steel wire was baited with meat while the steward threw frozen blood in the water In seconds several big beasts appeared and one crew member reeled in an 80 pounder It was a truly magnificent animal its skin like fine sandpaper wriggling violently Knocking Bolts 3

snapping at us with a mouth full of razor sharp teeth When you get a fish like that you stay away Still somewhat conflicted about the idea of fishing instead of my former responsibility of carrying out the repairs I just watched relieved when the switchgear was fixed and we could set full speed ahead again We didn t make it very far until we ran into another delay This time it was worse personal injury The first mate fell while inspecting one of the oil cargo tanks hurting his back so badly that we had to make a stop in Cape Town and get him to a hospital We arrived at midnight and anchored so far out that we could only see the distant lights of Cape Town and their reflections in the ocean Finally we continued the journey rounding the Cape of Good Hope onto the final stretch for Das Island After finishing my work I said goodbye to the many new friends I had made on the Sea Sapphire and set ashore in a lifeboat with three Norwegian independent contractors My long trip home via five countries began at the very small airport on Das Island The pilot stood by the 30 year old Douglas DC 2 that would take us to the first layover in Manama City Bahrain smoking a cigarette Used to strict smoking regulations on board the tanker we were somewhat concerned with the smoking pilot especially since they were fueling We reluctantly boarded the DC 2 by climbing up the steep ladder at the rear end of the aircraft Luckily we took off without issues on the short flight and landed safely in Bahrain We were taken to a mediocre hotel to wait until we could get a flight via Damascus to Beirut to Istanbul to Vienna then to Copenhagen to Stockholm It took time to travel this far in the 1960s None of the hotel staff spoke English so we were left in the dark about how long we would stay and had to guess what we were eating After some reasoning we agreed on a principle I always used after that if it looks and smells good just eat it When working in the international arena you cannot be a picky eater 4 Knocking Bolts

By the third day we were getting restless and two of the Norwegian contractors and myself decided to find a taxi to take us around Bahrain for some sightseeing The third contractor Torleif killed time with a bottle of vodka and preferred to stay at the hotel The taxi driver drove around and showed us some old mosques and other landmarks At that time Bahrain was not as developed as it is today and we got a true glimpse of the old Arabic world After a while the taxi driver who spoke some English asked if we wanted to meet the Sheikh We thought it was a joke but he was sincere Once a week he explained anybody could visit with him and have coffee and today was such a day We pulled up to a whitewashed official building with a pillared passage that offered shade leading up to it We joined a crowd of about 50 people and waited until Sheikh Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa had entered the building Nobody was allowed into a room before him At this time Bahrain was still under British rule and Sheikh Isa as was his nickname was a Sunni Muslim who would witness its independence just two years later Once everything was set up we were shown into a hall and seated along the walls The Sheikh sat at the short end in a throne like chair It was dead silent All you could hear was the slight sound of people sitting down on chairs Except for us all of the men in the room were dressed in white robes and head garments I can t remember how the two Norwegians dressed that day but I wore a white short sleeved shirt and khaki pants Needless to say we stood out as the only Westerners After a moment s silence the tradition began The man sitting closest to the right of the Sheikh stood up and said something and then the Sheikh nodded and said something back And that s how it continued as one after another the men got up to address him Some people went up to him with envelopes I don t know if they were dues or gifts and others just said things we obviously didn t understand Knocking Bolts 5

Chapter 1 Coffee with the Sheikh It was a cold winter day in 1969 and I had been waiting several hours before MT Sea Sapphire a 67 000 ton tanker emerged from the fog The Sea Sapphire docked in Finland to unload crude oil and then travel on the light to Das Island in the Persian Gulf with three Norwegian maintenance contractors and me a Swedish Reliability and Maintenance Management consultant aboard with the ship s crew After eight years at sea as a motorman second and first engineer and chief engineer I had just finished my engineering degree and started my first job with a Norwegian consulting company implementing Reliability and Maintenance systems for ships I changed careers because I was married had a young son and wanted to be home more with my little family Yet here I was boarding another ship My first job on land was setting up a Reliability and Maintenance system on a ship I was looking forward to working in an office but the client wanted me present on board for the best results Then as it may be for most young people who have spent some time at sea I quickly forgot the calling for another ship that got in my veins For me it is still there 50 years later Whenever I see a ship en route I still feel that pull wondering which watch is on the twelve to four the four to eight or the eight to twelve and what the destination might be Working as a maintenance consultant on the Sea Sapphire meant I wouldn t be stuck in the hot and loud confines of the engine room as I had been as an 18 year old apprentice I was assigned the super cargo cabin on the upper deck behind the Knocking Bolts 1 Chapter 8 - Excerpt

bridge dining with the captain first officer and chief engineer at night with my only business below being an observer A couple of times per day I collected information about the equipment for the system I was setting up and then spent many hours working in the privacy of my single bed cabin It felt roomy and luxurious after the many years of sharing doublebunk cabins with small round portholes bobbing just above the surface Now I had a view For the first time on a ship I could enjoy the sea breeze admire the ocean and occasionally watch the land we passed the white cliffs of Dover the dramatic rocks of Gibraltar And I was glad that it wasn t me who had to try to create a balancing act down below as we hit bad weather in the Bay of Biscay as usual But it was by no means a vacation I had a lot of work to do in order to make sure the maintenance system was set up and functioning correctly Much of the documentation from the manufacturers was missing so I ended up spending quite a lot of time in the engine room studying aiming to understand things and then heading back up to my cabin to set up the maintenance procedure for the equipment and components Most of it was Preventive Maintenance and I took a lot of pictures we used Polaroid cameras back then to make sure nothing was missed While the crews on these ships were very great and capable craftspeople ever since the Merchant Marines introduced a new scheduling system in the mid 1960s rotating work with leave every two months to three months it became hard to keep track of which maintenance work was to be done and by whom Prior to this the crews signed on for much longer tours which required fewer hand changes regarding responsibilities Adding to the issue was the fact that it was hard to find competent crews Few had graduated as marine technicians or marine engineers so they had to take people with experience and move them up which meant that multiple skill sets could come into play This triggered a need for a comprehensive maintenance system one that was well documented and could be picked up by anybody as well as cross referenced with a log 2 Knocking Bolts

Laptops did not yet exist so I spent many nights burning the midnight oil documenting the whole system by hand on index cards covering inspection regularity oil testing filter changing and when to do piston overhauls Later all these cards would be typed up by a secretary organized and bound into a book that was easy to manage for the crew and I d deliver it to the shipping company as my final report Just south of the Cape Verde Islands we had a blackout That ever present vibration you feel on a ship changed and I heard the main turbine slow down then the lights went out a main switchgear had failed The switchgear had been hot for a while but the electrician had said not to worry We had used a candlestick to measure how fast it would melt when placed on the hottest parts an old school and up until then dependable trick According to this test all was good It may sound a bit dangerous but most of the ships at that time had DC direct current not AC alternating current which came later We had electricians who spit on their fingers and with a quick touch checked whether there was power or not I told them that there was safer test equipment to use like an infrared gun with a laser beam that showed where you measured the temperature but at that time it was considered too expensive Today an infrared camera would be used to monitor the condition of the switchgear and the blackout would likely have been prevented In 1969 very few could financially justify an IR camera on board a ship Nowadays they cost about 10 000 and you can even get an attachment for your cell phone that does a decent job for about 250 The equivalent cost of such high tech equipment in 1969 was about 450 000 While the repair crew worked on the overheated switchgear some of the crew fished for sharks A hook on a steel wire was baited with meat while the steward threw frozen blood in the water In seconds several big beasts appeared and one crew member reeled in an 80 pounder It was a truly magnificent animal its skin like fine sandpaper wriggling violently Knocking Bolts 3

snapping at us with a mouth full of razor sharp teeth When you get a fish like that you stay away Still somewhat conflicted about the idea of fishing instead of my former responsibility of carrying out the repairs I just watched relieved when the switchgear was fixed and we could set full speed ahead again We didn t make it very far until we ran into another delay This time it was worse personal injury The first mate fell while inspecting one of the oil cargo tanks hurting his back so badly that we had to make a stop in Cape Town and get him to a hospital We arrived at midnight and anchored so far out that we could only see the distant lights of Cape Town and their reflections in the ocean Finally we continued the journey rounding the Cape of Good Hope onto the final stretch for Das Island After finishing my work I said goodbye to the many new friends I had made on the Sea Sapphire and set ashore in a lifeboat with three Norwegian independent contractors My long trip home via five countries began at the very small airport on Das Island The pilot stood by the 30 year old Douglas DC 2 that would take us to the first layover in Manama City Bahrain smoking a cigarette Used to strict smoking regulations on board the tanker we were somewhat concerned with the smoking pilot especially since they were fueling We reluctantly boarded the DC 2 by climbing up the steep ladder at the rear end of the aircraft Luckily we took off without issues on the short flight and landed safely in Bahrain We were taken to a mediocre hotel to wait until we could get a flight via Damascus to Beirut to Istanbul to Vienna then to Copenhagen to Stockholm It took time to travel this far in the 1960s None of the hotel staff spoke English so we were left in the dark about how long we would stay and had to guess what we were eating After some reasoning we agreed on a principle I always used after that if it looks and smells good just eat it When working in the international arena you cannot be a picky eater 4 Knocking Bolts

By the third day we were getting restless and two of the Norwegian contractors and myself decided to find a taxi to take us around Bahrain for some sightseeing The third contractor Torleif killed time with a bottle of vodka and preferred to stay at the hotel The taxi driver drove around and showed us some old mosques and other landmarks At that time Bahrain was not as developed as it is today and we got a true glimpse of the old Arabic world After a while the taxi driver who spoke some English asked if we wanted to meet the Sheikh We thought it was a joke but he was sincere Once a week he explained anybody could visit with him and have coffee and today was such a day We pulled up to a whitewashed official building with a pillared passage that offered shade leading up to it We joined a crowd of about 50 people and waited until Sheikh Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa had entered the building Nobody was allowed into a room before him At this time Bahrain was still under British rule and Sheikh Isa as was his nickname was a Sunni Muslim who would witness its independence just two years later Once everything was set up we were shown into a hall and seated along the walls The Sheikh sat at the short end in a throne like chair It was dead silent All you could hear was the slight sound of people sitting down on chairs Except for us all of the men in the room were dressed in white robes and head garments I can t remember how the two Norwegians dressed that day but I wore a white short sleeved shirt and khaki pants Needless to say we stood out as the only Westerners After a moment s silence the tradition began The man sitting closest to the right of the Sheikh stood up and said something and then the Sheikh nodded and said something back And that s how it continued as one after another the men got up to address him Some people went up to him with envelopes I don t know if they were dues or gifts and others just said things we obviously didn t understand Knocking Bolts 5

Since we were the last ones allowed inside we were at the end of the hall I stood as the very last person and my Norwegian friends nervously asked to me for advice What should they say Say Your Highness I am from Norway and visiting while waiting for a flight home I whispered back During the many weeks together on the ship we had developed a witty jargon joked and laughed and they thought I was pulling their leg So when it became their turn they mumbled something even I couldn t understand bowed and sat down I wasn t going to make the same mistake and stated loud and clear Your Highness my name is Christer Idhammar I am honored to be here I completed an assignment on a ship and am on my way to my homeland Sweden The Sheikh smiled and said You are welcome in my country Then it was time for coffee which was served in small cups to six men at a time It was a mixture of several different types of coffee one that was very bitter another that was very sweet and lastly green coffee which is unroasted beans and very popular in the Arabic countries In between each group of six a man swung a brass cane which let out smoke probably some type of frankincense It was very ceremonious and I truly felt honored to be there Once the coffee was finished the meeting was over While the others began heading outside an adjutant told us the Sheikh wanted to have a word with us I shook hands with him and we exchanged some pleasantries it felt both surreal and completely normal as a conversation between any two men meeting for the first time In the taxi to the hotel the Norwegians talked about how embarrassed they were not having said anything legible I was lost in thought As I watched the Arabic cityscape swoosh 6 Knocking Bolts

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