Tuesday, May 17, 2011

I went to Manhattan...


...and all I got was this stupid diaper rash.

After three (!) days of rain, with no relief in sight, I've officially got a life-threatening case of diaper rash. I think it starts at the back of my neck, and runs to my feet, returning up all the way to my (no longer -un) mentionables.
With no end in sight to this rain, I'm wondering why I bother to put on clean and dry clothes at the start of my watch.

Oh well. Getting paid is nice, and I'm grateful that I'm working... I'm not as grateful as I was 3 days ago, but you try walking like a cowboy for a couple of days.
...and why does my foul weather gear still smell so bad? It's like someone put out a cigar in a urine sample, then poured oil over it. I've washed these things repeatedly, in the GD washing machine... unfortunately, I suspect the answer is that for some reason RMG-380, the residual fuel that ships use, has an affinity for the synthetic rubber made by Grundens- I think that the vapors bind nicely to the material, and the vapors are made of fear and horror with a carbon backbone and a sulphur chaser. If my rain jacket smells like the apocalypse, I can only wonder about my lungs.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

next time you're near a drug store, find "bag balm". it's in a square green tin, usually by women's cosmetics. it's basically lanolin and vaseline, and worth the $10 to fix your chafe problems.

Paul, Dammit! said...

I used to buy Bag Balm pretty regularly when I was a fisherman. "Balm for the Bag" was my catchphrase. These days I alternate between Bag Balm and Magic Butt Paste, which also works well.