Day two in the desert

Masaa’ al-khayr (Good Evening)

I took this picture last night because it’s pretty……….aahhhhhh.

This morning, at 0615hrs, I was collected from the gate of my “prison” and taken for a run – run isn’t really a fair description I suppose as my Personal Trainer (as I shall now refer to him, or PT for short – who is in fact a Scotsman of some 45 years, who’s actual job title is the Site Security Manager but I think he can double up !) advocated that we walk and run until I was properly acclimatised, which he said would take about 3 or 4 days.

I wasn’t quite sure what he was talking about as we set of at a brisk jog (I was keeping up well at this point……..) along a compacted track towards the gate. When we got to the gate we turned left off the track onto his “patrol road” which, although not actually knee deep in sand, just felt like it. I should take the time here to explain the conditions, for future reference you understand. At 0615hrs the sun is just rising above what buildings there are in an oilfield and the smoke created by the flaring, it’s still burning off the early morning haze – hence the temperature was a mere 35deg with no direct sunlight. The air is dry, very dry, actually, very very dry, and tastes faintly of smoke (which is hardly surprising really). I’ve been awake since about 0530hrs so I have had time to check when breakfast is and have a few sips of the inevitable water so we should be alright !

Halfway down each of the 1km sides (that’s 4km, on sand, in 35deg dry heat, before breakfast- just in case some of you weren’t keeping up…….) was a gate, so we ran to the gate and then walked for a bit then ran to the corner etc. etc. We were fine right up to the point where he asked me if my throat was dry – I had be avoiding falling down a hole up to then but after that all I could think about was how dry my throat was (a bit like when someone tells you not to think about an elephant when you’re not thinking about an elephant…). I had, up to about 0700hrs this morning, for some reason unbeknown to me, imagined that the whole site was flat. In fact this I now discover is not true, as it seems that everywhere I ran this morning was uphill.

When we got back to the gate for me to be handed back to my other set of guards (after sprinting the last 200m – well, that’s what it felt like anyway) I was congratulated on my efforts – which was nice. Would have thanked him by more than just nodding if only I could have spoken !..............................we did roughly the same this evening, although in the opposite direction. We were joined by several of one of our subcontractors, which was great because it kept the pass down to a relative stroll ! Trouble was, I had thought that we weren’t going out this evening so I had already completed a full set of physical jerks in my room. I must be mad – and woe betide any of you who I meet when I get back who don’t start the very first sentence “my God, you’ve lost weight” !

Other events of note today include cake and counting beds. I have a photo of the cake and I would rather forget about counting beds !



The cake was in aid of someone’s engagement but it did make me think that I must get some biscuits to bring back and have spent many pointless minutes mulling it over in my head as to what I should bring. The Iraqis love sugary sweet things so I was thinking about shortbread, but not in a tin because I would have all sorts of problems getting that through customs etc. I have concluded that I should get one of my friends in the catering trade (COUGH COUGH) to obtain a large catering box of those individually wrapped shortbread fingers that you get in hotels so that they will stay fresh and they should go in my bag without getting stolen by some thieving baggage handler or customs officer !

Today’s inventory:

0 Cigars – there was a breakdown in communications between me and the shop owner – clearly he didn’t understand that I will burn his shop down when I get back because he had no power. Anyway, they are now bought and waiting to be shipped out tomorrow. There’s no sign of the boss that was supposed to fly in yesterday, he’s either changed his flight or has been struck down with something. We shall see.

0 units – no big surprise there. Even if I had something to drink then I don’t think I’d drink it out here. One of the things I am looking forward to is having a drink with friends believe it or not. I don’t see it in a noisy pub either. Maybe relaxing in the garden, or at least outside a noisy pub, but I think the key word is relaxing.

0 dollars spent – I guess I will have to part with some tomorrow though for the cigars.

Weather – very hot today, or at least it felt like it. There was no wind and very little humidity so it felt (and I want you to try and imagine this, but children, I don’t want you to try this at home) like that blast of hot air you get when you open the oven door and the fan has been on for a couple of hours……….only it’s like that all day here. Alternatively you could rig up something that means you could wear your hairdryer taped to the top of your head and going flat out on full heat. Try that for a couple of hours, it will give you a good idea.

Gym – 2 x 4km runs through sand in 35deg heat (and it was all uphill honest……) and the same set of exercises as last night although I put several heavy things into the briefcase before I put my body armour over it tonight because I wasn’t feeling enough pain !

Food – I have attached a picture of my new canteen for no other reason than I took it. The food here is the same as all the other meals – chicken or beef (although there was fish at lunchtime – I chose chicken !). I’m still, for me anyway, eating a phenomenal quantity of fruit and veg – it better be doing me some good or I’m straight back on chips and beans !


tiSbah ^ala khayr (Good Night)