We’re clearly scraping the bottom of the barrel for tonight’s topic but I thought I would try and give you an insight into what I am sure some of you will consider a level of sadness unsurpassed by even me over the years – and will have some of you nodding to yourselves whilst looking around to see if anyone is watching. Generally we’ll try and keep it clean though because I don’t want to have to answer embarrassing questions from my son, who I know tunes in on a regular basis !
Amusement for me, here at least, centres around 3 basic things – the gym, my new “friends” and my laptop.
The need for amusement stems from a need to pass a few minutes, which help pass the hours and into ticking off the days. It also comes from an understanding that very little is going to pop up unexpectedly (which round here is not a bad thing……) or as Norman Stanley used to say “keep your head down, your nose clean, do your porridge and get out”. We chuckled when we got up from dinner earlier this evening because as we were walking back from the office we had agreed we’d meet at 6.30 for dinner. It’s unwritten here that you don’t rush to be on time (unless you are close to being locked out of anywhere, like the COB for instance……) so 6.30 turns into 6.45 and you have passed another little bit. We chuckled because we had managed to make dinner last 35 mins in a self service canteen, and we had only managed 15 mins yesterday – some might consider that a little sad, to us, it’s culture !
Anyway, back to the plot – I haven’t been to the gym for a few days because of the stomach thing and it’s seriously impacted on a number of aspects of my life, time wasting being one of them (anorexia being another – I look at myself in the mirror now and all I see is a fat bloke !) – I could pass an hour and a half getting changed, working out, showering and changing again. Now I have to find something to fill in that time (I’m definitely going back to the gym tomorrow night by the way !).
My new friends are another source of amusement. I am calling them friends without really knowing if I will ever see them again outside of Iraq but they have accepted me, without question, into their little community and just assumed that I can get on and do my job (God alone knows why, but they seem happy enough after a month !). They all have a sense of mischief in their own way, even the boss, and I guess that’s compulsory in this sort of environment. They’ve also, as a rule, been doing this sort of thing for years and are conditioned to the whole process with it’s quirky rules and regulations. They are a bit like squaddies in a lot of ways (and a lot of them are , as I am, ex-squaddies), they know where to get a cup of tea at a moments notice, they can hide all day on a nothing task and they can generally scrounge anything.
Yesterday and today we have been a little free’er with our time and as the shop nearest us closed down today we went on a ride (just borrowed the keys to a Landrover) to find another shop on this vast site. We did actually know that there was one, I don’t want you to think we just wandered off in the vague expectation of finding something. The mission was to find “Del Boys” which I thought must just be a nickname but when we reached it, there it was, a huge sign proudly proclaiming Del Boys – on the site since 2003. (he must have come over the border with the first wave to have been here that long but you have to admire either the luck or the irony, of labelling that sort of entrepreneurial spirit in that way). Briefly, Del Boys is no great shakes but it will certainly provide for my basic needs and seems to have the longevity required to get me to Christmas if necessary.
Today they took me to the Ecos. The Ecos is a café (which I will probably elaborate on tomorrow because I am now planning 2 days ahead - and need photos really), and was almost certainly a British squaddies bar at some point. I had a decent cup of coffee, in a china mug, and a biscuit with bits in (they were supposed to be chocolate bits but I’m not sure……..). They had chocolate there as well, in a chiller cabinet. I’ve resisted thinking about it for 4 weeks but I have missed chocolate and was looking forward to some when I got home – I’m going to be strong though………probably.
It was nice – in the last two days I have travelled further around camp than the previous 4 weeks put together. I’ve no idea why, it’s just worked out that way. I think the boss is going to take me back there tomorrow so I might go really mad and have a muffin with my coffee !
The internet is probably a whole days subject in itself but as I have said before, if it wasn’t for Facebook, Skype and my blog I would have been swinging from the rafters long before now (not that there are any by the way). I know some of you are utterly addicted to some aspects of Facebook, as I am, and some of you despise them with the sort of passion that some women reserve for me ! But out here – they’re a heaven sent opportunity for entertainment and amusement ! I play scrabble with people on Facebook, word games with friends on Skype and indulge myself with my blog (I could get into this writing lark with a bit of encouragement) ! I think we can talk about this another day though so I want to keep my powder dry if I can !
Today’s inventory
A bit like yesterday really, 3 cigars so far, but I enjoyed sitting on the step in my pants staring at the moon and smoking a “special” so I suspect we may push up to 4 again today.
0 units
$1 dollar – on my biscuit (someone else bought the coffee)
No gym – but worried now that I’m getting fat again (have I moved seamlessly from alcoholism to an eating disorder ?)
Weather – boring, and from now on I shall only report on the weather by exception……like the one day in 4 weeks when we had some clouds for an hour !
Food – nothing much, apart from the biscuit. I did mix curry, stir fried noodles and sweetcorn salad together for dinner – that was fun (and tasted scrummy)
Countdown – still to many sleeps to worry about !
Skype conversations with Mohaia – 1 (I promised I’d give her a mention and that I’d weave it in subtly…… well, you can’t have everything I suppose !)
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