This morning I packed up my troubles in my old kit bag and lugged it all the way down the noisiest and bumpiest road imaginable, to the office. I then collected my body armour and helmet (a must when going out for the day – it would be like not taking an umbrella !), and loaded the whole lot into the back of one of the armoured cars along with my laptop and set off to Never Never Land.
I had cunningly kept my key whilst I had been away for a couple of nights but having lugged all that lot across the gravel to what I thought was my room, I discovered someone else’s kit strewn all over the place and the bed not made. The upshot was that eventually I loaded the whole lot back into the armoured car and brought it all back to the COB because they didn’t have any space for me !
Anyway, to cut a long story short, it’s caused a bit of a ho-ha because we had been promised 2 beds in Phase 0 (in fact we had been “told” that we should be there and that beds would be provided). It now seems that we are lower down the scale than cooks and security guards – which is nice…….(bet they wish they had my wages though !) 
We shall see what the morning brings but I’ve just about managed to secure my old room at the COB, I’ve unpacked and I’m not packing tomorrow – for anyone !
One good thing about travelling is that we constantly take different routes at different times so you are constantly noticing different things, one of which is the reason we are all here……apart from the weapons of mass destruction obviously:
You see these drilling platforms (see, I got all the lingo !) off in the distance most of the time and trying to take a picture of a needle in the distance, from a moving car, through a smoked glass window, with a point and shoot camera, with the flash off, is nigh on pointless. But today we drove right past a couple right by the road so I thought you would appreciate a picture !
I also couldn’t resist this picture of the local superstore – it’s a crap picture (because I had the flash on up against the window) but you get the idea. I think he’s opened up to rival the South Rumailah Shopping Centre but he was struggling for business when we drove by !
Today’s inventory:
3 cigars – it has also been confirmed that the shop at the COB is to close on the 27th July……..don’t panic, take deep breaths. We still have one or two people who are able to go into the US base and use their PX, for a while anyway, and there are always people coming and going who could bring me in 100 Villigers………. And a very nice man, who is going home tomorrow, gave me 3 proper cigars which I will need my cutter for (I have 2 here just in case you were panicking…..). Now all I want is a special occasion !
0 Units
0 Dollars
Gym – nothing today. I had such a bad nights sleep that when I finally got to sleep I didn’t wake up till 7.30 and by the time I got back here tonight and unpacked I was knackered – I’ll try again in the morning……
Weather – Windy but not as hot for some reason. I’m going to have baby soft skin when I get back from all this exfoliation though, even if I can’t get the sand out of my ears !
Food – nothing really of note except the beef pie this evening had enough gravy to actually call it gravy……needless to say I got it all down the front of my shirt because I am so out of practice with gravy ! I haven’t opened my Doritos yet by the way…..they’re sitting by the side of my bed – calling to me……….
I have set aside (in my mind at least) a blog day for the things that I didn’t need that I brought and the things that I did need and I didn’t bring. I might add to that by including the most useful things that I brought – if you’re wondering where that strange statement suddenly came from then it’s because I have wished fervently, on any number of occasions, that I had brought some gravy granules with me !
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