From that comment you will gather that I haven't yet got to site but following discussions I will be bedding down there tomorrow. I have to come back on Sunday night as I have to go and have an interview with the CIA to see if I'm a terrorist - I'll try and keep a straight face !
My accommodation will be in the prison in the centre of the photograph and I will effectively be stuck in prison from around 4 in the afternoon until 1000hrs the next day. This is because my security have nowhere to live on site at the moment and therefore I will have to come under the clients security system which just guard the prison and escort the client. For a variety of reasons my security won't get to me until about 1000hrs and they will have to leave to get back to the COB by about 4. It will be an interesting exercise in self entertainment. There will TV there shortly (I have TV where I am and have hundreds of channels but after scroling through over 250 without finding an English speaking one the box locked up in disgust and I haven't turned the TV on since) and there is already internet, all be it sporadic....... and a table football game !
There isn't a gym however........ My camp guards (the one's who guard the whole site rather than the prison) are going to collect me for a run at 6 in the morning and 6 at night......which will be nice. It's 4km all the way round so we'll see how we get on with a bit of military fitness. We're thinking boot camps might catch on here.........
There's lots of work going on with the rest of the site as you can tell with big diggers and graders and lorries and everything - it's all jolly exciting !
The picture above is typical of the skyline all around us. The call it "flaring" and it is the natural gas that comes out of the ground at the same time as the oil but is no good for anything else so they burn it. I have heard that there is enough gas burnt off across this field to power a station to provide enough electricity to supply the whole of Britain - how true this is I have no idea but it's plausable.
I asked how come they don't build a power station here and give everyone free power and someone just pointed to the delapidated pylons running off into the distance with wires and cables hanging off. That's the problem really - they can make as much power as they could cope with but they can't store it and they can't distribute it. On that happy note we can run through todays inventory before I go and get my clothes out of the drier (it's Friday and all the domestics have a day off):
2 cigars - but that's it ! Someone came in from Bahrain whilst I was on site today but I haven't had a chance to find out if he remembered to bring me any. I have another supply lined up for Tuesday which will prove very useful if this one falls over.
0 Units
0 Dollars - I was clearing out my draws earlier and found the rest of my money that I stashed when I got here and it was talking to me - I nearly logged onto e-bay !
Gym - I have decided that unless I don't go to the gym or I do something different then you can just assume that I have been.
Weather - 51deg and not much wind which made it feel even hotter.
Food - my favourite spicy noodles and salad, and an apple. Iraqi lunch today was very boring, just bread, beans, cucumber and tomatos. Where as we gourge ourselves on our religious day they go the opposite way. I think I like our way better but I can see the merits of theirs - not least having spicy beef noodles when your starving !
Countdown - I will do a countdown I have decided, but not until I have got over the hump and am counting down in a big way. I haven't fixed my return date yet, and it depends on a number of things - not least whether I have the guts to fly Iraqi airlines on Friday the 13th !
Off to the laundry - a womans work is never done !
I asked how come they don't build a power station here and give everyone free power and someone just pointed to the delapidated pylons running off into the distance with wires and cables hanging off. That's the problem really - they can make as much power as they could cope with but they can't store it and they can't distribute it. On that happy note we can run through todays inventory before I go and get my clothes out of the drier (it's Friday and all the domestics have a day off):
2 cigars - but that's it ! Someone came in from Bahrain whilst I was on site today but I haven't had a chance to find out if he remembered to bring me any. I have another supply lined up for Tuesday which will prove very useful if this one falls over.
0 Units
0 Dollars - I was clearing out my draws earlier and found the rest of my money that I stashed when I got here and it was talking to me - I nearly logged onto e-bay !
Gym - I have decided that unless I don't go to the gym or I do something different then you can just assume that I have been.
Weather - 51deg and not much wind which made it feel even hotter.
Food - my favourite spicy noodles and salad, and an apple. Iraqi lunch today was very boring, just bread, beans, cucumber and tomatos. Where as we gourge ourselves on our religious day they go the opposite way. I think I like our way better but I can see the merits of theirs - not least having spicy beef noodles when your starving !
Countdown - I will do a countdown I have decided, but not until I have got over the hump and am counting down in a big way. I haven't fixed my return date yet, and it depends on a number of things - not least whether I have the guts to fly Iraqi airlines on Friday the 13th !
Off to the laundry - a womans work is never done !
"someone just pointed to the delapidated pylons running off into the distance with wires and cables hanging off"
ReplyDeleteWhy cant they build / renew the pylons?
--
Mark
Mark, we are under constant armed protection whenever we aren't within a secure compound (which was hit by rocket fire yesterday), there is petty corruption rife across all sectors as far as I can tell, and we're operating in 50deg+ heat in the middle of the desert. Rebuilding the infrastructure sounds like a great idea but until they can get a grip of themselves you won't find anyone else willing to take the risk. Besides, if you did rebuild them they would have a perfect excuse to get isolated groups of people out into the desert by simply blowing them up.
ReplyDeleteUnderstood, such a waste.
ReplyDelete