Arrived safely

I am now sitting on pad 5 after a fairly straightforward journey.
Set off yesterday morning at 6am and it took under half an hour to get to Heathrow! There weren't exactly many people on the road. After sitting back in the BA lounge for a bit, got on the BA flight which went smoothly; only 11 people in business class (can take up to 35 people).

The transfer from airport to airport in Moscow was fine too, with only a bit of time spent stuck in traffic. All the cars were covered in a dull black layer, which is what is put down on the roads there when it snows. Moscow temperature: -5 deg with snow.

Found Sasha in the business lounge and flew to Surgut, also uneventful. Found out that a bus had been organised the next day to take everybody to basecamp, as there weren't enough tickets left on the trains. We left at 8.30 this morning, which was quite a reasonable time.

Slept most of the 5 hours to basecamp, then spent a few hours there, were Stijn handed over and we discussed what is next. Then drove on to pad 54 to pick up a technician (new one called Ivan) then onto pad 5 where we had dinner, after which the boys left.

Here, they have had quite a few problems drilling today so everything has been delayed. Drilling was supposed to be finished today but they are still at it now, so it looks like a rather short night for me! Tomorrow there is a PEX and an XPT planned with Schlumberger, so that will take about 16 hours...due to jetlag, I am not yet tired and I assume my body will just adapt to sleeping when it can (again).

I briefly met CJ at basecamp, Gilles' back-to-back (B2B), but he has left this evening and Gilles doesn't arrive till Saturday, so we shall see how that goes-Alexey is in charge (-ish)!

When we stepped out of the airport in Surgut last night around 1am, it was -7 and snowing. As I came out I looked up to see an enormous Christmas tree...I will have had a white Christmas after all :-)

I'd better get on with looking at the well so far and preparing for tomorrow-it's now -20 here by the way so pretty chilly!