This morning I headed over to the pool after breakfast to have a swim and a read, and I spotted my first swallow! It was whizzing around overhead (there are a lot of flies here) and then started dipping into the pool for a drink :-) It is the only swallow I have seen so far, and I imagine it is a scout for a larger group migrating south for the winter. I wish they could stay here...the flies have an annoying tendency to stick around people and land on your face...bvvvvv.
Speaking of wildlife, I also saw a white owl on one of my first evenings here. Otherwise I have spotted a few unidentified birds around, and some small doves. The nice thing about the swimming pool is that is attracts loads of fauna (though I did have to rescue some 23 beetles the other day!) and most of the time it is lined, and taken over by, dragonflies in all shapes and sizes. Unfortunately I don't have the right lens to take photos of them but they are pretty amazing to watch (and they also tend to drink while I am swimming). I have taken a couple of photos from the internet to illustrate some of the types seen here.
Wednesday and Thursday went quite well, I am enjoying sitting in the afternoon meetings with the rig as that is what I came for! but it is rather frustrating to see how slowly things are moving there. Obviously I am spoilt from Salym, where the drillers had it down to a tee...but why don't these drillers just get on with it, instead of spending hours discussing 'what ifs' that they can't do anything about in the first place?! grr, I'm glad rig 2 ('mine') will be headed up by Bert!
The logging from the other day went a bit wrong and a piece of the tool broke off in the hole. I think today they are finally 'grinding' it down with a mill bit. Behind that, they have fixed something called a Junk Basket, which does exactly what it says on the tin: it is there to help evacuate any rubbish that has fallen down the hole - in this case, metal shavings! So I will find out on Sunday what the status is on that - Yvan is the one following the well full time.
I also went to see various people in the office, from Gas&Power (different part of the company) and Finance, to find out about what they are doing and how we interact with them. Matthew C and I have started unofficially competing as to who will organise the most meetings to organise the other person...which is fun as we are getting through loads of things. I am losing and don't mind because he is doing all the organising!!
I also went to see a chap called Nick K, who is in charge of all the mapping. He will give me a GPS when I have signed the contratc on my house so we can pinpoint exactly where it is. He is having a great time out here, doing what he loves: at the weekend, he goes camping in the desert with his wife, looking for Roman and Greek ruins, flying a kite above them to get the best coordinates as well as an areal image!
The Ferret was apparently due to get married last night! I thought people had to wait till the end of Ramadan, but I guess it's just the end of fasting. I wasn't sure if I had understood correctly but he then started talking about Samira, and how she was 'a woman of traditional build' to borrow Mma Ramotswe's delicate phraseing ('she big wooman - good, hahaha', would be the verbatim transcription). So he will have something to talk about on Sunday morning! He was hopelessly late on Wed and Thursday but there is nothing much that can be done about it in the period of Ramadan. As of Sunday, I will ask reception to call me when he arrives and go back to bed in the meantime!!
I have been feeling really tired so slept quite a lot today and will try and do the same tomorrow. I think it has to do with all the changes, in weather, in culture, in work, in routine...and I seem to remember having a similar problem in Salym, though I think sleep patterns were so random there that I got over it a lot faster - a bit like jetlag!
I have developed a form of nettle rash over the last week, and as it didn't look like it was going away, I went along to Medilink to see a doctor. He turned out to be Tunisian and very happy that I knew where he came from (the places I have visited in Tunis) so took his time and actually explained what he thought the problem was. It seems like I have an allergy, which he thinks is caused by tinned tuna. Based on the amounts I have suddenly been eating I think it is quite plausible, so have been staying away form the stuff, which is no mean feat out here (Tunisia team - remember, remember). I am also trying to avoid other tinned foods which might have the same conservation products in them.
If that is not the cause, I will need to take a scientific approach to the issue and start testing things. I do hope it's not the pool. Or the water in the shower...
In the meantime, I am taking disgusting anti-histamine/anti-allergic drops and trying not to scratch all the skin off my hands :-(
On that cheerful note, it's time to say: Bye For Now!
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