Still alive!

Just had 8 days of internet and phone downtime. Crazy place.

Sabratha

I can't believe this was 4 weeks ago already but there you have it.

So, on Friday 17th October, Mark & Judith organised a trip to Sabratha for a bunch of us. In the end, Alan and Heather joined too with their car so it was a highly organised mini-expedition :-) It was great having Heather there as she could provide some context (Classics phD).

Also present were Azrina, the cross-postee from Malaysia, and Salim (5 of us in M&J's Xtrail) and a couple of geophysicists (Steve and Dinger) in A&H's Xtrail.

Here are the pics, it was a fantastic day out and I must say I got very excited after recognising various parts of the town, and houses etc. So nice to look at Roman history again and so impressive to see what they had managed to achieve more than 2000 years ago. From the photos, you will see that it was a pretty big town, and quite well preserved/restored in parts too (theatre).

Unfortunately I was having exposure problems and my camera needs a good clean-out too so between the two the photos aren't the best but hope they give a decent impression of the place anyway...

For more on Sabratha, you'll just have to come out and visit...

The coliseum


Azrina about to go and meet the lions...

Panem et circenses

Heather in action, with Steve and Salim

The theatre

An old friend...(Paris)

My latin may be abysmal but I am still able to crack a joke:

Come on, it's funny!!

Dinger and Alan trying out the facilities

Hehehe

The trip was rounded off by a highly enjoyable barbecue at Alan & Heather's, sitting back relaxing gazing at the setting sun...life could be a lot worse.

By the way, Alan & Heather are friends with Nick S whom I know from Rijswijk (see old posts) and Mark & Judith I know through Abi2 from Rij as well so it's rather nice completing that circle and getting to know them all a little :-)

Better now :-)

Well I can't say all is well again but I am certainly feeling a lot better now. The house problem especially has been resolved: basically there was a problem with the wiring of the house: it wasn't earthed! and only had single phase supply. Luckily work agreed to sort it out on Monday so I can keep the house and should be moving in in about 1 week-10 days now.

My driving licence is still not here but should be arriving in the next few days apparently.

I still disagree with Marc but we'll get over it.

I can stop worrying about Avantika being tired of having me around as I will not be staying on that much longer; as well as about the dog as again, it isn't such a long wait anymore and when I went to see him last night he came straight up to me and gave me a big lick on the nose :-)

Photos coming up...

Hrmph

I am having a bad day. Everything is going wrong. First my driver was ill, then my house is going down the tubes, then my driving licence is still not ready, I am having a disagreement with our General Manager and I have a headache. :-(
boo hoo hoo :-( why can't anything work.

No comms

We lost all comms in the office last week for three days due to a cut in the main data cable somewhere down the street. What a very strange feeling that was! Completely missed the US elections, impossible to make any phone calls or let anyone know of the problems as even out-of-office didn't work, only reachable by mobile phone for those who know the number.

I just ended up going to my house and doing offline HSE training but it was starting to get rather tedious towards the end and I don't want to imagine how many lost man-hours that cost us...

But hey, that's part of the package here and it would be rather weird for everything to go smoothly. We have only had 2 power cuts since I got here which is a huge achievement apparently, so things are improving.

I must say I have completely transformed my way of thinking already (you have else you leave)...expecting the unexpected is an understatement, and gaining the ability to be amazed when something is there AND works too is a helpful skill to have ;-) Just getting used to the conecpt of having to fix things on a regular basis and basically remember how to be practical around the house is the biggest thing actually, and it makes you realise just how many comforts you take for granted back home.

Anyway, enough of all that, I should go and enjoy the beautiful sunny weather outside (25 degrees) and upload my offline posts tomorrow.

Ciao ciao!