My Office

My office equipment. Air duster to blow all the dust and sand off the laptop and desk top. Fly swatter to swat the flies that manage to get into the office, we have my electric zapper to catch flies in flight and a conventional swatter to get those that land. Then I have my sunglasses for when I venture outside of the office and also the control for the air conditioning to keep things nice and cool. Bottles of water to keep hydrated and we now have a fridge that arrived today to keep the bottles of water and cans of drink cold. The printer/scanner arrived today as well which enabled me to print off my e-ticket for the flight home which I was pleased about.

 

It has been a bit like Christmas today in the office with all the things we have managed to get today. Serban came back from his leave and fetched lots of sugar, tea and coffee. We have a kettle in the office now and I asked the contractor to get me a couple of boxes of water so we can now make hot drinks. We also got brushes to sweep the sand up and a big yellow bin outside to put our rubbish in. I never thought I'd be so pleased to have these basic things out here but it makes a huge difference.

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Catering Facilities

The catering facilities on site are good although some of the food combinations are a bit bizzare. The staff are very attentive and like to serve you, but this is not always a good thing as I found out today. I said I would have some of what looked like stew and I got one piece of meat and one and a half mushrooms in sauce?? I made sure I got plenty of onion rings and salad to go with the miniscule stew portion and mash. This evening there is a barbecue and I have heard there are Lobster tails and Steaks on the menu.

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Football in the dark

One thing to keep us occupied out here is a kick around with a football. Last night I had a game of football against some Iraqi workers. The people that know me know that I don't play football and I rarely watch football but out here there is not a lot to do and I need the extra exercise. It was fun while it lasted, towards the end we had three huge lorries turn up and drive straight thru the area that we were using.

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Big Bugs - Ants

While playing football in the dark last night i nearly ran into a bar sticking up out of the ground. I decided to tie some plastic sheeting around it to make it more visible and while doing that I noticed some huge ants running about on the ground.

 

Today I went back to the same place and found the ant hole, Kirk and I decided to pour some water down the hole to see if we could get the ants to come out and sure enough they did. Kirks finger is in the photos so you get a better idea of the size of these things. They are certianly the largest ants I have ever seen.

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More Construction

These photos show the steel grid that make up the roof support for the safe haven in the camp. The safe haven is designed as a temporary place people can go to if the camp is attacked while under construction. It is a shipping container surrounded by Hescos (Huge sand filled cubes of steel mesh and fabric) with a steel roof support that will have Hescos placed on top.

 

This is the second attempt at the roof, the first steel support made collapsed when they filled the Hescos with sand so the contractor had to take it apart and rebuild it again. Three days later, they finished making the steel grid structure and were about to lift it into place when we stopped them. We told the contractor that the crane they had could not safely lift the steel in one piece. Either the steel would bend and buckle or at worst the crane would fall over. After much deliberation it was decided to cut the steel grid into three sections.

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Old Guns

These are some old anti-aircraft and artillary guns that I walked past when I went for my meals. They look like they are no longer in use and I am not sure if they are American or British.

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Sheep

Sheep herding across the oil fields. I cannot imagine this being easy work, trying to get the sheep to jump over the oil pipes.

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More videos

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This time another short video showing what I see whilst travelling to work and back. The plumes of smoke are constantly being spewed out into the air 24/7. What looks like pools of water are pools of oil.

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Sign in the kitchen

I saw this sign in the kitchen today and it made me smile. What a good way to tell people to clean up their mess after making cups of tea and coffee in the middle of Iraq :)

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Guns in the bar

In our bar in the welfare building there are some guns on display, probably guns that have been captured/confiscated and made safe so they no longer fire. The bar bell is made from a large shell casing and you can see this hanging verically in one of the photos. There is also, I think, a rocket propelled grenade launcher on top of the fridge.

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More Images from Southern Iraq

Some more general photos of scenery. Iraqi villagers, reflections of smoke in pools of oil and more rusting tank carcasses.

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Welfare

We have a welfare facility which we make use of. Inside the building there is a pool table, a couple of TVs with satellite systems, dart board, books, dvds and a bar with seating and tables. It's not much but it provides more things to do with your free time. Most people go in to watch football matches and have a game of pool.

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Memorial

There is a memorial on the base in our compound to three men who worked for KBR and died in 2008. What got me when I looked at the plaques was the day they all died, February 18th which also happens to be my birthday. I was told the events of that day, the alarm went off to indicate that there were incomming rockets/mortars and the three men ran to get to hard cover (concrete shelter) instead of lying flat on the ground face down. Because they were running and had not got to a suitable shelter when the bomb landed they were all killed. The men were 35, 39 and 43 years of age and in the wrong place at the wrong time. RIP

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Sweet Iced Tea

Very nice stuff served chilled over ice. It seems to contain a lot of sugar though so I try not to drink it too much. You can buy it by the bottle from a bar here called 'Echos'. A few years ago the bar used to sell alcohol but now it doesn't. We go there for food on the odd occasion for a change.

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The fence is going up

After installing the fence posts and putting the barbed wire on the top the workers are now finishing the perimeter fence. There is a berm (mound of soil round the outside to stop vehicles being driven at the fence and wall) then a gap, then the fence, another gap which will be the perimeter patroling road and then the wall to the camp which has watch towers at each corner.

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The temporary Gym is being constructed

These photos show the containers being put in place for the Gym in the temporary camp (the camp that we, the workers, will live in while the main camp is being built). You can see two shipping containers with the sides cut off being welded together to form the room and also the installation of the wall and ceiling panels. Work continues into the night, the workers prefer working at night because it is cooler.

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My new home

When I move out to site I am going to be living in (sleeping in) a cabin that is not big enough to swing a cat in. I suppose as long as I have somewhere to keep my things, can sleep well and stay cool and dry then nothing else really matters.

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Birdy

Yesterday when I went to the toilet block I noticed a bird through the window, it was just stood there staring in and did not seem too bothered with me being close to the window. I watched it for a while and then went back to the office to get my mobile phone so i could take a photo. When i got back the bird was nowhere to be seen and I had lost my chance. Or so I thought, today I paid a visit to the toilet block and the bird was back, this time I had my phone on me. It seems to like sitting in the little crevice between two broken bricks and the window, outside the block to cannot really see the bird because the top of the bricks are above your head.

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Green Beans Coffee

Went for a wander today and stopped off at Green Beans Coffee to get a smoothie. I was sweating when I got back and it was only a slow stroll, it's hot out there today.

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