Have Passport, Will Travel

2010-08-11T13:08:00.003+01:00

Afternoon,

A few months ago we had a quick weekend trip to Holland to visit my parents. They were of camping so the house was empty which meant that there was place for us. I brought my brother in law Jarred, his wife Clare, Jackie and her mum Barbara...

On the saturday we went to visit my parents on their campsite. We had given them a barbeque as a present and as we had a head chef with us (Jarred) we had an imprompty barbie... Needless to say that Jarred did us proud and cooked a great barbie!!!

Jarred had to get used to the fact that the dutch eat all the time even when camping...

This was my parents caravan.. Hmm, looks a lot neater than my caravan...

Barbara relaxing in my parents house back garden. A good time was had by all as the weather was great and the food ace and the green wonderful hahahahahaha!!!

Cheerio,

Alex.

James 21 in a silly hat...

2010-08-11T12:56:00.002+01:00

Another late entry...

These are some piccies from James' birthday in April. He had come up from High Wycombe from Uni so we had to throw a little party...

This is yours truly hiding the fact that the cider was having a great effect in the sun hahahaha!

We had the party at the place where Uncle Jarred works so he did the honours with the cake...

Silly hat competition: James wins!!!

Everyone diving into the chocolate monstruosity...

Two of James' cousins digging into the dinner...

It was a nice little party with some decent cider and some good grub...

Cheerio,

Alex.

In the jungle, the mighty Jungle Jackie screams tonite!!!

2010-08-06T12:01:00.004+01:00

Wheyhey another update...

While we were in Varadero, Cuba we went to some nature reserve. In that place they have the
oldest remains ever found in Cuba. They are believed to be from neolithic times...

This was a small cave where they found some skeletal remains...

Lots of bromeliads hanging of trees and it was boiling hot of course...

This here made Jackie run for the hills shrieking like a banshee... If you look carefully you can see a small snake in the middle. It was some little tree snake but it was enough to make her leg it... I don't know who was more scared, the snake or Jackie hahahahahahha!!!

Lots of cute little lizards everywhere...

Oh, and some dolphins... No they were not wild, they were penned in and were tame...

All in all a nice day out tromping through the undergrowth...

Cheerio,

Alex.

Cuba Holiday April 2010...

2010-08-06T11:29:00.003+01:00

Afternoon!

Like per usual this must be a record, I haven't updated this Blog for ages now... Mainly because I was busy and also because I had better things to do...

In the mean time I have been to Cuba with my wife, to Dubai with my Lebanese agent, to India with my Indian rep and various other places in the last few months...

Right Cuba...

That was an eye opener I can tell you. The place is absolutely stunning but its ruined by the fact that the cuban people are dirt poor and under control of the government... They make fuck all money there while they see rich freely spending tourist having fun in their paradise...

This was the beach right outside my hotel in Varadero. Varadero is a 20 mile strip of white sandy beaches and lots of all inclusive hotels...

We did this holiday as a two centre jobbie. We stayed in Havana the first three days which was brilliant. Loadsa bars and restaurants and they all had one thing in common, they all had little cuban bands playing. This restaurant which strangely was called Vietnamese Reastaurant even though it didn't serve anything remotely Vietnamese had this combo playing. They were really good. It transpired that a lot of cubans are properly trained musicians that can't get any decent work so they have to work the tourist scene... After that we relocated to Varadero for 10 days lounging on the beach... what hardship that was... hahahahaha...

While we were in Havana this UK registered boat showed up to show the locals that yes, we are dirty capitalists... Bloody huge...

And yes, the cliche is true, the whole place is full of pre- 1957 american cars. This is because the govermnent doesn't allow any normal person to buy a new car... So they have to make do with these old bangers that look good but are pretty crap...

This is the Government House in Havana. Looks a bit like the White House doesn't it?

So, all in all, I enjoyed Cuba but I would not go back in a hurry unless there is regime change... I can't bear to watch these poor people living in paradise without any bloody money just because their government thinks that communism is the way forward...

By the way, Mojitos rock!!! Never drunk so much rum in my life!!! Hahahhahahaha!!!

Alex.

Keyur's new car...

2010-02-28T15:42:00.003Z

Afternoon all,

I had to post this... This was very very funny!!! On the friday myself and Keyur had flown to Ahmedabad in Gujarat. That is where his offices are and we had some office stuff to sort out between Thermoteknix and his company. He told me that on the saturday we had to go and pick up his new car. No worries. So on saturday afternoon after a good vegetarian meal at some curry house we made our way to the Honda dealer. His new car was there, all spruced up with ribbons and all that... They made him pose with a big cardboard cut out key and took some pictures. The car was polished to a high gloss...

Keyur with the new car key and the new car moments before driving it of the forecourt...

In his car with some paper certificate that he now was the owner of brand spanking new Honda... This is saturday 16:00... (mark the time... its important...)

This is sunday morning around 11:00 am. Keyur in the street surrounded by loads of people argueing and shouting in the middle of Ahmedabad...

This yellow and green auto rickshaw had piled in the back of it, not that hard, then another bigger autorickshaw had piled into the back of that which rammed the first one firmly into our boot of the brand new Honda...

So there you have it. The boot lid on that car was les than a day old and it was already dented to buggery... While we were sorting the paperwork I just couldn't stop laughing... I had said to him while we drove of the forecourt on the saturday: 'I wonder how long it will be until you have your first dent in it...'. Hahahahahahahahahaha!!! Exactly 19 hours hahahahahaha!!! By the way no one was hurt and the insurance covered it all so all was well that ended well....

Keyur, you have had it now for over week, how many dents have you got already?

Cheerio,

Alex.

DefExpo 2010 New Delhi 2010...

2010-02-28T15:29:00.003Z

Afternoon all,

Its been a while since I updated the Blog but here goes...

The last two weeks I've spent in India. The first week in New Delhi on the Defence Expo where my company showed some InfraRed cameras. We had a good uptake at the show, lots of visitors and lots of interested companies...

This is yours truly in a monkey suit with Alistair the product manager Imaging...

This was the small booth we had there with Mr Keyur in the picture. He is our local representative for our cement products and as of now also involved in the sales of our Miricle cameras...

There was loads of nice hardware there, from handguns to complete ballistic missiles... All of this stuff is Indian made defence gear. We are busy trying to get in with these kind of companies as there is a lot of money available as there are lots of threats in the Indian region...

Another nice example of some big missiles... dunno what they where for but they sure looked dangerous...

Another example of a rocket launcher that was parked outside where our booth was. All three of us had a good if exhausting time at the show. At least we did find the time in the evenings to blow of some steam and drink a few Kingfishers... While we were there Alistair had his birthday and Keyur managed to get a cake from somewhere that we ate on his birthday. All in all a good first attempt at the Indian defense market... Now all we have to do is see where it takes us...

Cheerio,

Alex.

Oi Love the snow, me!

2009-12-20T09:56:00.004Z

Morning All!

We woke up this morning to another fresh layer of snow. It is perishing out there. We took Jay and Kenzo out to the rabbitfield. It was beautiful there this morning. The first piccie is Little Cornard blazing in the morning sunlight, blue sky, sharp light, beautiful...
Little Cornard...

Little Cornard...

Hey Jay, whats with all this cold wet stuff???

Jay, why is she wearing a dead ferret on 'er head?

Oi love the snow, me!!!

Snow on me hooter? Where?

I recommend these snowbaths! Good fun and does wonders for the skin!

A good wash in the morning...

Is this how you do it Jay? Is this enough snow?

Mum, for god sake ttake that stupid hat off, you are walking next to me and you are dragging down the style here....

So we had a nice but cold trot around the snow. Kenzo seems to be enjoying her walks. I can't wait when we can start letting her off the lead. It will be a while though as she first has to start listening to her name. Jay loved the snow as per usual. Charging around like a mad man, buldozering his hooter under the snow, rolling in it, just good clean cold fun!

Cheerio,

Alex.

You know when you've been Kenzo'd...

2009-12-20T07:33:00.002Z

Good afternoon,

After the sadness of losing our little girl Izzy a while ago we have a new arrival...

On friday I returned from a two week trip to Saudi Arabia. After countless internal flights without a hitch or delay I return to the UK and Hoppa! Flight diverted to Heathrow, bags missing, traffic on the M25 blocked because of 1 mm of snow... Welcome to Blighty...

And this was the one day I needed to be back on time. We had to pick up our new greyhound, Kenzo. I had to get there before 2 oclock in the afternoon. With my flight arriving at 6:55 AM no worries, you'd think... Think again, I finally got home around 1 PM. Jumped in the shower, had a cuppa amd went straight out again to Dillymore Kennels. There we met up with Debby who runs the kennels.

We had come to have a look for a new dog 4 weeks ago and we had been shown a very young dog with no name. She was attacked when she was a puppy by her litter mates and because of that she refused to run. So she didn't go to the track and was straight up for rehoming. As she didn't race she didn't have a name and was not registered on the track.

So after a few days of coming up with bizarre names we finally ended up with Kenzo. We picked her up in a snowstorm and took her from the kennels home to our house.

And here she is, the little stunner! Kenzo in all her glory. She is a blue. That is what greyhound types call a grey dog... Strange...

And here we are showing that greyhounds are very adaptable. Within hours of arriving Kenzo was sleeping on the sofa with Jay!

In the evening I was channel hopping on the telly and found "One man and his dog." Kenzo loved it. She stood watching it on the telly, barking at the dogs and the sheep. Then she had a look behind the telly to see where the sheep were going, it was hilarious!!!

Come bye, come bye, a bit left, a bit right!!!

And this is her knackered in her bed in her new house. Sofar it has been great. You can tell that she is a new dog that has never been in a house. She is constantly snuffling around, trying to see what she can steal... She loves the back garden where she can tear around with JayJay. So indeed, it was a few bad months with poor old Izzy's demise but now we are looking forward again. This is the first grey that we have had that has been younger than 5 years. At 18 months she is virtually a puppy and I am sure at some point in time she will drive us mental but sofar so good, things are going very well...

I'll keep you updated...

Alex and Jac.

My baby is gone...

2009-10-31T14:35:00.004Z

Afternoon,

A sad say for us...

For you that read the Blog on a regular basis know that our little Izzy was ill. We got her home last thursday from Dick White Referrals. She was happy and we were over the moon that she was responding to the treatment. Unfortunatly over the last few days it became clear that things were not OK...

Even though my baby was eating like a horse and fighting really hard, the weight started dropping of her. By friday she was like a walking skeleton. On friday afternoon we took her to the normal vet to see if there was anything that we could do to get her to put some weight on. The shocking news was that because of the damage done to her gut she could not absorb any of the food that she ate. After consultation with the vet we had to take the hard decision to let her go. Although she was fighting like a lion this was a battle she could not win.

Jackie held my little girl as she slipped away... I am very proud of her, she went with dignity... Good girl, Izzy...

Rest in Peace my little girl.

Izzy, Racing name 'Is You Is'
Born: Ireland 26th of May 2002
Died: 30th of October 2009.

Little Izzy came to us 1 1/2 year ago. We used to put our other grey, Jay, in racing kennels near Colchester, Dillymore Kennels. As Jay can be a grumpy one the last two times he was there he was put together in a kennel with a brood bitch. She was used in the kennels to calm jumpy and nervous dogs down. Jay really got on well with her. So we asked if she was up for rehoming. Even though she was a personal favourite of the kennel owners they allowed us to rehome her. From day one Izzy was very happy. She tried to make Jay play (Fat chance... He dont do play!), she loved the big walks in the countryside, happily murdering rabbits with JayJay. Within two days Izzy and JayJay were sleeping arse to arse on the settee. She was not very lucky with illnesses. She had corns on her feet that were cut out three times. She had a toe amputated because of that. Then this spring she got spindle cell cancer on her leg. That was successfully treated and we thought we were out of the woods. Then two months ago she got bad diarrea and the rest is history.

At the moment my wife and myself are pretty cut up... But some of her antics can make us smile again...

There was the time when we went boating on the Broads. We didn't know how the dogs would take to that but they loved it. One day we were moored up near Wroxham. We had the top of the boat open. We took our eyes of her for a second and hoppa, she legged it over the side and went to visit a painter that was sitting further down the bank. We quickly rounded her up but the painter said he didn't mind, she was a very friendly dog. The picture above is from that trip. As space was at a premium on the tub Izzy had taken to sleeping with the missus. She started at the foot end but by morning she would be laying with her head next to Jackie happily snoring on the pillow.

She was a favourite at the RGT shows that she went to with JayJay and the missus. Most of the time she would just lay in the grass surrounded by little children that would pat her continously... We never heard a bark or a growl out of her, she was a very happy cheerful dog. When I came down this morning and she was not there with her tail wagging, hopping around to go for a walk it hit home again. I have lost my happy little girl...

Another funny side of her was her mothering side. She had had two litters. The last lot was send to Ireland for training for the track. They were sent back within weeks as they would not run. Basically she loved her little ones so much that she would not let them out of her sight. That was also evident at home. She had a crate full of old teddy and toys. She would take them one by one and round them up and lay right on top of a whole heap of toys... Little minx...

So, Izzy, I hope you are happy wherever you are, playing together with my other grayhound Mick that went before you. We miss you like mad and are very happy and proud to have had you in our lives for a short time... Thank you for all the good times...

Last night we put a little candle and a teddy on Mickey's grave. The candle burned all night for her...

Run free forever my baby...

Alex and Jackie.

She's home!!!

2009-10-23T13:50:00.003+01:00

Afternoon!!!

Finally the patient is home. It was a bit of a shock seeing her. We last saw her on saturday a week ago and she was swollen up quite bad. Now that they have the protein and albumen level thing sorted and she is on steroids she has lost all the swelling. But now she looks like a p.o.w. from a concentration camp... She is just skin over bones...

We reckon that she has lost over 8 kilos and that is a lot on a 26 kg dog... Never mind, we can now start feeding her up again. She is on a special fish and spud based diet because she can only have certain types of protein. Luckily my other grey, Jay, doesn't mind the stuff either so we can feed them both at the same time....

Weightloss aside she is happy as Larry being home. She is constantly busy herding up her stuffed toys as she always has done...

Here you can see that there is not much left of her. The ribs stick out, the pin bones on the back are very visible and of course she is bald on both her sides where she was xrayed and bold on her neck where the intravenous drip was stuck in... Still beautiful to us!!!

Never mind, she is back home and the missus and me will lavish care and attention on her to ensure that she stays with us for quite a bit longer hopefully...

Happy days!!!

Alex.

Wheyhey! She's coming home!!!

2009-10-22T13:23:00.003+01:00

Result!

Yesterday we got another call from the vet. They have pinpointed the problem with Izzy. She is suffering from Lympangiectasia. This is an affliction of the lower intestines that stop the body absorbing protein. The vets have taken Izzy of the intravenous feed and she has managed to keep her albumen levels up for 48 hours. This means that she is coming home!!!

This is not something that can be cured but it can be managed, whoopey! She will have to have a special low fat diet and medication but that can be done.

Her is another piccie of her Ladyship reclining in her bed.

I am going to pick her up from Six Mile Bottom in Cambridgeshire after work and bring her home finally. I dread to think what the grand total of the vets bill is up to but luckily she is insured. We thank the staff at http://www.dickwhitereferrals.com/site/ . They have been very good. When we took Izzy there it looked like we would be digging a hole in the back garden soon for her but with the very proffessional care, attention and medical excellence we now should be OK for a few more years of IzzyMissWizzy's presence!!!

Time for a beer tonight, methinks...

Cheerio,

Elmer.

Good news about Izzy!!!

2009-10-21T17:02:00.003+01:00

Afternoon all...

Finally some encouraging news about Izzy...

I got a call yesterday evening from the vets that they had the results from the biopsy. The biopsy showed NO signs of Lymphoma. It did show that she does have a problem with her lower intestines. The problem is something that I can't pronounce and can't remember but more importantly it is treatable. She will have to be on a low fat diet for the rest of her life and take drugs...

They told us yesterday that today they will take out the intravenous feed. They will test the albumen (protein) levels and then see if she can keep these levels up. If she can then she might be able to come home on friday... Thank god, the bills are through the roof...

So, again, fingers crossed but it looks like that poor old Jay will have to share his settee again!

Cheerio,

Alex.

Izzy still ill...

2009-10-20T16:43:00.003+01:00

Good afternoon...

OK, here is another update of Izzy's progress at the vet Hospital in Six Mile Bottom...

We went to visit her on saturday. At least we could combine the trip as Jackie's mum
had heart surgery to fix aleaky valve and a bypass. She is fine by the way...

We had a bit of a shock when we saw her. Both her sides have been shaved for the scans. She had a drip feed that is giving her steroids. She couldn't walk very well as all of her paws had swollen up. We stayed with her for half an hour and we were allowed to give her her lunch which she actually ate quite well...

This is the patient with her neck bandage and her drip... Poor thing...

Yep, she has now two windows, one on either side...

Now we get to the important bit... On saturday the news was not good. Her protein levels were very low, down to 12 whatever that means. On the sunday we got a call saying that the protein levels were now back up to 20 which is good. They took a biopsy on friday and we are still waiting for the result. If that result shows no Lymphoma then we have a fighting chance. That would mean that it is some kind of bowel disorder which should be treatable. If it is Lymphoma then there is not too much hope. She might have 4 weeks, she might have half a year...

Yesterday on monday they called us again to tell us that the swelling around her face and legs had gone down so I guess that is progress...

So we are still on tenterhooks waiting for the biopsy result...

I'll update this when we have more information, fingers crossed, it's time for my little girl to come home, Jay is missing her...

Alex.

My little girl is ill...

2009-10-16T15:57:00.004+01:00

Afternoon...

I was going to update the Blog with some pictures and stories from my excellent holiday in Alonissos Greece but things have changed...

My pretty little girl Izzy has gotten very ill. She started to suffer from diarrea 6 weeks ago. After a week we took her to the vet as it was not getting any better. They took faeces samples and send them off. All came back negative... Then they did some blood tests. Almost all of those came back negative...

This is Izzy gambolling around on the water meadows in Sudbury...

Then one of the blood tests showed a low protein count. After some trails with some AntiBiotics and a few doses of ProColin nothing improved. We took her to the Ipswich Game and Country show to the RGT Greyhound stand. Fortunately her original owner was there. He took one look at her and said take her straight to the vet on monday.

This is my baby going for a swim in Bridgstreet Forest with Jay my other dog in the foreground...

So we took her back and the local vet took one look and referred us to Dick White Referrals in Six Mile Bottom in Cambridgeshire. I took her there on the wednesday and that is where she has been for three days now. It is not looking good... Her tummy is swollen up because there is liquid leaking from the bowels into the chest cavity. Also her neck is swollen...

This is Izzy having a swim this summer...

They have done a load of tests and this is where we stand sofar... It could be Lymphoma which gives her about 4 to 8 weeks to live. It could be some form of Crohns disease which could be treatable, depending upon how she reacts to the medication.

This is her in Wormingford having a cuddle with the missus...

She is now on steroids since yesterday and has started intravenous feeding to get her protein levels up. If she reacts positively to this and the last results show that it is not Lymphoma then she has a chance...

We got little Izzy a year and a half ago. She fitted right in with my older grumpy greyhound Jay. They are inseparable now. From the start she has had quite a few things go wrong. It started with corns that stopped her from running. We had them shaved off a few times but they always came back. Then we found Bill Steel in Colchester. He is a special vet that deals mostly with greyhounds and their peculiar diseases. He suggested taking out a bone from her foot. We had that done and within a month she was back to her normal self...

Then a few months later we noticed a lump on her hind leg. We thought it was a insect bite. That turned out to be spindle cell cancer. She had that removed in a big operation and after a few weeks of recuperation she was fine again...

Now this...

This is breaking my heart... poor little girl...

I'll keep you updated. We are going to see her tomorrow in the specialist vets where she is, she must miss the cuddles from the missus...

Alex.

The dutch came over...

2009-08-01T14:40:00.003+01:00

Afternoon!

I realised that I had forgotten to update my Blog with pictures from my birthday. My dad, my brother Hans and his son Wessel came over. They didn't come over the way normal people would do it, like, go by boat or plane... No, they came over on the motorcycle. Hans on his speedy Gonzales jap machine and my dad on his chopper and Wessel on the back with him.

This is my dad enjoying one of many beers just after they arrived...

Hans doing the same...

The bikes parked up on my drive...

Wessel pretending to drink a beer... Sorry mate, your dad didn't allow me to give you a beer...

Wessel with the smart solution to eyes watering because of smoke of the bar-b-q... Goggles!

My dog Jay thought that was a good idea so he wore them too! Stoopid mutt!

My wife, still the most beautiful woman on the planet...

So we had an ace of a weekend. The visit was short as they arrived on saturday afternoon and had to leave again on sunday morning to catch the 2 pm train under the channel. Still we managed to drink whatever booze I had in the house and a good time was had by all!!

Cheerio,

Alex.

In Kuwait...

2009-07-26T16:31:00.003+01:00

Afternoon!

I am now in Kuwait...

After the cold of Amman (32 degrees) I am now back in the Betty Swollocks weather...
46 today... How do they live here...

This was the view when I arrived yesterday. If you look closely you can see the three ball towers in the distance on the right.

This was myself and Colin with our agent out here. We did a demo on some of our gear and gave some training to Mr Muhammad... (Aren't they all called that???)

This is the famous VisIR640 yellow camera on the desk. Doesn't look much for a camera that costs 20.ooo GBP...

Again the view out the hotel window, I thought the picture would come out better but my camera on my Nokia 96 is pretty shite...

After the agent meet we went out for a curry and I had a really good rojan josh. Because of my chilly withdrawal I had asked for extra spicy and the waiter was a good listener, my arse is on fire hahahahaha!!!

OK, we have one more day here and then its on to Lebanon... Time for some good kebabs... and then finally, after 4 days it will be time to get home. Its time to see the missus, I miss her on these long trips...

That is it sofar from my Middle East trip...

More later,

Alex.

In Amman Jordan...

2009-07-26T16:12:00.006+01:00

Afternoon!

And here I have arrived in Amman Jordan. We have some cement plants to visit and our agent out there. After a week of over 40 degree heat Amman is heaven, its only 30 degrees here Yippee!!!

This was the chandelier in a bedioun style restaurant in Amman. Our agent felt obliged to make us eat all the typical Jordani and Palestinian food he could find.

This is Colin and Mr Ahet and Mr Jebril. Here we had a huge portion of the Jordanian national dish Mansaf. Mansaf is goat stewed in milk served on rice with almonds. Very very good!

We sat in this bedouin style tent and ate of huge copper plates, very atmospheric...

Mr Ahet contemplating life after quaffing three goats and some kids...

Mr Alex with stupid grin after stuffing myself with as much goat as I could get down my neck hahahaha!!!

This is one of our prospective customers, Al Najri Cement. A new plant still under construction. While we were there I did a demo on our Thermal Imager. I took a picture of a typical Middle East electrical installation... As you can see in the picture below that office will be on fire in the next few days. That wire that is showing up in yellow is an earth yellow/green wire. It is not supposed to be 50 degrees hot... Ah well, at least it showed that our Thermal Imagers work...

The fire awaiting to happen...

This was another restaurant that Ahet took us to. Its the Pine Restaurant on Pine Hill. We had some excellent food there. Kebabs, quail, tabulleh, hoummous, labneh, all sorts of lovely grub...
One thing they do not do is spicy food. I am getting withdrawal symptoms from lack of chillies. Luckily when I get back my four chilly plants in my garden should be ready for harvesting!!!
Bring on the burn!!!

OK, after this its back to the heat, I'm on my way to Kuwait where its 48 at the moment...

Taraaa,

Hoummous Alex.

Ras Al Khaimah...

2009-07-26T16:05:00.003+01:00

And the next Emirate... Ras Al Khaimah...

I had been to this place before so I sorted the hotel. So this time I found one with a view and with lots of nice female german tourists around the pool hahahaha!!!

This is the view from the pool of Ras Al Khaimah harbour. The little waterplane belonged to the hotel and you could rent it for day trips...

The second day Colin got us lost again and we ended up driving through a herd of bad tempered camels... Camels gotta be gods idea of a joke animal, what ugly bastards. Colin had a good description of them...
He said 'A camel is a horse designed by a committee!' Class joke Colin!

At least when he drove the wrong way on the motorway it didn't matter as the roads were largely empty.

We had a good visit where we visited some good TTX customers. We even had half a day on sunday to do some sunbathing... (Sunbathing Colin, not perving on girls!!!)

Cheerio,

Alex.

In the United Arab Emirates...

2009-07-26T15:45:00.004+01:00

Afternoon,

This time I am in Dubai. After flying from Muscat to Abu Dhabi we rented a car and tootled of to Dubai, only a short 160 km ride. One problem was that my dear collegue and mentor Mr Colin was driving... Man after three days in the car with him I kissed the ground like the pope does after a plane ride. The man scared me half to death on several occasions. The best one was where he decided to drive the wrong way up the motorway. I don't think I will forget the sheer terror to be faced with 4 lanes of traffic hurtling at me at 100km an hour....

This is the view up the Creek in Dubai. The Creek is full of peculiar fish called Plastic Bag Fish...

This is the famous Burgh Al Arab hotel... Its in the distance as I couldn't be arsed to drive closer, they won't let me play tennis on there like Federer anyway...

This is the view of the business area with the tallest building in the world in the background...

These were some of the Dhows moored in the Creek...

The Spice Souk...

More rotten old wooden boats... Eh I mean, beautiful wooden Dhows...

Me sweating my arse off in 42 degree heat on the Creek...

The usual quiet traffic on a sunday in Dubai.

What we really noticed was how quiet it was in Dubai. Since the Credit Crash has started a lot of the huge building projects have a stopped. A lot of foreigners have left the place and there are loads of appartments for sale... Never mind, I can't say I care a lot for a place that is 45 degree hot and boasts the largest indoor ski slope in the world....

After this it is off to Ras Al Khaimah, the poorest of the Emirates...

Taraaa,

Alex.

In Oman...

2009-07-26T15:35:00.003+01:00

Afternoon!

This time you find me in Oman. I am doing a tour of the Middle East and the first stop was Muscat Oman. We met our agent out there to give him some training on a new piece of equipment. We did get a little suprise though. When we met him in the morning he told us that the staff we had to train was in the oil fields north of Muscat and we would have to train them there...

They took us in a sturdy landrover with roll cage etc for a 3 hour drive to Fahood. While travelling we noticed on the dashboard temperature gage that it was getting a trifle warm...

If you look closely on the display on the right you will see 48 degrees displayed. This is no joke, it really was that hot...

This was the compound where they made us stay overnight. Comfortable but not to much in the way of entertainment... Unless you count 'Squash the Cockroach' a good past time...

This is me at 9 in the morning just to set out for an sample survey of a 33KV powerline, it was already 49 here. Nice, wearing a tie and all...

This is the exciting landscape near Fahood oil fields...

Nevertheless we had a good trip, the staff got trained and everyone was happy with the performance of the new Infra Red cameras.... (And No, Mr Ahmad, you can not see through womens cloth with these cameras....)

OK, on to The United Arab Emirates...

Alex.

We are greyhounds toooo!!!!

2009-05-25T12:41:00.003+01:00

Afternoon!

Hmmmmm, we had some strange guests at the Greyhound Inn... Greyhounds? I don fink so!

Mind you, they were as food orientated as our two... They didn't get anything though. These dogs are american and they are on a diet.... Yep, I didn't believe it either. American? And on a diet? Whatever next....

Frances had to remind them of that fact quite a few times...

I am a greyhound, I am a greyhound! Look, I can sit on your knee too!!!

Good thing this one was on a diet, she weighed a ton!!!

Now were is that effing mouse gone????

Laying in the hammock was quite appreciated by the guests. It did make for a full hammock. 1 fat dutch man. One fat greyhound. One fat.... eh.... eh.... white thing....

I am a greyhound too!

And me too!

We all had a good evening out sitting in the garden in the, for once, nice evening weather. And Clare, stop worrying, we ain't feeding them treats and they are perfectly happy. Have fun in The Keys!

Alex.

Another evening at the Greyhound Inn...

2009-05-23T14:53:00.005+01:00

Afternoon!

Another group of greyhound guests checked in on friday night. This time we had Maggie, Laura and Pete. The were there just for an evening of chat and amusement...

This is the adorable Maggie checking out the guest facilities in the lounge.

'Could do with hoovering in here mate!'

This is Laura enjoying the outdoor patio. The staff kindly brought out some blankets so she didn't have to lay on the hard floor...

The other guests congregated around the chimenea to burn a rainforest...

Frances, Jay and Pete having a good natter...

Laura testing the bowling green for evenness...

Who, me????

I can hear a pussycat....

Jackie, Jay, Pete and Frances enjoying the evening and drinks. (That's you, Frances!)

Laura all knackered indoors...

The socalled 'shy' Maggie hunting for dog treats...

So all in all another nice evening in Cornard...

Taraaa,

Alex.

The Greyhound Hotel in Cornard...

2009-05-21T16:02:00.004+01:00

Afternoon!

Yesterday we had some more guests check into the Greyhound Hotel in Cornard. Two black greyhounds joined the two resident guests.

This is the new guests enjoying the facilities of the TV lounge. From left to right: Dillie, Flash, Izzy and Jay. The weather channel proved to be popular...

This is the staff trying to cope with getting 4 excited guests on leads and collars... The guests helped by jumping about like idiots to make it easier to get the collars on...

Thats three done, were is the 4th?

I don't do mornings!

In the evening the sleeping arrangements were sorted out amicably. i.e. The resident guests were chucked out of their beds so the guests had the best beds...

Jay and Dillie doing a spot of socialising on the sofa...

The guests debating the state of the government after the Expenses Debacle...

The guests just after checking in....

One of the guests wasn't impressed by the size of the TV lounge beds...

This morning all of them went home happy and refreshed, just like we like it at the Greyhound Hotel!

Taraaa,

Alex.

The Hadleigh Show 2009 RGT stand...

2009-05-17T15:05:00.004+01:00

Afternoon!

As I said in the last post we went to the Hadleigh Show yesterday. We were helping to man the Retired Greyhound stall. The had a stall there to get people interested in rehoming ex-racing greyhounds. We already have two and the missus helps out on a regular basis. This time as I was home I got roped in too. I wasn't too enthousiastic to start of with until they told me that our stand was right next door t0 the beer tent... Wheyhey, if I can mix business and pleasure, no worries...

This was the most beautiful greyhound there. Pete's bitch Laura...

Oy oy mate, you're nicked! The fuzz came around as well. Not to nick the mutt but because the copper was interested in getting a greyhound. Fek me! A copper with a sense of humanity? Whatever next? Flying pigs?

I guess Pete didn't spot the sweeney behind him...

Sally extolling the virtues of greyhounds to a pair of ladies who lunch... On G & T's by the sound of them hahahahahaha!!!!

The stand looking nice and busy. We were quite lucky with the weather, even though it looked grey a few times it never actually rained...

Kevin fondling a dog. You can get done for that mate... The fuzz are about....

One of the dogs displaying how stressed and highly strung greyhounds are...

Look! A greyhound that can sit! Laura again displaying that she is the cleverest girl!

Pete, can you finish that cuppa? I wonna go out and stroll!

The missus and my two dogs, Izzy and Jay, behind her. The show was well attended and the RGT had 6 serious phonecalls after it from people interested in rehoming a grey... Nice one!
All in all we had a good time, the Aspells Cider was excellent and the weather held out!

Cheerio,

Alex.

Suffolk Punch horses at the Hadleigh Show 2009

2009-05-17T14:36:00.005+01:00

Afternoon!

Yesterday myself and the wife got roped in to help out on the RGT stand (Retired Greyhound Trust). It took place at the Hadleigh Show which is an agricultural show. You know the kind, horses, dogs, farm machinery, cows and a beer tent....

Suffolk has its own kind of heavy horse, The Suffolk Punch. They are beautiful, heavy, big arsed horses. They are an endangered species as there are not many places now where they breed them. And almost no-one uses them on the land anymore. Shame, as they are stunning huge horses... They picture above is of the horse judging. The horses were all beautifully prepared and looked great... ( Coming from a dutchman who has eaten horse that is saying a lot... hahahaha..)

This one was laughing its arse off after it had won!

Here it is being led around the show ring...

Being led away after the show...

Another one being trotted around...

Nbr 1 being judged...

The horse doing a spot of dancing... Hey, I don't know, I know naff all about horses but I did enjoy this part. They looked beautiful. If you get a chance to see them go for it. They might not be around for much longer if no-one steps in and saves the breed...

Taraa,

Alex.

The Potted Garden...

2009-05-17T14:26:00.004+01:00

Afternoon again...

This is the second entry of our little growing experiment...

The carrots are growing like the clappers. In the next few weeks we have to thin them out, there are far too many in the pots... Things you learn and all that...

As you can see on the left hand side of the picture in the blue tubs, the potatoes have come on nicely. We have banked the arth around them so that the potato shoots give us proper spuds, not green ones...

One of the new additions, we got some mint in. After a bad start where the bloody pigeons ate all the leaves off it and an addition of some chicken wire we are now off and eating the stuff, bloody gorgeous!!!

Another late addition, a tub with 4 varieties of chillies. I got habanero, thai, sweet red and scotch bonnet to burn my arse!

Here you can see the runaway winner sofar, the salad leaves. We have been eating them for two weeks now and we are just about keeping up with the growth rate hahahaha. There is nothing better than 5 minutes before dinner to go out to the patio, pick a bowl of leaves, wash ' em and eat them, you can't get fresher that that... Sofar it has been easy and very tasty, can't wait for the other stuff to mature. Don't even mind when it rains now, good growing weather hahahaha!!!

Taraaa,

Alex.

Free Veg!!!

2009-05-17T14:16:00.002+01:00

Afternoon!

We have gone all green in Cornard. Jackie and myself have turned our hands at growing our own vegetables. Not because its cheaper but mainly because its easy and it tastes great!

This was a month ago. Its a tub of mixed lettuce. There's lambs lettuce, pak choi, Mizuna leaves, Rocket, loadsa varieties... Here it has just popped up.

These are the first of the potatoes popping up...

We have a tub of coriander which is growing quite slow but when it is full size should supply us with loadsa fresh herbs...

This is a tub of spring onions...

That's another pot of mixed salad leaves. Nothing is ready to eat on these pics, but as you will see from the next entry, things have grown somewhat... We only did this a bit of a laugh but sofar it has gone really well and is very very easy... We have done it all in pots for these reasons... If it doesn't grow we can use the pot to put flowers in... Secondly I don't wonna dig up my garden for a vegetable patch... Too much work for me... I'm lazy....

Taraaa,

Alex.

India Part 4, Bangalore...

2009-05-08T10:59:00.003+01:00

Afternoon again!

This time I am in Bangalore, the IT capital of India. We have done loads of customer visits here to all sorts of high tech companies. This place is much better weatherwise. It is cooler and not so humid, much more agreeable to someone trotting around town in a monkey suit...

Standing in the street while our driver does a quick pitstop and changes the buggered front wheel...

Not a bad result, a new one on in 10 minutes flat. Somehow I get the idea that this is quite a regular occurence. Mr Vankatesh, Nice Work!

Just to show that Bangalore is not only high tech, just this morning I spotted a herd of camels being driven through the busy traffic...

Here they are from a different angle...

This is the view from The Royal Orchid hotel in Bangalore. Normal standard business hotel with one exception. They had a meal deal where you got a plate of grub and unlimited (Yes, unlimited!) beer included for 6 squid! Did I abuse that? You betcha!!! So all in all a good visit and a good introduction to the chaos that is India.

Flying home tonite and should be in the UK by saturday morning. Need to see the missus, she's been on her jack jones for two weeks and I miss her. And my doggies of course!

Taraaa,

Alex.

India Part 3, Hyderabad...

2009-05-08T10:47:00.003+01:00

Afternoon again!

Just to prove to you, here he is asleep again. We were racing down the country roads on the way to Millipatchnam or whatever the hell it was called. The driver was a big fan of Bhangra music so he had that belting out for 6 hours. Did it wake him? Did it bollocks!

Rock-a-bye Colin....

This was the main airport at Vijayawada... Note the 6 luggage trolleys....

When we were on the road it was clear that the harvests were going on. There were loads of bullock carts piled high with stuff. Did they move to let cars through? Did they bollocks!

The traffic in India really is something else. For the people that read this Blog, I travel quite a bit but this traffic is death defying! There are all sorts of vehicles on the road, carts, trucks, busses, auto rickshaws (Three wheeled smoking taxis...), motorbikes etc. And even after 5 days I could not tell you if they drive on the left or on the right. It is pure chaos. Nobody gives way to anything, they have a digital throttle (i.e. On/Off), buy their license for 5 pounds without a test... Pure and utter chaos. We used some drivers that Colin knew from other trips and that kept us relatively safe. Nevertheless we saw a few big accidents, the biggest one a truck full of guests going to a wedding smashed into another truck, result? 31 dead. Lovely...

Never mind, we have survived it...

Cheerio,
Alex.

India Part 2, Mumbai...

2009-05-08T10:33:00.003+01:00

Afternoon again!

Stoopid hat competition winner below!

This was at a sponge steel factory three hours south of Mumbai. It was 'only' 35 degrees but as it was right on the coast it was very humid. Plus the customer had us inspect a 1200 degree C reactor vessel so nice and warm...

This is the weekly Stoopid Hat competition Winner!

My new best friend, Mr Keyur Shah! (See? Even he looks dumb in a green hat...)

This is my collegue and mentor Colin. He manages to fall asleep everywhere.... This was at Mumbai domestic airport I believe and we were sitting right under the Tannoy system... Did he wake? Did he bollocks....

This was the view from the next hotel. I buggered up the photo upload as per usual. This is actually Hyderabad. Never mind, different city, same curries hahahahaha!!!

OK, more later,

Alex in Mumbai.

India Part 1, New Delhi

2009-05-08T10:17:00.004+01:00

Good afternoon all!

This time I find myself in India. I am at the end of a long two week sales trip that has taken me all across India. I started in New Delhi. We had some customer meetings but we did manage to squeeze in a few hours sightseeing in the town. It was very very very hot, around 42 degrees when we where there. Not nice, going from meeting to meeting in a suit...

This is the Red Fort in Delhi. Nice clump of stone. Nuff said.

This is India Gate. The thing is inscribed with all the names of soldiers killed in action.

This is part of Government House. Apparently a good photo spot....

Some gates with a gun...

This was our very smartly dressed driver from the hotel. Shame he knew bugger all about where stuff was in Delhi. We stayed at the Ramada Inn and that was pretty good.

Myth buster time: All food is incredibly spicy. No, wrong. Most of my dinners I had to ask for raw chillies as it was very mild...

Second Myth: They are Hindus and you don't get meat. Bollocks. I had sheep, chicken, prawns and all sorts.

Third Myth: Everyone gets Delhi belly. Wrong. Nowt wrong after eating all sorts of local food for two weeks.

All in all I quite enjoyed Delhi except for the traffic. More about that later...

Cheerio,
Alex.

Pakistan trip...

2009-04-09T11:43:00.003+01:00

Good afternoon!

Two updates in one day??? Blimey!!!
Last week I went to Pakistan for my first sales trip. This was to hand over the territory from Colin to me. Colin is on the left in the blue shirt. The people on the right are our agents in Pakistan. This was taken in Karachi on the roof of a building where there was a good barbeque restaurant.

This was me a 100km south of Karachi on the way to a power generating plant in Jamshoro. Yep, stop laughing, I indeed now have to wear a monkey suit. Not pleasant in 35 degree heat...

This was the outdoor grill area of a resaturant in Karachi. The food was excellent!

The picture below was taken in the toilets of the Islamabad Marriott hotel. Yes, indeed the one that was blown up last september. The whole hotel has been repaired and everything is spick and span in there. It just amused me seeing this notice in the bogs...

We had to be very careful out there as there were three attacks while we were out there. While we were in Karachi there was an attack on a police training academy in Lahore. That was only 2 miles from the office of our agent out there. Then while we were in Islamabad there was an attack on a checkpoint were we had gone by the day before. The suicide attacker blew himself up and killed 25 people and injured 50. So a lucky escape for us...

This is Mr Anjum reading the koran while we were on our way to a customer. Mr Anjum was very helpful in keeping us safe while we travelled the country. We didn't go to Lahore as the customers out there could not guarantee our safety. So all in all a good trip, we did some interesting business and we are looking at developing our business out there.

On saturday I am off to America for a weeks tradeshow in Orlando Florida. At least I will not be shot at out there, or blown up.... (I hope....)

Take care,

Alex.

Turkey again...

2009-04-09T11:31:00.003+01:00

Good afternoon!

Well, this must be some kind of record, 4 months of no posts. The reason for that is that I have changed jobs. I am now Sales Manager for the Middle East and Africa. My job training and other commitments have kept me seriously busy. I've done trade shows, sales trips and some commissioning trips...

This picture was taken in Erzurum in Eastern Turkey. I was there to repair a system for Askale Cement. It was &^%$%^$king freezing! Minus 15 to minus 25 at night. I actually had to buy long johns, scarves, hats and all sorts just to stay warm... In the background that is my good friend Ugur from Istanbul.

This was taken in a bar in Van. The Turku Bar is a bar where they play a lot of traditional trukish music. It is also one of the few places where you can get a beer in Van...
This is Van Castle. It is from the Seljuk time from around 800AD. It was cold but looked lovely in the snow.
This is some kind of traditional building in Van. This was an excellent trip where I did some good work but there was a fly in the ointment. When I got back I fell ill and found out I had Shigella Flexneri which is a form of Dysentry. That took two weeks to get over... Never mind, the food still was excellent in Turkey! Thanks to my friend Ugur for a great trip!

Cheerio,

Alex.

The best bar in Otavalo, Ecuador!

2008-12-08T04:04:00.003Z

Good evening!

I finally managed to find good bar in Otavalo. Every tourist and local person that wants a good place to drink a beer, there is only one place in Otavalo. And that is the Bohemios Bar. It is a very friendly bar with lovely staff that is very helpfull and friendly. I went there twice, saturday and sunday and I had a good time, every time. They serve the best Equadorian beer, Pilsener!

This is the owner of the bar Mr Patricio (Patrick, for stupid people like me that speak not a word of spanish...) and his lovely girlfriend Roberta. He made me feel very welcome and went out of his way to try to speak english...

The bar itself is quite hard to find. It is only a small entrance with a board above it and if you don't look too closely you will miss it. You can see Mr Patricio on the balcony... They do drinks and they do some good food. They have showarma and all sorts of local food. They also do, and this I found quite surprising, waterpipes. You can smoke a good shish there... It also says on the sign out front tha they do live music but I guess I was unlucky and there was nothing on this time...

This is the view from the terrace and I am sure the wall painting says something good about Atavalo but as I speak next to no English I don't really know what it says...

This is me enjoying the local brew. It is called Pilsener and is very nice. It is very cheap in this bar, well, for stupid foreign people like me hahahahaha! If you are into music, they have a wicked computer system that has all the regional music on there, they just let you loose on their PC and you pick what you like....

This is the owner again, Mr Patricio. All in all, even though I was not that impressed with Otavalo to start of with... (Mainly because I could not find a bar...) after being in the Bohemios bar I have to change my opinion of Otavalo, it is not so quiet after all. Patricio, thank you very much for making me feel welcome. Thanks to your staff as well. They know what they are doing, even though most of the foreign people like me, don't speak the lingo... sorry about that. Next time when I go back I will make sure to go back to this place. And anyone looking for a local watering hole, this is the place to be in Otavalo!

Take care and keep this place going! Thank you very much,

Alex in Otavalo, Ecuador.

In Otavalo, Ecuador...

2008-12-06T16:17:00.005Z

Afternoon all,

OK, now I am in Otavalo. Otavalo is small town in the Andes near the Imbabura volcano. The landscapes are beautiful here, massive mountains, extinct volcanoes, stunning. I am here working for Lafarge commissioning two kiln cameras.

This is the centre of Otavalo. I am staying in El Indio Inn, which is a small hotel with a restaurant. It is hard work walking, around here as the town is at 2600 mtr altitude. I can notice the lack of oxygen. When I climb to the burner platform I am completely out of breath... (Yeah, yeah, less of the fat b'stard jokes please...)

This is the Imbabura Volcano. It is shrouded in clouds most of the time so I am still waiting to get a piccie of the snow covered top... It is 3100 mtr high...

This is the view from the front gate of the Lafarge cement plant...

This was on the road from Quito to Otavalo. I arrived in Quito a few hours late as Aerolineas Galapagos had conveniently changed their flight schedule and cancelled my flight that day. Luckily they had another flight a bit later so got there in the end... My driver Mr Carlos was very helpfull pointing out local landmarks etcetera...

This was the outskirts of Quito, the capital. The place looked very much like any other big city in South America. It was nice and warm weather which was to change as we made our way to Otavalo, which is a two hour drive through the foothills of the Andes...

Again the outskirts of Quito...

This was Guayaquil airport where I spend a few extra hours care of my friends at Aerogal...

The food here is pretty good. It involves a lot of maize in many different disguises, cooked, roasted, grilled, boiled, in soups etc... Otavalo unfortunately is not blessed with any form of nightlife. There are few, if any bars or clubs. I have been informed that there is some nightlife in Imbarra which is three quarters of an hour up the road by taxi... Can't say I am too bothered by the lack of nightlife, I can manage with a few beers with my meal in Otavalo...

OK, I will post later with some more piccies if the clouds ever lift. On the way from the airport to here we went through the heaviest rainstorm ever. It bucketed down and parts of the road washed away, 'Rainman' strikes again. At some point we were slowly cruising through at least a foot of dirty brown water trying not to get washed down the ravine... Never mind, Mr Carlos got us safely to Otavalo. It has been raining here everyday since I have been here, that seems to be the norm here...

Oh, just a little whinge at my favourite airline, AirPukeKLM... On the way out I had the great fortune to sit right next to a 6 month old baby that managed to exersize her vocal cords for most of the 10 hour flight from Amsterdam to Quito...Lovely... Never mind, I managed to get some sleep as i was wearing industrial strength ear plugs. Mind you, I could still hear the little B^$&$rd....

Cheerio,

Alex.

Off to Equador...

2008-12-06T16:02:00.003Z

Afternoon all!

I'm back on the road again. After a un-enjoyable trip to Saudi Arabia the company sent me out to Ecuador. I have been in this place before but that was a few years ago now. My first job was in Guayaquil. This is a big modern city on the River Guaya. The work itself was pretty standard. The site guy who I worked with, Mr Roberto Quiroz, was kind enough to take me out in the evening to the Malecon 2000. This was Guayaquils millenium project. The took 4 km of old river front and did it all up. And I must say they did a good job. In the evening there are loadsa people strolling about in the lovely weather. There are a lot of restaurants and bars and it all looks rather nice down there.

This was some governmental monument for something...

This was the view north upriver along the Malecon 2000...

If you look closely here you can see an iguana in the middle of the picture... Only a small one, they have loadsa big ones crawling around on the cement factory...

This was the place where I worked, the Holcim Cerro Blanco plant...

This was on the road to the airport in Guayaquil. I had a good time there. I stayed in a ace hotel. The Four Points Sheraton is an excellent base for getting a feel of Guayaquil. They have a bar in there where there is live music most nights. When my job was finished there I travelled on to Quito and Otavalo. More on them in the next posting.

Cheerio,
Alex.

Back in the sands...

2008-11-24T15:06:00.003Z

Afternoon all!

Another week goes by and I do another trip to Saudi Arabia, my most favourite place in the world, not! I did a job in the middle of the desert in the south of Saudi Arabia. This site was as remote as they come. We were 200 km from Sharoura and 160 km from Najran. Nothing but the cement plant in between. The only thing that was good was the drive back to Najran. We were on the main road to Najran when the saudi driver asked me if I fancied a short cut. Well, driving the deserted roads in the south is boring at the best of times so I agreed. It should knock of about half an hour of the 2 1/2 hour drive...

So the guy hits the brake and leaves the road and starts racing across the sands!

At some point he tells me that one of his mates has a camel farm just up the road (well, road...) and would I like to see it... So we swung by and low and behold, in the middle of nowhere there was this herd of camels eating the sparse grass... The tents were where his mate lived... They were bedouins...

Thats the camels... Smelly bastards...

This was the view 360 degrees around for half an hour... Luckily we were driving a big Toyota Landcruiser Patrol with big balloon tires on it...

When we finally made it back to the road this was the first availabe gas station... Modern stuff 'ey?

When I finally got to England after a two hour flight to Dammam, a 7 hour wait at Dammam airport, a 6 hour flight to Amsterdam and a 1 hour flight to Heathrow, I arrived at 7 in the morning and it was snowing. So in 24 hours from 35 degree heat to -2 degrees was a bit of a shock to the system... Then when we were bombing down the M25 we saw at least 5 shunts and crashes in the snow on the motorway. When we made it to the A120 my taxi driver took a corner a bit too fast and he lost it. We ended up sliding across two lanes before we ended up skirting along a banked side of the road. The car nearly ended up on the roof but with an incredible amount of luck the car swerved back on to the road and we managed to get back to Sudbury with only some cosmetic damage to the grill and front bumper... Scared the crap out of me though... (Ron, if you want to wake me up in the taxi you can just shout you know...)

By the way, KLM was on top form again. They lost all my luggage on the way back. Saved me having to wait on my suitcases and having to carry them myself. They dropped them off half a day later, incompetent bastards... At least I have made Platinum again on Skyteam...

Next week I believe I am off to Ecuador. I have to go back to Guayaquil for a small 4 day job. After that I should be Turkey for a week and that should be it for the year... Thank god, it has been a hectic year, I will not forget 2008 in a hurry...

Cheerio,
Alex.

Turkey again...

2008-11-04T16:33:00.002Z

Afternoon,

The second late update... Turkey this time...

Last week I went to Bucak in Turkey. That is about 50 km from Antalya on the Anatolian coast of the meditereanean...

The job for AS Cimento went really well, they were chuffed to bits with their new equipment after it was all commissioned. The piccie above is the road coming into Antalya from the north. They have a huge head of Kemal Ataturk chiselled out the rock there. Mr Kemal is the founder of the modern Turkish state.

This was some small bird I ate in Keptur restaurant near Bucak. I guess judging by the size it wasn't a chicken... I put my fork next to it just to show how small the thing was. I guess it might have been a sparrow or something. My turkish wasn't good enough to find out anything else beside the fact that it was a bird of some kind hahahahaha....

This is me and my two new friends from AS Cimento on the roof after we installed and tested the gear... This is Mr Tunay Bakan and another guy who's name has escaped me...

This is myself doing some software training with the operators...

This was the view from the Sheraton Voyager hotel in Antalya where I stayed the first night. Excellent place even though it was quiet there, it's off-season at the moment...

OK, more later,

Alex.

Thailand and Malaysia...

2008-11-04T15:54:00.004Z

Afternoon all,

Another late update... I have just come back from Turkey but before that I was off to Malaysia and Thailand. I went to Malaysia to teach some Lafarge staff how to use our software. From there I flew to Thailand to do a system repair on a broken system at Thung Song.

The work in Malaysia went very well. The customer had just been told by their management that they would have to cut costs for next budgets and here I am training them on software that can safe them loadsa cash. I Must say, this was the most attentive audience I have ever had...

After staying in Kuala Lumpur for only two days it was on to Thailand. Luckily I had managed to put a rest day in the schedule so I could catch up on some very much needed sleep... sodding jetlag....

The pictures in this entry are all ass over tits as i can not add more than 5 pictures at a time and when you do the second batch it puts them above the previous ones... never mind, I must be thick...

This picture above shows the atrium of the Emerald Hotel in Bangkok. This picture was taken from 10 floors up and you can still make out the HUGE koi carp in the pond below...

This is the arrival at Nakorn Si Thammarat airport to go to Thung Song...

I don't know if you can make it out in the picture but if you look above the roof of the Merc you might be able to make out a guy. That was a guy who came walking across 4 lanes of traffic on top of an elephant! I cracked me up, only in Thailand...

This was the usual rains that follow me around everywhere. It bucketed down every bloody day and we are not talking about a little shower here....

This was the seminar that I did my training session on. It was very well organised in a beautiful hotel just outside Kuala Lumpur. If you are ever looking for a posh hotel in KL you can't go wrong with the Saujana Resort. Beautiful place with very good staff...

Yours truly looking stoopid in a suit....

The conference room were I bored the 15 plant managers to sleep hahahahaha!

In the evening the Lafarge people very kindly invited me to a dinner in KL. We passed the famous Petronas Towers on the way to the restaurant. The picture isn't great, it was taken from inside a bus that was splattered with rain. Still you can see the beautiful towers in the background....

Cheerio,
Alex.

Mijn maat Marcel en familie...

2008-10-22T12:54:00.002+01:00

Een goedemiddag!!!

He! Weer een update in het nederlands? Inderdaad...

Vorige week toen ik in Nederland was voor mijn ouders hun 45ste trouwdag heeft mijn moeder voor mij een grote verassing gezorgd. Zoals de meeste mensen weten woon ik al 15 jaar in Engeland. Sinds dat ik uit Nederland weg ben zie ik bijna niemand meer uit mijn uode vrienden kring. Een half jaar geleden heeft een oude maat van mij via het internet mij kunnen vinden. Omdat ik heel veel reis de hele wereld rond is het moeilijk om iets te organiseren zodat we weer eens effe kunnen ouwehoeren. Marcel en ik hebben al een paar emailtjes uitgewisseld maar dat was alles tot nu toe...

Dus mijn moeder heeft het georganiseerd dat op de laatste dag van mijn bezoek in holland dat Marcel en zijn familie naar mijn ouders huis zouden komen.

Dus op zondag ochtend daar was ie! Mijn oude vriend Marcel en zijn familie. We hebben mekaar mistens 20 jaar niet gezien...

Dit is Marcel met George Micheal baard...

En nogmaals....

Jackie, mijzelf en Marcel...

En dit is Marcels familie. Christien en de koters. We hebben al afgesproken dat volgend jaar juni, wanneer ik naar Nederland kom voor een week, dat we naar Bergen op Zoom gaan en dan gaan we een dagje bier drinken bij hun! Marcel, het was hardstikke leuk weer eens iemand te zien die ik al jaren weer wilde ontmoeten. We houden contact!

De groeten uit Engeland!

Elmer.

PS He? Kon je dit nou lezen? Hahahahahaha!!!!

Pa en Moe 45ste Trouwdag 2008

2008-10-22T11:57:00.005+01:00

Een goedemiddag!!!

Voor de eerste keer op mijn Blog pagina een artikel in de Nederlandse taal. Ik heb wat klachten gehad dat ik nooit iets in het nederlands schrijf, ok, geen probleem...

Vorige week zijn Jackie en ik naar Nederland gegaan voor mijn ouders hun 45ste trouwdag. Het was eigenlijk gepland voor de 4de Oktober maar omdat ik in Saoedie Arabie zat voor mijn werk heeft mijn moeder het feest een week verzet, bedankt! Dus op vrijdag gingen Jackie en ik met de boot van Harwich naar Hoek van Holland. Vrijdag avond zijn we lekker aan het bier gegaan en mijn broer Jeroen en zijn vriendin Yulyana kwamen ook nog effe langs. Hey pa! Volgens mij zitten er echt geen 6 liter in die kleine Bier Tender vaatjes.... hahahahaha!!!

De volgende dag zijn Jackie en ik even wezen winkelen om wat spullen te kopen die we niet in Engeland kunnen krijgen zoals goede nederlandse kaas, koffie pads en Verkade butterscotch chocolade repen... En natuurlijk hebben we even op een terrasje gezeten in Nieuwegein omdat het lekker warm weer was...

Op zaterdag avond was het feest. We gingen naar een Van de Valk hotel in Houten. Het was een fantasties buffet met ongelimiteerde drank!!!

Hier demonstreerd Maaike dat het helaal niet moeilijk is om met chopsticks te eten...

Mijn oudere broer Hans met nijn vader Herman... Oh, en een klein biertje...

Dit is een groepsfoto van de drie gangsters....

Pa en moe in de achtertuin...

Nogmaals in de achtertuin...

Na 45 jaar nog steeds samen, op naar de volgende 45 jaar hahahahaha!!!

Nederlands kanibaal met rib....

En hier laat Wessel het even zien hoe het echt moet, he Maaike!!!

Dus echt een leuk feest en iedereen had flink plezier. Pa en moe, hardstikke bedankt voor een tof weekend en de groeten uit Engeland!

Alex.

Back in Saudi Arabia... (I hate heights...)

2008-10-04T12:40:00.003+01:00

Afternoon all,

I'm back in the land of the camels, Saudi Arabia. I did a short job in Dammam and now I am in Hofuf, somewhere in the middle of Saudi. I was here to commission a few new systems. Unfortunately the customer decided that they could do the job themselves and the result is below...

That is the stainless steel protection cap of a furnace camera. They managed to burn it. Our systems have failsafes against this happening but as the camera kept retracting as there was something wrong (hint hint...) they switched them off, with this result. So I had to find a way to repair it...

So with some fine mechanics and small scale electronics ( a lump hammer...) we got the thing back into shape and wonder of wonders the inside elctronics were ok and the thing worked again...

Then it was off to the scanner towers to set up a shell scanner. These towers are bloody high, some 90 foot and I don't like heights. It is amazing when you look at a ladder you think, well, that doesn't look to bad. Then when you are half way up it suddenly strikes you that if you fall off you are dead.... Never mind, got up there ok and the next piccie is me looking stupid in a chinese helmet...

This is the view in the control room with the three hanging screens showing the inside of the 1400 degree kiln and the blue screen at the bottom showing the shell scanner...

I have one more day here and then it is back to Blighty. Next weekend I am off to Holland for my parents 45th wedding party and then three days later I am off again, this time to Malaysia and Thailand for a week, busy busy busy....

Cheerio,
Alex.

Thailand Holiday 2008 Part 7 Food

2008-09-25T15:33:00.002+01:00

Afternoon,

As some of you might know Thai food is my favourite food. The spicier the better. If it aint got chillies it aint worth eating hahahahaha... Hua Hin is a big fishing port and they have the freshest seafood in most of the restaurants. You should see the size of the prawns, I have never seen prawns 20 cm long...

This is a rack of baby squid drying in the sun. As I said before, an aquired taste... A bit chewy and they can be very smelly... Nevertheless they seemed to be a popular snack when the night vendors rolled by with their mobile snack shops...

Picture of two of my brothers, Hans and Jeroen. Hahahaha, only kidding, some restaurant had some pigs heads sitting out the back, dunno what for, never saw them on the menu... I would have tried it. As long as it has got chillies!

This was a snack bought of one of the mobile vendors. The guy was selling grubs, something with eight legs, locusts and ants. The locusts were yummy. Very crunchy and salty because of the soy sauce...

Yum Yum Pigs Bum!!!

Jackie wasn't brave enough to eat the grubs or the locusts but she did eat an ant which even she said were good. I was impressed.... For the rest she just ate the very good fresh fruit that they sold everywhere in town... OK, this is the last Thailand post, I am out of pictures now so that all folks... I am off to Saudi Arabia on monday for a week and after that I have a weekend in Holland and when I get back from that I am off to Malaysia... busy busy busy....

Cheerio,

Alex.

Thailand Holiday 2008 Part 6 Fishing

2008-09-25T15:04:00.004+01:00

Afternoon all,

This one of the days we had together with Bob and Annie. Bob suggested to go fishing. Jackie was supposed to go off with Annie to go and get pampered but at the last moment Jackie decided that she had to try this fishing too. The main reason for that was that all the stuff that she hates about fishing gets done for you there. They stick the bait on, you cast the rod, you catch a fish, they net it for you and the land it and unhook it. No slimy hands or anything. Also they serve you drinks all day right at the place where you are fishing and they have a decent restaurant too where they serve great food. The place has its own website, the place is called Hua Hin Fishing Lodge.

They have two lakes at the moment. I believe they are looking at extending the place in the future, it has only been open a year or two...

This is me after catching a small silver carp...

This is Annie, showing off a Pacu that Bob caught. These buggers have really big teeth...

This Jackie landing her first big fish. She had started well. Bob and myself were expecting to catch the most fish, well, jackie spoiled that. When Bob and I finally caught something she already had caught 3 fish....

Dunno what it was but it was a nice size...

This is Bob releasing another Pacu. He caught three of the toothy monsters that day...
Here he is showing off the first one...

Look at the size of the gnashers on that one... They say that it can bite of your fingers but I wasn't man enough to test that statement....

This is me with the biggest fish of the day on the hook. It was some sort of bottom feeder, possible a type of catfish. It weighed about 6 - 7 pounds...

Look at that beauty!

Bob, I caned your arse this time. When I get back there I will give you a chance to come back and beat me! Again many thanks to Bob and Annie for making our stay a very nice one! We owe you one!

Take care,
Alex.

Thailand Holiday 2008 Part 5 Bhuddas

2008-09-25T14:56:00.002+01:00

Afternoon all,

As Thailand is a Buddhist country it would be wrong not to show something of the religious side of the place...

This was the little temple at the fishing harbour. It is to protect the fishermen out at sea or something...
This was a stairway up to a big golden Buddha. As it was 389 degrees celsius I couldn't be arsed to walk up the steps...
This is some fat Buddha on a tortoise. Apparently praying and placing offerings at this one guarantees you longevity... (I think laying of the beer and getting fit would do the some thing hahahaha)

This was the side of the peninsula where the big Buddha was. Looks lovely and there was a nice cooling breeze of the sea coming in... The place itself was very calming and had a really relaxed feel to it...

Dunno what this fellow was all about. 'Guy with Sword Sitting On Rat'? Answers on a postcard please... Again, I have been to Thailand 4 times now and everytime it becomes harder to leave the place. It is relaxed, cheap, safe to a degree, what am I doing in England???

Cheerio,
Alex.

Thailand Holiday 2008 Part 4 Monkeys

2008-09-25T14:48:00.002+01:00

Afternoon all,

Another update from our excellent Thai holiday... This was at a place called monkey mountain. It has a Thai name but I have forgotten... Basically it is a Thai temple and there are loads of dogs and monkeys ambling about... Maybe it was stupid of me to go back to a monkey place in Thailand... For the people that haven't read this blog if you search back a year or two you will find an entry called 'A Monkey ate my glasses'. This was when I went to the Elephant Village near Hua Hin and a bloody gibbon stole my glasses right of my head, little bastard...

This i a bunch of them swimming around in a muddy pool. They were having a ball, just splashing about and playing like little children...

This was a mummy monkey walking of with a baby monkey strapped to her side...

This is one of the earlier swimmers drying off in the sun...

This little one had nicked a handful of nuts and stuffed them all in his gob so that the others couldn't steal them, funny....

These are some Buddhist statues with a load of monkeys eating the edible gifts that the monks leave... This was a cool place but I still had my eyes on my wallet, my camera, jackie's handbag, the thieving little buggers...

Cheerio,
Alex.

Thailand Holiday 2008 Part 3 The Party

2008-09-25T14:36:00.003+01:00

Party time!

One of Jackie's best friends, Frances, who she has known for over 30 years has got a brother who lives out in Hua Hin. So of course we had to visit them. When we called Bob and Annie they asked us if we would like to see a proper Thai party. Well, does a bear shit in the woods? Is the pope a catholic? Of course we would like to go. So in the evening Bob came around on his moped and Jackie and myself hopped in a tuk tuk and told the driver to follow Bob. Before we got to the place we stopped and stocked up on essentials, beer, whiskey and vodka.

When we got there, the party was already in full swing. There were a few other expats there but mostly thai people. I believe it was somebodies birthday but I never really got to the bottom of that. As soon as we came in some thai people dragged us over to the food area and gave us heaped plates of prawns, rice, pork ribs, chilly sauce, all sorts. After we munched our way through the lovely grub the drinking started... My wife, Bob and Annie worked themselves through a bottle and a half of Vodka and yours truly necked a shitload of Singha beer.

This is Jackie my best friend and wife, Bob and the ever so glamorous Annie...

During the party suddenly two guys showed up with two baby elephants. Jackie of course had to go and investigate. I stayed my distance. On my last holiday to Hua Hin at the elephant village some little elephant lobbed a car tire at me... once bitten twice shy....

Basically these guys bring the elephants around, you buy them some food and give it to them and hoppa, you are blessed!

This is Bob and my wife trying their hand at Karaoke. They were rubbish. Granted, the song they were supposed to sing they didn't know but I think their vocal cords were loosened by a load of vodka and what sounded good to them didn't necesarily sound good to the listeners. Even the thai people, normally very reserved, booed them off hahahahahaha!!!
All in all we had a whale of a time and have to thank the people that organised the party and Bob and Annie for inviting us! Thailand rocks!

Cheerio,
Alex.

Thailand Holiday 2008 Part 2 The Beach

2008-09-25T14:26:00.004+01:00

Afternoon!

This is myself walking down the beach at the northern end of Hua Hin. It was boiling that day and it was possibly not the most clever thing to do, go walking in blinding heat at midday...

I must have sweated of at least a gallon during that hour on the beach...

There were a few jellyfish on the beach but not enough to deter me from swimming there. During the whole two weeks I never saw anybody being stung by them...

This mutt spent the whole day on the beach just lazing about and dipping into the sea once in a while when it got to hot... Of course the missus wanted to adopt it....

This is an example of a beach massage. You just lay in the bed and some woman pummels, pulls, yanks and tears at your muscles, bloody excellent. Half asleep, waves lapping the beach and someone knocking your muscles in shape, what hardship....

Some of the more active people (not me...) did a bit of horse riding. That wasn't for me. The only horse I trust is one that is sliced in my sandwich. Remember I am from holland and we eat the buggers....

This was just outside the fishing port of Hua Hin. The boats were all moored up ready to go out at night fall... Made for a nice piccie methinks....

This is a rack of tiny squid drying in the sun. I have eaten them before and they are not really my taste, quite tough and leathery... Still, a nice picture...

This is the northern beach of Hua Hin looking towards Cha'am. Anyone looking for a relaxing holiday on the beach without hassle try Hua Hin...

Taraaaa,

Alex.

Thailand Holiday 2008 Part 1

2008-09-25T14:16:00.003+01:00

Wheyhey, it is holiday time again!

This year we went back to Hua Hin in the Gulf of Thailand 200km south of BangKok. We had been there before two years ago and as we really enjoyed it we just had to go back.

This is Jackie lounging in Business Class abusing the free champagne to the hilt....

We also stayed in the same hotel where we stayed last time. Last time it was called the Hua Hin Suites but now since it has been taken over it is called the Hua Hin White Sands. We like the place, its relatively cheap, 200 yds from the beach and 200 yds from the bars, wheyhey!!!

This little sign in the rooms was typical. They said that it was just as cheap to drink from the mini bar then to buy it outside the hotel. We checked and it was true. Save me having to hoik drinks from the shop to the room hahahaha!!!!

This was the beach on the first day we arrived. It was boiling hot so we had to slap on the sun factor 50 creme and even then I managed to get burned while I stayed under an umbrella....

This is the entry to the White Sands hotel. All the rooms have telly, airco, bathroom with bath and shower and a massive double bed. If you are looking for a good quality hotel for reasonable money this is the place. They have a restaurant out the front as well but I didn't try that.

Cheerio,
Alex.

Eating my way through Brazil...

2008-08-21T16:19:00.003+01:00

Afternoon all,

Time for another update. I have had a nice trip for a change. They send me off to good old Brazil. I had to do a job in Pedro Leopoldo. This is just outside Belo Horizonte in Minas Gerais province. I know nothing about Brazil as this was my first visit there. The only idea I had about Brazil was that you stood a decent chance to get killed. That opinion was based about stuff from Rio de Janeiro. How wrong I was... Yes, Rio can be dodgy but the rest of the country is pretty much standard South America. I flew with Air Puke (Air France/KLM) from Heathrow to Paris to Rio de Janeiro to Belo Horizonte. The travel was the usual unhelpful french crap until I got to Brazil. Why is it that airlines outside of Europe and the USA are so much more friendly and customer orientated???

I got to Belo Horizonte late in the evening and our rep Mr Emiliano was there waiting for me. He took me to the hotel in Pedro Leopoldo. After a decent nights kip did the work for our customer out there. The picture above is the view from my hotel room, not bad...

The weather was nice and warm during the day, around 3o C but at night because its quite a way inland and at height, approx 3000 feet, it cooled down quite a bit at night. I actually needed a coat in the evening, nice!
This is a view of the small town of Pedro Leopoldo. It is a nice small quiet town with a few very good restaurants. For example Kmin de Casa was a nice buffet style restaurant and there were a few others but as the beer was pretty good I can't remember the others hahahahaha!!!

This is Mr Emiliano stuffing his face with some decent meat in a resaturant in the hills somewhere. For a fixed small price you could eat as much as you wanted and that included the famous Argentinian beef. I learned something there about that meat. Not all Argentinian Beef comes from Argentina. There is an area where there is a type of cow that produces Argentianian beef that grazes in either Argentina, Brazil or Uruguay. Never mind where it came from, it was a meat eaters paradise. It has been a long time since I have eaten such good quality beef...

This was the view from the reastaurant at lunch time, very relaxing...

Same place, different view...

This picture is of a bottle of fire water. A lot of the food in Brazil is very tasty but they aren't really into really spicy food. I love spicy stuff. When we were in a italian/brazilian restaurant in Pedro I asked the waiter for some hot sauce to spice up the meal we were having. He brought out this crappy old bottle of gunk. It didn't look like much, but man, that packed a punch. That will teach me to use a hot sauce liberally... It burned my gob bigtime, Ace! All in all I had a fantastic time out there, very much helped by my new friends Emiliano and Fedayeen. They were the perfect hosts, always ready to convey me to another watering hole hahahahaha!!! If you are looking for a good night club, there is a club in Sete Lagoas, about 20 km from Pedro Leopoldo which I can heartily recommend. I have forgotten the name but I am sure Emiliano will put me right on that.

OK, I am on the countdown for my holiday now, only 13 days to go before I am off to Thailand, can't wait!!!

Cheerio,
Alex.

On the diddy plane again!!!

2008-07-31T11:11:00.004+01:00

Afternoon!

Wheyhey, just finished sorting out my holiday... Me and the wife are going back to Thailand. Courtesy of all my airmiles, earned the hard way sittting for months in economy class on Air Puke (AirFrance/KLM) I got two tickets business class all the way to Bangkok. From the moment I check in at Heathrow to the moment I roll of the plane in bangkok its free shampoo all the way!!! Last time we were there two years ago we did the same holiday and we loved it. We are going back to Hua Hin on the gulf of Thailand. As Hua Hin is a mayor fishing port the seafood there is out of this world. Fresh, cheap and plentiful. The last time we found a little travel firm that did a little dinky toy plane ride to Bangkok. We had come out from Savurnabumi by limousine which took three hours on shitty roads so when we found this little local airline SGA and found out that the tickets were only 50 GBP back to Bangkok we jumped at the chance. Hua Hin Airport is, how shall we say, small I guess...

This is the Siam GA arrival terminal at Savurnabumi Airport in Bangkok. Works very well, nice friendly staff that guide you all the way through the terminal etc... Aiport staff in Europe could learn from the service that these guys provide. It is indeed service with a smile...

This is the route that we fly. Straight up over Hua Hin and then over the Gulf of Thailand north to Bangkok...

This is the runway at Hua Hin Airport. It is right in the town and has not a lot of flights going through it so no crowds or queues... Lovely...

When you are on the diddy plane the pilots are just sitting right in front of you and you can watch all that they do. The plane, a Cessna Grand Caravan 208B, seats only 12 people plus the two pilots...

This is the flight taking off from Hua Hin... These are not my pictures... Found them somewhere online, my flight is in the evening so it will be dark...

This is the view over Hua Hin just after take-off when it turns north towards Bangkok...

This is the rather basic control instrumentation of the dinky toy...

This is on final approach into Savurnabumi International in Bangkok...

This is another Cessna Grand Caravan 208B...

This is the beach of Hua Hin from the air...

Hua Hin Interantional Airport. Notice the huge crowds and the lengthy queues...

This is the separate check-in area inside. Again, bustling with people and the wait was enormous.... hahahahha....

This is the actual plane that we will be flying in september. So a few work trips to go, to Saudi Arabia, Brazil next week and possible Turkey and then off to Thailand. They better get some more supplies of Singha beer in...

Cheerio,
Alex.

Finally a nice summer...

2008-07-29T13:34:00.006+01:00

Good afternoon,

Just a little update with some nice summer shots. The last few weeks have been reasonably nice weatherwise and as I am always out with my dogs in the countryside I got some nice shots here and there.

This first pair of pics are of a nest of ringnecked doves. This is the second brood that the adults have managed this year. Yes it makes a lot of crap on my patio area but of course I haven't kicked them of the nest.

It looks like it won't be too long before they fly the nest, they are getting nice and fat now...

This was a piccie of some weeds in a field where I take my greyhounds. It was early evening and the sun was picking out the small purple flowers quite nicely...

Here is another one of some of that purple stuff with a white bindweed flower amongst them...

I quite like this pciture. It was taken into the sun which was low at that time and it casts a nice sheen over the fluffy seed heads...

The same seed heads with bug...

Some kind of thistle, again shot with the sun behind giving a nice backlit effects on the sharp thorns...

This is my back yard with the wife's hammock in the background. Everything is in flower at the moment and everything looks green, I guess the wet spring helped...

This is Jay posing... Again, later in the evening so that his coat looks very red...

A shot of Little Cornard through some bullrushes...

Some more purple weed...

And a last one of the bindweed flowers. At the moment all the fields around us are beautiful, all the crops like wheat and barley is yellow and golden and ready for harvest. The weather being nice helps enjoying this stuff...

Next week my travels begin again. I'm off to Belo Horizonte in Brazil for a week. I'm flying with Air Puke again (Air France) so I'll probably get there but my luggage probably wont... I've never been to Brazil so having a chance at seeing the famous Brazilian women shaking their booties is something I am quite looking forward to hahahahahaha!!! I'll update when I get back from Brazil.

Take care,
Alex.

Boating on the Broads!!!

2008-07-24T13:39:00.006+01:00

Wheyhey!!!

Look at that bird! My missus managed to photograph one of the rarest birds in the UK, the Marsh Harrier... This was one of a pair that we spotted just south of Dilham...

And she even got a shot of one flying... They are big birds... See below for the story about getting them on camera...

This is the start of the Broads update, I'm still having trouble with getting pictures to appear in the right place on Blog entries. I don't seem able to cut and paste pictures where I want them... Anyone with ideas, leave me a comment...

Afternoon all!!!

This is the belated update of my boating trip on the Broads in Norfolk. It was fantastic! We had a whale of a time. Luckily for us the weather helped us out by being beautiful for the first few days. I managed to get a suntan in England! The piccie above is me steering the good ship 'Mermaid'. It was an 40 year old tub with a small diesel in the back.

We took our two greyhounds Izzy and Jay with us as well and we were not too sure if they would take to boating but as Jay shows here asleep on his back while motoring down one of the rivers they took to it like a greyhound to water?!!?!?

This is one of the shots I took that I was pretty impressed with. It was a large Norfolk Wherry. This is the type of ship that was used a long time ago as cargo ships on the broads. They are still around and they look stunning under sail...

As some of you might know I am originally from Holland and this view of the River Yare towards Yarmouth has a very dutch feel to it. Windmills, reeds, water, you could be on the southern rivers of Holland...

This is the stepson James at the helm. Mainly because we spend the afternoon moored up outside the Swan Pub in Horning where I drank a few too many of East Anglia's finest beer Adnams Broadside... James stayed one night with us moored at How Hill where we proceeded to lighten the load of the boat by drinking all of the beer supplies hahahahaha...

There was a suprising amount of wildlife about... We saw amongst others: Ducks, Swans, Geese, Kingfishers, Cormorants, Great Crested Grebes, Herons, all sorts... The wildlife is not really disturbed by all the boats and usually stayed put when you cruised by so I had a chance to get some decent shots... A credit has to go to my wife jackie who managed to get some shots of one of the rarest bird around in the Broads, the Marsh Harrier. We were on our way to Dilham and that route took us through some very narrow canals through marsh land and suddenly I spotted a pair of Marsh Harriers but as I was piloting the boat through the narrow canal got my wife to take some shots and she managed to get some half decent shots, which was amazing as they disappeared as quickly as the appeared...

This was a grey heron perched on top of one of the handy signposts that help you find your way around the Broads. Hey, I am no sailor, and an AA road atlas wasn't the most useful map so these signs helped a great deal hahahahaha...

This is the river coming down from Potter Heigham. It was a nice windy day so there were a lot a smaller Wherries out sailing. Kinda tricky to get around as they are under sail which means they have right of way but some of them were tacking up the river, i.e. going from bank to bank every two minutes which made me passing them in a boat that only does 6 mph sometimes a bit tricky. Needless to say, having a few pints down my neck didn't help either hahahahaha!!!

This was on the entry to Ranworth Broad. It was a cormorant drying of after a fishing expedition. Looks quite like the Bacardi logo doesn't it? Or is that just my booze addled brain???

I got a couple of nice shots of herons flying by...

This is myself piloting the boat down some river that I can't remember... Helped by my greyhound as you can see... (Yes, that is a pint of Singha beer on the dashboard...)

Most of the time this was the view that you saw the whole day, quiet rivers with the odd boat here and there... Lovely and peaceful. That was what myself and my wife found to be the best part of this holiday, the sheer relaxation of it, just pottering along at 5 mph is just very relaxing...

I got some good shots of sunsets and sunrises as well... This was a nice sunset while we were moored up at How Hill...

This was the same place but later... Lovely pastel shades and good reflections...

This was the little tub that we drove around (I know it is not 'driving' but I don't know the boating lingo...) It was very comfortable (with the exception of the beds being slighlty too short as I am 1mtr85...), it had a small kitchen, a separate bedroom, a shower room with a good warm water shower and a good working bog, always important! To sum up, a great time was had by us and we will be doing this again. Yes, it is expensive, 700 squid for a weeks boating including all the insurance and fuel, but to us it was worth it. It was the first holiday in a long time where we actually came back rested instead of knackered...

Cheerio,

A rested Alex.

Off on a plastic Noddy boat...

2008-07-08T16:00:00.003+01:00

Afternoon all,

Don't ask me why the picture comes up first, I can't get it to shift... Never mind... Wheyhey after the alcohol fest last week with my younger brother it is this weekend time for me and the wife to go on a short break. We are going boating in Norfolk. The map above is of the Norfolk Broads. It is a network of small rivers and peat diggings and most of it is navigable.

We have rented a small plastic bath tub shown above. I believe the picture is actual size of the boat hahahaha!!!

For a week we will be cruising the rivers as shown above. It should be good. I have never piloted a small boat like this but when I was younger I used to have a Zodiac with an outboard which was good fun. It can't be much different I guess... (Famous last words....)

The route goes through some beautiful protected areas full of wildlife...

Plus the route takes you past loads and loads of pubs so there will be planty of opportunity to quaff a few good pints along the way... We are taking the greyhounds as well but I don't know if that is such a good idea... First of all they aren't the greatest swimmers and second off all the are thick as pigshit so will probably manage to fall overboard at the earliest opportunity.... We'll see... As long as I can get some well earned rest and recreation it should all be good fun...

Cheerio,

Seaman Staines.

After the weekend....

2008-07-07T13:11:00.003+01:00

Afternoon,

Thank god, he has gone home... One more day and my liver would have given up hahahaha!
My and the bruv had a whale of a time. Thursday night on the booze...
Friday a 4th of July party at my brother-in-law. Which lasted until the small hours of the morning... Saturday night in the Weatherspoons getting legless...

This is my brother and me starting the 4th of July celebrations a few hours early just to check if the Corona was up to scratch... It was...
This is him getting drunker and drunker....
My dog Jay giving Jeroen a stare out competition of who gets the settee hahahahaha!!! Jay won.
This is me trying to look sober. I failed.

A good time was had by all and bring on next week when I finally go on a weeks holiday...

Cheerio,

Alex.

Mad Brother arriving...

2008-07-03T13:30:00.004+01:00

Afternoon all!

For once not a work related or dog related entry. It is now thursday afternoon and I am getting ready to pick up my younger brother from Harwich. He is finally coming over for a piss up this weekend. He is in need of some rest and relaxation so this weekend will be spend mostly drunk hahahahaha!

This is a mugshot of the reprobate...
As you can see the beauty gene skipped this branch of the family whoehahahahahaha! Only kidding bruv! ( He was wankered though, this was after a fair few hours of drinking hollands finest...)

This is his younger son, Maurice.

This is Stephan asleep on new years eve last year. No suprise as they had spend the whole evening and night terrorising the neighbourhood with fireworks hahahahaha!

And this is the stuff we will be putting away in large quantities when he gets here. On friday night we have a party at my brother in law. He is a septic (Septic tank = yank... Rhyming slang lesson over...) and is going to do a big 4th of July party tomorrow night. As I was in the USA last week I brought him over a load of 4th of july party stuff like bunting, flags, plates, cups etc so the party should be all decked out like a proper yankee party! As he is a bloody talented head chef the food should be excellent too. ( Probably won't have much, food takes the space of beer...) Don't know yet what my bruv and I will be doing the rest of the weekend, I guess it depends on the severity of the hangover hahahahaha! I'll update next week with some piccies of the party.
To all septics: Happy Fourth of July!

Cheerio,

Alex.

Izzy goes hunting again...

2008-06-30T16:28:00.003+01:00

Afternoon!

Wheyhey, two updates in one day, must be bored hahahaha....

Last week i was in the US doing some customer training on some software program. That all went well but I didn't take any pictures so not much to add on that front...

The piccie below is Izzy having a whale of a time in Assington Thicks which is near us.

The whole forest was full of Foxglove. That is a dangerous plant as it is very poisonous. I made sure the dogs didn't have a nibble as that would kill them stone dead... Foxglove is used in making Digitalis which is a heart medication.... You can see em in the piccie above, its the purple flowers...
This above is Izzy in full flight as she spotted some rabbits she wanted to 'play' with. She didn't even get close as she uses her stupid 'run at them at full speed' approach... They never wait for her to kill them... stupid hound...
This is the famous Foxglove flowers. Beautiful but lethal...
This is Izzy showing how long her tongue is when she is all run out... You can still see the scar on top of her nose. She got that a few weeks ago when she launched herself into a fence and scraped her hooter... That was the first bill she caused me, 180 quid... lovely...

OK, gotta go, more tomorrow,

Alex.

Guatemala is cool....

2008-06-30T15:07:00.004+01:00

Afternoon,

Sorry about the delay in posting, I was being kept very busy. This update is about my recent venture into Guatemala. This was a real eyeopener. It is a beautiful country with very friendly nice people. I had a good time. The work went well and the customer was more than happy.
Of course I managed to get some time away from the job and had a quick wizz around Guatemala City. The piccie below is the Government House in the central square of Guatemala City. As you can see behind me there is some protest going on but I didn't find out what it was all about as we were on our way to a bar hahahaha....

This is the cement factory in San Miguel. Its called Cementos Progreso and was located some 60 km away from Guatemala City.

These are two of my new friends from the cement place. As they all lived in Guatemala City as well they took me on a tour of the town...

This is us after we had a few buckets of Gallo. Gallo is the local brew and it is good. Well, it sure gave me a sore head after a few... (Read 20...)

This is one of the slums sticking to the side of a mountain on the edge of the city...

All in all I had a good time. The place is still fairly original and not completely americanised as some of the central american countries can be, like, say, Costa Rica... If you are looking for a good bar/club go to Club Elite in the business district in Guatemala City...

Cheerio,

Alex.

Acapulco Mexico rocks!!!

2008-06-07T20:15:00.003+01:00

Afternoon all...

I'm off on my travels again. At the mo I am in Acapulco Mexico. This is a stunning place. Lovely weather, good spicy food and good beer, Corona!

This is the view from my hotel. What hardship 'ey? I'm right on the seafront with loadsa bars down the road. Has to be done, its hot here and you need to keep hydrated hahahahaha!!!!

This was one evening out with the two reps of Telux. On the right its Mr Guillermo and in the middle its Mr Antonio... This is after a good meal of fajitas and shrimps, lovely...

This is the seafront seen from the harbour area. Loadsa little fishing boats and an all pervading smell of woman. Eh, fish, I mean...
This is the famous La Quebrada diving place where local people risk their lives by jumping of high cliffs. Ithink I was there on the wrong day as there were not many divers and they did not go up all the way up the cliffs... Never mind, nice to see and another one ticked of my list...
This again La Quebrada from the far end of the cliffs. It is at the bottom of where you can see that restaurant in the middle of the picture.
OK, gotta go, time for a few Coronas, tomorrow I am off to Guatemala. A country where I have not been before. Should be good,more of the same I hope, Fajitas and Coronas hahahaha!

Cheerio,
Alex.

Mexico and Guatemala

2008-05-30T11:47:00.004+01:00

Afternoon,

Finally an interesting trip again. I'm off to Acapulco, Mexico and Sanarate in Guatemala. I've been to Mexico before but not to Acapulco. And for a change the cement plant is actually in the town and not miles into the jungle... This is the place where they do the cliff diving. I've got a day off over the wekend so i will make the effort to go and see this. From the piccies it looks spectacular.Don't even think that I am going to try this myself. This is one of those activities that is best observed from a beer terrace while quaffing Mexico's finest... Corona, Sol, Dos Equis, Modelo, Pacifico. Damn, I know more beer brands from Mexico than what I know here in the UK hahahaha. Plus I love mexican food. Whatever it is, doused in hot chillies does for me...
After Mexico i fly on to Guatemala. This is a place where I have never been before. I had a scoot about on the old interweb and found a few piccies including one of the actual place where i am going. Apparently this is a local beer.... Worth a try methinks...
This is the town of Sanarate in El Progreso county. This is where the plant is close to.

And below is the actual cement plant. I got 4 days there so all in all this trip will be nearly two weeks with a nice short break in the middle in Acapulco...
I know, I know, somebody has to do these hard trips so I will sacrifice myself for this one hahahahahaha!!!! OK, I'll update when I get to Acapulco. I'm off on monday unfortunately with Air Puke (Air France...)... never mind at least it is a nearly direct flight...
More later,

Alex.

Izzy goes for a swim...

2008-05-14T16:47:00.005+01:00

Afternoon all,

Another update today. Last evening after dinner I took the mutts out to Horace's Field. This is a massive field that is normally full of cattle but at the moment its empty so a good place to let these reprobates of the lead and let them terrorise the rabbits there...
This is 'shy' Izzy launching herself at something invisible... It was a beautiful evening with lots of good light so got some nice shots...
This is Izzy launching herself into amuddy ditch. When she got out she was black...
Here the pair of them are chasing bunnies...

This is Jay having a mud bath, good for the skin according to him... Needless to say when I got him home I hosed him down with the garden hose... smelly pig...
And guess what? The dog that hates water is now partaking as well, this is Izzy taking her first dip into the river Stour.
And this final one is of them chasing some imaginary animal through the long grass and flowers...
So she is doing well and her and Jay get on like a house on fire!

Cheerio,

Alex.

James Rocks!!!

2008-05-14T15:50:00.004+01:00

Afternoon all!

I gotta publish this one. James, the stepson, did his last project for his college music course last week. He organised and played at a gig that he and his mates set up as their final project. It was held in the Bury St Edmunds Pot Black snooker club. They used the stage area in the downstairs part of it. There were about 5 or 6 bands on the program but I only watched a bit of the act before James' band and then his performance. I didn't expect too much out of it as they kept describing it as punk metal. When they actually started it was much better than expected. They played together as tight as a ducks ass. No mistakes or fuck ups or anything...

This is a purple James playing the base and howling his head off. The songs they did were pretty good. Most of them written by themselves.
This is Ash the drummer. He played very tight and hard, bloody excellent!

This is again the noisy maestro howling at the smallish crowd... Well, saying that, when they first started off a mosh pit was started in front of the stage but the course leader spoiled that pretty quickly... spoil sport...
Look at this! I have never seen the lazy bugger break out into a sweat... hahahahaha!!!!
This is Jimmy the singer. He was very good. Unfortunately for James and Ash he is already in another band so this basically was their last gig... That boy sure can grunt and howl! He also does a good howler monkey impression hahahahaha!!!

Some more of the wandering minstrel... Even the banter between songs was all in good spirit. He had been accused in previous gigs of not speaking to much but now he opened up and even tossed in some jokes... Fuck me, he is coming out of his shell .... hahahaha!
Here is a red James.
And a green one.... Bloody alien....
Oh, and an angry blue one hahahahaha!!! This week he got his result from the teachers and he got a distinction for the gig and the organisation, well done dude! He is now looking for a new guitar player so if anyone knows anyone that can play heavy metal, likes beer, women and green, drop me a comment and I will pass it on. You will have to live anywhere near Sudbury, Bury St Edmunds, Mildenhall etc....

OK, I'm off on my travels again next week, going to do a training course for some frogs in Lyon. Not my choice but my gaffer is forcing me to do it... Parlez Vouz Francais? No, SOD OFF!!! Hehehehehehe!!!!

Cheerio,

Alex.

Izzy and Jay have a barbeque...

2008-05-07T10:15:00.003+01:00

Afternoon all!

Here are a few piccies from a barbeque that we had on monday. Izzy has taken to laying behind some bushes in the back garden. I guess its nice and cool there when the sun is out... She thinks we can't see her but the big brown eyes give here away...

Here you can see that she has not settled in at all. This is her version of waiting for the meat to be cooked on the barbie... Flat on her back....

This is Jay and Izzy patiently waiting to be fed with some scraps from the barbie... You can see the damage on Izzy's nose. She got that last week friday when she ran into so fence and scraped her nose badly. The vet glued it up and she seems to be ok with it, no hollering or whingeing... She has been back to the vet since and they say she should not have a scar when it heals up. It jst missed two big veins on here nose... Lucky cow...
This is me and jay sleeping of the barbie. That dog likes his comfort...
And this is them both running off the barbie afterwards. They tore around the garden for quite a while chasing each other. This is the first time we have seen Jay play with his new bitch. He can be a grumpy bastard but he seems to like her...
So, sofar so good, with our new addition. It looks like the little lady is staying!

Cheerio,
Alex.

IZZY!!!

2008-05-01T17:45:00.004+01:00

This is the latest addition to our family - Izzy! We decided that Jay would really appreciate having a permanent companion and after a false start we had a call from the kennels to say that they had a female that they thought would be suitable. We picked her up the night before Alex went to Saudi so he only got to see her for a few hours before disappearing for a fortnight.

This is Izzy relaxing! She seems to have a bit of an underbite so her teeth stick out - looks like she's smiling.....
This is Izzy and Jay hunting rabbits in a field near us, once you get in through the gate it's completely fenced in and no-one else seems to use it so it's ideal for them to have a good romp around....
This is Izzy in full running mode -she looks very dainty, almost like a dressage horse, high-stepping.....

She has settled in really well, there has been no scuffles between them at all. She really loves Jay and is always trying to snuggle up to him - he is a bit more reserved and keeps his distance a bit but they have been spotted sharing the sofa looking like a pair of book-ends!

Cheerio
Jac.

In the sandpit again...

2008-04-23T11:04:00.002+01:00

Afternoon all,

I am back in Saudi Arabia. I have done a tour of the country. I started in Najran near the Yemen border. It was boiling there and fortunately the job went fast. After that I went to Hofuf and that is where the following pictures are from. Hofuf is near Dammam on the east coast. The driver that picked me up said that he knew a short cut but we would have to watch out for camels. I didn't believe him, I thought he was joking...

Then after an hour there was the first stepping out into the road. These beasts are stupid as anything. They will not move or shift when you drive at them...

A little bit later we actually had to stop as a camel herder was driving his beasts across the motorway...
This was the site in Hofuf. This was a first for me. This is the biggest cement plant in world. The new lines produce 10.000 tons of cement per day. It also meant that the scanner towers on which my scanners are mounted were the highest I have ever climbed. They were about 30 meters on a straight ladder and yes it scared the crap out of me. I had to climb them wearing my back pack with my tools and laptop in there and that was dragging me backwards.Luckily the chinese imstallation company had done a good job and i only had to climb each once, thank f^%$!

As you can see the staff were very helpful, i wasn't even allowed to carry my own bags. The company I worked for was Sinoma and they were ace. I have heard a lot of complaints about this company but they did a great job for me!

I have been asked to put pictures on the Blog of my new greyhound Izzy but I picked her up on the friday and disappeared off to Saudi on the saturday early so haven't got any piccies yet. I should be back in Blighty by sunday so I'll update it when I have some pics to add. According to the missus she is doing great and getting along with my grumpy Jay very well, so all's well.

OK, gotta go, one more day here in Arar on the Iraqi border and then on to Eastern Province Cement and then on to home, can't wait.... An alcohol free country, now that sounds like the place to send me...... NOT.....!

Cheerio, Alex.

The Easter snows 2008...

2008-03-23T11:57:00.002Z

Happy Snowy Easter! 'Ey??????

Yes indeed, global warming must be real. Woke up this morning and guess what? It is snowing! It's the 23rd of March and it is snowing in Suffolk??!?!?!? Well, make hay when the sun shines so we took the mutt out for a stroll in the coutryside.

This is Jac out in the snow near Little Cornard. It was coming down pretty heavy....

We have reason to believe that this was Jay's first walk in thick snow. He went mental. He was throwing himself in it, rolling in it, racing about in it... He loved it!

As is obvious from these piccies...

It was rather weird walking around in a Christmas picture postcard on Easter Sunday... Very nice though....

This afternoon we are off to an Easter dinner at the mother-in-law, should be good, the whole tribe is gathering.... OK gotta go, this cuppa tea will not drink itself.

Take care,

Alex.

Another journey through the Philippines...

2008-03-23T11:38:00.002Z

Morning all,

Another late update. This time I've been away to the Philippines. I spent time in Manila, Davao, Batangas and Norzagaray in Bulacan. This time the work was a nightmare. All of the jobs had something go tits-up on them. I did do my best to get it all sorted but in some cases it was bloody impossible to do a good job. Never mind, might get me out there again.

This piccie above is at Fortune Cement in Batangas in South Luzon. The company did not have a bus service to get to the site so they told me just to take a taxi in the morning. This is all well and good but for the fact that there were no taxis in the whole of Batangas. So I ended up going to the plant on a moped tricycle. This thing did about 20 km an hour and the site was a good 10 km away. It was a right laugh though... Who gets to go to work on a moped tricycle?

After Batangas I flew to Mindonao Island in the south of the Philippines. I flew on the day that Manny Paquiao, the Philipino superstar boxer, was fighting . This meant that everything was slow or closed. This guy is so popular that the rebels in the south that are fighting the government had an official ceasefire while the bout was on... The picture above is the view over Davao City from the Marco Polo hotel. I only stayed one day here as this job went up the swanny too....
When I went to Norzagaray I stayed in Manila as that is within commuting distance. This is the view from the Makati Suite Hotel in Makati. If you need a good hotel for a reasonable price right in the night life centre of Manila this is the place. Good service, a good restaurant and friendly staff...
This is another view from my suite in the Makati hotel. All in all I had a good trip if it weren't for the fact that the customers had not prepared the jobs properly... So I left Manila on Thursday when it was about 35 degrees. 24 hours later I was standing outside terminal 1 at Heathrow freezing my nuts off as it was around zero. (It didn't help I lost my coat on the flight from Manila to Hong Kong...)

OK, don't know yet where I'm off to next. I need some de-stress time, it has been a long trip...

Cheerio, Alex.

I ate a guinea pig!!!

2008-02-29T13:15:00.004Z

Afternoon all!

I made it back from Peru in one piece. I travelled out there with my new collegue to teach him the ropes of commissioning. We had travelled the week before all over the US and this time we went straight from the US to Peru. After a 7 hour flight from Atlanta to Lima we got to our hotel at around midnight. As there was no bar in the hotel we got one of the porters to show us the way to a bar and we found a nice little samba place just around the corner. We had a few beers, yes, only a few, as we had to travel the next day to Arequipa.

The next day after some confusion where to take the plane from, we got to Arequipa around 5 in the evening. Mr Juan Fransisco was there to take us to the appartment. After we dropped our cases off he took us into town to see the centre of Arequipa.

Arequipa is a big 2 million person town. It is unique due to the fact that it is surrounded by three active volcanoes. But according to the locals it is completely safe, the last eruption was in 2002...

This is one of the volcanoes, I can't remember which one as I have the memory span of a goldfish. This was on the way to the cement plant, which was in the foothills of the Andes.
This is me posing in front of some other volconoes...

This, my friends, is special! Before I went out to Peru I knew that they ate guinea pigs. As I am quite adventureous (I ate goat in Indonesia, crickets in Mexico, snakes in Hong Kong...) I was determined to eat it if I could find it. So the first evening in a restaurant just of Plaza des Armas (The main square in Arequipa) when I was perusing the menu I was thrilled to see Alpaca and Cuy (guinea pig) on the menu. The first night I had Alpaca which was stunning. It is like a cross between really good beef and tender lamb, absolutely brilliant. The next night I went for it and ordered the 'whole guinea pig' from the grill. It comes with its head still on and all its claws etc...
This is it, laying on the plate with its little head on a potato. It tasted like a cross between badger and golden eagle. Only kidding... It tasted quite like chicken but a bit more fatty. It was also quite tricky to cut up. When you eat a chicken you know were the bones are and you know where to cut. In the end with this thing I just broke legs off and nibbled away. The meat on its tiny head was quite good too!

By the way, the pictures of the guinea pig are shite as I forgot my camera phone and my mate has a new Motorola flip phone which is a piece of shite. Its got no flash, no light, no space for memory cards, if you are looking for a good phone give this bastard a miss.... You can sortof make out the front teeth of the rat in the piccie if you look closely...

This was one of the main churches around Plaza des Armas, dunno which...

This is the front of the main cathedral in Arequipa. The left tower was knocked off in a recent earthquake but it was restored beautifully...

This is the menu that shows I am not lying. Cuy a la parilla is guinea pig from the grill and Bife de Alpaca is hairy Lama meat.
This was the Alpaca steak, blooming marvellous! There are some people around my way that keep alpacas for their wool. Maybe I should try to find out if they would be interested in eating the buggers when they stop giving wool. I would be happy to help them eat the buggers!
This was the local drink at the cement factory 25 km north west of Arequipa. It is a cross between RedBull and Irnbru. As it was full of cafeine it probably wasn't the best thing to drink just before going to bed, as I found out to my discust hahahaha...

If you are looking for a good nightclub in Arequipa go for Club Queens on Avenida Ejercito. Just knock on the door, if they like your mug they will let you in. Beer is reasonably priced at 8 soles per bottle and the staff is very friendly.

All in all we had an ace time in Peru. I would like to go back and actually spend some time in Lima as this time we only slept there for a few hours. Certainly the place to go to if you are into old piles of stone as they have Machupichu and Cusco and all sorts of other old stuff. They also have some unique wildlife there with the condor being the most famous.

OK, gotta go, busy busy busy, back to The Philippines in a weeks time,

Cheerio,

Alex.

Back in the good old US of A....

2008-02-15T16:32:00.003Z

Morning All!

Another update from another corner of the globe. I am now in the USA for two jobs at Holcim Clarksville in Missouri and Southern Lime in Alabama. I arrived in the US on sunday from Gatwick. I flew into St Louis via Cincinatti. The weather was bloomin awful. Snow, cold, sleet, whatever, it was cold enough to freeze the balls of a brass monkey...

This trip I have a new guy with me. This is Matt who is the new apprentice commissioning engineer. At least I have someone to scrape the car windows for me... hahahaha... The job at Holcim went pretty well... I'm busy training Matt up so he can take some of the strain of the travel of me... The missus wasn't too impressed with me missing Valentines Day. Again. I think in the last 14 years I have been home twice for it... Ah well, it saves on flowers and choccies.
This is the bridge over the Mississippi at Louisiana. The river was frozen over but the huge river barges were still going... We stayed at the Hindu Hilton. It was actually called the Rivers Edge Hotel but the locals call it the Hindu Hilton as the guy who runs it is an Indian. The guy was very helpful to us. There are no taxis or cabs in Louisiana so he drove is across the bridge to The Lighthouse restaurant where they had fresh catfish and pork chops on the menu.
After St Louis we flew to Birmingham Alabama to go to Southern Lime in Calera. It was still cold but at least the snow stopped. The job is going slowly as we are waiting on some equipment from Black Box to arrive...
This is Matt doing his first scanner alignment and focus. So far so good, if he measures up it should relieve some of the pressure of me... My wife would like to see me home for some time of the year...

OK, gotta go, time waits for no man, off to Lima, Peru, tomorrow,

Alex.

My New Chinese friends...

2008-02-03T13:55:00.000Z

Afternoon again!

Another update from the land of the camels...

Today we made a lot of progress. The scanner is up and running and the system is all hunkydory. The picture below you can see the electrical engineer putting the finishing touches to the temporary installation. The scanner is happy on the 220V single phase and the fan is happy chugging along on the 480V 3phase.

The scanner hut doesn't look like this anymore. I turned my back for a minute and now the hut has walls on all sides. The chinese workers really work fast I must say.

This is Mr Bin Yu from Zhejang putting the fibre modem in this morning.
This is (From left to right...) Mr Bin Yu, the electrical engineer, myself from www.thermoteknix.com and Mr Jin Guo Yao. Mr Jin Guo Yao is the interpreter and he has done an excellent job. Translating my english jabberings into fluent chinese can't be easy...
I don't really know who these other people in the picture are, I think they are operators that will run the kiln when it is up and running.

All in all the job is going very well. Tomorrow I will do the training on the equipment. The chinese compay will run the Northern Region Cement Plant for the first year while the arabic operators are being trained.

OK, I have to keep this short, it is nearly dinner time here. Yippee! More chinese food! Some people here have complained about the food but not me. It is bloody excellent, bring it on!

Cheerio,

Alex.

Where the hell am I?

2008-02-03T05:53:00.000Z

Morning again...

For the people that have no idea where I am, here are two piccies clarifying where I am. I've placed a marker on the map for Turaif.

The bit just across the border in Iraq is the famous Al Anbar province where the Americans are having a lot of fun trying to win this 'War on Terror' or whatever it is they call it...
As you can see on the map there aren't any towns around where I am. Turaif is 80 km up the road and that is the nearest town... So I wasn't lying when I said in the middle of nowhere...

Cheerio,
Alex.

In the northern desert of Saudi Arabia...

2008-02-03T05:09:00.001Z

Morning all,

Here is an update from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. I finally arrived on-site on friday after spending two days in Jeddah doing nothing as I managed to miss my flight... (See previous entry...)

The place where is am is remote to say the least. I'm somewhere 80 km from Turaif and 200 km from Arar. It is really in the middle of nowhere. We are also only about 50 km from the southern border of Iraq. The airport in Arar is small to say the least. One shed is all there is. At least no queues anywhere.

I was picked up by the company driver from CNBM, the chinese construction company that is running the job. The guy was very friendly but conversation was limited as he only spoke arabic or chinese, both of which are not my strong point... Didn't stop us from jabbering and doing a lot of handsignalling hahahahaha!!!

After bombing through the desert for two hours we got to the site. As it was already late on in the day I met the site guys just to say hello and was then shown to my 'engineers quality' accomodation. Basic to say the least but is it sufficient. At least there is heating in it which I really need as the temperature is hovering around the freezing point which is weird for Saudi Arabia. I'm used to it being boiling here, normally it is around 45 degrees celsius in the Riyadh region but here it is ^$%$king cold. There was even some snow on the ground...

This is a piccie of my digs. Note the 2 by 4's for bed posts...

This was what it looked like for two hours between Arar and the site... Basically sand, rocks and camels... Impressive in a strange sort of way... We could have been on a different planet...

This is the cement plant control room. On the left is our system. (Strange chairs they have here...)

This is the kiln outlet of kiln 1. You can see the scale of the thing by looking at the two techie's standing on the edge of the burner platform.

These are the two technicians that are working with me. To my shame I have to say that I have not managed to remember their names, I have a crap memory. I think the guy on the right is Mr Jao. The guy on the left is the electrician that is doing the technical part of the installation.

The work itself is going fine. Most is already installed and the control room equipment is working fine. We do have a problem though. For me to be able to do temperature calibrations I need the kiln to be up and running. Unfortunately they had a catastrophic power failure which meant that the kiln will not restart till the end of february. So I probably will have to come back here in a month or so to finish the job off...

The food has been excellent, chinese for breakfast, chinese for lunch and guess what? Chinese for dinner. There are about 800 chinese workers here doing the construction.

OK, gotta get on with it, take care,

Alex in freezing Saudi Arabia.

Stuck in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

2008-01-30T14:51:00.000Z

Afternoon all,

I guess it had to happen sooner or later, I missed a flight. I flew from Heathrow to Jeddah on tuesday with BMI. That was an ace flight. There were only 25 people on board a 300 seater plane. So I had a row of 4 seats to myself and finally got some sleep on a flight...

On wednesday, today, I was supossed to fly from Jeddah to Arar in the north of Saudi near the Iraq border. Unfortunately the traffic to the airport was diabolical due to a car crash so I got to the airport 15 minutes before the flight. As the flight was already closed they could not get me on. So when I got to the Saudia Airlines ticket desk to change my flight to a later one today I was rather suprised to hear that there were no other flights to either Arar or Turaif till friday.... Wonderful... not!

I tried getting a bus to the north but that would have taken me till friday morning to get there so that was not an option either. (Its about 1500 km from here...) So in the end I admitted defeat and went back to Jeddah. I informed the office that I would not be arriving at the agreed time in Arar and they got hold of the customer for me. The chinese customer called me a bit later and sorted out my pick up for the friday.

So now I have another full day doing nothing in a dry country... No booze here... At least I am in a decent hotel with loadsa restaurants so not all is bad... www.moevenpick-jeddah.com .

More later,

Alex.

Stanstead Forest walk....

2008-01-28T15:59:00.000Z

Afternoon,

As promised, an update of the last walk we had with our temporary guest Amy.

On sunday afternoon we went to Stanstead forest. We took Amy, Jay, Jackie's sister Clare and her two dogs Sheeba and Kahlua. That did make for a full car, 3 adults and 4 dogs. Luckily that the greyhounds stayed in the back and the other two sat on the back seat with Clare. When we got to Stanstead forest we opted for going the long way around as the last three days of rain had changed the paths into a quagmire. As we came around the corner I spotted a huge herd of deer in the distance. Luckily our dog pack did not spot the deer... Otherwise they would have been after it. I know, as one of my previous greyhounds was partial to a bit of torn apart venison...

There must have been at least 50 deer in that herd. So within minutes all the dogs were on the leads as we did not want a bloodbath... Amy was on the lead anyway as we do not let her of in places that are not enclosed. We are not sure if she would come back and I guess Gary and Stacey would not look to kindly upon me loosing their dog hahahahaha....

Ok, she did want to run around with the others but as that was not possible we had her on one of the extendable leads so at least she could join in a bit. When we were out of sight of the deer the other three were off the lead again and a great time was had by all. Just before we got to the car Sheeba and Kahlua decided to pamper themselves with a mudbath... So when we got to loading up the car with dogs we got the dog blanket from the boot and stuck that on the back seat so the wet dogs wouldn't mess up the back seats. So then I put Jay and Amy in the back. Stupid Jay sees his blanket on the back seat and hops over the back rest and gets comfy on the back seat, stupid mutt... After a lot of jigging dogs around we finally ended up with two greys in the back and Clare and her dogs on the back seat... Greyhounds? Thick? Never....

Amy the house guest will be going back on wednesday or thursday after her owners have had enough of sailing down mountains with two planks tied to their feet in Austria. I'm sure we will miss the little tike, she has been excellent! No messes in the house, no fuss about the food and no fights with Jay. All good. She is welcome to stay again!

Tomorrow I am off to Saudi Arabia. I'm overnighting in Jeddah and then making my way on wednesday to somewhere between Arar and Turaif near the Iraqi border for a few days. Should be back on sunday...

Cheerio,
Alex.

Amy and Jay go hunting...

2008-01-26T17:21:00.000Z

Afternoon all,

This morning, saturday, me and the missus took Jay and Amy to one of Jay's favourite walks. We took him to the Rabbitfield. This is a field where Jay does his best to control the rabbit population by killing them all. Normally in witer there aren't a lot of rabbits about.

This morning though as soon as we got in the field we saw a bunch of hunters on the other side of the river. So after the dogs had a run around and a few dumps they became very interested in what was going on on the other river bank...

The first few shots had them a bit worried but when the first shot bird landed on our side of the river the fun started. Some of the birds weren't quite dead yet, so they had a good time ensuring that they were dead... hahahaha....

Here they are charging back after trying to get at one that fell in the river...

Here is one of the guys taking aim on a pheasant cock... He did get it...
One of the men shooting shouted across the river if we wanted anything we could just pick up what we wanted. Jackie picked out a nice partridge...
I think this was the frst time that Amy had been near a hunt and she seemed to enjoy it big time... Both of them didn't really want to go back home... Tomorrow we are taking her to another of Jay's favourite walks, Bridgestreet Forest. Should be good for a laugh or two as that place is full of deer...

OK, gotta go, off for a curry in a bit,

Cheerio,

Alex.

Amy's holiday...

2008-01-24T15:07:00.001Z

Afternoon,

We have now turned our house into a greyhound hostel. Friends of ours that also have an ex-racing greyhound have gone on holls and rather than sticking the mutt into a kennel Jackie offered them to have her for a week. Amy, her name, is a pretty bitch and she has made herself quite at home. Here she is having wangled her way onto the settee which she seems to think is her dogbasket.

She is however a proper greyhound and here she is doing what greyhounds do best, sleep. When she sleeps not much wakes her. My own grey, Jay, normally just dozes during the evening but Amy is dead to the world. And she snores hahahahaha!

Jay is getting along famously with her. They walk together, sleep together, play together... Here he is after a hard days eating and walking...
This is a close-up of Amy sparko... She can sleep for England.

We have had no problems with her eating... Some greyhounds can be finicky about what they eat but I think the competition between the two dogs makes 'em eat like horses. Just so that they don't leave food for each other....

Of course this has had the effect onn my missus that she now wants a second dog.... Man, these dogs are gonna eat me out of house and home! No worries though, these guys usually have had a hard life on the track so they have deserved their retirement...

Cheerio,

Alex.

Skopje, Macedonia 11-01-2008...

2008-01-24T14:01:00.001Z

Afternoon,

So, it's only the beginning of January and I have already got my first trip under my belt. On the 8th of January I made my way to the capital of Macedonia, Skopje. There I did a Thermascope commissioning for Titan, which is the largest cement producer of Macedonia.
I had been to Macedonia before but at that time it was called Yugoslavia and was communist under Marshall Tito...

This time they are independent but they are dirt poor. They are NOT in Europe so they have great difficulty doing trade with the rest of Europe. The people however are great. The rep out there from our company Nenad Vasic helped me out a lot. Mainly by dragging me to every good resatuarant and bar in the twon centre hahahaha!

This is Nenad on the roof of the cement kiln trying to get the chiller cabinets to work. It was minus 8 degrees C and blowing a gale and being up on that roof was very verrrrry cold...
This is the view from the roof to the pre-heater towers of kiln 3 and 4. The camera itself, after we cured the problems with the chillers, worked a treat and the customer was happy with the result.
This is the line 3 camera in action.

I flew to Macedonia with Austrian Airlines which was a pleasant suprise after suffering the customer care from Air France and KLM for the last two years. I have now started a new Star Alliance membership so that I can dump that bunch of froggie and cloggie bastards. They have made my life hell for the last few years with lost luggage, missed flights, crap service, rude cabin staff, rubbish food and all other sorts of irritants that a traveller can suffer.

Here is another example of the very helpfull way KLM/AirPuke treats their high revenue customers. I had gotten 300.000 airmiles together last year. I am a Platinum member so I was expecting to be able to make an easy reservation with my airmiles. I tried to get a business classticket to Thailand for february... After countless phonecalls, emails, texts etc I finally ended up with a business class ticket for the 3rd of september. Can you believe that?!?!? No tickets for any Bangkok flight with AirPuke nor KLM??? Oh, yes, I can get a flight if I am willing to BUY open air miles! Scum. That is what they are. I have had to suffer sitting in their shite economy seats for 300.000 airmiles and when it comes to giving me a ticket for my hard earned miles they are not home. What a bunch of tossers. I hope, and I mean this sincerely, that both of them go belly up as soon as possible. They just do not know what customer service is...
So, if any of you out there are thinking of joining a Frequent Flyer program be smart and do not join Skyteam. They are only there to tie you to an airline and they do not value your support. All they want is for you to spend your cash on their crappy airlines. A waste of time. If you want a decent one, get one that is member of the Star Alliance. OK, rant over.

Cheerio,

Alex.

New Year's Eve 2007/2008 in Holland...

2008-01-24T13:29:00.000Z

Afternoon all,

Again a late entry...

Where to start? OK, just after Christmas me and the wife went over to Holland to visit my family. New Year's Eve is a much better party in Holland than in England... More booze, more fireworks, just more fun. We flew there using Ryanair which was crap as per usual. I think if the scrimping and saving on Ryanair goes any further then only midgets will be able to travel. I am not that big, just 5ft 11 inches and I can't get my legs in the small seats... They even now charge you to check-in. If you do it online its free, done at the desk in the airport it's two quid each...

The piccie below is my wife explaining the intricacies of digital photography.... Yes, indeed, it is a case of the deaf leading the blind hahahahaha....

My younger brother Jeroen had managed to get his hands on some illigal fireworks from Belgium. These are far louder and unfortunately more dangerous as they are not subject to any checks but that didn't worry me. He had secured me a load of different stuff and my god, were they loud.... The picture below is an example of one of them. It was one of those things that you light once and then it bangs and thunders for 10 minutes, bloody great! Basically when that was going on you couldn't hear anyhthing else going on, Ace!

The next day everyone was quite hungover and the streets were a mess with loadsa red paper and shite left from the fireworks still in the streets. That evening we took my parents out to a chinese restaurant in Ijsselstein for a good chinky. A good time was had by all and I have to thank my parents and my two brothers for being excellent hosts again, thanks guys!

Since then I have been away for work to Macedonia which I will do an entry for as well.

Cheerio,

Alex.

Club Seven, Iligan City, Mindanao, The Philippines...

2007-12-15T05:21:00.000Z

Afternoon,

Just quick update for people that are looking for a good boozer in Iligan City. The place where I have been going the last few days is Club Seven in Iligan City. It is just outside the town centre next to the Elena Tower Hotel.

They do reasonable food but the best part is the live bands. very night from 9 onwards they have bands playing. Some good, some extremely good... It is a sortof open stage and anyone who can sing and wants to can join the band and holler along.

Needless to say I just stayed at the bar and drank the cheap local beer. Not to be refused at 40 pence a pint.

The place is open on one side so yes, it does get warm at night as there is no airco but the booze keeps you cool there. They do beer deals as well. A bucket of 7 bottles of San Miguel for two quid, can't beat that. The service is excellent there and I have not seen any trouble there.

Everybody just seems to be out for a good time and tries to out sing each other, no fighting or anything like that, just a good time. So all in all a great place to while away a few hours.

Cheerio,
Alex.

In the Philippines...

2007-12-14T05:53:00.000Z

Afternoon all,

OK, after my Jordan trip it was off again on short notice. I am now in the Philippines on Mindanao island. I arrived on tuesday after a horrible flight with the dutch tossers KLM/AirPuke. The usual shite, no upgrades available, crap food, no empty seats anywhere, an AV box right in the footwell of my seat, total crap as per usual...

I arrived on tuesday morning in Manila. I went straight to bed for a few hours as the jetlag was pretty bad, its 8 hours later there. Luckily my hotel, The Oxford Suites, was right in the middle of Makati City which is the nightlife centre. So in the evening I spend a few hours on a terrace ogling the local talent. Of which there was plenty about...

The next day I had an early flight to Cagayan on Mindanao. From there it was an hours drive through the jungle to Iligan City. This is a small city on the north coast of Mindanao. The work is pretty straightforward, just an upgrade of an old system. That is all progressing nicely. This should all be done by saturday. On sunday I fly back to Manila and then on to Davao. That is also on Mindanao but apparently it is quicker to fly two hours north and then 2 1/2 south again
to get to Davao. Taking the road takes way longer. So I have another 6 days to go and then its Xmas time. Finally the end of this hectic year. That will please the missus. My wife has been my rock through all this mad travel. Half the time I don't even know the hell where I am but she keeps the homefront going and she keeps me sane. (Jacks, I love you...)

I must say I do quite like the Philippines. It is a bit like Indonesia but it appears less poor. The food is nice. Then again I say that about all food that has loadsa chillies in it.

I tried to include some piccies but this company network I am on will not let me upload pictures so I will do that when I get back to blighty. The roads here are full of Jeepneys. Which are sortof public transport busses or big taxis. The main difference is that they are all decked out in the most fantastic paint schemes. They all have weird and wonderfull names and whatever they can chrome, they will have chromed, they look wicked... I will include some pictures when I get back.

OK, gotta go, I gotta do some work, tonight off to Club Seven which is a diner/gig venue where they have excellent bands on in the evening. Has to be done at 40 p a pint hahahahaha!

Take care,

Alex in Mindanao.

Jordan Again...

2007-12-14T05:40:00.000Z

Afternoon all,

Just tried to post some pictures but as I am on a company intranet it keeps bombing me out.

Just finished the job at Jordan Cement. Got their second system up and running. The customer was well made up. We had a lot of trouble during the work. The day I arrived the company went on strike. This meant everyday having to come in through the picketlines. That was a new experience to say the least. All of the picketing people thought we were scabs working while they were off. Needless to say nobody listened to my argument that they hired ME to come there and not the other way around. To make a long story short we had to dodge the strike committee people wherever they were around but still managed to get it all done on time.

Again Mr Mohammad Mustafa and his men made the job very easy. They are well trained technicians that know what they are doing.

When Mr Ayed Dasan, our rep out in Jordan, ame to pick me up I told him that the last time his collegue drove us back and he set a record for the trip from Rashadiyah to Amman.

Needless to say that that was a red rag to a bull. From tht moment on the speedo didn't dip below 180km for the next three hours. And yes, he managed to break the record by about 5 minutes. Ayed, congratulations, you are now officially the craziest driver in Jordan!

Thanks to all that made the job there go well, always a pleasure to work out there,

Cheerio,
Alex.

Off to Jordan again...

2007-11-22T12:10:00.000Z

Afternoon all,

I'm off again. I'm off back to the place where I was half a year ago. I'm going back to Rashadiyah in Jordan. The second installation is ready for commissioning. Should be a straight forward trip as they already have one of our systems so no training this time... We hope...

This is the plant. It is about 60 km away from Petra which I might have a chance to go and see this time. It is also near to the Dead Sea so with a bit of luck I might be able to do my floating turd impression on the salty lake... I better take some warm clothes as this plant is high up in the mountains it can get cold there in winter. Let's put it like this, last time when I was there I spotted a snow plow at the entrance of the plant. I thought it was an arab joke but when I asked they told me that they get big snows sometimes in winter. In the Middle East????

This was the place where I stayed last time. It is an old village that is now being done up to used for eco tourism. There is a lot of exotic wildlife about, like hyenas, coyote and Ibex deer.

This was a wild plant that was growing right outside my hotel. Dunno what it was but it looked pretty... I hope I get to eat the local speciality again, Mansaf. This is the goat dish in goats yoghurt and is pretty good. The first night I will stay in Amman again as I arrive late on the saturday. Maybe this time the passport people will let me in with no hassle as this time I have a proper passport, not an emergency one...

OK, gotta go, these cases don't pack themselves you know,

Cheerio,

Alex.

Indonesia Rocks!!!

2007-11-19T16:32:00.001Z

Afternoon all!

Again it has been some time since I have updated the page. This time I went back to Indonesia. I had an excellent trip.

I started in Jakarta working at Indocement which is just outside Jakarta. I stayed there for a few days, completed the job and then flew from Jakarta to Yogjakarta. There I found out that the customer was not willing to work during the weekend so instead of travelling on to Cilacap to start the job for Holcim I holed up in Yogjakarta for the weekend. Yogjakarta is a town close to several sights. From Yogja you can visit Borobudur, The Pranbahan temple and Mount Merapi.

I picked to go to the temple and Merapi. The visit to Merapi was badly timed as the whole mountain was covered in clouds and we could see bugger all. So after walking around on the lava flow that covered a village last year I cruised down from the mountain and went to Pranbahan. This is a thousand year old budhist temple. I just had a quick trot about and took some piccies and then took my driver to a good restaurant and stuffed myself with all sorts of indonesian foods. I love the food out in Indonesia, its spicy, its fresh, its cheap and more importantly, it doesn't give you the Tijuana Quickstep (The Cairo Buttclench, Dehli Belly etc...)...

In the evening I found a good bar in Yogja. If you ever go over there, give the Bunker a try. Its a dance/nightclub and it is the only one I found that doesn't charge to get in. I hate having to hand over cash before I know I like it.....

On the sunday the Holcim driver picked me up from Yogja and drove me across the mountains to Cilacap. This was a hairy ride. At some point we had to cross a river on a bamboo bridge as the concrete one had washed away....

After a week in Cilacap I travelled back to Jakarta to start the third job for Holcim Narogong. This time Holcim was nice to me. They stuck me in the Gran Melia hotel in Jakarta. That is a top class 5 star place. Needless to say it was nice to have a room again without wildlife on the ceiling. Also the laundry service was highly appreciated as it was very hot and sweaty. 35 degrees C with a 90 % humidity...

This piccie is from the Pranbahan temple. It looked quite nice but as I know fXXXck all about budhism it didn't mean much to me. Still, nice place and it was cool that is was very quiet. It was out of tourist season...

This was the park at the exit of the temple. There were loadsa deer roaming about free.

My stay in Jakarta was made complete by the bar staff at the J Lounge in the Gran Melia hotel. I can't remember many of the names but especially Anisa and Agin (Ajin? I don't know how you spell that name... The main guy behing the bar who kept dropping glasses when doing his 'Cocktail' bartender impression...) Also I had a chance to go to BlockM. This is the notorious nightlife area of Jakarta and i thought it was ace! Good bars, cheap booze and all the crumpet you can eat!

For my next trick I'm off back to Jordan. Im going to Amman this saturday for a 4 day job. After that I believe the Philipines is on the menu for the beginning of december...

Cheerio,

Alex.

Jaywick Beach, Suffolk, UK

2007-10-18T13:27:00.000+01:00

Afternoon all,

This is an update from a few weeks ago when the missus and myself + the dog went to the beach at Jaywick, just south of Clacton. It was nice weather and it looked like this might be the last nice sunday of the season so we nipped down ther.

This is Jackie with the mutt walking along the beach towards Clacton. The weather was stunning, nice and warm and sunny.

When we stopped for a break and a pint or two the dog decided that he quite liked the icecream my wife was eating. So he launched himself, slobbered all over it and that way ensured he got the whole thing. He ate the whole thing including the biscuit thingy...

These seagulls were hovering on the off chance that he would leave some but no such luck, he had it all...

There were quite a few kite surfers out but to me that looked far too cold to be doing at this time of year. The water isn't much more than 15 degrees... brrrrrr....

All in all a nice day was had by all and by evening everybody was knackered from the fresh sea air.

At the moment I am in England and will be here for another week and a half. Blimey, the longest I have been in country for a long time... Off to Indonesia in two weeks time. Two weeks to do in Jakarta, should be fun.

Cheerio, Alex.