Back in town
I spent the last 7 weeks going back to the future. I come from a work background based in field acquisition of seismic data, and so after the spectacular failure of my last project it was good in a way to get back to the basics back to where I came from and believe me riding a Chinese boat off the cost of Tanzania was a long way back to the past. Yet it was also therapeutic in that it reminded me of how my skills have developed and how far I have come in the last few years. The conditions were basic the equipment was basic and the communications were very basic which is why this has not been updated for a while.
Its amazing how conditioned we are to having instant communications. The internet connection, and there was only one on the boat, was a dial up through satellite, at 115 kByte/sec which is if you have not ll forgotten very very very very slooooooooww.
Still life goes on. Having restricted news coverage was a first for a long time as well. It was interesting to see how quickly Lebanon went from the front pages. Reading news every second or third day makes you realize how much of a hot house the media really is.
The classic was the North Korean nuclear test. Has anyone really looked at the seismograph responses, it looks like a chemical explosion to me but instead of that the world goes off the rails, possible what the Dear Leader wanted?? Could it be that we have similar situation to Iraq at the end of Saddam's rule where no one would tell him that he did not have chemical and nuclear options, I thinks so.
The travels to and from East Africa were interesting. I flew out the day after the new restrictions were bought in at Heathrow which was not fun, standing in the car park for three hours, waiting in the lounge for 5 hours, missing the connection in Nairobi so wait in the lounge for another 6 hours, resulting in a 9 hour flight taking close to 24 hours. On the way back coming out of Mombassa the flight I was on was cancelled, they just did not bother to tell anyone, so sitting in the airport for 4 hours then having a three hour wait in Nairobi.
Mombassa was a revelation what great place to have a holiday, forget the big game parks, the food and the coast is just brilliant. The infrastructure is clapped out and the corruption pretty rampant but if you are on a holiday and contributing directly into the local economy what the hell.
Looking at what will happen next now. Procrastinating over reports and phone calls and generally having the wind down I really need.
Life can be good.
Its amazing how conditioned we are to having instant communications. The internet connection, and there was only one on the boat, was a dial up through satellite, at 115 kByte/sec which is if you have not ll forgotten very very very very slooooooooww.
Still life goes on. Having restricted news coverage was a first for a long time as well. It was interesting to see how quickly Lebanon went from the front pages. Reading news every second or third day makes you realize how much of a hot house the media really is.
The classic was the North Korean nuclear test. Has anyone really looked at the seismograph responses, it looks like a chemical explosion to me but instead of that the world goes off the rails, possible what the Dear Leader wanted?? Could it be that we have similar situation to Iraq at the end of Saddam's rule where no one would tell him that he did not have chemical and nuclear options, I thinks so.
The travels to and from East Africa were interesting. I flew out the day after the new restrictions were bought in at Heathrow which was not fun, standing in the car park for three hours, waiting in the lounge for 5 hours, missing the connection in Nairobi so wait in the lounge for another 6 hours, resulting in a 9 hour flight taking close to 24 hours. On the way back coming out of Mombassa the flight I was on was cancelled, they just did not bother to tell anyone, so sitting in the airport for 4 hours then having a three hour wait in Nairobi.
Mombassa was a revelation what great place to have a holiday, forget the big game parks, the food and the coast is just brilliant. The infrastructure is clapped out and the corruption pretty rampant but if you are on a holiday and contributing directly into the local economy what the hell.
Looking at what will happen next now. Procrastinating over reports and phone calls and generally having the wind down I really need.
Life can be good.
posted by Ean Craigie at 1:16 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home