20 Jul 09So, this is my first foray into blogging ... Google, despite their claims have not made it an easy process. There will prob be a few false starts, but the target is a working model in time for our drive home to the UK from Kuwait. Now does this make me a Blogger, a Blogist, a Blogonaut, a Blogospheric or turn me in a Blogophobe? I will await your opinion on the matter.![]()
15 Aug 09
Been back from leave for over a week now, but have wasted a week of effort - had Chris' laptop stolen while passing thro' Geneva airport. It is the only computer that is low enough powered to work on the inverter I've fitted to the truck. In anticipation of the trip, had loaded all, and I mean all, our info on it. Spent the best part of 3 days just changing all account entry names/passwords etc. But the level of detail is worrying - colour photocopies of passports and so on. It has all been necessary while living abroad, but this will hit us sometime - probably with identity theft in the future. Tho' encoded you do not need to be a brain surgeon to break the code. At least I beat the thieves to all our accounts. Lost many other bits which I was bringing back to Q8 for the trip, so have to re-order those and accelerate plans to purchase a netbook.
Acquired our tryptique - authority to take the truck out of Q8 just before I went away. This was a major achievment and took 5 visits to the Q8 International Car Club and 3 to the Brit Embassy to finalise. Insurance to come. Next project is visas - waiting on Chris returning 3 Sep so the 2 passports go together. This will be a juggling act as we are away to Oman for a week in Sep. Ramadan is 21 Aug - 20 Sep - when virtually all activities stop in the Middle East. Then we need Jordan's visa before the Saudis will issue one and finally Syria's. Friends were unable to get a Syrian one recently for just a weekend holiday! We shall see - the whole project could fall on one piece of paperwork.
In the meantime, lots to do: prepare handover for my replacement at work, prepare for work/resettlement courses in the UK and where we might live for the last 6mths of employment, continue preparing the truck, pack-up the house here and all the administration that goes with that. Must go, up for work in 6hrs at 0320!
7 Sep 09
Wow, time stops for no man. While Chris was away in France and the UK I could not action passport dependent things, but she returned Friday morning (now's Monday) to go straight into a 60th party for our dear friend David (Oz). Sunday is the start of the working week in Q8, so yesterday I was off to get our first visa. What a pleasant surprise, the Jordanians were extremely helpful and the visas were in our passports by midday. It is the middle of Ramadan, so the working hours are here are 0900-1300 for another 2 weeks yet (not for me tho'!). This all adds to the sense of rush for our departure. It is 0300 in the morning, I've managed to wake up an hour early for work, so seemed a good idea to update you all. With "exit strategy" in place, the Jordan visa, I can go to the agent for a Saudi visa today - lets hope it goes as smoothly. We are off to Oman for our last local holiday on Friday, so the following visa - Syria (which may be troublsome) will have to await our return - at least Ramadan will be almost over then. We went to Syria last year and acquired a visa in 48 hrs, but a friend recently in similar circumstances was pushed from pillar to post for 2 weeks and had to cancel his holiday.
Chris brought our roofbars for the truck out from the UK - golf clubs in BA parlance - free as sports equipment. These were fitted Saturday and are quiet - Thule Aerobars - a nice change. Friday also saw the acquisition of a matching alloy wheel to make our second spare tyre for the journey. Aided by the brother of a Kuwaiti student, also bought some sand-ladders, pic to be attached - er no apparently (can't find the pic)! Sand-ladders are used to give a solid surface to drive on when stuck in soft sand, when the wheels dig-in. We have a pair of about 1.85 m length - each have 2 steel angle-iron strips slightly wider than the tyres with cross beams every 20 cm or so - rectangular matrix structures.
8 Sep 09
To Saudi visa agent today, Tuesday - "all will be done on computer, very quick" - he stated 4 weeks ago when I sounded him out. Pay money and off go the passports with stickers obscuring all exposed areas! He knows we need them back by Thursday to fly to Oman on Friday. No problems ...
Call from Saudi agent - no visas, need Embassy letter in broken English. Go to collect passports - office closed, no answer on phone. Such sponsorship letters are normally generated by our Defence Attache (DA) in the Embassy - mme, so the DA is away. There'll be no visa before we go away then.
Movers round to our apartment to assess the return of sea freight to the UK - appointment for 2 days packing arranged.
10 Sep 09
So we have 1 day before we fly and the Saudi agent still does not answer his phone ... at last a response, leave work early to get to agent just before he closes. Phew, passports recovered - we can go to Oman. DA letter in train, should be awaiting me when I reurn to Kuwait on 16th.
11 Sep 09
Off to Salalah, S Oman - this is the only area in the Arabian Peninsular which experiences the monsoon as it passes to India to the East. For a couple of months each summer the desert turns green, wadis flow with gushing water and lakes are formed. We missed the rain and drizzle which blankets the area for most of this time, but all the greenery was there and every morning we had an overcast.
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16 Sep 09
Arrive back in Kuwait at start of the Eid al Fitr post-Ramadan 5 day holiday.
17 Sep 09
DA has not produced lettter, just a couple of questions ...
18 Sep 09
Now have DA letter, but oh! its the holiday and the Saudi agent is closed ...
23 Sep 09
Leave work early - becoming a habit - Saudi agent closed, no phone answer.
Next day - ditto. Then later phone answered - tomorrow ...
"Tomorrow" acquires a new meaning - akin to mañana but covering a longer timescale ...
27 Sep 09
Now the following week:
hand in passports and paperwork.
29 Sep 09
Behold a miracle - we have Saudi 3 day transit visas. A rare achievment and sig milestone. Interestingly they do not apply over a period, for example allowing the 3 days to be travelled at any time within a month, no these are specific to the dates I specified in the Visa Application. Those Appications also stated that we are deviating from the main road to go to Madain Saleh, the second city of the Petra Empire - that deviation must be acceptable then! Exactly 4 weeks to departure - must leave work early again to go straight to the Syrian Embassy tomorrow. We got a visa last year in 48 hours, so shouldn't be a problem.
30 Sep 09
Again I had checked out the lie of the land - none of these Embassies are where the web page says they are, ie it is all way-out-of-date.and if they bother to answer their phone they are unable to explain their address. Straight off to Syrian Embassy. I have 2 photos of each of us, but am not ready for the 2 Application Forms requirement. Write out extra copies and sign, pay and submit forms. No, that is not acceptable, given back money and passports - the forms will have to go to Syria. "Will be 2 weeks".
1 Oct 09
Battle of Britain Happy Hour for BMM – a traditional celebration and a farewell has been organised for me and Chris. All v good fun. I star as part of the WWII based sketch and am (also traditional) last away from the party.
A slow day!
So we are 2 weeks on (less a day) and a visit to the Syrian Embassy produces a “no come back in 2 weeks” (sounds familiar). Pressing for a greater response (saying we leave in 2 weeks – 3 actually!) generates a conversation which discusses the mess our passports are in – covered in stickers from the Saudi agent which I thought were relevant but aren’t. Also, in the middle of the mess is a sticker saying “Diplomat”. That is not promising as, if the Syrians have decided to apply for a diplomatic visa we will not be granted one ... arghh. (Even though I had been particular to say that we were not diplomatic, but tourists.) While waiting to talk to someone who speaks English – clean all stickers and glue (!) off passports – can see their covers now. In English the message is the same – plenty of time come back in 2 weeks.
My work carries on as usual and the course is busy, so I only have afternoons and early evenings to progress things. Embassy visits I can leave early to action, but it is a holiday season for the Kuwaitis, so me and the 2 expats (George and Chris) are holding the fort and doing most of the flying. As we vacate our apartment in just 15 days, we are maxed out packing and tidying paperwork so that on departure from Kuwait our admin should be complete and running for 2 months at least – fat chance! Our packers are famous for packing everything in more space than required – and so overusing freight volume such that you have to pay extra. We intend doing most of our own packing so that we are in volume limits – we still have all our proper wooden folding MFO boxes from time in Brunei. (As it turned out – we were to volume except for our kitchen crockery and glasses etc which came out in 2 boxes and returned in 4! Cheap valueless glasses were doubled in volume by overly bubble-wrapping them; plates were individually bubble-wrapped, rather than a sheet of paper between each and then being bubble-wrapped in packs of say 12 plates.)
Today is a day to celebrate. Correct Dell netbook received for return home journey. Chris had her laptop stolen in Geneva in the summer. It was the only one we owned that would power up from the inverter (car to mains power converter) that I have fitted to the Mitsubishi Pajero that we will drive home. It had all, and I mean all, our personal details in it. Well the battle to replace it with a netbook has raged for 3 months. Dell produce a clever piece of kit that I want. I know more about it than their sales folk, so on attempting to order it they don’t know enough to get the order right; the website is inconsistent and features appear and disappear by the day. End result: I have an incorrctly featured netbook ordered against my non-confirmation of order being delivered to Mum’s house in the UK; this is closely followed by a correctly featured one to same address – different order number and customer number. Don’t want to cancel 1st in case confused with 2nd – prices are within pennies of each other. Wait until second has had attempted delivery – Mum away, but card though door says phone and we will deliver. Great, so I can now stop payment on 1st and tell Dell to come and collect. How wrong can you get it – Mum returns, phones up and 2nd has been recalled by Dell. Another 3 weeks are occupied trying to contact Dell – no easy phone number and e-mails are hit and miss. (Later in this saga I received an acknowledgement on 20 Oct of an e-mail dated and received on 6 Oct!) It was 3 weeks to sort this delivery mess; 6 weeks to clear the debris. I can’t remember if I have touched on losing our mail system through BFPO - BFPO at best is a 2 week delivery system from the UK at UK postal rates. It was stopped with no notice at the beginning of September. This was just as I had re-order to UK all the tech bits for our return, including all the extras such as external DVD required for a netbook. Suddenly I could not get these delivered to Kuwait in a reasonable timescale at affordable cost. Mme – Chris also had her cross-trainers (walking/trainer style shoes) knicked at Geneva; on our holiday to Oman, my cross-trainers gave in to time-expired polyurethane soles – the rubber just crumbles away and the sole falls off the shoe. The only way we can replace with quality footware is through a UK order. All these bits were packaged together and freighted door-to-door from Mum’s house to Kuwait. Every day was critical, so a customs delay of a day in Kuwait was frustrating; the customs duty was annoying, having paid UK VAT etc.
14 Oct 09
Life carries on as usual – Dive club committee meeting.
16 Oct 09
In a moment of madness we decided to run our own farewell party for a couple of dozen friends. Even though we went the easy route using outside caterers, there is a lot of organisation to manage. Oh, and the attendant getting over the party. Great time had – one of those parties where the hub-bub never dies – everyone engaged throughout. Dear friends, thank you ..... mme, a 4 o’clock endex and much of tomorrow lost .....17 Oct 09
Two days to packers and much to do – half today lost. We have all those things that we planned to do backing up – framing pictures, re-plating silverware, buying gifts. I had wanted to have a fully fitted arab cloak made by the family (a tailors) of a student of mine; I have had to kick that into touch as I have no time.
18 Oct 09
Last week’s plan was upset, so into office at 0500 silly o’clock, as haven’t cleared it of stuff to be packed in sea freight.
Syrian Embassy again – comeback in 2 weeks – okay so the message hasn’t changed and we depart in 7 days. Seems to be a case of the don’t contact anyone outside this building, but wait at the whim of Damascus to return paperwork. Have prepared a 3 pronged attack: 1. Try Brit Embassy if they have any contact in the Syrinam Embassy. 2. Try the BMM staff college boys, see if a Syrian student on the course can help. 3. Try Chris Veitch – been in Kuwait longer than any other professional Brit here I know and has wealth of Kuwaiti contacts. All 3 produce leads which are followed over the next week by phone.
Packers do not arrive. A heated telephone call generates a midday offer of men. Even though they came and assessed, agreed and noted a date, we are not on their planning sheet – grand screw-up. Only spin off is more time to finish our prep and regain time lost post-party.
Syrian visa - Syrian student (one of 2) on staff college course produces a promising lead with a named contact at the Embassy. Can’t get there today too busy.
20 Oct 09
See packers finish. Off to:
Syrian Embassy highest priority – contact, Mohammad, does not answer mobile – go to Embassy, late and everyone leaving for lunch, but good chat with the English speaking lady I met before and she chases, finds Mohammad and long phone chat, but still a wait!! I do at least get across the idea that in 2 weeks (!) I will not be in Kuwait to pick up this promised visa, but on the road and NO I will not drop back into Kuwait to collect it..
21 Oct 09
Syrian Embassy – meet Mohammad. A high value meeting – Mohammad does not effectively speak English; nevertheless, we spend 2 hours chatting, drinking green tea, coffee and meetimg half his work mates. This is influence and contact forming stuff – called “Wasta” in Kuwait. I have established the right to go straight to Mohammad’s office now, rather than the bun fight for attention at the front “visa window”.
This success is followed by a 3-cornered telephone conversation with our Housing Officer, a British Army Officer in BMM. It is a far longer story, but out of context in the middle of our 2nd heated (v heated) telephone conversation, he offers to show me the villa allocated to my successor in Kuwait. I have only been asking to see it for 4 weeks. (I have a responsibility to have up and running all the facilities that my replacement will need on arrival and to show him around and hand over the job. We have time to gather our papers and meet to go off to this villa. We enter and go straight into yet another heated discussion. 35+minutes and we are not progressing beyond raking over dead ground. I am desperately short of time and here I am time-wasting. The upshot is that on a final prompt to progress to worthwhile discuusion , ie the future handover of my accommodation and take-over of my successor's (Phil) , this Officer flips. I am assaulted, a less fit person he would likely had killed ......
Evening lost to hospital scans, specialist advice and friends/colleagues advice. Luckily no broken bones – just bruising, sprains and cuts. Following day lost to the repurcussions and initiation of formal enquiry by miltary police from the UK. We operate under UK law not Kuwait law. I am determined that this b*** who has left me in a neck brace and wasted 2days of my life will not ruin our adventure of driving back to the UK. The worst result is that having finalised my clothes packing I have now lost half (1) of my trousers for travelling and ¼ of my shirts – exhibits 1 and 2 for the prosecution. Am I to spend a day naked at the wheel as we travel home?
You thought we were busy – today moved into Radisson Blu hotel for our final 6 days in Kuwait. Still organising air freight. What remains does not fit into the Pajero – a re-think needed. My replacement Phil arrives at 0630 tomorrow, I have 6 days to handover the job, accommodation as required and show him Kuwait and enough friends to get started. Time lost has put several things back, so brinkmanship is heavily in play.
22 Oct 09
23 Oct 09
Show Phil some more. Dinner at friends
Help from friends allows a slow dis-engagment from showing Phil around and allows us to finalise our own departure.
24 Oct 09
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Our final desert BBQ to say goodbye to friends – with Phil, his first of many.27 Oct 09
Final pack of the Pajero – up to the roof almost. How’s that, there are only 2 of us but we only just fit in. Roof rack full. Heavy with 2 extra petrol cans and twice that quantity of water. Handling quite different and a bit twitchy around 60 kph; seems to come through this and is stable at higher speeds up to 120 our limit for travelling and the legal limit in these parts.
A final BBQ at Maggie and Graham’s then a warm farewell. No afternoon 40 winks achieved, so exhausted before we begin after that last few weeks effort and trauma.
We are nearly an hour late on departure and still disorganised within the Pajero, but we are away ...
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