Weekend off with time on ones hands - again
As I type this on a Saturday night with Survivor all stars on the box, my (now personal) imam doing his nightly prayers, I can only reflect back on the week that was. Week 2 completed and an eventful one it was.
On a very sad note, Nessers dad passed away rather suddenly on Tuesday night and given that I have just arrived back, going back south to offer moral support would not have worked out at all. Would not have made the Wednesday flight and getting the Friday flight would have meant the funeral was missed. One of the major downsides of an expat life, especially one where home is not quite a short hop home.
We have now decided one death each in the family is enough!
On Wednesday I finally got to Obuasi, which is two hours away (108km) on one of the better roads I have traveled. Granted there were the normal pot holes and narrow parts (I now understand how head on's happen – these buggers do insist on driving in the middle of the road and kind of dipping right as you approach. One set of bad timing and the airbag light on Gelunderwagen that was glowing bright read would have really meant something.
I went with Albert, our works superintendent and was shown out Obuasi office. That was where we were originally, but moved to Tarkwa late last year due to a huge increase in business in the area and the concomitant reduction in work at Obuasi and surrounds. The workshop is wonderful. Electricity, nice covered facilities loads of well laid out offices and good security. It cemented my idea to reopen the facility to take advantage of the new development just over 2 hours further on. This will happen early in the New Year as soon as I get the right kind of supervisor to head up the team.
The local mine is a surface and underground operation and we met the guys that count and should get a small amount of business to start off with. Nice operation, very very old (+- 100 years) and reminds me of the old mining villages in the western Tvl. Good drive back and in time for a 5pm meeting with the local mine in Tarkwa. One of the few times you can actually meet two clients in one day.
Thursday was my first meeting with the workshop workers reps whereby finally my 3 month no change rule was over and we could start implementing my vision. It went really well and did show I was reasonably well in touch with their concerns. We have the making of a really good team here.
Thursday was drinks with the Civils guys, with their new MD in town and although business was spoken about it did not consist of the entire evening’s conversation, and the beers were cold. I got home after 11, which for me these days is a fairly late night.
Friday was the ubiquitous month end weekend, which saw all the lads dashing off for the weekend and the ability to have some quiet time on Friday afternoon to kill off most of the month end stuff. I did however vanish at 3pm for a nap as there was to be a dinner at Denzil place for the Lyco guys (Consulting engineers on our Tarkwa Job) and the Ghana Manganese lads. I needed (a) to nap and (b) to get some food in the belly as month end Fridays mean lunch does not get made. I had a stunning meze of olives, salami, pickled chilly and biltong. Happy Happy happy!!!!.
The dinner was stunning. Rose had pulled all the stops out with tables under tarps in the garden, bamboo deco masking parts of the house wall and giving us a very jungle feeling. Booze was aplenty (no captains – but rum never the less) and white jacketed stewards and waiters. Very very colonial. Food was out of the top drawer with prawn and avo cocktail starters, lamb on the spit (must have been a runner cause gawd he was skinny and tough, prawns, chicken, crayfish, coleslaw and different types of savory rice. Everyone was suitably impressed and the evening was a huge success – despite the fact the rain came down in buckets for most of the evening. I learnt a fair amount as regards client entertainment in Ghana as most of you will realize most of my client entertainment in my last job was done at the pubs and restaurants around Sandton. *chuckle*
Late evening again and I was thankful that it is an off weekend and I could wander into work at 8pm this morning to kill off the month end with only the slightest of hangovers. The imam played his normal alarm clock role, but as by that stage I only had two hours sleep, it was quite simple to swear briefly and go back to sleep.
Gelunderwagen was taken away yesterday to (finally) have the shocks repaired and get the red light on the airbag resolved. That said, we are dead short of vehicles and as I wanted to work the extra hours on Friday to make sure I had some time off this weekend, I volunteered to take the local LDV which “had a problem with the fuel pump”. The problem was a fairly simple one. The vehicle cannot go above 2000rpm. As soon as I learnt that you could rush thru the gears and get up to a maximum speed of 60kmph, I was made. Getting up the goat track to my house was somewhat challenging, but eventually negotiated.
A quiet afternoon at home in front of the TV interspersed with time on the computer playing shoot em up, I am suitably chilled and looking forward to my car been delivered tomorrow morning and going exploring. So hopefully I will have some more pics from “Ghana Travels” to post with this blog.
Friday morning was fun when my cold water tap unilaterally decided it was a hot water tap and I had scalding water coming out of both taps. In the other bathroom, there was no hot water at all – go figure!
One day I will take the time and effort to trace the water system here and find out exactly where the juju takes over to make hot water an abundant commodity in my house.
The imam has completed his Saturday night prayers, the TV is now on Supersport highlights and there are Germans that need to be stopped in their dire attempt to take over the free world and my computer!
Updates soon!!
On a very sad note, Nessers dad passed away rather suddenly on Tuesday night and given that I have just arrived back, going back south to offer moral support would not have worked out at all. Would not have made the Wednesday flight and getting the Friday flight would have meant the funeral was missed. One of the major downsides of an expat life, especially one where home is not quite a short hop home.
We have now decided one death each in the family is enough!
On Wednesday I finally got to Obuasi, which is two hours away (108km) on one of the better roads I have traveled. Granted there were the normal pot holes and narrow parts (I now understand how head on's happen – these buggers do insist on driving in the middle of the road and kind of dipping right as you approach. One set of bad timing and the airbag light on Gelunderwagen that was glowing bright read would have really meant something.
I went with Albert, our works superintendent and was shown out Obuasi office. That was where we were originally, but moved to Tarkwa late last year due to a huge increase in business in the area and the concomitant reduction in work at Obuasi and surrounds. The workshop is wonderful. Electricity, nice covered facilities loads of well laid out offices and good security. It cemented my idea to reopen the facility to take advantage of the new development just over 2 hours further on. This will happen early in the New Year as soon as I get the right kind of supervisor to head up the team.
The local mine is a surface and underground operation and we met the guys that count and should get a small amount of business to start off with. Nice operation, very very old (+- 100 years) and reminds me of the old mining villages in the western Tvl. Good drive back and in time for a 5pm meeting with the local mine in Tarkwa. One of the few times you can actually meet two clients in one day.
Thursday was my first meeting with the workshop workers reps whereby finally my 3 month no change rule was over and we could start implementing my vision. It went really well and did show I was reasonably well in touch with their concerns. We have the making of a really good team here.
Thursday was drinks with the Civils guys, with their new MD in town and although business was spoken about it did not consist of the entire evening’s conversation, and the beers were cold. I got home after 11, which for me these days is a fairly late night.
Friday was the ubiquitous month end weekend, which saw all the lads dashing off for the weekend and the ability to have some quiet time on Friday afternoon to kill off most of the month end stuff. I did however vanish at 3pm for a nap as there was to be a dinner at Denzil place for the Lyco guys (Consulting engineers on our Tarkwa Job) and the Ghana Manganese lads. I needed (a) to nap and (b) to get some food in the belly as month end Fridays mean lunch does not get made. I had a stunning meze of olives, salami, pickled chilly and biltong. Happy Happy happy!!!!.
The dinner was stunning. Rose had pulled all the stops out with tables under tarps in the garden, bamboo deco masking parts of the house wall and giving us a very jungle feeling. Booze was aplenty (no captains – but rum never the less) and white jacketed stewards and waiters. Very very colonial. Food was out of the top drawer with prawn and avo cocktail starters, lamb on the spit (must have been a runner cause gawd he was skinny and tough, prawns, chicken, crayfish, coleslaw and different types of savory rice. Everyone was suitably impressed and the evening was a huge success – despite the fact the rain came down in buckets for most of the evening. I learnt a fair amount as regards client entertainment in Ghana as most of you will realize most of my client entertainment in my last job was done at the pubs and restaurants around Sandton. *chuckle*
Late evening again and I was thankful that it is an off weekend and I could wander into work at 8pm this morning to kill off the month end with only the slightest of hangovers. The imam played his normal alarm clock role, but as by that stage I only had two hours sleep, it was quite simple to swear briefly and go back to sleep.
Gelunderwagen was taken away yesterday to (finally) have the shocks repaired and get the red light on the airbag resolved. That said, we are dead short of vehicles and as I wanted to work the extra hours on Friday to make sure I had some time off this weekend, I volunteered to take the local LDV which “had a problem with the fuel pump”. The problem was a fairly simple one. The vehicle cannot go above 2000rpm. As soon as I learnt that you could rush thru the gears and get up to a maximum speed of 60kmph, I was made. Getting up the goat track to my house was somewhat challenging, but eventually negotiated.
A quiet afternoon at home in front of the TV interspersed with time on the computer playing shoot em up, I am suitably chilled and looking forward to my car been delivered tomorrow morning and going exploring. So hopefully I will have some more pics from “Ghana Travels” to post with this blog.
Friday morning was fun when my cold water tap unilaterally decided it was a hot water tap and I had scalding water coming out of both taps. In the other bathroom, there was no hot water at all – go figure!
One day I will take the time and effort to trace the water system here and find out exactly where the juju takes over to make hot water an abundant commodity in my house.
The imam has completed his Saturday night prayers, the TV is now on Supersport highlights and there are Germans that need to be stopped in their dire attempt to take over the free world and my computer!
Updates soon!!
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home