Blogging before 5am -YUK!
Blogging at 4:42 am? What is this world coming to when you wake up before the sun and start your day.
I have not blogged for a while, and updated my four – yes four! – fans with what has been happening in the life of Ghana Jim. (well it is Tony – but you know what I mean)
Lets see - since my last adventures in the jungle the following has happened:
• Another month end has bitten the dust, and the people in JHB were kind enough (or far behind enough) to agree to close off the books on Monday 30th. What that meant is that I could actually have a month end weekend and not have to go in over the weekend when the workshop acquires graveyard status.
• The was of course the theory. In practice one of the client’s new sewer pumping system that we installed managed to burn a main motor and a backup motor in the same day, and another client’s gold room burner vessel failed. However Zack handled the one and Albert and Marco the other. I “managed” from the comfort of my lounge.
• I mentioned the crayfish we purchased at Busua last weekend. What I did not mention was that we had asked the Gillie to bring us more cray in Tarkwa. The lad duly arrived with 9kg of cray for which we all chipped in GHC100,000 (ZAR 75) and the wriggly buggers were duly dispatched to the house to be frozen. Carlos bought out his Chefs hat and on Saturday afternoon all 10 of us gathered at Albert’s house for a veritable feast of
o Savory Rice
o Crayfish
o Prawns
o Calamari
o Spanish White Wine which tasted really fine
o Local beer
• We took photos of the feast and will now publish these pictures in the company magazine to advertise the benefits of working in Ghana.
• Saturday night was an invite to the Mine, where our now firm mates were celebrating one of their kind getting a new job. At double the salary I may add. Chop consisted of a “mans braai” (i.e.: meat only cooked over 5 hours in batches accompanied by large amounts of Rum and Coke). We did comment that there were no wives to complain that the food was not ready and the kids were hungry. Rudy had managed to bring a blowpipe from SA and was mothered by Marco the entire evening as everyone and everything was a target. I do need to mention that all the meat was from South Africa, and fine cuts of meat they were. (Rudy is on 4 weeks on 10 days off and travels business class with a Platinum card. This means his weight allowance of 40kg and the fact he is good mates with the local customs walla’s allows cooler boxes of meat to be bought up each month).
• On Sunday we all attended the company sponsored golf day at Tarkwa. It was a cock up. Enough said. Well not enough, but when the captain of the golf club organizes a sponsored golf day where all your clients are not available and the only players are locals who have no decision making powers, it calls to question why one would spend a large amount of money to sponsor the golf day. When you run out of food cause the food line gets packed with people who fill their plates to the brim and leave most of it behind, it calls to question why you would want to pay for such wanton wastage. When the caterer steals food and booze you call to question why you would use a caterer of this nature. I was home by 2 pm and slept.
• My house is now full. Officially. Zack is spending the next week or so with me as he has a job in Tarkwa to do. He is normally based at Obuasi. Gus is with me for the month as there are no other rooms in the other houses and Carlos cannot adapt to the strange goings on in the top house and has moved in with me for a few months until all the “politics” have been resolved. Ergo I have abandoned my privacy for a while.
One good thing about this rotation is I am learning that if I do want some time off, I cannot take a rotation at the end of the month, such as I did last time. This means I have organized the next rotation to happen just after month end, and just before reports are due. I can then complete my month end up here, and my reports the following week in Johannesburg. I will get at least one week where I can put up my feet and cruise the shops and food places in JHB taking in all the goodies. I then get back in time for the next month end.
It is hard to believe I have been here for just on a month. This month has flown by.
I have devoured all of my books that I bought up – I really should read slower, and am close to finishing my 1000 ciggies that made it though customs. Smoking an average of 250 ciggies a week is BAD!.
We have also learnt that Goldfields is in the process of constructing a gym. Most of my lads have come to me and asked if there is some way we can get the use of their equipment. So that becomes my social duty for the week. Either that or we need to get some equipment of our own to prevent all of us from becoming fat blobs from our inactivity and stodgy food.
We have reached the stage where we have over $1 million out in quotes and the mines in their last month of the financial year. Ergo everything is now waiting the new budget year. That does give us a chance to catch up all our work before our financial year end and start the new financial year with a bang – as opposed to a shag of which no-one is getting anything – well except for the lads in the top house, but that’s another story.
I have also worked out that the people staying with me in the house rise early. 5:15 am and they are all awake. So let me end my anti-social behavior and join in on the tea been made.
You have a fun day you hear!
From The Ghana News:
• Yet another rip off story. This time a contractor took the Government for $350.000 in 1996 as a part payment for lifts that were never delivered. The minister has now engaged Interpol to attempt to capture the thief who is apparently in the UK. 9 years to wake up and smell the roses?
• The Licence fee issue to the Food and Drugs Board continues to make the press, with the FDB saying “we have done nothing wrong”. The state that the same thing is been done in Nigeria – the bastion of fair dealings and the USA – who is even worse when it comes to importers. That then justifies their trips overseas on inspection visits. Wonder if this will take 9 years to resolve also.
• 20% of Ghanaians do not have access to toilets. Which does not include the 6.9% that use toilet facilities “in other houses”. I am now waiting a knock on the door and instead of having my neighbour asking for a cup of sugar, he will be asking to use the loo. Oh yes – and 8.5% of houses fitted with W.C’s do not have running water. *ponder*
• Ghana has apparently discovered gas in the Western Region. Hopefully this has nothing to do with the politicians in the region.
And that is the news!
I have not blogged for a while, and updated my four – yes four! – fans with what has been happening in the life of Ghana Jim. (well it is Tony – but you know what I mean)
Lets see - since my last adventures in the jungle the following has happened:
• Another month end has bitten the dust, and the people in JHB were kind enough (or far behind enough) to agree to close off the books on Monday 30th. What that meant is that I could actually have a month end weekend and not have to go in over the weekend when the workshop acquires graveyard status.
• The was of course the theory. In practice one of the client’s new sewer pumping system that we installed managed to burn a main motor and a backup motor in the same day, and another client’s gold room burner vessel failed. However Zack handled the one and Albert and Marco the other. I “managed” from the comfort of my lounge.
• I mentioned the crayfish we purchased at Busua last weekend. What I did not mention was that we had asked the Gillie to bring us more cray in Tarkwa. The lad duly arrived with 9kg of cray for which we all chipped in GHC100,000 (ZAR 75) and the wriggly buggers were duly dispatched to the house to be frozen. Carlos bought out his Chefs hat and on Saturday afternoon all 10 of us gathered at Albert’s house for a veritable feast of
o Savory Rice
o Crayfish
o Prawns
o Calamari
o Spanish White Wine which tasted really fine
o Local beer
• We took photos of the feast and will now publish these pictures in the company magazine to advertise the benefits of working in Ghana.
• Saturday night was an invite to the Mine, where our now firm mates were celebrating one of their kind getting a new job. At double the salary I may add. Chop consisted of a “mans braai” (i.e.: meat only cooked over 5 hours in batches accompanied by large amounts of Rum and Coke). We did comment that there were no wives to complain that the food was not ready and the kids were hungry. Rudy had managed to bring a blowpipe from SA and was mothered by Marco the entire evening as everyone and everything was a target. I do need to mention that all the meat was from South Africa, and fine cuts of meat they were. (Rudy is on 4 weeks on 10 days off and travels business class with a Platinum card. This means his weight allowance of 40kg and the fact he is good mates with the local customs walla’s allows cooler boxes of meat to be bought up each month).
• On Sunday we all attended the company sponsored golf day at Tarkwa. It was a cock up. Enough said. Well not enough, but when the captain of the golf club organizes a sponsored golf day where all your clients are not available and the only players are locals who have no decision making powers, it calls to question why one would spend a large amount of money to sponsor the golf day. When you run out of food cause the food line gets packed with people who fill their plates to the brim and leave most of it behind, it calls to question why you would want to pay for such wanton wastage. When the caterer steals food and booze you call to question why you would use a caterer of this nature. I was home by 2 pm and slept.
• My house is now full. Officially. Zack is spending the next week or so with me as he has a job in Tarkwa to do. He is normally based at Obuasi. Gus is with me for the month as there are no other rooms in the other houses and Carlos cannot adapt to the strange goings on in the top house and has moved in with me for a few months until all the “politics” have been resolved. Ergo I have abandoned my privacy for a while.
One good thing about this rotation is I am learning that if I do want some time off, I cannot take a rotation at the end of the month, such as I did last time. This means I have organized the next rotation to happen just after month end, and just before reports are due. I can then complete my month end up here, and my reports the following week in Johannesburg. I will get at least one week where I can put up my feet and cruise the shops and food places in JHB taking in all the goodies. I then get back in time for the next month end.
It is hard to believe I have been here for just on a month. This month has flown by.
I have devoured all of my books that I bought up – I really should read slower, and am close to finishing my 1000 ciggies that made it though customs. Smoking an average of 250 ciggies a week is BAD!.
We have also learnt that Goldfields is in the process of constructing a gym. Most of my lads have come to me and asked if there is some way we can get the use of their equipment. So that becomes my social duty for the week. Either that or we need to get some equipment of our own to prevent all of us from becoming fat blobs from our inactivity and stodgy food.
We have reached the stage where we have over $1 million out in quotes and the mines in their last month of the financial year. Ergo everything is now waiting the new budget year. That does give us a chance to catch up all our work before our financial year end and start the new financial year with a bang – as opposed to a shag of which no-one is getting anything – well except for the lads in the top house, but that’s another story.
I have also worked out that the people staying with me in the house rise early. 5:15 am and they are all awake. So let me end my anti-social behavior and join in on the tea been made.
You have a fun day you hear!
From The Ghana News:
• Yet another rip off story. This time a contractor took the Government for $350.000 in 1996 as a part payment for lifts that were never delivered. The minister has now engaged Interpol to attempt to capture the thief who is apparently in the UK. 9 years to wake up and smell the roses?
• The Licence fee issue to the Food and Drugs Board continues to make the press, with the FDB saying “we have done nothing wrong”. The state that the same thing is been done in Nigeria – the bastion of fair dealings and the USA – who is even worse when it comes to importers. That then justifies their trips overseas on inspection visits. Wonder if this will take 9 years to resolve also.
• 20% of Ghanaians do not have access to toilets. Which does not include the 6.9% that use toilet facilities “in other houses”. I am now waiting a knock on the door and instead of having my neighbour asking for a cup of sugar, he will be asking to use the loo. Oh yes – and 8.5% of houses fitted with W.C’s do not have running water. *ponder*
• Ghana has apparently discovered gas in the Western Region. Hopefully this has nothing to do with the politicians in the region.
And that is the news!
1 Comments:
Think I'll move to Ghana for the fish - forgotten what Crayfish looks like ..... never mind tastes like!!! Calamari OK lots of that here ..... have some for me next time lil bro!!!!
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