A slight delay

Was in complete shock yesterday evening. I lent a nice sum of cash to a work colleague well over 6mths ago. He promised me he would pay me back in a months time when the next pay cheque came in. Apparently it was to help his sick mother thru her hospital treatment. But unknown to me he had played the same card to several other people in the work place. All with same story. The sum he borrowed totalled £2000++. And no surprise, month after month would pass and he would keep dodging payments, as well as phone calls and people. So I thought why not go thru the motions again this month and ask. Again it started off looking like I'd be fobbed off, especially with his response of,

"could you come back in 15mins or so I gotta check if I've got any cash in my account to pay you back"

But to my shock and amazement when I came back 20mins later he had the sum in full! Truly wonders shall never cease!

Also having lived in this apartment for well over a year, finally the local government has decided to grace us with the luxury of a road! For over a year all of us living here have had to drive across a good kilometer of desert/ building site debris. Just this morning as we rode out to school, workmen turned up to clear away old bricks and cinder blocks as well as level out the desert. But true to form, as I pulled in late this evening some of the residents in my block had decided to do handbrake turns and donuts in the flattened and planed road substrate. Carving sizable channels thru the nicely planed sand. Annoyances...

Also finished my Airbus A330 course today. Passed with a very consistent result. 85%, that has been my result for just about every modular exam I did! Not bad considering how much sleeping in class I did, as well as the amount of naps I took at home. Not to mention, the goofing off, watching TV, mincing and general time wasting I engaged in when I should have been studying.

A higher level

My advanced skillz in the art of sleeping have made me somewhat of legend to those around me. I've been know to be able to sleep amidst the sound of blazing M-16s, exploding grenades, shrieking rocket launchers, thumping artillery and yelling soldiers, during my days in the army. It was also during that time I mastered the art of falling asleep at the drop of a hat (or helmet). Was indeed very useful as it enabled to constantly top up my rest and thus maintain a good overall energy level. It reached the point where I could go for days without any proper sleep, as long as I could snatch an hour or 2 here and there.

When I left the forces I continued perfecting my skills of sleeping. And gained my next skill. It developed from spending time around my mum. She would talk at me for hours about totally pointless and inane stuff. And I could never escape with incurring her wrath. So I learnt the skill of spacing out or doing other stuff, but while by all definitions, ignoring her. My brain had managed to store the last 1min or 30sec of whatever she might have talked about. My brain would then automatically generate a response, with a sentence from that stored 1min of her conversation. Thus making it seem as thou I was paying complete attention to her. Later thru many weeks/months/years of practice I transformed this to a skill used while I was asleep. She would talk to me while I was asleep, but yet I could respond every so often with that generated automatic response consisting of the last 1min worth of conversation thrown in.

Now I've gained my latest skill. Unconscious studying! During the past month's Airbus A-330 type course, as to be expected I've been falling asleep constantly during the lectures. But in the past week or so despite my being asleep, people around me have commented that whilst being asleep I was able to turn the pages thru the course book together with everyone. I've also been able to spontaneously wake up the moment everyone started jotting down important notes off the board. And to top it all I've even been able to explain how a system basically works even thou I was asleep during the whole explanation!

Wonder what the next level of my chosen art will have in store for me...

Unlinked

Was just given the unfortunate news that a guy i am currently on course with was involved in a biking accident over the weekend. He was pulling up to a junction on a green light and as he crossed a car ran the red light on their end and went side on into him. Since the accident he's had 3 operations to straighten him out. And now hes in a stable condition and on his way to recovery. Which is why everyone is not mentioning to him that his pillion rider didn't make it. Let him concentrate on getting better 1st.

The bike was owned by a colleague who sold it as he was getting worried riding round out here and feared he would get into an accident b4 long...
How right he was!
That might have been him! But then it is kind of a hard call.

At the end of the day both of em are really good guys. So it sux that it happened, if it wasn't 1 of em getting knocked off it would have been the other. I Guess its best summed up this way. That bike had it coming. It was simply was a case of who was going to be on it when it happened. Just makes me think again. As "J" n me have been biking into school alot lately. Only a couple of options. Either take a car in or ride defensively.

On another note. Just found out that the leave i put in for to travel back to the UK this summer has been approved, but with a dark twist. I work 4 days on and then have 4 days off. So for example if i take a 4 day shift off i will actually be having 12 days off. Get it? So on that basis I applied for 16 days off. Thus giving me around a month off. But the managers have decided to count this all as leave. Even the days i normally have off!. So they are counting what should be 16 days as 27 days of leave! So i now have just 3 days left of leave...

So when tomorrow comes I'll be cancelling all my leave and applying for 4 separate sets of leave, 4 days a piece and all back to back. Seems like that's how they want to play it. Really pisses me off how they write up a contract and then twist details like this to their own advantage, hoping no one picks up on it.

The curse of the Silvia

Had the Silvia die on me again last Sunday morning. Annoying as the previous day I was working to fix a few glitches and successfully fixed all of them. Then took it out for a test drive. All was good. Then the next morning when i decided to drive it to work, it just would-not-start. Battery was fine and it turned over ok, just no start.

When i got home after work I tried fixing it but nothing seemed to work. So just got real pissed off and vowed to sell it for a reliable car once i get it fixed. Then last night I decide to go try fix it again. But the moment i put the keys in it starts immediately! And I've done absolutely nothing to the car! Just by leaving it alone for 5 days it fixed itself... Almost as thou the car was made by Microsoft...

It has occurred to me that this country is the source of problems. Not just cos of my incident but the brand new bikes of 2 friends have had problems too. Like not starting and the engine cutting out when your are waiting at the traffic lights...

Pigs

Got pulled over at a police checkpoint. And done for 3 things...

1st, not carrying my driving license on my person... was never told this was an offense.

2nd, my exhaust is TOO loud... very strange considering i passed the MOT with that exhaust installed, infact stock exhaust systems on all the performance yank tanks are WAY louder.

3rd there was smoke in my exhaust. Which i explained was cos i spilt some fluid on my headers and couldn't wipe all of it off and it was going down the intake, give it a couple of mins and the smoke will stop when it all burns off. And true to form in less than a min its all gone. But still he did me for the smoke on the premise that it WAS smoking, the current state is of no concern to him...

He then wants me to do my MOT again in 3 days time!

Clueless

Was told that my company is going to be servicing all the aircraft back at its home base in Zurich. So they are gonna be sending us out there to work on them. The work is gonna be over a 3mth period and the workforce is gonna be divided into 2 groups, each group covering a 1.5 month stint.

All sounds pretty cool. But the fact remains they can't tell us for sure when we are going or when we are coming back. And as such they have no idea how we are being sent there or any details regarding visa's or airport security passes. Basically they have NO idea about anything with regard to the trip. Just that it is gonna happen at some point in the next 6mths.

And just to be a total pain they want all of us to rearrange our leave to fit their plans, even thou they have no idea wt their plans are... On 1 hand i am looking forward to the trip. Switzerland looks like a pretty cool place to visit. But on the other hand I cant be dealing with all this bullshit lack of planning and lack of idea.

For better or worse

Just had yet another colleague come thru with the news of a looming marriage. He popped the question last night and is now engaged. He is the 2nd guy to find love out here since touching down a year ago. I remember that he was a real ladies man even before coming here. And once here, especially with the seriously increased earning power it was literally a different woman every night. But since meeting her he really has calmed down and does seem to sticking to just the 1. Really hope he finds the happiness he has been looking for. And he does genuinely seem happy when hes with her. More than I can believe of the other couple out here.

The other couple is a lil less than fairy tale like. For a start she has made him get rid of his passion of bike racing. I remember the guy being bike crazy! He even held the fastest time during several track days at the F1 circuit. So fast he even got spotted and given an invitation to run in an official race! This guy lived and breathed riding. But now hes dumped it all, even sold his bike! A bike of only 6mths! All because she deems it too dangerous for a married man to continue to do. Ok I totally get the concern for the well being of a loved one but for that concern to cause you to take away that persons very passion?

Biking and racing was something that I always associated with him. And to now think that that part of what made him, HIM is now being forcibly taken away. Its just not right. Marriage should be about accepting someone as they are and embracing it. If its just gonna be about changing them than you aren't really getting into it with the right person. And i believe in their case it does show. As he was a firey guy, easy to explode, but none the less a genuinely nice guy, who knew how to take a joke and how to have a laugh. But in the last 2months or so he's totally changed. He has now made enemies of virtually everyone he has worked with and is on, not speaking terms, with all of them. Just makes me wonder if that has anything to do with his private life.

If it does, then I really hope he doesn't go ahead with it all. Cos it's not going to last.

To protect and serve.

A colleague was recently accused of attempted murder! Rough story was a lady friend he had invited to his after a night out decided to help herself to his cash as he dozed on the bed. Then escaping out his window... on the 3rd floor. Only to fall, breaking her arms and legs. Which leads to her accusation that he beat her up, planted a load of money on her and turfed her out the window!

That alone is bad enough but wat makes everything worse is the behavior of the local police force. Despite the seriousness of the accusations, coupled with the implications of what could happen if the charges stick. The cops haven't even bothered to visit the "crime scene", or take photos, or DNA samples or do any tests, questioning, interviews or evidence collection. All they have done is take the woman's statement, basically write her charges against him down and then lock him in a jail cell. Which he is now out of, on bail.

And none of them have bothered to even question the woman's story. Seeing as my workmate had to call the caretaker to let him out of his bedroom as she had locked him in. So if he was locked in, how on earth could he have thrown her out of the living room window!?! Simple logic but the local coppers seem beyond that and are moving to a court hearing.

All this worries me a great deal about your safety in countries like this. With authorities dragging their feet and taking a cant be bothered attituide to even the most serious of criminal accusations. I mean a month or so ago a security guard was shot in the head and it took more than 24hours for them to even launch a murder inquiry. And that was only after a MP pushed for it! The reason they gave the papers for the delay was because they weren't sure if he had been shot!!!

Just goes to show. Take extra care when overseas. Never rely on any police service.

Pool

Had an impromptu pool party tonight. Just like the good old days like when we all 1st arrived here. But unlike those days there was only 7 of us at its busiest point. Compared to the 20 odd people we used to have when these parties were thrown. Occasion? "P"s leaving party. He leaves in just over a week. Back home to take a break from avaition. During the party he retold his handing in notice conversation with the big boss. The bosses 1st words were, "what is this shit you are doing?" A lil abrupt and rude really. If he was a good friend then it would be easily understood as having a bit of a laugh. But from a senior manager its just unprofessional and rude.

BBQ was great. Totally stuffed after the 1st feeding session b4 retiring to the pool, making a floating bar out of an inflatable dingy and a dismantled garden table. Which later became a floating bar and buffet when we tossed on the last remaining BBQ goodies. That's the sort of stuff that happens at parties attended by engineers.

More effort needed

Just finished yet another week at school. Been a tough one. Really stressed out on the final day. So much stuff to remember. Biggest pain was because it was alot of abstract software type stuff. Stuff that is normally used by pilots. But its on the plane so we gotta know it too. Anyway, exam was tough but made it thru ok. 78% roughly, above 75% so its a pass, good enough.

On a side note. Whilst in the loo at the school. I couldn't help but notice the soap holders were installed the wrong way up. Bit of a give away as the curved surface was facing up while the cup shaped face was on the underside. Then when i go into the cubicle I noticed the loo roll holders were installed upside down as well. Typical of the work ethic and mentality of this place. But then I thought well, ya cant paint everyone with the same brush. Maybe it was just the guy who did the job who couldn't give a toss. But later that evening I popped out to the nearest supermarket to grab some food for the weekend. Whilst entering the main doors I spied this sign. Something about it caught my eye and I went in for a closer look.
Fire Exit written in brail. Sign perched about 2.5 meters in the air! Like a blind person would be running their hands along at that height! And even if they did, supposed it doesn't help that the brail dots are printed on and covered by a clear hard plastic board! So if they ever managed to touch the sign they wouldn't feel any of the brail written on it! And to cap it all off. The fire exit is actually a door 4 meters to the left of the sign! If anyone were to follow the Fire Exit sign they would swiftly find themselves in the men's loo!

Just makes me wonder if these people even bother thinking about what they are doing when they are tasked with a job? Then thinking back to work I can see it evident in several of the members of the "hired help" we have not so recently took on.