Dear Buddha Please Stop the Train

Today we had our three visitors arrive from Italy and unfortunately for them they had to jump straight into working only 1 hour after getting here all jetlagged and dishevelled. But working as in the sense of pointing the proverbial finger and telling people what to do. In fact the controls engineer arrived and knew before he got here that he would have nothing to do and yes I confirmed to him that all the controls issues were dealt with and he would have basically nothing to do. But that is OK I have learned a few things from him already, its great talking to really experienced guys as they know all the little tricks that you would take years to learn alone. Like never forgetting to grease your nipples, that is always important. So today we were pulling the whole thing apart looked like an explosion in a spaghetti factory, things hanging off everywhere, perhaps this was a bigger job than they thought, the visitors did confide that they would be lucky to complete on the dates suggested but as we all know customers say one thing and everyone knows deep down it is just a wish they are making. So we have two guys running shifts and a guy who is basically surplus to requirements but that again is people making desperate measures to keep things on time. Who do I blame for this attitude, obviously the upper management is to blame for mostly pushing for unrealistic time schedules as they are pumping $2.5 million a day in liquids and that is no company secret. So they want the units running as fast as they can for as long as they can but they eventually need a service. I also blame the turbine manufacturer for agreeing to these unrealistic timetables as they should firmly tell the customer that it is impossible. All the guys who do this type of work for a living know exactly how long something will take under perfect conditions and that is when everything is working properly, what happens when the unexpected happens and we need some special stuff or a spare that isn’t here, we could be shut down for 2 weeks waiting, but again you can never plan for that anyway, a bit like trying to book into a hotel and then finding the bellboy irritates the hell out of you and you end up beating him with a telephone and this can take away several days of your life in jail, all totally unplanned. Once again I was made to feel inadequate before these guys as they speak fantastic Spanish and also perfect English, I feel like a stupid schoolboy, I have to get better with my Spanish so I can feel proud and join the conversation.
I am still counting down the days until I leave and I feel sorry for all the people who are having to stay working in the god forsaken corners of the world all over Christmas and cannot enjoy a time with their loved ones. It all seems like a nightmare sometimes being here doing strange stuff and not understanding why your doing it, just circumstances led you to this point in your life, riding a runaway train without knowing where it is going and if your ever going to stop, you could jump but it looks like a desert out there and the indians are all riding donkeys waving what look like rubber chickens at you in a dangerous way, so you hold-on wondering if the train is going to crash on the next corner or stop in the middle of the desert with no water or food and if anyone will ever rescue you. Or will it take you to a land of blue aliens with no genitalia Oh baby that would be the ultimate point of a nightmare, I think my nightmares need a psychiatrist to look into them perhaps I need some anti-psychotic drugs or maybe just a few beers.