Destination Sakhalin, Estimated Arrival Date, 2007

I am somewhat bemused by the fact I am in the Florence office of my company and making inspection of the operational plans for my posting and helping along with recommendations of operation. which is a first for me and that is because the new project manager is a newbie to all this thing, but the company that is requiring my services is being so goddam tardy about getting my visa, there is no definite date for my departure to Russia or even a potential start date, what the hell is that all about, can't they organise something, they are going to be paying for a service on the start of the contract but the man running that post is going to be in Florence eating cheese and drinking strong black coffee in the summer sunshine of Italy or lazing on the beach in Costa Rica taking a well earned rest after moving house, or actually having the house moved while working in Peru and just mopping the floors after the move. So how can the company not have my visa ready for me and why no urgency, probably they have far too much money and don't care and are so busy checking how many hundreds of millions they have already lost on the project to bother with the piffling couple of millions that this service contract is going to cost to worry about me going to the job, either way I get paid and have an easy time in the real world not the rarefied world of oil company accounting.