Beowulf , My First Movie Review

My wife while trying to find out when the cinema was open for us to visit the new great animation movie, Beowulf, she was able to apply for two free seats and in the draw she got the seats plus we got to go and see the movie 1 day before its general release in Costa Rica, so we prepared to go , we arranged a Nanny for the little girl and left early to miss the traffic, this was a huge mistake as it landed us in the thick of the downtown rush hour traffic as the mall in which the cinema was situated was across town, this was a huge mistake, the rush hour these days in San Jose is appalling, it was crawling and we spent over an hour to cross just a few miles, man i was getting frustrated, anyway we got to this mall which we don't normally travel to as it is too far for normal shopping. We queued up for our tickets and were ushered into a huge theatre, anyway the movie came along and the sounds was deafening, just to much and the screen was too big to be sat so close, I was underwhelmed with the average quality of the animation, the eyes were all wrong, totally wrong, the eyes were of dead people and pointing in the wrong directions, not lifelike at all, the plot was silly or almost non-existant, and it all ended with a silly battle, I was moved to tears of pain, it was terrible, after having sat in the traffic for so long and to suffer the too loud soundtrack and have the action swirling before my eyes giving my vertigo on the too close screen i was miserable and to boot the nanny cost more than it would have cost to go to a regular cinema, I was not happy, i hate going to an overblown movie to feel miserable aftewards, God Bless Harry Potter, i always feel happy after one of his films.

Jetlag and Life After Death

I have said many times in previous blogs that air travel for work is greatly over-rated. I am now a hater of flying to my work destination and for may reasons. The biggest killer of fun for flying across time zones is the jet lag, this is like time travel without the fun of seeing other worlds, it is just the slow freezing of the brain and the loss of several days of life trying to adjust the body clock. Another is the miserable state of airline food, i am starting to think that i should never eat anything on planes as i will be sick and feeling crappy for many days after eating some fancy shrimp cheesey pastry lump of stuff with a fancy french name. One more killer is my companies insistence that we fly air-France everywhere, even if this means flying the wrong way around the world, like flying to sidney Australia before flying to Alaska just because the only way Air France could do it was via Sydney, my company has some sort of cheap ticket thing going on with the airline and all the field guys have to suffer this crap. A final nail in the coffin almost is the inevitability that during a flight packed with several hundred other human germ breeding chambers is that i will pick up some bug that is trying to kill me, on my trip home from Tunisia i suffered all of the above and it made me reconsider what my life is meant to be about,


My journey back from the land of the desert nomads started with what should have been a short 4 hour drive but turned into an almost 6 hour drive because the driver i was given didn't know how to drive properly and couldn't read (or write probably), he stopped once to pray which i didn't know was in my contract of hiring him, otherwise i would have taken another driver, he was dangerous as a driver as he would be slow all the time and then try and overtake in crazy places just because, when we got to Tunis he didn't follow the road signs to the airport but took some back street route that must have added on at least 30 minutes to the trip, man I was so frustrated i could have bitten a lump out of the steering wheel, by the time we arrived at the airport my patience was gone, he took the wrong turn and was taking me to arrivals and not departures, i started shouting and lost all control, i was pointing and gesturing at the signs, he stopped and reversed but then still took me down the arrivals line, i was screaming at him, but to no avail, i had to drag my crazily heavy bags through the arrivals lounge to some escalators before i could then walk all the way to the check-in gates, i was wet through with sweat as my 70 pound bags had no proper handles left as they got broken at least 50 flights ago.

I had not eaten on the trip as the useless driver didn't offer to stop for me so i had to wait to check in before i could go to the business lounge, nearly 2 hours after i arrived at the airport which was 12 hours after i had last eaten, when i got to the lounge my first mistake was to think the food would be great for me, it actually tasted great, probably the best food i would eat in my 2 day extravaganza across the globe to get home, they were lovely little sandwiches with tuna and tomato with some really spicy sauce( A Tunisian speciality, ground dried chillies), they tasted great and i ate about 12 of them, which puts me into the pig grouping of business lounge eaters, there were also some little chicken puff pasty things which were also very tasty, i ate about 8 of them, i was starving, i drank a gallon of grape juice, this all made me feel pretty full, i then found out my flight had been delayed by 2 hours due to the miserable french air traffic controllers demanding to retire at the age of 29 on full pension with a delivery of 24 bottles of Bordeaux wine every Friday and a cheap whore once a month, they are greedy and deserve the Ronald Regan treatment, fire all of the shits. I arrived in Paris at about midnight and then had find a hotel as i was travelling the next morning, i had to drag my ludicrously heavy bags around to find the shuttle bus stop, but i decided to take a taxi, i threw my bags into the back and said Hilton hotel and i was then ejected from the taxi by a miserable french taxi driver who was demanding a customer who would give him at least 50 Euros and a bottle of Bordeaux wine and a cheap whore, i hate them all, he made me get the shuttle, so i jumped into the first shuttle which was the marriott chain bus, the first hotel i got to was a cheapo for the marriott chain and i rushed inside to ask if they had any rooms, a bumbling old Brit guy was messing about with his printer behind hte desk was asking me to wait a minute and i said the bus is waiting to go, i was sweating and shouting, he then said, probably no rooms, i ran out to the revving bus, I was the last one on the bus, he was waiting to go home probably, he looked frustrated that i didn't get a room, so i said marriott, he then zoomed about 100 yards as all the airport hotels are in a small zone, I rushed inside and asked if they had any rooms, the girl from Norway or somewhere Nordic said yes, and as i rushed outside to get my bags i heard her shouting that will be 179.95 euros a night, about $270, i didn't care as it was well past midnight and i had to be at the airport next morning by 7am, i dragged my crazy bags in with me got my key and found a very nice room, with Internet and so i completed more e-mail, complain to the guys back in Tunisia about the taxi driver, I managed to de-stress while getting ready for bed and had an early morning call arrange to get me up, I was blasted out of bed by the phone, like a zombie i rushed downstairs to pay my bill dragging my bags again, and found that my $270 room didn't cover the breakfast, "OUTRAGEOUS" i shouted in protest as i left the hotel for the shuttle bus. I check-in flashing my platinum frequent flier card and went directly to the business lounge, the only food available was chocolate filled croissants, so i ate 4 of them, i was trying to get killer indigestion. I got on the flight and sat next to a really nice old guy who turned out to be an ex-CIA guy of 25 years who had claims of running the killer death squads in Nicaragua and El Salvador against him but denied them all, funny how you meet the most interesting people on planes, i felt kind of strange on the plane, really worn out and over tired and also feeling bloated from all the crap i had eaten over the last 12 hours, we sat on the plane and i was served a nice piece of beef and lots of ice-cream and heavy greasy things and coffees with Baileys and more cream, wow i was stuffed, i watched 3 movies non stop and slept for about 20 minutes, not enough for a 10 hour flight, i chatted a lot with my ex-CIA companion, and we had a lot in common especially the death penalty for all criminals, I'm exaggerating , i was the one suggesting that not him, but we spent a few hours discussing politics and the great possibility that Hillary Clinton will win the next US presidency, i hope so, not another 4 years of a republican, my dollars would be worthless. i was offered a miserable supper of some shrimp stuffed cheesey filled tortilla type things that i could hardy poke with my fork because i was feeling so bloated and horrid, the indigestion was kicking in really well, I had a 5 hour stopover in Atlanta to deal with, I got to Immigration and the guy was really nice, he asked me where i had come from and i told him the desert of Tunisia and he said was there any booze??, i said yes it was OK for beer, then he asked any girls???, a very funny question i thought, i said you never saw them, only school girls and a couple of house keepers in the hotel, he said that was a tough deal, he was offering me commiserations, he then noticed that I was travelling to Costa Rica and he said, man you will have a great time with all those great looking chicks, i was shocked and it was all i could do to contain my laughter at this very nice immigration guys off the cuff comments, so very nice to have a human to deal with in Immigration. I went to wait in the business louge and i was trying to get something to kill my crippling indigestion, i was taking Tomato juice by the bucketful but all i could do is suffer in silence and play freecell and read the business papers until it was check-in time. by now my head was pounding and i felt really tired and sore eyed, the jetlag was setting in as it was like 3am for my body, i got on the plane and hardly looked at the food they offered, it was crap anyway and i didn't have any beer just juice and i suffered through a crap film until we landed, i rused to get off and almost quick march through the airport until i was met by a miserable immigration guy demanding we line up and i then realised the immigration dept was full to overflowing, this meant a long queue up to get in, there must have been 400 people waiting for immigration, i was wilting after all the travelling and i knew my wife was waiting for me somewhere, we got through and i picked up my unbelievably heavy bags from the carousel and struggled to go to the meeting spot where my wife is usually waiting for me, but i wasn't sure where she was as I was 1 hour late by now, my wife was missing, i was missing my sense of humour, i was tired beyond belief, my legs ached, my guts felt dreadful and i felt like death warmed up, my wife had missed me coming out of the arrivals hall and was walking about looking for me and as i was dressed in a black sweatshirt she couldn't see me in the dark street waiting on the corner. what a typical screw up meeting point, it is lovely to have my wife meet me but more often than not we have long delays and lots of problems meeting each other, i may start getting the taxi as it is only 20 minutes away. My wife greeted me and we sped away to our lovely new house to let me see all the decorating she has been doing, wow what a transformation, lots of interesting ornaments and wall hangings and lovely bright vibrant colours. But i was almost dead to the world, i crawled into bed and collapsed, i awoke really early like, 3 am , the jet lag was kicking me again, i felt crap and hungry but also bloated, i got up and had a fruit juice and felt ill, really ill, the sweat was dripping off my chin even though it was cold in the house at night, i was also shivering, i was coming down with a miserable virus, i felt like death run over, oh man i hate flying, my guts were rolling and hungry and bloated at the same time, i was so tired that i didn't even know what to do next, i just suffered all day sweating and burping and thinking what i could eat to kill the acid, that night i collapsed into bed at 7pm and awoke at 12.30am, i took a Valium to put me out, it worked well and i awoke at 7am, still feeling shivery and crappy, flu and jet lag don't mix well.

I was so bloated, mayhbe 100 pounds more and my hair was crazy and my face just puffed up all terrible and mishapen, I felt like shite






I went to bed at 9pm and slept until 3am and took another Valium, i awoke at 7am , feeling almost alive, the sweating had gone and the acid had left me, i had a full fried breakfast of bacon and eggs and fried rice, which is the typical food here, i felt better and i think the virus was in decline, I was able now to enjoy the wonderful warm sunny weather here in paradise, but this all re-confirms my hatred of flying, crappy food, miserable diseases and loss of lots sleep, if it wasn't for the money I wouldn't do it, but that is really exactly why I do do it. I have to try and get back to normal here as I haven't been here in Costa Rica for 7 months, i need to catch up with my Spanish and many other things and get ready for Christmas.

Last Full Day In Tunisia,

Today is my last full working day in Tunisia for this year hopefully, I had to go back to the other site last week for a few days to clear up a fdew outstanding points, it was an uneventful trip apart for the start of the journey, as i was leaving the site here in Ferriana i was flagged down by a couple of young boys who wanted a lift up the road, they jumped in all smiling and laughing, we sped away up the hills and were bouncing along the bumpy road, still all smiles, as we neared a sharp bend we saw a dead dog in the road, it had been there since we arrived in the morning, the two boys got agitated and started saying a few things, i looked at them for some instructions, i couldn't undestand anything, I asked if they could speak french, nothing, just some blank stares and some pained expressions, as I slowed down for the bend, maybe 10 mph, the kid in the back seat opened the door and jumped out, slipping on the sand at the side of the road and rolling over in the dry dirt, i stopped the car and went back to look at him, the other kid also jumped out and looked at his brother(my guess), and the young guy was all dusty and wobbly but on his feet, the other one then saw another car coming the other way and ran after it shouting for a lift the other way, at this point i was worried, what would the boy say to them, what would he say to his mum and dad, what would they say to the police and would there be a huge investigation, would i be arrested for kidnapping. I jumped in the car and sped away, starting a trip that lasted 5 hours, inlcuding getting lost and nearly entering Algeria, and finally getting to my destination in the late afternoon, my imagination had been running away with itself, i was at a point of fleeing to the capitol and getting on the first plane out of here, the prospect of spending a night in the cells for some misunderstanding wasn't a great feeling.
I carried on along with my trip and went through a small town called Sbeitla and on the outskirts of the town was a large cemetary, but in the centre was a large Roman Temple of Minerva, Here is a great pic



This is an interesting country for a weeks holiday but for two months is runs a bit dry, the great salt lake is actually a large salty muddy patch that covers a huge area, but there isnt actually anything worth seeing, just salt and mud

So I leave maybe to come back after Christmas or maybe not,a s i never know in my job, all I know is that i am looking forward to having a long break from this torment, and relaxing with my wife and little girl over Christmas to enjoy a few luxuries that you cannot get here like, nice food and a nice green climate.

Lunchtime At The Oasis

Me Overlooking The Oasis



The Oasis in the Foothills on the edge of the dry plain



Myself Simone and Miguel in the River Bed in front of the Big Falls



Me in the Big Falls



On the Road heading towards the Oasis we stopped on top of the Hill Behind 25Km away



You know those lovely little camels with the cute faces, well they taste lovely.

Today we popped out for a long lunch as it was Sunday and we made a small detour to get a place near some local waterfalls. We turned up and found some water in them but you can tell that when it rains here these waterfalls really pour torrents of water. Where the water gathers in the valleys it creates an oasis and they look really nice in the parched surroundings. And from the top of the road looking out into the plain you can see the lower oasis and even further into the plain is a huge oasis that is basically a million date palms. I saw one lovely bird, like a small blackbird with a white tail and a white cap. Very startling in the brown coloured environment.

The restaurant was a tiny place but the food was prepared well and the service fast, and the camel steak was cooked to perfection if a little small. It was great to get away from the plant for a short while and have a change because the food is cooked on site by one of the guys working with us and it is Italian and I am not complaining as it is done very nicely but pasta everyday gets tedious, so going out for lunch was fantastic and real boost for morale. The weather as you can see is sunny as it is everyday and was warm but in the shade it was fresh and at night is positively cold.

One thing I have noticed about Tunisia is the real third worldness of the place. I never realized about it being third world but it is Africa and it is northern sahara desert, not quite total sand but a very close second. One thing you notice more than anything is the crappy houses and the lack of trash disposal, trash is dumped anywhere, along the road, on any spare ground, next door to your own house and quite a lot gets dumped into any ditch, even if this is the local river when it rains so consequently the trash accumulates in these ditches and locals seem to enjoy burning trash including the not combustible parts, so if you know the smell of brining trash it stinks really badly and around our hotel is the local kids playground and trash burning area and it smells awful. While driving around you see the horrible plastic bags and water bottles accumulating everywhere, it is a part of modern life I hate the most the non biodegradable rubbish that blights ours and all the other creatures lives that have to put up with it. Why oh why didn’t someone slap the scientist who was working on polymers and take him out for a beer and throw him in the local river when he was drunk.

Life in The Desert

I have been here in the south of Tunisia for about 2 weeks now and to be honest, it isn't great, the internet is so intermitant that i am starting to squeak at the seams, the connection on site is horrible even when working, the connection at the hotel is also intermittant but seemed more reliable for the first week but hasnt worked at all for about 5 days. I am struggling to mail my wife and i was lucky that the day it was working good on site i needed to send all my timesheets and expenses so that was very good, but i cannot surf the net or blog or do the normal things i enjoy doing while working remotely. The job here is far away from actually needing me, they are still pulling cables and building the unit, which means i am reduced to wandering around and trying to help out when i can, we did have a little job on an ancient control system, a MK4 speedtronic and it was scary to say the least, you cannot see the code other than the ladder logic (check out ladder on the net to see what it says), so if you need to make changes you need to know the memory locations and then the exact commands to make changes, we screwed up several times and had to do a backup to recover what we damaged, we spent 4 days reading manuals and then finally we found out it was really easy but man it was a scary time learning, i dont want to let anyone know that i have even touched a MK4 or i will become the local expert,

I have identified a local bird that is so funny as it runs about on the roads like a chicken or a mini road-runner, it is everywhere and has a little crest on its head, I have seen a few other birds here but cannot identify them as i have no book, I have also seen very rare tortoises offered for sale and this is leading to the potential extinction of this species in the wild, they do look cute as they are small and handlable but as with all things cute they are not looked after correctly and die soon after, but here is the pic of the Crested Lark doing its best Road-runner impression

5 Star Hotel My Arse

Well it just goes to show you cannot accept anything on the Internet as real and genuine. I arrived at the hotel after a 3 hour drive, it was a boring drive other than we saw a Semi Truck, or a Juggernaut if your European. go crazily out of control just in front of us and then spin off the road and through some trees, i was expecting it to turn over but somehow it jack-knifed and stayed upright. the driver climbed out of the window and looked shaken but not stirred. We continued to our destination, the driver spoke a little English and i told him the hotel name about 9-10 times and he kept asking if it was the palace hotel, i said probably. The palace hotel was just before the main town which is called Gafsa, and as we arrived, i shook my head and said no this isn't the hotel, i got out my papers and showed him the name Jugurtha, and he then started repeating a strange name like inkitha, he stopped at the police check point and asked for the inkitha hotel and they looked baffled, so i waved the paper at them and they read it and said yes the Jugurtha hotel and gave him directions, I was feeling a bit shocked to realise that the guy couldn't read, he was then asking me to check the signposts for the name of the hotel, i eventually had to tell him the directions from the hotel signposts that are liberally dotted about the city to direct all the desert tourists to the many hotels in this part of the country. As we arrived i was pleased to see an enourmous hotel surrounded by trees and well kept gardens. i went inside with my two huge bags and told them i had a reservation and they said i wasn't booked in. This didn't sound good, i asked for a room and they told me the price for Bed breakfast and evening meal, about 35 Euros, pretty cheap i thought for a 5 star hotel, the lobby was a crazy painted place, with unimaginable colours on the ceilings and walls, i went to my room to be met by even crazier coloured furniture and i saw it was all local made stuff, meaning it was pretty rough made and horrible quality, the bathroom was tiled but badly finished, you know when people use their fingers to put that tricky bit of grout around taps and tight spots, it looked shabby and very amatuerish, the whole atmosphere of the hotel was rundown and cheap looking, i went for a look around the gardens and found two of the three pools broken and empty apart from the piles of leaves and sand in them, the gardens were not as well kept as i thought and just away from the main drive the grass was uncut and the paths hadn't been swept in months or even ever, the walls surrounding the place were not even finished off, i then realised the whole hotel was an unfinished project and hadnt been touched for years, maybe 5 years, there was cables hanging out of holes in walls and glass with the white cross in the middle from the initial installing, unpainted doors and windows in the outbuildings, the list goes on and on, the gardens were not 40 hectares as stated but more like 1\2 a hectare, the lies that website told were huge, but overall the place is pretty acceptable and the food again is OK, but the decor is just insane, the chairs are built for giants and are gold in colour, the walls have huge murals that look like they were created by children. It is the ugliest interior design i have ever seen and is nothing like what you would have seen in this part of the world ever. The last hotel was designed to look authentic north african and they achieved a good deal of that and it was snug and nice, this on the other hand is brash and tasteless and not appealing at all, it looks like something that Las Vegas would do as a casino calling it the kasbah or something like it, quite the ugliest hotel i have ever been in and the quality of the finishing is just terrible and typical of a rushed cheapo job. If you want genuine north africa this isn't the hotel to come to, if you want a nights sleep then this is just OK. At least they make their own bread and it is very nice.