These guys are total nutters - but make my life fun...

Two important traits for the Oil Field - Simplicity and Vulgarity

Susan Boyle - Singer - Britains Got Talent 2009 (With Lyrics)

Well apparently the world is going crazy about this? It does bring a tear to your eye.

Kitchen diaries

This guy is the best, he had me in stitches.

Becky from Dublin

This is brilliant. LMAO.

Evanescence - "My Immortal" Official Video

Hans Zimmer - Now We Are Free

A lovely spring day in the Flemish country side

Well, after much craziness finally I have had a chance to wind down today - and a beautiful spring day it was. Sorry for Mik who is still suffering a bit from the jetlag, and as I write he is in bed after the day at work - but back to me!.... this morning when we got up it was zero and minus 2 through the valley on the way to drop Mik off at work. The sun warmed it all up really quick and by 10am it was 4 degrees by the time I picked Mik up again it was 11 degrees - woohoo double figures!

But in between all that, I managed to have lunch with a good friend, who is not so happy as she is paying two motgages after buying a new apartment at the same time we bought and not being able to sell the other one due to the whole economic crash - and on top of it all worried about loosing her job. So we consoled each other with .... 'So long as we have our health and the ones we love close to us - then houses, and money and jobs can go by the by - so long as we can have some semblance of a roof over our heads.'

Also lately, thanks to my Scottish collegue, (whom I respect immensely for some things).... I have been enjoying the music of Hans Zimmer lately and managed to finally download a compilation of his works today. Here is a great piece above .....

On Green Day's Whatsername

I have been totally hoooked on Green Day lately, particularly their American Idiot album. Whatsername is one of my favourite and I think I listen to it, at least three times a day if not more.

This video is a bit lame, but it really does not need visuals there is plenty of colour in the music, and clever lyrics too.

"Thought I ran into you down on the street,
Then it turned out to only be a dream,
I made a point to burn all of the photographs,
She went away and then I took a different path,
I remember the face, but I can't recall the name,
Now I wonder how whatsername has been...

Seems that she disappeared without a trace,
Did she ever marry old whatshisface,
I made a point to burn all of the photographs,
She went away and then I took a different path,
I remember the face, but I can't recall the name,
Now I wonder how whatsername has been...

Remember, whatever,
It seems like forever ago!
Remember, whatever,
It seems like forever ago!
The regrets are useless,
In my mind,
She's in my head,
I must confess!
The regrets are useless,
In my mind,
She's in my head,
From so long ago!
(Go... go... go... go...)
(Go... go... go... go... go...)

And in the darkest night,
If my memory serves me right,
I'll never turn back time!
Forgetting you, but not the time!"

Green Day's Whatsername

The Chaser - Wanker Number Plates

One week to go...

Well, one week left to go and I get to be with my beloved boys again. Now is about the time I get a bit sick of restaraunt food and just need to comforts of my own space and junk around me. Although I am managing to gather some junk here - books mainly.

I have had some good experiences though this time. It has gotten to the point where I don't have to sit in my room night after night watching movies or reading books. I now have a social life! I can now sit by the pool in the evening and run into someone I know if I want to. Some stay also in the hotel, some I work with who come to drink at the bar and others who just come for the same reason, a chat or a drink or to sit by the pool and read their book or newspaper.

Oh yes and yesterday was an interesting thought. Mubarak, the Egyptian President and Prime Minister arrived in Muscat for a formal two day visit. They closed the roads off for the afternoon so we all got to leave the office early, to make it back to our homes before it got chaotic on the roads. There was major security alert as the guy is considered a terrorist target. Thoughts that go through my head on the way home from work yesterday....

"Hmmmmm, I am drving through a city where there is a major terrorits target arriving today.....now is probabaly a good thing that I am not staying at the Grand Hyatt this time as he probabably is. Thank you Radisson for not being flash enough for visiting dignatories.....now seems like a good time to soak up some that 32 degrees in the shade by the pool."

So I did.

Chris Isaak - Wicked Game (Live)

7 days down

So my warning was not far off, was it? But even still I have been working long hours as the pressure comes on a bit at work.

Mik is off to New Zealand tonight. So he is busy making sure all his i's are dotted and t's crossed. I am 7 days down and 14 to go, but my girlfriend comes back from the field today so we have 5 days together to spend some of our hard earned cash. Last time before I left I discovered a whole new wing of the mall that we never knew existed so I am looking forward to show her that. It is the designer shops....can't understand how come I had not sniffed it out before. Very excited.

Discovered Facebook

Well, now that I have discovered facebook, the blogs might get a bit less sorry. I am having a great time connecting with old friends and catching up on how their lives have changed in the last 20 years.

Sue goes back to work for another 21 days and Mik is off to NZ for a much needed holiday and catch up with family.

THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS Theme

A poetry day

I am having a real poetry day today. Mik bought me the complete works of John Keats for a birthday one year and he reminded me last night that I have never read it - but that is not quite true I have picked it up a couple of times and it not the sort of thing one reads from cover to cover, and quite honestly I find it quite hard work as the language is so old, one really has to study it rather than simply read it. So today I decided to make some time for poetry and inspired by Keats and some French friends of mine with a lust for life and each other I found this one...

Celine & Lorenzo dance on a Saturday night

Dancing twirling laughing nymphs
Lunging at life from up high on a plinth
Telling the world that they better take care
For Lorenzo and Celine are making it here
To take it all for what it is worth
And make revelry dance and be wild in the mirth
For life is for love and the world is the stage
And we make it all now for tomorrow we age

Mik, Celine and Laurent - aka Lorenzo dancing on a Saturday night.

A few days rest in Oman - the story

I thought I better give ayou a bit of a story to go with the pictures.

We had a wonderful couple of days rest in Oman and made sure it was not a wirl wind. Actually the day before Mik arrived the wind whipped up and there was quite a sand storm, but it settled by the afternoon of the first day and we managed to see some rays by the pool. That morning we went for a walk down the beach, and as you can see there was a bit of surf. It reminded me a lot of the North Taranaki coast, except the tide was a lot shorter. It was nice just to wander along the beach with our shoes off and jeans rolled up. We both realised how much we miss the sea. Still it is lovely here in the Flemish country side, but there is something special about the sea for those that grew up by it. A lot like that mountain of ours too ... for those who don't what I mean here he is...





Taranaki from Paul G's Yacht.








The next day we checked out and went for a drive to Muttrah and old Muscat and mananged some bargaining in the market place, which they call the souq. We found the silver and gold souq too, and were aghast at the beautiful jewlery, which I am totally going to have to introduce Ronaye to when we get back again - sorry Glenn...

It was a magic blue day and we were planning to also spend the afternoon by the pool but we got back to the hotel and they had closed the pool area for a special valentines day party, which one had to buy tickets for. So we crashed the Hyatt instead and sat by their pool for the afternoon and enjoyed the spa pool in the evening. The retaraunt by the pool turned into a Japanese restaraunt by night so we enjoyed an awesome meal - there we were, a couple of mad kiwis in the middle east eating sushi and sahimi and drinking New Zealand Sauvingnon Blanc.

A few days rest in Oman

Hundreds attend global warming protest

I learned something new today...which is always good for the soul

My taste in music is broadening ... it turns out Gorillaz is a virtual band - I never realized there was such a thing, and if you you tube/google 'Gorillaz live' you can see they perform live as animated characters also - but they haven't toured since 2002 by the looks. If you want to know more about Gorillaz click here, which is a Wikipedia site and then I read Amy MacDonald's blog today and she said she tried to correct Wikipedia's article on her and they told her to stuff off - how bizarre! click here to see her comments on the article about her on Wikipedia - oh dear wiki was always my first line of on line knowledge until know.

I do think she is doing some good stuff too - my faith in new music is restored... see http://www.amymacdonald.co.uk/ .

I also saw a very cool movie today - because I got sick again and this time quite terribly so I had to stay in my room all day - Mike knows all about it for sure, he listened to my whining for two days now - but the movie was The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, adapted from a 1920s story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and I enjoyed it. It is a saga but worth the time, if you have it... click here to see the tralier

Gorilaz - 19-2000

And this was the first one that attracted me.

Gorillaz - Clint Eastwood

I have been really enjoying these guys lately. I really like the fact that they are always animated, and sometimes their pieces are about the poetry, sometimes about the rhythm and sometimes the melody. They never do just one formula - I like that - it's varied.

A trip to the field - Mukhaizna

Back again. Well another two weeks have gone by and it has a bit of a whirlwind this time.





I got ot the field this week for the first time and it was a different world. The field is massive - there is two and the whole complex is about 30 km by 10 km. I did take some photos, on a collegue's camera - I do not have them yet, but here are a few google images for your interest.

Living quarters

Beam Pump

Somewhere in the field

It was as flat and brown as the eye could see. It looked to me like the blue sky on the horizon was the sea but the further you drove the sea never appeared. The temperature range was large. About 5 degrees in the morning to the mid to late 30's during the day. That's winter - in summer the days are in the mid to late 40's.

You can read little bit more about the project if you click here.

On another subject - I have been quiet of late as I am in a different hotel this time and the "high Speed internet" is totally ridiculous. Thank god for all the movies I downloaded onto my laptop when I was at home, as I simply can not download anything with the speeds they have here. I can not even listen to a continous sample of music on i-tunes, and it takes about 10 minutes to download one song. At home we are getting a whole album in that time. So as you can tell I have been a little frustrated on the entertainment front. On advise from one's ITlearned husband, I did a speedtest and found I was getting just over 200 kb/s - dial up is faster than that!!!!



Anyway, 14 days down, 7 to go until my beloved comes and we can spend some time in the sun.

Hello again

Well, it seems like everyone is back into it, except me and Jo. But we could excuse Jo, as she is probably on summer holidays.

It's been a bloggy while, due to the fact that I couldn't possibly blog about the weather one more time, plus I have been working, and it seemed that it had been a relatively uneventful 10 days in our household. Buying a house seems to have put paid to all those fancy weekends away - but it is great having our own house again, even if it means digging up and unblocking drains in the cold rain on the weekends. We finally got the laundry out of the kitchen and into the garage, which is brillirant, so we can at least put in a dishwasher and then soon a brand new kitchen. Yay - priority number one next rotation out, to finalise ordering the new kitchen.

We did find a good source of latest movies too, to while away for hours while in Oman. Yip, back again to the Omani land on Thursday. Mike is coming to meet up with me at the end of this rotation in, so we can have some semblance of a summer holiday like those in the southern hemisphere. Long way to come for a long weekend, but it will be worth it. I have added a few extra days at the end with no work so we can do some touristy things and simply grab as much sun as we possibly can.

It was a great time at home this time. Sorry no photos of New Years Celebrations as it was pretty quiet here.

Neil Diamond - Be

We just dusted off Jonathon Livingstone Seagull tonight.

"Written by: neil diamond

Lost
On a painted sky
Where the clouds are hung
For the poets eye
You may find him
If you may find him

There
On a distant shore
By the wings of dreams
Through an open door
You may know him
If you may

Be
As a page that aches for words
Which speaks on a theme thats timeless
While the sun God will make for your day
Sing
As a song in search of a voice that is silent
And the one God will make for your way

And we dance
To a whispered voice
Overheard by the sould
Undertook by the heart
And you may know it
If you may know it

While the sand
Would become the stone
Which begat the spark
Turned to living bone
Holy, holy
Sanctus, sanctus

Be
As a page that aches for word
Which speaks on a theme that is timeless
While the sun God will make for your day
Sing
As a song in search of a voice that is silent
And the one God will make for your day"

Whiteout

Not a lot happening here if late. Sue and the doglets are housebound on account of the sub zero temperatures and snow that just will not go away, the doglets are going a little stir crazy I might add. Sue says lucky she has her work, as one can only watch so many classic movies in a day can't one!

I hear in the news that even Portugal is standing gobsmacked by sub zero conditions.

Wikipedia had this to say on the conditions of the day...ours was of the third variety.

"Whiteout (weather)

Whiteout is a weather condition in which visibility and contrast are severely reduced by snow and diffuse lighting from overcast clouds.

There are three different forms of a whiteout:

1. In blizzard conditions, the windblown snow in the air may make it too difficult to see very far.
2. In snowfall conditions, the volume of snow falling may obscure objects reducing visibility.
3. In clear air conditions, when there is no snow falling, diffuse lighting from overcast cloud may cause all surface definition to disappear.

It becomes impossible to tell how far away the snowy surface is. In polar regions this optical illusion can make whole snow-covered mountains invisible against the background white cloud, and the horizon cannot be identified, slopes cannot be judged for steepness, and snow surfaces cannot be seen. This effect is exacerbated by a smooth surface of fresh snow. It is only when a contrasting object is placed on a snowy surface that the surface can be detected.

In less extreme cases, it may suffice to break the snow surface by throwing a snowball ahead. This form is also known as flat light or sector whiteout.

Whiteout conditions pose threats to mountain climbers, skiers, aviation, and mobile ground traffic. Motorists, especially those on large high speed routes are also at risk. There have been many major multiple-vehicle collisions associated with whiteout conditions.


See also
Air New Zealand Flight 901, an air accident on Mount Erebus, Antarctica caused in part by whiteout conditions.

Climbing incidents on Mount Hood: all recent incidents have been caused by whiteouts."

Snow, Snow and more Snow in Huldenberg

Well, things took a dramatic turn last night, it had been snowing on and off the last couple of days, but last night saw the winter really show it's self with avengance. There is about 10 cm of snow out there now. It has been snowing all day today.

Saturday and Sunday saw us pottering around the yard testing the stormwater drains to see where the water was collecting and realising the storm water went out onto the road (yipee) and the system for collecting the kitchen waste was not doing it's job properly. Mike sorted out some drainage from the garage so we can now put the washing machine in the garage and lessen the load off the system for collecting the kitchen waste. Lucky he is a Mr Fixit- he also realised how much he enjoyed fitting again - or was it just fixing things - the later I presume.

What fun I hear you say? Sure was in freezing conditions, we had to go inside every few hours to let our toes thaw out again. Mike started digging a new sump and Sue moved a small old stack of fire wood, some inside and some to the larger stack and got a good tarp on it. Just in the nick of time, before the snow really set in.

Gosh we relly are country bumpkins now, sorting out waste tanks ... we even bought ourselves some gumboots last week.

Only just a tad jealous of Paula and Brett swanning around Brizzy on their boat.

Minus 5

We thought you might like to see what minus 5 looked like.

It certainly is a white new year! We took these pictures yesterday, while the frost was still on the trees, then it warmed up overnight - it was only minus 1.7 during the night and has been hanging around zero today. We decided to get out in the yard to clean up a few things things this morning and it started to snow! So now we have a nice wee white dusting - nothing too serious to screw up the roads.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE! All the best to one and all for an excellent 2009. I can feel this one is going to be a goodie. It got off to a good start with no hangovers - on account of getting into bed before 10pm last night. But we still saw in the new year as the neighbours fireworks woke us up on the dot of 00:00...mental note better get onto the new years message...

Little Britain - Anne Decorates For Christmas

Christmas Day 2008

Well, today is the day after boxing day and we have had a wonderful couple of days with visitors galore. Who would have believed that we would be sitting in our own home in Belgium, and have both Vennik and Morch family for Christmas day lunch - lunch that went on for hours, actually...

We started with Froie Gras and Sauterne ...

and ended with Pavlova and a wonderful sponge cake that the Bussem Venniks had made to warm our home.

A gezelig day had by all...

Merry Chistmas

Well, it Christmas eve and it's been a busy day today, getting all those last minute things done. I decided to go to the supermarket first thing after dropping Mike off at work and it was still nuts. There were heaps of people that decided to do the same thing and within 10 minutes of opening it looks like a Saturday afternoon. Alas no hams in Belgium, so we have beef and Chicken.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY.

Zurich Airport

Yay! I am so 'connected' now. Sitting in Zurich airport with my new toy, surfing the internet with wifi - I love this world of mobile connectedness...

But the other night I was so frustrated becuase I had bought myself this new toy, and if I couldn't use skype then I was damn well going to just have a bit of a surf. It turned out that day the internet cable between Afirca and Italy had been severed and all traffic to and from the Middle East was affected. It was ridiculously slow or not working at all and I thought I had bought a lemon, but it turned out the next day there was same problems at work and then I found out the cause.

Now I am in Zurich airport and I am so connected! I thought it was an hour earlier, so rang my beloved to tell him I was almost ont the plane, and he was not pleased, as it was only 0730 - Sunday morning. I thought it was 0830 - and then found I had an hour to kill - so out came the laptop and I found out how to get connected, I am so proud of myself...

Now I have the next month at home, I am actually looking forward to the cold. Believe it or not it has actually been quite cold in Oman this last week. the Omani's are wandering around with scarves, still with sandals on their feet though - quite comical realy as it is still 20-25 during the day and when the sun is out it gets over 25 degrees C that is. It has been cloudy and was probabaly about 18 - 20 degrees the day I left. It also rained the night before - apparently December is when they get all their rain.

Well, off to get on the plane...ciao for now...

Band Aid

They are playing Christmas songs in Oman - it's kind of weird - this has to be one of my favourites - I have heard it a lot lately. I can not believe it was almost 25 years ago! Arrggghhhh!!!

Going home tomorrow

Yay, it has been a very long two weeks! The day I arrived, two of my collegues were coughing and spluttering and sure enough two days later I came down with the lurgi - and I have actually been quite sick since. But now seeing as one is working for one's self there is no sick leave anymore... So I struggled on and finally tomorrow I get to go home and relax for a bit.

I also bought myself a new toy yesterday - a laptop - so that I could download skype and be able to do video conferencing with my beloved's while I am away. But I knew that the Omani government has blocked skype - I thought I would try a work around somehow - lucky one has an IT versed husband. We'll see what we can do when I get home.

I also got to have a cultural experience. An Indian collegue of mine invited me and another collegue to his house for dinner. He has been promising us a genuine Indian meal and now that his wife has arrived from Delhi we were invited to sample some Indian cuisine. It was an interesting night. We drank red wine from Chile, in the company of a Kiwi, Scott and Englishman from Yorkshire, in the home of the hosts from India sampling Indian fine food. It was wonderful, and mighty spicy, even though they promised us they had made it mild especially for us.

Get back home on Sunday morning - just in time for Christmas. Have a month at home this time - thanks to Christmas time and some f=good negotation skills. Looking forward to hosting in our new home this year - Santa better bloody come this year otherwise I am going to be mighty miffed! He never did the last couple of years, and I am sure it was becuase he was a bit confused with the move - not at all to do with the fact that we might not have been good... Perhaps ...

Sisters

Sometimes you just need a little inspiration. Instead of, like markJ, who when uninspired blogs youtube music videos, as I often do, I decided this time to take some inspiration from the opening line of someone eles's blogg and ran with it.

And like all pairs of sisters, of mine
We understand the secrets together
We know the moments we have left behind
Keep us allied beyond forever

Because, we know, like all pairs of sisters
It does not matter if we share the same blood
Nor the same gender, as some would insist
It’s the unity we know that creates our own love

Creature Comforts

'Snovember

Well we got the snow that they predicted this weekend. The photos here show a nice light dusting on Saturday and then on Sunday we got several inches as it snowed most of the afternoon and evening. We had some friends for lunch and spent a nice warm afternoon inside watching it snow outside, by 3ish they decided to leave as the snow started to settle on the car, for fears of not getting home.

It has warmed up over night - to about 3 degrees so most of the snow melted overnight. Nice to have the prettiness on the weekend but no hassle for Mik to have to hit the road to work this morning.

Sue's Home

Back again from another tour in Oman. It has gotten a lot cooler there now. When I left the office round 6pm on my last day, the sun had gone down and it was noticeably cooler, funny how 25 degrees all of a sudden feels cool.

But then I got back to Brussel the next morning and it was about 8 degrees - brrrr - now that is cold! Luckily my beloved brought me a jacket, as I decided to leave it in the car when I left - to avoid havng to haul it to Oman and back again. But I like the cold, especially when you ahve a nice warm house or boots and a nice warm jacket. I have had a really nice week just pottering around and cooking and cleaning until my heart is content - now I need to get back into some work again.

Mispronouncers Anonymous

It's pretty grand here at The Grand Hyatt...

Had an interesting couple of days. For the last couple of days I had to go through security to get into the hotel, as apparently the Prime Minister of India is staying here also for a few days. Haven't got an invite to the ball though - they are obviously not aware that I am in country, other wise I am sure I would have recieved an invitation. No staying here in December though as the Sultan has booked it, and two other hotels up for a GCC Conference. So it is back to the Radisson. But the good news is I found a really good restaraunt that is walking distance from the Radisson - it is Turkish and I went there tonight with a bunch a peole from work. Beautiful food and cheap! It only cost about 5 Rials = 10 Euros for starters and a main. I had grilled Hamour fish - it was the whole fish and it was yummy.

7 more sleeps and I get to knuffle my three boys again...

A slice of Dubai

Back in Muscat today. For those of you whom I did not tell I was going to Dubai, I was there for work. Lot's of work and a little sightseeing, but there is so much to see, so I am sure I will have to go back again - definitely with my beloved one, when I have some time to see some more sights. I really only had one afternoon, so I did the bus tour round the city. It was worthwhile when you have little time, but it made me realise that there is so much to see and do. I made it to the the Palm Island Jumeira, which you can get a pretty good view of here...

Or if you in the real estate market you can click on this... that was seriously impressive.

What seriously impressed me was the lobby of the Grand Hyatt Muscat, when I first walked in. They do not do things by halves in the Arab world - that is for sure.

Another new city - Dubai

Well , here I am sitting in a hotel in Dubai now. What on earth? - well yes I am getting round a bit for sure. I tell you what Dubai - as Jo and Steve know - is amazing. It is like the 29th century has been plonked down in the middle of 19th century Middle East.

The city is fantasical at night - a bit like The Emerald City - I think - not that I have seen it, but as I had imagined it. I found out this morning, after drawing back the curtains that I have a great view of the skysrcaper -cityscape from my hotel window, with a dwarfed Mosque in front.

The photo speaks more words than I can!

I have to tell you of my latest cultural experience last week in Oman. A collegue of mine, who is Indian invited me and my other collegues to an Indian bar, where there was Indian dancing girls. Looking around, I said, "Are you sure we are allowed to be here?" - "Oh yes, no problem. I was here last week and I saw some white people here." - "No", says I, "I mean is this a male club?". "Oh yeah, but that is OK."... "OK", I said, "they are not going to take their clothes off are they?" No ... thank goodness they didn't, and I had a really wonderful evening admiring the beautiful silk dresses and way in which they moved. It was very respectfull, more than I can say about my cultural experience in China, several years ago. But then I can not tell that story - certainly not in the blogg - even though I do not work for that company anymore, and come to think of it - neither does anyone else that was there....interesting...

Fun in France

A Chateau we visited on Sunday morning - Mik caught the image in the lake also.
Wine tasting - after this one we totally filled up the car to the brim...

Our little home for the weekend - a sweet little cottage in a country village...

Picnicing at Versailles

Back ... in Oman

So why did I only blog twice in the last three weeks?

Because of previous posts one is likely to assume that the silence has been due to unhappiness – but au contraire mon ami – this time, it has been due to major busyness – and a bit of writers block really - normally it is evening time when I am able to write and well, wanted to spend every possible moment with mon cheri - haven't I? I have had, I think the most happiest 3 weeks in a long long time. It was a wonderful feeling to move into a house that we own again, and it really feels like home – we feel like part of the community now and Mik is in major fix it mode - kinda necessary really - another story for another blog. I even spoke Dutch by myself (without Mik for support) with the Fokers (dog breeders – they do not speak English), when I dropped off and picked up F&F last weekend. We went to Loire Valley in France for the weekend and I even dusted off, what little French I could muster too! The Fokers even complimented me how well I was speaking too – very proud!

We moved into our new house, with all the big furniture being moved on the 13th of this month and around either side of that we have been moving anything that could fit in the car ourselves. Tell you what it has been a mission – that and Mik putting up fencing to allow the doglets to roam around in safety and putting in a doglet door (one for large cats actually – that I am sure Picasso would not make it through) so they can come in and out during the day as they please. And the timing is impeccable as Mik tells me it is minus 1.5 degrees in Huldenberg this morning. Me? Yip made it back to Oman – day one today of my second rotation. Luckily it has cooled off – phew – it is only 30 degrees now when I go and come home from work – during the day it is only reaching 35. I got myself a car this time so I can roam a little bit further than office and hotel.

Speaking of roaming, today someone told me they found a good wine called Goats do Roam. I said “I think you mean Cote du Rhone sweetheart”. “No seriously,” he said “it is called Goats do Roam from Australia I think?”. “Aha’” says I, “surely, that is something the Aussies would do”. But tonight I find on the room service menu – there it is and it is from South Africa! Just a sec and I can let you know if it is any good ... a novelty wine I think! It’s a bit harsh – but then I have been a bit spoilt lately.

Photos soon to follow from weekend in Loire Valley – we went with our French friends who live in Leuven and we had a wonderful time – absolutely knaffed on Monday but would not trade it for nothing. Between us we brought back slightly over our limit per car load – 90 L of wine! Yip we had a great time!

Red State Update: Sarah Palin Picked As McCain's VP

Even though I promised myself that I was not going to blog anything political, I had to do this one. "Sarah Palin is gonna make a terruffic VP!"

Broadening the mind is healthy

Travel is fatal to bigotry, prejudice and narrow-mindedness. Broad wholesomeness and charitable views cannot be acquired by vegetating in one tiny corner of the globe.
Mark Twain.

Borrowed from Di at http://womanwandering.blogspot.com/

Muscat from the Hotel Window

I am now back home, day 2 of time at home. The last weeks was a wirlwind as my friend and collegue arrived and we spent time cathing up and seeing a little bit around. As we were both working we managed to visit some restaraunts, the mall, and the market (sooq) at the Muscat port. Belgium has really chilled off, the days are around 15 degrees and the autumn is here for sure. The leaves are changing colour - I am frozen after being in the desert for three weeks.



Sue & Ronaye at the sooq...

Day 14 done

And there you go, two thirds done of the first tour, only 7 days to go now. Ramadan finishes tomorrow, and is followed by Eid. The locals get 6 days off work for Eid from Tuesday - Sunday. Apparently this time is for family and fun and partying, in major contrast to Ramadan. It is customary that the children go from door to door asking for gifts and they are given money or sweets. Doesn't it sound like Lent, Christmas and Halloween all rolled into a month and a bit? Well to me the concepts seem the same...

Anyway, I must say this trip has opened my eyes to the Arab and Islamic world. I think you know one of my objectives in life is to learn as much as humanly possible and this trip has been well worth it. I have "connected" with my driver who is Omani - his name is Nasser. Yesterday he said, "You (pointing at me), your heart (pointing at his heart), white."..."My heart is what?", I say? " you heart ... white, you nice!"..."ahh I say, I think you mean pure or good? You say you think I have a good heart?" ..."Yes, you heart is good!". "Shukaran (the second arabian word he taught me on the first day - means thank you) - you also - I think you also have a good heart." Says I. Even though we struggled at times to understand each other we have have had much laughter.

This country, he says, is a land of too much...too much Indians, too much heat! Belgium I say also a land of too much, too much people, too much rain, too much taxes!

He also introduced me to Akon.

Rob Paravonian - Something You Already Know

This guy is very clever. I've been enjoying some of his stuff on youtube tonight.

The newly possesed house.

So we promised some photos of the new house and here they are...

We finally took possesion of the place last week, and I am only just a weeny bit jealous that I can't get to see it up close and personal yet for another week.

A lovely autumn day by the looks in Belgium too... we thinks some of those trees will have to go, so Mike has been measuring the circumference. Whether we need to get permission to cut them down or not is based on the size of the circumference of the tree at 1m high. Oh you got to love those beauracrates - we will likely need to pay for the privalige of them giving us their permission.

Just clocked day 11

I realised that there had been too many videos on lately. Well 4 of them were from one night of enjoying War of the Worlds on youtube. Thank god for youtube, and thank god I finally got my new laptop. It is so much easier being away from my three boys, when I have youtube, my new 32 gig ipod, a swimming pool, over 30 degrees and sun everyday, and some great middle eastern food!

I just got over hump day so it is all down hill from here. 10 more days to go and I am back on the big bird bound for my new house and lots of kisses with my three men at home. Big huge thanks goes to my love from me for sorting out the house buying thing, in a foreign country, I might add, but I must say I am a little jealous and can not wait to get in my new front door. I am day dreaming about it already. He says the previous owner left a nice bottle of champagne in the fridge - wat een schatje! - What a sweetie, even that she also left the fridge was pretty cool.

Speaking of fridges I got invited to a party last night, so I went. Unusual in Ramadan, but the inviters and invitees were not Muslim, so it was a well kept secret party. The guy that had the party had a bar set up in his front foyer, most excellent! He had all the bar paraphenalia, and a fridge with a glass front and I thought I would like one of those! So it was like the united nations partying in an english pub. It was a hoot and I got to socialise with my new work collegues, who are a bunch of really excellent people. I feel more welcome here in 10 days than I ever did in three years at my previous job. Even my driver, Nasser, gave me a present the other day... I will never forget this...

I mean to go out sometime and take some photos, so I can blog them for you. My lovey has promised some photos of the house on the weekend so hopefully we can blog some of them. Maybe I will ask Nasser to stop on the way back tomorrow so I can get some fotes. Saturday tommorrow and everyone is back at work, full on, as their weekend is Thurs/Fri here.

Oh well here is one fote that I stole of Greystoned. All looking super georgeous, might have something to do with the happiness shining through...

Flight of the Conchords - Ladies of the World

These guys are soooo funny...

"If every soldier laid down their guns and picked up a lady, what a wonderful world it would be"

Jeff Wayne's War Of The Worlds - The Spirit Of Man

Ditto - promise this is the last one...

Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds: Thunderchild

Enjoy but you must watch part 1 and Forever Autumn below first...

FOREVER AUTUMN LIVE

You should watch part one below first...

Jeff Wayne - War of the worlds (Live) (Eve of the war)

I just found out that there is going to be a 30th anniversay world tour of Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds in 2009 starting in Dublin and I am totally going! Apparently they have bought Richard Burton digitally back to life for it...cool...

Reminded me of a couple of naughty sausages in Eizer

A few fotes

I thought you might like a couple of photos. I have not been out and about to take any yet, but nothing a bit of google images can't fix.

This is the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque. I drive past it on the way to work. According to my driver, Nasser, it is only 3 years old.


This is a view of Old Muscat. According to http://www.freewebs.com/alsalmi/capitalofoman.htm this is the History of Muscat...

"Muscat's recorded history goes back to the fist century A.D. when it was almost certainly the 'concealed harbour' mentioned by the Greek geographer Ptolemy. In the early Islamic times, Muscat was minor port by comparison with Sohar, but it was of growing importance by the 9th century A.D. Ships sailing from the Gulf to India called at Muscat to draw their last supplies of water for the voyage. During the 14th and 15th centuries A.D. Muscat increased considerably in importance. The famous Arab sailor Ahmed bin Majid sailed from Muscat and has left description of its trade in 1490 A.D.:" Muscat is a port, the like of which cannot be found in the whole world, where there are businesses and good things which cannot be found elsewhere. Muscat is the port of Oman where year by year the ships load up with fruit and horses and they sell in it cloth, vegetable oils and grain and all ships aim for it. It is a cape between who different routes, safe in every wind and possesses fresh water and a hospitable and sociable people who love strangers." Muscat reached its greatest prosperity under the first ruler of Al Bu Said dynasty. Imam Ahmad bin Said, the founder of the dynasty, ruled from Rostaq (60 kms south of Muscat). Under his peaceful and progressive rule Muscat flourished as never before. Under Imam Ahmad's son, Muscat became the capital of Oman. Through the eyes of a visitor C.E Parsons visited Muscat in 1776 A.D. The town was then the emporium of the Western Indian Ocean, and so effective was the rule of law that theft from the valuable cargoes that flowed through the city was unknown. Parsons wrote: "Muscat is a place of very great trade, being possessed of a large number of ships which trade to Surat, Bombay, Goa, along the whole coast of Malabar, and to Mocha Jedda in the Red Sea. It is the great deposit for the goods which they bring from those part: it is resorted to by vessels from every port in Persia, from Basra and all the parts of Arabia within the gulf and from the coast of Qaramaniah without the gulf as far as the Indus River, and many places adjacent to that river."

Day 7 in Oman

Back again - had a good day today. I was very proud of myself, as I did 30 lengths of the pool today. Never been much of a swimmer before so I thought I would start with 10 lengths the first day and increase it by 2 each day. Well within 3 days I managed to do 20 lengths. Then I decided to see what I could do in 30 minutes today and got 30!

So swimming has become part of my daily routine, as it passes the time and the water is nice and warm and relaxing. So the routine is pretty much rise at 6.30, picked up at 7.15, learn another Arabic word on the way to work, tell the driver something about NZ or Belgium, work, Scottish collegue tells me a joke or two, get picked up at 4.30, back to Hotel (possibly after a spot of food shopping on the way back), swim for 30 minutes, shower, guitar for 30 minutes, have dinner, ring Mike - talk for ages, watch a movie, ring Mike again - talk for ages, fall asleep if I can, if not watch late night TV, possibly call Mike again - talk for ages - fall asleep, and then it happens all over again - so I do this once?? - nooooooo - 21 f'n times! Then I get to go home.

Joke of the day - Scottish collegue (think thick Edinburgh accent)- says "Me oonkul eemmigraetid tooo Ostraelia und when heee arraeved at thee airaporit was usked uf hee hud ay creeminul recorid, tooo whuch hee replied "ee thought thut was nooo longer ay requirement!"."

Day 2 in Oman

So here I am 2 days in Oman. Sure I did not write anything after one day as I was in this exhausted state of “oh Christ…what am I doing? Surely the only thing I want to do right now is to be lying on the couch listening to my love serenade me on the guitar with doglets cuddling me “ … or knuffling – the Dutch version of the word, which I like better – more onematapaeic – if there is such a word as onematapaeic – well there is now as I just made it up!

What can I say about Oman? It is always warm that is for sure. Lucky for me not too warm at this time of the year. It is only 32 degrees in the morning when I go to work. In summer time it is more like 45 – 50 degrees. Surely one’s blood would boil at the temperature? I can not imagine it yet. I have arrived in the Holy Month of Ramadan – so it an interesting cultural experience for me. We can not eat or drink or smoke in public during daylight hours and there is no drop of alcohol existing anywhere – not even in the mini bar as they have cleared them out for the month. Good way to dry out and loose some kilos perhaps? I am told it is followed by a week of going crazy – apparently the Omani’s are party people, just not for one month of the year.

Everyone in the office is very friendly – heaps of xpats so they know what you are going through, plus the project is relatively quite young, so loads of people have not been here very long.. They remember still what it was like on their first day. Those I have met so far only joined weeks ago, months ago or on the same day. So we understand what each other is dealing with.

The Long Awaited Photos of the long weekend in NZ

I said something really profound today...

Today my collegues had a farewell lunch for me and after the ceremonial present giving of course I had to say thank you and I said something really profoud...

"This morning I was driving to work and thought, oh my god, it's Thursday - what am I going to say? I decided not to write a fomal speech and just decided to speak from my heart. In the car I thought about the years I was leaving behind and shed a little tear. So I thought - no I won't talk about that or I'll cry. Koen also promised me that he would not cry - so I am not going to talk about how much I will miss Koen. So this I decided to say ...

three years ago Mike and I were sitting in our spa pool and discussing this oportunity over a bottle of Champagne - or maybe it was good old New Zealand bubbles - I don't know. Anyway Mike said "what do you think?" And I said, "well I do not want to be on my death bed and think - oh I wonder what it would have been like" - so he said...that's it's then we go! So we made the decision in 5 minutes and now at least I know what it was like.

You each know it was a big challenge - it was a big challenge moving countries, but with challenge comes reward and the reward for me was growth. I grew tremendously as a person and I got to meet some wonderful people and I got to do some wonderful things...I got to buy a BMW at half the price it would have cost in New Zealand, I got to live in the same country as my sister for the first time in 10 years, I got to buy a new house - soon - but most of all I got to work with some wonderful people and some of you, as you know I am proud to call my friends.

What I think I will miss is the comaraderie - and as I am going to work as an independedent - that will be a big gap for me. You guys have a great team here and you should cherish that. The testimony to that is what we did when we got together last year and produced what we did for the Christmas party, the best team building I think we could have ever done. I really enjoyed that party - and I will miss the christmas parties, the team buildings and the breakfasts.

Thank you all for the little impression that each of you have made on me. You all make me the person that I am today and for that I thank you....

Now I guess you can all have dessert?"

The four day weekend in NZ

So this is it. We are now sitting in the Koru lounge in Palmeston North, as there was a high chance of snow on the Rimutakas we drove north to Palmy and still there was snow on the Pahiatua Track. It was such a fantastic weekend starting with drinks at the local on Friday night. Mum's party was a great bash on Saturday night. Full of warmth, intimacy and new and old friends. The starters and the stayers were one and the same- a good sign! Fotos to follow...

Off to New Zealand Today

Yip - off on the big bird again today. This time me and my sister are going home for our Mum's birthday. A previously well kept secret, but now the cat is out of the bag. We are seriously going for a long weekend. We arrive on Friday and leave the following Tuesday, but it will be worth it. Looking forward to seeing the whole famdamly again - Only two son in laws that have to keep the home fires burning back in Brussels.

The baggage handlers at Zaventem were on strike yesterday, so to avoid catastrophy arriving in NZ for four days with no luggage - we decided to book the train to London. So we are leaving a little earlier than originally planned. From when we leave Brussels on the train we will arrive in Wellington 34 hours later.

The Morch Kiddies

FIVE QUESTIONS:

Hi all

Inspired by the end of this article, I thought I might challenge you to share your answers to these questions ...

1. David Bain: Guilty or Innocent? Innocent.

2. What is your favourite drink? Champagne

3. Have you ever called in sick when you weren't? Yes

4. Do you run orange lights? Yes
(In Belgium orange means go faster and red means only 6 more cars please)

5. Who is your favourite politician? Rob Muldoon

Actually I was inspired by the whole article ... click here

The perfect e-mail rule...thanks to Jo

I am sorry I can not respond to your e-mails today.

Something has crashed on my computer and the mouse has gone missing...

Finally another post ...

Thought it was about time for a new post. Sorry it has been a bit thin on it lately, but there has been so much going on. So much that I just could not put out on the WWW for various reasons. Supersition being one on them.

Things have been pretty topsy turvey of late, but now I can finally share the latest news as it is all official now. Sue has a new job - woohoo! It has been several months in the making but now it is all happening, contracts are signed, notice is handed to the current employer and we can now all come out in the open about it. But what to say? Suffice to say it is a good career move consulting in my technical field mainly in Oil and Gas - finally moved on from the dark side to work for the evil empire, but it will take me to some interesting places to meet some interesting people.

Promise we'll get back on the bloggy wheel soon.

We did it!

After much deliberation and watching the market, we finally did it and tookthe plunge. Last night we signed an agreement to purchase this house. Arrrggghhh - very exiting!

Anyone for a walk?

Mr Frodo just infomed me that he has not been blogged for a while - so here goes. Mik caught this one during another doglet photo shoot the other day.

Three more sleeps to go ...

Three more sleeps and Mr Forrest is finally splint free. It is hard to believe it has been 6 weeks already, although sometimes it feels like 6 months. But we have to say that the guys at Anubis Dierenklinik have been really fantastic, even though our wallet is a couple of thousand euros lighter it has surely been worth it. I am also sure our Fozzie would challenge the record for the fastest land animal on three legs right now!

Finally got back on the bike.

It is Wednesday already and I am just getting round to blogging the Sunday happenings ...



We went for a ride, we did, Team Duvel that is. I hadn't been on the bike since the Rond Van Vlaanderen (early April) so it was quite a stretch for me. We only did 25km, but it was a hilly 25km. Somehow Greg talked us into it - there is only two hills he said - he neglected to tell us that the first one was 4.5 km's long!!!!

Needless to say, we were pretty stoked that we had taken Monday off, main reason being that we had another doggy recky to Antwerp to change the splint.

Joni Mitchell - 1970 - a good year!

Living ev'ry day - My Title ...

Rows and floes of angel hair
And ice cream castles in the air
And feather canyons ev'rywhere
I've looked at clouds that way
But now they only block the sun
They rain and snow on ev'ryone
So many things I would have done
But clouds got in my way
I've looked at clouds from both sides now
From up and down, and still somehow
It's cloud illusions I recall
I really don't know clouds at all

Moons and Junes and Ferris wheels
The dizzy dancing way you feel
As ev'ry fairy tale comes real
I've looked at love that way
But now it's just another show
You leave 'em laughing when you go
And if you care, don't let them know
Don't give yourself away
I've looked at love from both sides now
From give and take, and still somehow
It's love's illusions I recall
I really don't know love at all

Tears and fears and feeling proud
To say 'I love you' right out loud
Dreams and schemes and circus crowds
I've looked at life that way
But now old friends are acting strange
They shake their heads, they say I've changed
Well something's lost, but something's gained
In living ev'ry day
I've looked at life from both sides now
From win and lose and still somehow
It's life's illusions I recall
I really don't know life at all

I've looked at life from both sides now
From up and down, and still somehow
It's life's illusions I recall
I really don't know life at all

HiDef - BGT - Andrew sings Pie Jesu

Sorry to keep harping on on one theme - but this guys has to make you think ...

This little girl is amazing - persevere through the build up - it's worth it!

Words of wisdom

When in doubt, act happy - it will drive everyone nuts.

Heathrow Terminal 5

I was in Heathrow terminal 5 yesterday and what an outfit that was. Everything was brand new and the shopping was pretty good. I had several hours so once I exhausted the shops, I sat at a seafood bar and had some King Crab and Champagne, not a bad way to spend Saturday lunchtime - except that I was alone, as were others sitting around the same bar. While people watching I noticed one in particular that tickled my fancy. On the opposite side of the bar a young man with bright yellow Blues Brothers sunglasses sat down and never removed the sunglasses, then this popped into my head...

Sunglasses fastened to his face
in yellow, a mellow fellow was he
he drank his coke, alas no smoke
as we're in Terminal 5, a hive
of activity and revelry

One of the things I like about Europe

MarkJ makes the following post on his own blogspot last Wednesday...Beem me there

"The following email appeared in my mailbox today. I wonder in the future, upon reflection, if historians will view polictical correctness the same way that they do McCarthyism from the 40's and 50's. I believe it's gone too far, and sooner or later there will be a backlash....

The following is the winning entry from an annual contest at Texas A & M University calling for the most appropriate definition of a contemporary term.This year's term was 'Political Correctness'.

The winner wrote:
'Political Correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical minority, and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end.'"

That same day I took a train from Brussel to Amsterdam and came across this billbooard in the metro...

Under the word drive it says "a mini". It is an advertisement for Spa Rood, which is water with bubbles. It goes on to say "win explosive gifts". I thought of Marks politically correctness blog and thought - in NZ, a billboard such as this would likely cause a stir - much like the Toyota bugger adds. Suffice to say I also thought how refreashingly practical the Europeans are, when it comes to free will to makes up one's own mind and make one's own choices in life, and hence take responsibilty for one's own self - what what!

Crickey it is June already

Back again, can you believe it is June already? The official summer time is almost here and the weather has been quite nice of late. Everyone is freaking out at work becuase Q2 is nearing an end and then in the summer months of July & August it is damn near possible to get anything done as people literally take at least one of the months off. Isn't it amazing what people get so uptight about. We have forgotten that we are really just there to earn money so that we can live and afford to do the things we love to do, but the ego seems to cloud that vision sometimes, well a lot of the time really ...

Finally things seem to be looking up in our household. You may have noticed that there has not been much blogging of the last few months and there is a good reason for that, or should I say a dreary reason. The reason is you will not find doom and gloom on this blogg, just as you will not hear us complaining about life's mishapppy meanderings in person. The point is things are looking up, even though Mr Forrest has had said accident he is on the way to recovery and the sedatives work wonders to keep him in a calm, sleepy, and healing mode - they work wonders on triming the edge of his brother too. While I write, I am at home with both of them fast asleep in their cages, it needs to be done I am afraid so that we can continue to bring in the bacon that keeps them in a manner to which they are accustomed. Today I am leaving a tad later to work as I need to catch a train to Amsterdam for a meeting. Quite a long way for a two hour meeting, but that's they way it goes with pan european business. So long as I can still sleep at home most of the time, it's quite fun to have the variety.

Well time to get to metro to catch that train, way easier than driving into Amsterdam and mucking around with parking. It's a 3 hour ride so better get into it. Ciao ciao ...

Mr Forrest and a Series of Unfortunate Events...

Sorry to say that Forrest is in bad way and his parents are a little worse for wear as well.



Monday last week, Fozzie broke his leg and it has been a hell of a week. Monday night saw Mik driving to Antwerp, while a thunder and lightning storm followed him up the highway, taking Fozzball to a specialist clinic. He had surgery on Tuesday and we were able to bring him home on Wednesday - several tousand Euros poorer.



Both bones in his lewer leg snapped in half and he now has pins and plates holding them together and needs a splint and bandage for at least 6 weeks. So now we have to keep him calm for the whole time - yeah right ... try keeping a Yorkie calm? Especially when his brother is Frodo alias nutcase! So luckily we have sedation but it is still a feat!



Sorry for the sad news - normally i try not to blogg unhappy stuff - but this is pretty big news.

We're back

Yes, well sorry to our loyal readers that it has been a while. After Sue got back fromm NZ, it was a bit of a whirlwind; first had to ponce of to Barcelona for a couple of days and then for a week's work in England. We then spent a lovely weekend in Holland with the Bussum Venniks. It was nice time of sitting and playing in the garden and on Sunday we went for a lovely walk in a Forrest. F&F loved it - for sure!



Thanks Eric, Marija, Neils and Judith for a warm stay.

Mik and Judith ahead of the pack...

Speech Animation in Paintings

Duffy - Mercy Official Video

Duffy - Rockferry

And I also picked up this one.

Amy Winehouse - Love Is A Losing Game [Official Music Video]

Amy Winehouse Back to Black

And on my way out of Wellington I managed to score this album.

My visit to Greystone

After spending time with in NP I managed to slip in a few days at Greystone. Click here to see thephotos and details.