President Bongo I presume ?

Auchmithie Church

I got confirmation yesterday of my new Vessel assignment. Its a Boat which is considerably shinier, and newer than the one I have just left, which come to think of it, is probably already on its way to a remote Indian beach somewhere to be turned into some of Mr Gillette's products......and about time to.
Anyway, the first job is in Gabon. Its been some 5 or 6 years since I had the dubious pleasure of working in the various countries in this Region of the World, and obviously a lot has changed, or in Gabon's situation, actually not a lot, by the looks of things.
Its a country with a population of some 1.4 million people, 99.9% of whom still live in abject poverty, yet were governed by one of Africa's richest men.....the delightfully named Pres Omar Bongo. Now I say were governed, as earlier this year the aforementioned 70 year old Bongo decided to eventually croak ( Money certainly buys you longevity in Africa these days, compared to the rest of the General population ! ), and totter off to the great rich mans play ground in the sky.
So an opportunity therefore arose to allow the 1.4 million Gabonese to have a say, and vote freely for a new start. However, aided and abetted by the Cheese eating Surrender Monkeys, led by the Midget Sarko, the election result was ...... how can i delicately put this........Rigged.
The upshot of all of this being, that the 4th largest Oil producing Nation in Africa elected a new President, whose name strangely, had a familiar ring to it.....Yup, you've guessed already Dear Reader..... From the ashes, lets all give a big hand to..... President Bongo.


This time though, Its a Bongo with an equally ridiculous first name of Ali, which esentially makes him sound, and no doubt look like, a 2nd rate Magician, but a magician who has pulled off the trick of a lifetime, and now gets to follow in his fathers Footsteps, and continue to rape and pillage the Country he has been sworn in to serve, just like good old Pa.
To be honest, it makes you puke.


Anyway, as Money obviously talks in these situations, and Oil and French support being the root of Ali Bongo's riches, we are now doing a 2 month job down there, quite close to the capital city of Libreville, which incidentally used to be quite beautiful in places a few years back.
So although its a new Boat, and a new start for me, its really Groundhog day ( I guess a little like how the Gabonese feel), with another Country, with yet another Corrupt Government based on Oil to deal with..... Don'cha just luv it....Don'cha ?

A fancy face in some Fancy stonework on one of the Local Houses.

Later.......

PS. The pics are from a rather grey and overcast day when we did the coastal walk from Arbroath to Auchmithie, where the original Smokie came from, for those of you who are even in the slightest bit interested.

PPS. Another Dentist appointment next Wednesday.....She is pushing her luck, as I WILL be certifiably insane by then .......

D D D Dentist

When i was away in Dubai last time i detected the beginning of an ache in the old Molar.... Now, if you are anything like me, you just try and do your best to, a) ignore it, or b) masticate your food on the other side of your mouth, and hope the pain will go away, or remain bearable enough to live with....the reason being is that I am completely terrified of Dentists, and especially their rather noisy, hard and pain giving objects that they attempt to put into your mouth....thats when they can prise my jaws open of course.


Don't get me wrong, I have a wonderful Dentist, and whats more she is wonderfully attractive, but as soon as I sit in that chair, and the back starts to descend into a lying position I break out into a cold sweat....pathetic I know, but there you are.
Anyway, this time it was a case of a (thankfully) quick patch up, followed by an X ray...all pretty painless, except the old gag reflex kicked in during the X ray....just why do they try and fit awkward and overly large objects into your mouth ? its not my fault that i projectile vomited out the 2" piece of card she had wedged in my Gob....OK, it was only a 1 cm piece of photographic card I saw her pick up off the floor, but it sure felt like at least 2" square at the time.


Anyway the upshot of all of this, is that I now have another appointment on the 7th of October...a sadistically long enough period of time, for me to have a complete nervous breakdown just thinking of what might be coming my way on that date....so to cheer myself up (Oh yeah !!), we ventured down to the beach at St Cyrus, which is not a million miles away, to soak up the remaining summer sun that is left.


The 4 stooges were in their element, sprinting off in all directions, none of them the same; chasing seagulls and the like, and generally behaving like hooligans, which is 2nd nature to them.
It was so good I almost forgot about the 7th ......... for all of about a nano-second !


later.....

ps. In case i have a complete nervous breakdown, and don't post tomorrow.....pinch and a punch !

Edinburgh Zoo

We had a pleasant few hours wandering around the Zoo the other day, it is remarkably quiet at this time of year, so there were no sniveling, screaming snot ridden kids wandering around in Hoodies etc, which meant that for once the Adults could come out and play.
The weather was great (especially after the crap we had been having earlier in the month), and we even saw most of the Animals, which made a change from the recent visit to the Highland Safari Park, where we saw the sum of bugger all.
One word of warning for those passing through Dundee to get anywhere going South or West, the City Council in all their esteemed wisdom have succeeded in completely bringing the Traffic to a grinding halt near the Docks, so make sure you travel with a packed lunch, extra blankets and a thermos, as you'll be quite a time getting through that area, if indeed you eventually do.






Later.....

Leuchars Airshow

This was a good day out, apart for those who decided to take a car, and then found out some hours later that the other 11,999 cars on the Leuchars base, were all trying to get out of the same gate.... Last year there had been similar scenes, so the RAF in their understandable wisdom, decided this year to let a "Traffic management Consultancy" arrange the parking this time. So it was good to see that they made exactly the same mistake as the "Boys in Blue" had made in 2008.....I would love to know, just how much they (We) had been eye wateringly charged for this piece of consultancy, but i guess there were a reasonable number of noughts involved.
As you know the weather was fantastic, and there was many a red nose seen at the end of the day, as the sun started biting. Of course no one had bothered to bring any suntan lotion, as none of the 50,000 crowd believed for one moment, that the big yellow object would eventually make an appearance in this part of the World ! We expected dry, yes; but Sun, never !
Anyway, it was all very noisy, Boys Toys and colourful tail art on the various aircraft.

Everyone also got a little taste of what the Guys in Helmand Province, Afghanistan must feel like, as the Chinook helicopter broke down and couldn't display..... Mind you, I was wondering why on Earth there was a Chinook here in the first place, as I just had the idea that maybe it could have been more usefully deployed elsewhere.... call me a cynic if you wish.

The Mighty Vulcan

Oh, and before i forget, if you want to attract the "Birds", then dress up in red flying coveralls with lots of patches (mainly saying Red Arrows), and wear a Breiting watch....it never fails, as "She who must remain nameless" was pictured asking for an autograph....Shallow, very funny and a good end to the Show !

Later....