Brunch in Doha with the Ozzies

Had an "All you can eat and drink" afternoon, 12:30 to 16:30, at the Hayatt hotel in Doha, with the guys: Martin Turner, Jeff Ng, Neale Rogers and Adrian Thomas from Australia, Stefan Petrov from Romania and Joe Wegener from London. The food was amazing and the waiters just kept topping the drinks up all afternoon. After that we walked to the Admirals bar (right picture, from left to right - Martin, Neale, Jeff, Rob, Stefan, Adrian, Joe) where we stayed until 19:00 - the drinks were really flowing there too! After that, the bus picked us up and took us back to camp, where we had another few drinks at the bar, to round off the day. A long afternoon and evening, but really great fun.

Christmas Indian meal out in doha

About 50 Honeywell people, who are working in Qatar over Christmas, took a bus ride to the Ramada Hotel in doha for a Christmas meal out. It was a great night with a great variety of really great food, and a generous amount of drink. Left picture, Vipul, Jatender and myself, taking a photo opportunity. The right picture, is Jatender and our new commissioning manager, Anguel, cutting the Christmas cake. I am about to go out on an afternoon Brunch at the Hyatt Hotel, Doha, arranged by the Ozzies. So Merry Christmas to All, and a Happy New Year.

Christmas in the Middle East

Well, another week gone and Christmas is fast approaching. We have been told that we will have Christmas day and New Years day off, so that's a bonus! The Camp is getting into the Christmas spirit, by putting up a small Christmas tree in the middle of the mess hall. A lot of people are lucky enough to be going home for the festive season, but myself and a few others will not be enjoying a white Christmas; unless there is some freak of nature snow storm out here. Yeah right! Anyway, I will not be seeing any cold weather until 6th Jan 2011 (unless I watch Sky news, in my room). Day off Friday, so I will be in the gym as usual, and after that I will start planning what jobs I need to get done in my house, when I get home in January. My goal is to get the bathroom tiled, during my two weeks off. But a bit of prep work first, like removing the old plumbing, sink and toilet. I have been keeping myself quite busy this week, with some SQL and windows scripting for database backups and DSA analysys. Right, time to put my feet up and check out the latest movies, online. Bye for now.

It's a camel's life!

It seems as if I have just flown in to Qatar, and already the end of week two is over. Things are cooling off a bit, but it is still very warm in the afternoons, around 26 deg. C, not bad for winter. I am still recovering from the gym, after spending 2 1/4 hours on an exercise bike. My legs feel totally worn out. Still, myself, Jan and two new guys from Honeywell in China, Lee and Wong (left photo) managed to go for a drive around the desert, for the afternoon. We stopped off to say hello to some camels living in the wild. Next we headed towards Doha, but stopped off, on the way, at a camel race course. There was no race on, but we saw lots of groups of locals riding around on their camels. We then had a drive around Doha, to show Lee and Wong the impressive sights, before heading back to camp. Now, time to embark on my third week. Later!

Back in the Sunshine

Completed the first week of my fourth visit to Qatar, and missed the freezing Uk weather by a day. I just got back from the gym. I have managed to keep myself quite busy this week. We have recently been joined by my good friend Vipul, from the Bracknell office (right picture). He seems quite happy to be here. We were also joined by Sandy Roberts, from the Aberdeen office, who I had not seen for about eight years, and who I also worked with at Phillips Bacton Gas Terminal about twelve years ago. Our safety representitive fainted and collapsed to the floor yesterday. He was assisted by one person, while I went for help. I got a first-Aider, and the medics were called. I wondered why one of the people was smilling when I asked for her help. It turned out to be a drill, which her and the safety rep were in on. So I felt a bit silly, but we were told that we responded well, and the medics were on the scene within ten minutes of the incident. On a lighter note, I had a productive two weeks off. I managed to get my central heating pump and three-way valve replaced - central heating is now working perfectly. I also got my bathroom walls re-plastered. But best of all, I got my new carpets put in the bedrooms, landing, stairs and downstairs hallway (left picture). The transformation is just amazing. It now looks and feels so warm, and beats walking on floorbaords. Also got my new car - Red BMW 1 series coupe, lovely car, but nothing but hassle - Suppliers forgot to deliver it, until I phoned up at 17:15 and reminded them. It took four fuel cards before I got the correct one (three of them for my old car). The wrong car was entered on the Car fuel card mileage website, which took nearly a dozen emails to correct. Then I was unable to enter my end of month mileage. Next the Fleet Logistics website had the wrong fuel card number. I finally managed to get all these things sorted out yesterday. Now I cannot wait to get back home again (January 6th) to enjoy my new car; hassle-free, I hope. See you all soon.

First storm of the year

I was woken up at 04:00 Sunday by an horrendous rain storm with thunder and lightning. This is the first time I have seen it rain here in Qatar, since comming here in June. The storm left large puddles of rain water laying aroung the camp site and parts of the Shell Plant. Rain and loud thunder storms also woke people up the following two mornings.The picture on the left is of us driving through about a foot of water, after about an hour of rain. The picture on the right is a Dolphin plant shutdown, probably as a result of the storm. Wednesday was a nice hot day again, and a some of the water has evaporated. I am now ready to go to Doha for my early Thursday morning flight back to London. Time to go!

One more week to go

Just one more week before I take my well-earned (third) two-week break. I'm not sure that I am looking forward to the cold weather awaiting me back in the uk, but it will be nice to be home. Time to see about getting some new carpets installed at home, I'm getting fed up with walking on floor boards. The kitchen and bathroom will have to wait; maybe next year! I've had quite a busy week, setting up "fast" test Trends for Compressor Anti-surge testing, and a couple of other small jobs. Had an intense workout at the gym this morning, so aching a bit now. The pool was quite quiet this morning, and the clouds kept encroaching upon my tanning space. Now we are in November, there are a few more clouds around, but it is still mainly sunny. Tomorrow I should be supporting some more off-shore testing (from on-shore). This should last two days. I don't know what Monday will bring, but I will be counting down the days before my flight home at 02:15 Thursday. I should be home by 08:00, and not returning until 27th November.

Health check

The end of another interesting week, and two more to go before my next two week break. The BMA guy, Hao You, has gone back to Bracknell, before heading off to Sweeden. Most of his work is finished, but I have a few outstanding items to look into. After my gym and swimming pool session this morning, and a good lunch, I went to the camp medical center for a general health check. All seems ok; my weight is down 7 kg since I first came here, my blood sugar level is also well down (it was within the healthy range, but on the high side of it), and my cholesterol is low, so, good result. I will take another health check on my next return here, at the end of November. Not much more to report about this week; the weather is getting cooler now (max 35 Deg C at mid day), some early mornings there is dense fog, until the Sun evaporates it, and the evenings are cooling down. In mid winter I will be starting and finishing work in the dark.

Meal out in Doha

This has been a good, interesting week, supporting Hao You, the BMA (Blending Movement Automation) engineer all week, and working on Safeview, to add in the BMA application and graphics. The week has really flown by, probably because I have been kept busy. I did get a chance to book the flights for my 4th rotation, commencing 27th November, and get the associated expenses out of the way, entered into Concur, although I am still waiting for Citi Bank charge details to come through. Monday evening, Wissam (C10 Lead Engineer) took the C10 team out for a meal at the Royal Tandoor Indian restaurant in Doha. We had a good eveing, and a lot to eat. The waiters really struggled to cope with our order, as there were 22 of us. Well, week four is about to begin, so not long before my next two week break. This week I will continue supporting Hao You, who fly's back to the UK on Thursday, before commissioning another BMA system in Sweeden. Well time to put my feet up and watch a bit of tv, before going to bed.

More from Qatar

The end of yet another week and things are begining to get more interesting. Now getting involved with BMA (Blender Movement Automation) system, supporting Hao You, from Honeywell Advanced Solutions, Bracknell. This should keep me occupied for a week or two. Also, I have just completed my Experion R400 Certification training and testing, while things where quiet (my colleagues will be pleased to hear that it was a "right pain"). This was also the last item on my HPD (Honeywell Performance & Development) requirements for this year, so that's a bonus. You need a pass for everything out here. In the picture there is a pass for entry into Ras Lafan industrial city, a GTL Site pass and a commissioning pass for various vendors locations on site, each location requiring a safety induction, before you get a pass. They have squished my head a bit on the Ras Lafan city pass. Well, time for a rest, after the gym and pool, I'm a bit shattered. Looking forward to a new week.

Back in the heat

Just finished the first week of my third visit to the Middle East. Things have cooled down a bit now, especially early in the mornings. Around mid day, the temperature has come down to between 35 and 40 deg C, so a bit more comfortable now. Just enjoyed a couple of hours in the gym, and an hour or so at the pool, and had lunch with one of our colleagues from Honeywell Pune. I am still trying to catch up on some sleep, as I had a restless night before my flight, and could not sleep during the flight. I have been quite busy this week, working with Serkan, investigating a few system issues. The highlight of the week was a VIP visit from Roger Fradin, President of Honeywell Automation and Control Systems. In the attached picture, Honeywell people are starting to gather together for a group photo (which I will publish later), when Roger arrives. In the middle of this picture is good old Norman Belton, who has recently joined us in the Sun. Anyway, time to put my feet up and rest for the afternoon.

Heading home again

Almost time for me to head back to the uk for a two week break. This week I have been supporting testing in the main GTL control room, an eighth of which is shown in the picture. We have been testing the Master Flow Controller of the off-shore wells. Basically the same piece of equipment that caused BP to spill a couple of cans of oil into the sea. Actually, precautions were in place to ensure that this Sub-Sea Safety Valve remained closed, so we didn't spill a drop! Also, I have just been upgraded into a new room, with fridge, microwave, DVD player, a luxury chair, a larger bed and a metre square coffee table. Oh and cable internet access instead of wireless, much faster. Anyway, Wednesday is my last day until October 2nd, so I am looking forward to a nice lazy break.

Hard at work in the office.

This is supposed to be a Honeywell Hot desk, but the same people usually occupy a given desk. Myself, and Paul Day, to my left, are in our usual seats, with Gerard Brennan opposite Paul, and Haytham Amin to my right, who usually sits opposite me. My roll as Technical Expert is slowly evolving, I am now getting the odd problem to solve, here and there. When things are slow, I look at different technologies. For example, this week, I looked into OPC. Haytham is an OPC expert, so he has been helping me. He gave me a suite of OPC servers, clients, and OPC modbus server, so I installed these on my laptops and was able to use a modbus simulator on one laptop and an OPC server and client on the other laptop, network them and read the modbus data on the client, via the OPC server. Quite interesting, and useful, as we have a lot of OPC links here on site. Today, Friday, my day off, I have been in the gym, and at the pool, as usual. Three hours at the pool, two and a quater hours sun bathing. Thank goodness I have good sun tan lotion, otherwise I would have been burned to a crisp! Well I am about to start the final week of my second visit, wednesday night I fly back to the uk for a two week break. Returning for my third visit on the 2nd October.

End of forth week, second visit

Four weeks gone of my second trip to Qatar, and two weeks to go before I fly back (16th sept) for two weeks of puting my feet up, watching a few movies and maybe a little DIY. It's been a hot and sticky week, with very high humidity. Except today (my day off) which was just very hot by the pool. I am starting to take on a bit more work now, mainly in the Honeywell office. Hopefully, on my third trip, I will find my niche, and get into something more interesting, working on the Experion system. The picture shows the long road I walk down two or three times a day to get to the engineering room. It is a pleasent walk, when it's not too humid, otherwise you are pretty wet by the time you arrive there. Next week I may be supporting some Well-head testing, for 5 or 6 days. This will probably involve driving the system, while the client tests their logic. Could be interesting, getting to see how the off-shore platforms function. Time to chill out and watch a little tv now.

Iftar Dinner

Wednesday evening all Honeywell people on site were invited to attend a traditional Iftar dinner. This is an evening meal when Muslims break their fast during the Islamic month of Ramadan. We left off work at 16:00 jumped one of the arranged busses, and headed for the Retaj Al Rayyan Hotel, in the capital Doha. There was a huge variety of traditional food to savour. A very interesting, enjoyable evening. We may look drunk in the picture on the left, but there is of course no alcohol at this function, just having a good time. The meal was followed by a raffle, broken down into groups depending on length of service on site. There were dozens of great prizes, from IPod's to laptops. Of course most prizes went to the usual suspects. You know, the same batch that win every raffle. It always baffles me how it turns out that way. But hey, I'm not bitter! All in all a great evening. As usual I hit the gym, followed by the pool this Friday morning, on another lovely day. Now taking a stroll in the Sun to the cash point outside of camp, to get some local currency (Rijals).

Languages in Qatar

Working along side so many people from practically every country in the world, it is really interesting to get to know a little bit about their languages and cultures. In the office where I am based, we have a white-board and several people write down various sentences from their language, or any other language that they understand. It's a kind of ice-breaker when new people come onboard, which is almost every week. Also we teach each other snippets of languages that we know. All good fun, and you get to know people from all over the world. It's Friday afternoon (another week gone by so quickly), so as usual I spent a couple of hours in the gym this morning, followed by a couple of hours at the pool. I have some Sun tan lotion this visit, so I was able to lay in the Sun and listen to my IPod Touch for an hour or so without getting burned. The tan is comming along nicely now. Been writing some Excel VBA at work this week, to look for duplicate points across all 15 severs, that was quite interesting, and useful, and worked!

First Week, Second Visit

Already completed the first week of my second 6-week visit to Qatar. The week has just flown by. The weather is just the same, hot and humid very early in the morning, hotter and dryer by 08:00, and scorching hot by 09:00, getting more humid again mid afternoon. Not been too busy yet, just doing odd jobs, helping out at the moment. My role should change soon to a role as a Technical Expertise, so I'm told. Photo's of myself and Jatenda heading for lunch, the background shows part of the Air Separation Units, the eight big square white things in the distance. Ramadan has just started, so we must not eat and drink, except in designated areas, not in public areas. This goes on for one month. It is our day off Friday, so I intend to go to the gym and then spend me time at the pool, sunbathing and swimming. What a life hey!

End of trip 1

Just come to the end of my first 6 week rotation, and about to board the coach for Doha airport, for my 01:50 flight home. In the picture Myself and Jatenda (front) and Richard from Honeywell Bracknell and a Mohamed, who joined us this week from Honeywell Kuwait. It has been a busy week, and I finally got to do a couple of hours testing with the system integrator. Now looking forward to a rest.

Update: sitting in the Oryx lounge of Doha airport with colleague Ray East, having a drink and a bit to eat. It costs 150 Riyals (30 quid). You can sit in here until your flight (about 4 hours), eat and drink all you want, or watch tv. At least you can put your feet up and chill for a few hours. See you in a couple of weeks.

End of week 5

Now at the end of my fifth week working on the Shell Pearl GTL project in Qatar. A very hot week, one day the air temperature exceeded 50 deg C, and a coleague today told me that where he was working, the outside thermometrer read 58 deg C. Just been to the gym, and spent an hour and a half at the pool. Tomorrow I start week six, integrating one of our sub-systems. My Doha to Heathrow flight home is at 01:50 Thursday morning. Hopefully I will be home
by 09:00 Thursday, to start my two week or so break, before flying back to Qatar on 7th August 2010. The picture shows Palm Drive, my home for now. Very quiet because of the heat. I live right at the bottom, about two minute walk from the sign. The dining hall is about two minute walk behind me in the opposite direction. So I have a good brisk stroll twice a day, to breakfast and dinner. Lunch is eaten on the Shell site.

Another week goes by

Not very much to report this week. Still waiting for work to really kick in. Weather is getting hotter and I'm told it also gets very humid over July and August. We had one morning this week, when there was so much moisture in the air that visibility was down to about 20 metres - very uncomfortable. Went to another safety induction with a few colleagues, in the picture. It took a ten minute coach ride across the site, that is how big this site is! I could not believe it!. I had only seen a fraction of it so far. Friday morning, spent a couple of hours in the gym, and an hour at the pool, temperature 46C, with low humidity - lovely to walk in after being in an air conditioned room. Just had a light lunch, after all that exercise. Have a system integration kick-off meeting on Sunday, so should get involved in some system integrating next week some time. Just a couple of facts; there are around 50,000 people working on this site. Shell have spent in the region of £34 billion so far on this project, and there is probable another couple of years before it is completed. There are about 150 Honeywell people here from all over the world.

Another day off

Great day so far. Went to the gym at 8:00 for a couple of hours. Very quiet at that time of the day. Had a great work out on an exercise bike. Then I wandered across to the swimming pool. Again very quiet at this time, and very hot; the sun was almost over head by that time. So, I had a good swim, the water was perfect, warm enough to jump straight in without being shocked by the cold, unlike in UK swimming pools! The water is usually, actually warm to touch in the JK Camp swimming pool. So, then I laid by the pool for half an hour or so, sun bathing and listening to my iTouch, then had another swim, before taking a shower and going off for lunch. Just a light lunch, some white fish potatoes and brocoli, washed down with two large glasses of fruit-juice. The week has been quiet, still not very busy at work. Quite relaxing at the moment, which makes a change. The week after next, I should get involved in some system integration. Just been for a walk around the outside of our camp. It is amazing, which ever direction you look, all you. can see is Shell GTL accomodation camps. I guess that's why it is called the Shell GTL Vill age. I just walked past an open-air cinema, outside of one of the camps. Walked back quite quickly, as the sun is so intense, you can actually feel it burning you, as if somebody put a hot knife against your arm. I've never felt heat like this before, so safer indoors at the moment. Tomorrow I start week four of my tour of duty. It is actually going by quite quickly, and days like this make it seem more like a holiday in the Sun.

A little more from Qatar

Watched the England vs Germany disaster at the JK camp bar. There was quite a crowd in there, but there is 4 screens to choose from, and also a screen outside the bar, in the garden.
Photo shows a small section of the site still under construction. Control room is on this side of the road, to the left. That's where I was heading when this picture was taken. Things starting to get a bit busier now. I am now starting to get a little involved in system integration. Great variety of hot and cold meals on site, and on the camp, and the best thing is it's all free! So I'm starting to get more adventurous with my choice of lunches and dinners. Still keeping it healthy though. Looking forward to getting to the gym again on Friday, and maybe lying by the pool. Already booked my flights for my next six week stint in Qatar, even though I still have three more weeks to go before my two week, one and a half day break. I fly home 2AM on the Thursday morning , so should arrive home 9AM , and return to Qatar Saturday afternoon, just over two weeks later. Still waiting for my camera permit for Ras Laffan City, so obviously I did not take this picture!

End of working week

Went to Doha city centre with Jan Van Berlo last night. Had a look around a large shopping centre. Very modern, and also expensive, although you can easily barter a better deal. Drove around and admired the sky-scraper type buildings in the city. The architecture is more surreal than a set from a Tim Burton movie. Every building is taller than the last, and more bizzare. The vase shapped building in the centre of the picture illuminates the white netting pattern you can see, in a deep blue colour, at night. Impressive. Walking around at night is like walking in a oven. I thought I would not be able to bear it, but I have adapted to it quickly, and actually feel quite comfortable. Made my first visit to the gym this morning. Had my pre-gym medical first. I had already lost 4 kg since being here, and that's from just walking around, and eating healthy meals, and prior to going to the gym. After a shower my hair normally takes 2 hours to dry. I walked to the canteen and my hair was completely dry before I got there (less than 3 minutes), that's how hot it is here. Love it!

First work since going to Qatar

Wild camels couldn't drag me away! Had a good day at work today, walked down to the control room to do my first bit of work today. Still got more site inductions to do before I'm free to work in other areas. Several people are heading home for their break on Thursday, I have over four weeks before my first two week break. Time is going by quite quickly though. Hope to hit the gym on Friday and maybe catch a bit of sun. C2 induction training 09:00 in the morning. First job, configuring Alarm and Event Reports for 15 pairs of Servers.

A quick update

Oh look! A castle in the middle of the desert. We passed this interesting looking building while exploring. A bit cooler this morning (about 40 C), with a bit of a breeze. Have still got some site inductions to do before I can start any real work. There is a problem with wireless network near my room, so I can only get internet access on site, on the Honeywell network. Much hotter this afternoon. Went for a walk to the control room. Enjoying the scorching hot climate.

Day Off

For my first day off I had a lay in, to catch up on some sleep, then went to lunch at 12:00. After lunch Jan Van Berlo (friend of Johan Michelsen, who I worked with in Germany) drove me around the North coast of Qatar. I went to the beach to put my feet in the Persian Gulf water. The water was really warm and a lovely blue-green colur. We drove for hours through the desert, stopped off at a small port in the North. I was up close and personal with a camel trying to poke its snout into the car, when we stopped, and I opened the window to take some pictures of it. Unfortunately the pictures were corrupt in the camera (I think there is a problem with the SD memory, which seems to limit the number of pictures I can take. Anyway, a couple of pictures attached, the desert and me in the Gulf.

End of first working week

Picture shows Honeywell project office. There are almost 140 Honeywell people around the site. Just been for a walk around site, in the very hot sun. Waiting for my system logon to be approved, then I guess it's down to business. Getting to know a few people and how things work on site at the camp, and in Qatar in general. Got a bit of a tooth ache and gum swelling a bit, medical office have given me some gel and some Ibuprofen tablets. I Hope this gets better soon.

Forth day in Qatar

Picture shows the road I live on at the moment, with my room on the left. Very hot and humid walking down to breakfast in the mornings. Now sitting in an air conditioned Honeywell office on Shell Pearl GTL site. Completed my Control Room induction, have not been in control room yet. Got three photo passes so far; Ras Laffan City pass, Shell Pearl GTL site pass and Control Room Commissioning pass. Will have a walk to the control room this afternoon.

And we're off...

Flight to Doha was good, great service from Qatar Airways, even in Economy class. Met Ray East and Andy Green on flight. Flew over some interesting regions, in the middle east, Iraq, Iran, Persian Gulf etc. Have a very basic temporary room at the camp. Had induction and walked around local part of site. Temperature in high 40's, so uncomfortable wallking outside for too long, but air con inside all buildings. Met a few more familiar Honeywell people out hear. Jeff Ng, Manny Lines and a few others. Trying to eat healthy meals and loose a bit of weight. No internet access on camp at the moment.

One more day to go

Getting exited now about flying out to Qatar, never to be seen again! My contract is for one year, but I've heard that before. I may get back in the office by "the next" world cup finals, assuming the office is still there when I get back. Landing in Doha shown in picture added later.

Qatar trip minus 2 days

Still in Bracknell office, desk still intact. Building up and lazing around in preparation for my early Saturday morning flight to Doha. Looking forward to working out in Qatar, but not too keen on getting up at 05:00 every morning. Should be interesting though!