Almost done...

Didn't blog yesterday because, well it was a pretty 'normal' day. (Says he sat in Saudi Arabia!)

Training was a bit tougher - but we got there in the end. Once chap really didn't get it (or maybe didn't want to), but even after some one to one, he didn't return after dinner. And we had one lady who kept making up how she thought it should work. Her: "So why can't I do this by clicking on this and saving that there...?", Me: "Well, because that simply won't work. It's not written that way", Her: "Why not?"...etc. But she was all smiles by the end of the day.

I guess what *I've* learned is that, when it comes to training, people are pretty much the same wherever you may be... :)

Anyway, got back to the hotel and simply crashed!

Today I was at the bank all day doing a couple of meetings and writing up notes etc. Steve took me to a 'cheap & cheerful' curry house for lunch. Everything was buffet style, but again really nice. Already sort of getting used to the heat - when I step outside obviously it still hits you, but the novelty is wearing off now - it's more 'Hmm, still hot' rather than 'OMFG! The Heat!!!11!!"

At the end of the day, arranged my museum visit tomorrow with Nouf. We're off to the National - which looks really interesting. Once that was done, we were packing up to go when Nouf, Sara and Enam presented me with some gifts. And not just a couple, this little lot:



I've been saying that this trip has shown me the genourosity of spirit of the Saudi's and this just topped it all off. I was genuinely touched - a fact that seemed to please the ladies greatly. They'd picked up that I really liked the Arabian coffee, so there's a dellah (if I remember correctly - and if I have, I've probably spelt it wrong!), and a framed picture of one, an insence burner, a sand picture, some painted eggs and a woven picture, all popped into a really nice camel hair bag. Fantastic! Maysa has also typed up some information about the Bedouin traditions around coffee, and a recipe.

So, last night. Wasn't sure if I was going to get the chance to go shopping tomorrow, so I had a quick look round the hotel shops. Had a nice chat to the owner of one. There's was some really nice stuff in there, but a lot of it was very pricey. Anyway, found some bits and pieces for Sarah, Josie and Chris. If I come out again, I'm definately going to try to get to a souk...

So, this'll be my last blog until England I think. So, a quick list if little things that I've noticed and/or like

• The call to prayer. Still make me stop and listen - there's something about it...
• All the ads that appear in my browser are arabian!
• Saw a couple of cats today - the lovely Egyptian kind. They didn't hang around long enough for me to photograph them
• The pickup trucks piled high with melons from the south, parked up and selling on the street
• Driving where the horn takes the place of the indicator
• How nice it is to walk into an air conditioned room after walking all of 10 paces from the car to the building...
• Seeing a BHS store on my travels...
• Tea boys - want a drink? Call a tea boy.
• Arabian Coffee - mmm Cardamom
• Turkish Coffee - mmm Chewy ;)
• Switching on the TV and seeing Coronation Street!
• Explaining the concept of weather forcasting (they don't really need it here - it's either hot or hotter)
• The chance to talk to and learn about people I know little about apart from though the UK media engine...
• Experiencing what hot really is...
• Warm water from the cold water tap
  

There'll be more that I've forgotten. I may edit this as I remember them... :)

Half way....

Only 3 more days to go.

Training went well today - a good group. Picked things up quickly, and we covered everything I wanted to - even after going out for lunch. I was invited by one of the atteendees - Ibrahim. He wanted to take me for some traditional Arabian food.

So we went to a restaurant, and had Beef Kabsa and Chicken Mathlutha. Eaten sat on the floor and with fingers (well a bit - fork and spoon were used most of the time.) Both really nice - though I preferred the Mathlutha.

Ibrahim and me!
(Not the best picture, but it's better that the other one the waiter took!)

Mathlutha (left) and Kabsa

Once again, I had a really good chat with Ibrahim. During one of the breaks, I showed him where I lived using Google Maps. He was impressed by the amount of green - and seemed surprised that all the fields around Sleaford were privately owned, not goverment owned.

Also I had a nice talk with Imam (hope I've spelled that right), one of the ladies who work for Nouf, after the training had finished.

I'm pleased the work side is going well, as that is what I'm here for - but it's a real bonus to be soaking up all the backgound stuff as well.

So, shattered. (You can probably tell as this is a short entry!)

Early night I think.

On the third day...

First day of training today. Had about half a dozen people to train, and on the whole it went pretty well. What was interesting was that I had exactly the same sort of issues training this group, that I would have at home. Apart from the fact that the general level of politeness was much higher - in line with my experience of everyone I've come in contact with over here so far. I love the way they call you by your title and first name - so I become Mr Graham - it just seems to circumvent the awkwardness we sometimes get in the UK of 'Do I call him Mr Smith, or by his first name?' - With Mr Graham, you get the respect and familiarity. With my vast experience of 3 days over here, it feels a very 'Saudi' thing to do.

The training room is interesting. When we visited yesterday, Steve said that this must be where all their old PC come to die! There is a bit of an elephants graveyard feel to it. A real mix of PCs and monitors. There's some old Dell Optiplex models in there that I remember using at St. George's - 7 or 8 years ago now. But they pretty much all work, and all we're really doing is web based, so it's OK.

When we stopped for coffee, obviuosly I was offered a cup. The cups were very small bowls, so I expected a good thick, strong brew - not unlike the Turkish coffee I had the other day. But when it was poured, this had a distinct green tinge to it! Always up for a new exdperience, I tried it - and it was actually cardamom coffee. And (again) really, really nice. Another thing to try to make when I get back I think...

Had a really nice chat with some of the trainees over lunch. We got talking about the heat, and how I was still surprised by it when I walked outside - it was still a novelty to me while, of cource, it's normal to them. One of the men, Bander, said he knows what I mean because he felt the same way about snow. So I asked him where he'd experienced snow (because it certainly wasn't here) and it turned out he'd studied marine biology at Newcastle!

They asked what the weather was like now where I live - so I told them it was raining, but still warm I think. Whe they asked what warm was I told them 22 degC - and they all laughed. I told them that in the summer it obviously gets hot. Sometimes 28, 29 or even 30 degC. Again this caused much mirth.

Anyway, despite the usual little hiccups that happen in any training, I was pleased with today. If the next 2 days go as well, I'll be very satisfied with that.

The trianing rooms are in a building which seems to be round some back streets - it's certainly off the main drag. Anyway, I took the opportunity to take a couple of photos:

[Left]The Sulaimania building where the trainingroom is and [Below] The view down the street from the doorway.

(As with all the other pictures in this blog, clicking on them will show you a larger version...)


Got a lift back through heavier, end of day traffic on the way back. Me earler comments about the driving in Riyadh hold fast...

Went out with Steve and Nouf to a Lebanese restaurant tonight. Fantastic place, fantastic food and some excellent conversation over dinner. With much talk of Saudi and related lands/counties, it made me feel quite parochial. But more interesting stuff on how the reality of why muslim women cover up (more cultural than religious? Not the view that has often been pushed at us in the UK), and also the feeling that if in other counties, then that country and it's people should be respected and your culture should not be forced. We're back to extreme minorities, queering the pitch for the moderate majority. I really feel that alongside doing a job of work (the reason I;m here!), I'm also learning stuff as well.

I'm really being well looked after by Nouf and Steve - after all I could just be sat in my hotel room inbetween working - but they're giving me plenty of opportunity to experience new things and learn a bit.

As I think I've mentioned, Nouf is arranging for us to go visit a museum on Thursday - I also mentioned that I ought to have a wander round the shops - and immediately they are making plans for me to be able to do it with the minimum of hassle.

I'm a lucky chap...

I can feel my mind broadening...

Wow.

I know this is technically my 2nd full day in KSA, but it was really my first *proper* day. Had various meeting at the bank - which all went very well. We got to test the training side of stuff today, and that seemed to go well - which is obviously a relief.

I'm being very well looked after. The hospitality here is fantastic. It's really been a day of new experiences for me. Firstly, I've been out in The Heat. 45 degrees centigrade today. For a hick from damp Lincolnshire, that's flippin' hot. Well, for anyone I guess it's hot! But it's a really dry heat - there's something physical about it. And I've been told it'll get hotter into August. It's lovely to come inside to air consitioned buildings, even after just getting out of the car. Not walked anywhere yet. Don't think I will during the day either. It's just not done! I've started getting static shocks off things. Steve mentioned this - because the air is so dry, charges build up and don't dissipate through the moisture in the air (I think).

Had Turkish coffee for the first time this morning. Now, I like my coffee - but this was something else. I initially asked for no sugar - which was met with mild surprise and in went the sugar anyway. I can see why. But it was really good. Strongest coffee I've had - but really tasty. There'll be more of that getting drunk while I'm here...

Steve took me out for Korean food at lunch. Another first - and very, very nice. Spicy without being overpowering. I couldn't tell you the names of what I ate - but it was good! Apparantly, I'm being taken out for Lebanese food tomorrow night - which sounds really nice. I've been told not to eat much during the day because (and to quote) 'Lebanese food really embraces you'!

I'm letting Sarah down by not taking photos - but it's a bit difficult while trying to remain realtively professional and not turning into Twoflower out of the Discworld novels! I did mention it to Steve, and he warned me not to point the camera at any women - and I've read elsewhere that you also have to be careful not to take photos of government or military subjects.

Which brings us on to security. Tight doesn't cover it. On going into the bank (and the hotel), the cars are stopped and checked for - ahem - 'devices'. There are gun emplacements surrounding the bank. Security at the hotel is like going through an airport - bag scanned and you walk through a metal detector.

And some of the little things I'm noticing are strange. The birdsong is different. I've not seen a long shadow here - the sun is overhead fast so the shadows are short. It must rise & set quickly - at least it seemed to get dark fast tonight (unless I was just distracted. Must keep an eye on that tomorrow). Another little thing - they have the old style ringpulls on cans of drink!

Also, I had a really interesting chat with Nouf about Islam and the history of this land. About the similarities between different religions, rather than the differences. She told me (amongst other things) that according to tradition/history (take your pick) this is the land where Eve was 'born', and that she is buried at Jeddah. She has very kindly offered to take me to a museum on Thursday looking at the history of this area, and going into the sort of things we chatted about - I'm really looking forward to it.

It's really refreshing to talk to someone from such a different background and culture. We both know that we're conditioned to a certain extent by what we hear through our respective societies - but I certainly feel that being able to visit a place like this and talk to ordinary people here helps you 'step outside' a little.

I'd better go before I really start spouting drivel - but suffice to say I'm enjoying this for lots of reasons.

So, three days of training ahead. I'm comfortable with this now we've got an environment to train on (thanks to some last minute hard work from the chaps back at Dean Clough!). Looking forward to getting stuck in and hopefully delivering some good sessions. It's going to be yet another experience tomorrow. Certainly the most diverse group I'll have ever delivered training to...


An old style ring pull, earlier today...

(OK, I know it's a crap picture, but it's the only one I took today - I'm working!)

Strange Day in the KSA

There's a song title right there!

Anyway, bit of a funny day so far today. I overslept - first time in *ages*. Must've been more tired than I thought.

Anyway, I'd resigned myself to working, but that was a bit stop/start due to prevailing circumstances. It was becoming increasingly clear that I was going to have to do some work this evening after the chaps at Dean Clough had finished.

So I decided to take some chunks of time out and just chilled in my room. Finished reading The Story of Crass (very good). Thought about going out, but just sort of didn't get round to it! I'll do something one evening if there's not too much work tweaking going on...

So, reading the Crass book put me in a strange frame of mind anyway, and with people from home popping up on Facebook on and off it's been a bit of a dislocated day so far!

And the kettle in my room stopped working.

A room with a view...

Or not. Couple of shots from my hotel room window.

Can't see much in the photos apart from the car park!

3000 miles from home

A long day.

Up early to make sure I got to check in in good time. Anyway, no drama at Heathrow. As I'm under orders from Sarah to take photos, here's one of my plane sat waiting to whisk me to Zurich. Thrilling stuff! :)

Loony on the Bus syndrome kicked in on the plane. I ended up sat next to this guy who was on his way to Munich on business. But he was going to visit the parents of his ex girlfriend who had just split up with him claiming that he had assaulted her and stolen her laptop. Police involved and everything. He gave me the whole story about her infidelity, catching her in the act (almost), the ensuing struggle where he accidentally caught her nose with his knee (oh rly?), she ran out leaving her flat open. He had no keys to lock up, so he took her laptop 'for safe keeping'. You probably believe this as much as I did. And this chap was going to visit her parents in some small village near the Austrian border with a letter of explanation (obviously she's German) to show that he's not a bad man. So he was looking for someone to translate a letter into German for him to present to the parents etc etc - you get the idea.

I smiled and nodded in the right places, then got my headphones on quicksmart and started to read my book (The Story of Crass - it's really rather good). Wished him good luck as we were getting off, but I was secretly praying I got a really boring neigbour for the 5 1/2 hour flight from Zurich to Riyadh.

Flew over Paris - altough didn't see anything recognisable. Switzerland looked nice from the air. I was impressed by the adverts cut and coloured in the fields leading to the airport. (Sorry Sarah, no photo!)

Quick change at Zurich, then onto the plane for Riyadh. So all I got to see of Switzerland from the ground was similar to the picture on the left.

The flight to Riyadh was pretty uneventful really. Watched Be Kind Rewind which was pretty good. Was impressed with the flight info doohickey that shows a map of where the plane is. If flying over countries is the same as visiting, then I've been to loads of places today - France, Switzerland, Austria, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Syria, Iraq (or maybe Jordan - not sure about that one), then Saudi Arabia. Phew! Was less impressed with the food - now I understand what the running joke about bad airplane food is all about!

It was interesting seeing the scenery change, and eventually just turn into desert. That got boring eventually, but then we got to Riyadh. It seemed that we had to fly over the city and double back to the airport, so we got a superb view of the city at night - all lit up and looking stunning. It looked rich, even from 30000 feet!

One unexpected hiccup was the need to fill in an entry form - no one warned me about that and as such I was missing a couple of bits of info. For someone as paranoid as me, I was remarkably chilled about it (especially after reading some of the horror stories about travelling to the Middle East on the internet!). Made a couple of calls when I landed, filled in the missing bits and they hardly even glanced at the form! Ho Hum.

Anyway, on leaving the airport I was met with two people holding signs with my name. One was the driver I was expecting - Mr Tariq - and the other was from the hotel. Problem was they both spoke so softly and my ears hadn't recovered from the landing, I wasn't sure what they were deciding - even though they were speaking English. Anyway, the hotel driver took me back to the hotel (which on hindsight was a mistake, as he charged and Tariq wouldn't have). The drive into Riyadh from the airport was surreal. Just very obvious that this is a very different place - fascinating. Just a shame I was by myself - would have been great to share the experience. Again no piccies as it's hard to take photos through tinted glass at night.

We passed car showroom after car showroom - looks like the Saudis love their cars. We also seemed to pass a theme park of sorts but everything was lit up and sparkling. There was some interesting driving happening as well - looks like the driving I suffered in Paris may have a challenge on!

Arriving at the hotel, I stepped out the car, and it was like stepping into a sauna. 9pm at night and I reckon it was still 40 degrees C. Tomorrow will be intersting. I've got a bunch of work to do, but was thinking about sticking my head out of the door at some point...

So, checked in (still suffereing from less than optimal hearing, and trying to understand another soft-spoken person on reception. Lord knows what I said yes to...), up to my room with the ultra polite porter from Namibia (to my shame I've already forgotten his name), unpack my PC and get on the Internet so I can chat with folks back home.

Not having eaten properly all day I ordered a Mixed Grill from the Room Service menu. But this being Saudi, I got various koftas and kebabs - and it was scrummy. So this is what my first Saudi meal looked like.

So - shattered now. Just going to crash in the big bed!

Trip to Saudi - on your marks...

Chatting to Sarah on the phone tonight, we thought it might be a nice idea to blog my trip and put up some photos.

So I'll give it a go. Never been very good at this blogging lark, all seems a bit ostentatious. But I guess this is a bit special so....

First leg of the trip is done :) Sleaford to Heathrow. A mere fairy-step compared to what I'll do tomorrow - 3120 miles as the crow flies according to my quick google...

As those of you who know me would expect, I've lost count of the number of times I've checked that I have my passport & ticket details!

So, not much more to say at the moment. I'll bung up a piccy of my hotel room just because I can - but I sincerely hope I'll be posting some more intersting stuff over the next few days :)

Exciting stuff. And the tennis is good tonight too - Murray making a bit of a comeback, but he's going to lose I think.


Thrilling picture of my hotel room at the Holiday Inn. Better to come (I hope)

Wishing I'd nicked Chris' little camera now. I've a feeling the 2MB one on my Blackberry is going to let me down at some point.

We'll see....

At last...

After years of threatening (no, really - it's been *years*) me & Dan have finally started to do some more music together.

Two tracks down, others simmering in our little melting pot. Feels good to be doing something again.

Have a listen here --> http://www.myspace.com/quiddityuk

We've a few ideas bouncing around - looking forward to seeing where this goes....

It's not been that long....

...since I posted?



Ah well, at least I'm consistent :)

Something for *me* :)

I've been meaning to underpin my ICT knowledge for a while now. Got buckets of experience and knowledge, but never really got round to getting the bits of paper to back it all up.

I've toyed with various ideas in the past, but kept gravitating back towards the Open University.

Well, to cut a long story short, I've just registered for my first OU course. But I haven't gone for an ICT course!

Just recently, I've been feeling that I'm in a bit of a rut again, so I wanted to do something that would just be a bit different. Stimulating, even. So, I've just registered for this.

Really looking forward to it. I'll probably do some ICT stuff in there at some point, but what I really like about the OU is I've got plenty of choice along the way.

thesixtyone - a music adventure

thesixtyone - a music adventure

This site has become one of my daily visits. It's another social networking music site. I adore last.fm, but this site is a bit different.

thesixtyone (t61) lets new artists upload 3 of their songs. Users of t61 have points to bump songs that they like. The more bumps a song gets, the greater the chance of it reaching the home page (where it will be seen by more people and bumped further). As a song is bumped, users who have already bumped the song get points (to bump more songs). The earlier they bumped, the more points they get.

As artists songs are bumped, they get points. More points mean they go up levels, and the higher the level, the more songs they can upload...

It may sound complicated - but it's not. And it's a great way of listening to new music. There's a few big names on there, but the vast majority are not major label artists - and I suspect there's a lot of amateurs as well.

As an experiment I put some stuff up of my own and from the band I was in in the early 90s. So if you do pop over and join, then feel free to bump songs by version and The Guild of Thieves.

Renewable electricity now affordable

I was pootling around the web this morning, and I stumbled across an old bookmark to ecotricity - www.ecotricity.co.uk

Ecotricity have a couple of green tariffs. Their main one is a supply where they supply as much ebergy as they can from their wind farms, and top the rest up with conventional sources. Thing is they take the money their customers spend on electricity and invest it in clean forms of power like wind energy. Apparantly, they are the only green electricity company actually building these new renewable energy sources. And if you look at the stats, they certainly back these claims up...

A while back I looked at ecotricity (amongst others), and there was still a definite premium to pay for this sort of tariff and investment. Well, npower have seen fit to increase our monthly payment yet again, and with their 17% increase in prices, I thought I'd revisit green energy. And the difference is not down to a few pounds a month. Certainly small enough for me to seriously consider switching.

I also looked into sourcing gas from a different supplier on a green tariff. As there's no such thing as green gas, best you can go for is a carbon offsetting tariff. Anyway I've found one that is cheaper than npowers gas.

So all in all it looks like a switch to a greener energy supply with a company that is actually investing in renewable sources, rather than paying lip service to the Governments (tiny) requirements need not cost a great deal more than traditional tariffs...

I'll check my figures again - I may even have switched before the end of the evening...

When the machines rock...

That's it - ticket's booked for the Replica's Tour at Rock City.

If it's half as good as the telekon show last year, it'll be ace. Can't wait :)

My digital life - redux

Well, I've had a bit of a play - and it's looking good for Google :)

I put together a list of what I wanted to pull together over the next few weeks (or months, knowing me...). Basics first - email, calendar, blog, online photo album. I want them all to talk to each other as easily as possible.

A few years ago, I'd've rolled up my sleeves, broke out Dreamweaver and hit Sourceforge and spent some nights topping up my monitor tan by grabbing some of the best Open Source stuff and knitting them together as best I could. Now, I just don't have time. And, to be honest, why reinvent the wheel when this stuff is already being done so well for free (or very little cost)?

So - email. I've been using Google Mail for years. I redirect a couple of 'normal' email addressed through my gmail account. Two things sold gmail to me early days, and they're the main reasons I still like it now. Spam Filtering and labels. The spam filtering has always worked really well for me. And allocating labels to emails is much easier than filtering into folders. Of course, the idea of labelling items is commonplace now with any web site worth it's salt using tags...

As for a Calendar, I use Outlook/Exchange for work. So whatever I choose has to sync with that. I'd also like to be able to set up and share calendars. Not looked into it too deeply yet, but Google's calendar will let me do both od these. Moe on this when I do a bit more digging.

Blogging is something I've always mwant to get into more, but never really got round to it. I used LiveJournal ages ago, but didn't really like it. Used Blogger before Google bought it out and quite liked it. Used it for a bit after Google bought it up (I've just deleted some rubbish posts from 2002 from here!). Then much later I set up Wordpress on my own webspace. Main reason for that was integration. Wordpress let me drop things onto the page like my last.fm widgets. But, surprise, surprise - on revisiting Blogger good old Google have upgraded blogger and you now have lot's of control over the layout - including dropping in add-ins. Lot's of flexibility to link in the other apps I'm looking at. So, as I've already gone with Google it makes sense to give blogger another go.

That just leaves and online photo album. I have a Flickr pro account, but I've never really got on with it. It seems to have all the stuff you'd need, but you know when you just don't click with something? Anyway (and I guess you can tell what's coming), I thought I'd check out Picasa - Google's photo app. Again, I played with it early days, but it didn't seem up to much. Just had another play now and it's much improved. And it obviously links in to all the other Google services.

The icing on the cake is that the Google toolbar pulls all this stuff together in a nice convenient place.

So there's my starting point. It'll be interesting to see how well all these apps sit together as I use them going forward - and how well I can link in the other sites I use regularly like facebook and last.fm...