An internet connection that doesn't run by means of Mice on wheels and static electricity would be nice!

No net sucks. We're currently on dialup (oh for those dolcet tones...that telephonic twanging that I've missed so much since broadband!) which means that it takes hoouuuurs to load up anything...so today shall be the day to organise a satelite internet connection. That is if I can get a hold of Nigel down the road and get the number off him...hmmm...

Ok what's happened of late...Well...lots...I just can't remember most of it cos its in a blur. There are a lot more people moving to Ras Tanura...many of them working in Dhahran with Anthony so thats going to be pretty interesting. We've already met a Californian couple who are to be secondary teachers at the local high school (Why do people from California always look so perfect?), A couple named Eisha and Kamal from the UK...Eisha and I have an affinity for shoes so we've decided to do some rampant shopping this week. Also there's a fella named Nigel whose English through and through (read deadpan) but has lived in India and Indonesia for quite a while. He's a nice guy ... called yesterday and said he was bored so Anthony and he spent most of the day here talking politics with me and computer software with Anthony. A lot of the guys who come over here are without their family for the first three months so they end up being pretty bored/lonely. I am doing my best to solve this problem...it could involve running them over with my golf buggy >:)

Oh and there's Hossan. The manic Columbian. This guy is hillarious. He was the dude I brought the golfcart off and the other night we had a lot of *mostly apples* with him and I'm still feeling the after effects. The guy has led the most head on life I've ever heard of. He's 33, coming up to his 3rd marriage, he's worked all over the place as a chopper pilot and was in this crash a few years ago...he wasn't the pilot...apparently the pilot was a vietnam vet having flashbacks.:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPoahYSiCRk

Hossan is the guy running at the end.

What else...Anthony's finally gotten his Iquama...thats like a residency pass that allows you to set up bank accounts, get a drivers licence etc. So we've put in for my residency now...hopefully all will be well and that'll go through asap before Ramadan because if it goes over absolutely everything stops. The outlook is good though.

Went to downtown Khobar late Thursday night with Jo and Laurie...the place is fantastic. You almost can't move there after dark, there's cars going everywhere...vendors trying to flog you stuff and you don't quite know what you're going to find in the shops...there's like everything there but its in a type of maze so if you see something you have to get it then or you'll never find the bloody shop again. As I found out the other night...The guys were great tourguides...really layed back which was wonderful considering Anthony and I hadn't slept for about five days due to the smallness and unconfortableness of the standard issue beds here.

Oh, there's so many fish swimming down at the beach with us at the moment I'm going to go get some fishing rods this week. You'll just be wading in the water and a whole school will shoot by you. I was going for a swim the other day and felt something brushing my leg, looked down and it was a ray about a foot by a foot long scoping me out. It descided I wasn't a shellfish pretty quick and buggered off. Note: that I'm maintining I kept my dignity...I didn't almost wet my pants and have a coronary thinking the thing was a shark at first at all...ehem...

Tracie, the aussie lass I walk with ever day, wants to get me out to the reef for some snorkling. I think she'll have to provide me with a sharkproof cage first...I know its unreasonable but just type in Perisan Gulf and SHARKS into any biological database and see how many mostly dangerous varieties come up. Apparently we're near a hammerhead breeding ground. Mind you its not the big ones that worry me ...its the little surly reefsharks that are puported to be out there. And not a lot of people get out to the beach here so I can't use my "that guy looks more like a seal than me so the sharks will get him first" reasoning..

Also found a chaise losenge as anthony calls it at the shops the other day for $200 AUD ... so I bought it and arranged for it to be delivered. This was where the fun started. At the Gazebo coffee morning thingie most of the ladies round here decided to come round for a couch christening the day it was to be delivered at 2 (when it was supposed to be delivered)...about 10 people turned up...I got a call at two "ma'am...ma'am FUNATURE WAREHOUSE! ma'am...no problem no problem mushkalah, mushkalah!" (which incidentally means PROBLEM) I concluded from this the guys were on their way after trying to get a bit of info out of them. 2.30 rolls up...another call "Ma'am...10 minutes no problem....FURNATURE WAREHOUSE MA'AM!!!" Ok, so another half hour rolls round. "Ma'am FURNATURE WAREHOUSE (my ear died about now) at Gate...Mushkalah!" thinking there was a drama, one of the ladies drove me down the gate...no guys there... I came back for a liedown. to cut a lot of yelling short...two hours later I get a call from the furnature shop, go down to the gate to find out that the three guys the furnature shop sent couldn't speak English or Arabic, had spent the last few hours touring all the local towns, Qatif and Rahima in an unairconditioned truck and had no idea where Ras Tanura was. The guard looked like he was trying not to belly laugh, the poor buggers delivered the furnature got some water and a big tip and were off on their way....I think the last sighting of the delivery truck was in Riyadh...