Bonsoir toutes le Monde,
(good afternoon/evening everyone- French this time)
I’m finishing this email from the hotel Gaweye lobby amidst the stick insects (French Models- male and female) and organisers for the fashion show thingie. All of whom are smoking like chimneys. Wireless in the lobby is excellent but in room is rubbish today- probably because every man and his dog are on it. It comes and goes in the same way that the water pressure does!
The server also looks like it’s gone down again (i have great reception and can get onto internet etc but not the VPN) so i don’t know when this email will actually send. Not sure why this keeps happening- same thing occurred last Sunday too- All very frustrating.
The site gates are now painted and lockable, although they need to be cleaned whish will be done tomorrow, the wall and its barbed wire are completed and the septic tank is all but done- see attached photos.
I’ve received a price for the earthworks- less than I thought it would be which is good. This actually came on Friday as the guy didn’t read the email I’d sent extending the tender period. The remainder of pricing is due in tomorrow (Monday) at 4pm.
There’s been a lot of measuring, walking around and general investigation on site by all the contractors. As you know one came out yesterday to meet with me and another came out today so I think they are all pretty serious about it.
I get little bits of info from all over the place though how much of it is fact is debatable.
Tomorrow I’m going to the builders merchant first, assuming I’m allowed to, to get pricing for general materials and hardware.
After that, word on the street is that we may be meeting the secretary general who we’ll update on progress and discuss the official opening of the project.
The client and I are currently planning this for Friday am. I had asked the engineer for their thoughts on this as I felt that they should perhaps also be here but have heard absolutely nothing from any of them about it.
We can’t delay it any longer though, so it’ll be happening this week.
Following this meeting, I’ll be off to site to look at progress, set out container unload area, meet the surveyor and get pricing for setting out building off sets (which will hopefully correspond to the pegs I’ve put in) and for putting in a couple of benchmarks.
I’ll also be trying to work out how best we can move the people currently living in our buildings off the site. I think the gardien (as they call him) for project azawak and his family will probably have to stay on, given that azawak aren’t moving out till end of December though I am concerned about the family in the house within the compound plus another couple of families living in buildings to the north of our main shed. Hopefully Moudy will be able to help us sort this but it could be tricky....
If I get time, I will also go to the villa to see if they have cleaned the stains off the mattresses or bought new ones. Will take some photos and send through general assessment about whether we should stay there or not. Last time We saw it you wouldn’t keep a dog in it but they have done some work since so here’s hoping.
By 16:00 I should have all the pricing in, and will do a comparison spreadsheet and send through for your thoughts, input and advice on funding.
I’ll also send the latest materials/contacts etc spreadsheet to those that need it in a minute. It gets bigger each day and should be a good repository for information from here for people in NZ.
Other than the above, nothing too exciting to report for today I’m afraid so I’ll go straight to today’s fact.
According to the 2009 world bank little green data book New Zealand has 77,336m3 per person of available freshwater. Niger has just 247m3 per person.
Another prevalent aspect of life here is the religion. Most people are Muslim and stop 5 times a day for prayers. Preparation for this involves rolling out a prayer mat, washing hands arms and face, a lot of snot blowing all over the place and finally some bowing and murmuring in arabic.
I would have thought that most of the general populous would be praying for a bit of good fortune or maybe a new life in another country though I think most of the time they are giving thanks for God’s good grace.
I’ve not seem too much evidence of it so far it would be fair to say, in fact every day I see a number of examples of people who he has completely let down, and some who must have really upset him in a past life.
Saying that, Allah is everywhere here and pops up a fair bit in everyday conversation. As an example, last Wednesday I asked the Orange (French telecom co) guy whether he’d finish our wireless installation at the site offices on the day he arrived. He replied “Inshallah” or “if God wills it”.
As it turned out God did not want it done that day and as he had a bigger say than I did, the Orange guy had to come back the next day to finish off.
That’s all for today, I’m off to the pool for a swim before going to dinner for the usual old slop.
Actually, the food has been a bit better this week, I think because the hotel is so full. I’ve also a sneaking suspicion that they’ve sacked the chef who was here last time we stayed as now they seem to be making a bit more effort. I even had some food that tasted of something in the restaurant earlier this week!
Cheers
Me
