A week in the life!

Hello reader, one and all, how are you?

It has been a couple of days since I last regaled you with tales of not much derring-do so I was just listing a few topics to cover in this latest musing from downtown Kabul. So what have we:
The anniversary of 9/11, My bank card ignoring me, The uncertain start of Ramadan, A walk around the locality, The ice cream man, Visiting a real minefield (yes really full on landmines), moving to my new "permanent room", finally convincing the cook that a vegetarian does not eat meat, I think that covers it, and here was me thinking nothing had happened. You are beginning to see how small my world has become.

So let us start at the beginning. The 6th anniversary of 9/11 was not unlike any other day, except the road our office is situated on is called by some "suicide alley" as most of the suicide attacks in Kabul take place here. I hasten to add not where we are but are aimed at the ISAF (International Security Assistance Force - the Coalition) base down the road. This does not affect us, but would interfere with the drive to or from the office if the attack happened when we are passing by. However, our vehicles would not be affected and the only fatalities are, as always, innocent passing civilians. Anyway, we thought the Taleban may "celebrate" the anniversary with an attack, but this did not happen, which I think again emphasises they have little support in Kabul and outside their "stronghold" in the south and along the eastern border. Sorry, political lecture over.

On Wednesday, I went to the bank machine to get some cash, something we all take for granted. The machine here was rather wizzy and even asked if I wanted Euros or Dollars, so I asked it for $600. Sorry, no can do came the reply. How about $500 then, sorry no can do. I worked my way down to a measly $50 (£25 in proper money) and still the machine refusd my advances. So there was nothing to do but contact the bank. Of course as with all UK banks they have a truly helpful 0845 type number which, of course you cannot dial from abroad, so with some monumental help from Sarah, I eventually got the number of my branch and rang the manager. The conversation went something along the lines of
PQ: I am in Afghanistan, so please can we sort this quickly
BM: Where?
PQ: Afghanistan, Kabul actually
BM: Oh!
PQ: I tried to use my bank card yesterday and it did not work
BM: (laughs) In Kabul?
PQ: Yes, in Kabul
BM: Well, of course not our fraud department would halt any transaction in Afghanistan
PQ: Can you tell them not to
BM: Yes
PQ: How long will it take
BM: About 15 minutes, are you really in Kabul?
PQ: Yes
BM: What are you doing there?
PQ: Clearing land mines, must go, thanks.
BM: OK, bye

Now,where were we, oh yes, its now Thursday (in blog terms) and Afghanistan has been gripped in uncertainty for the past 24hours. You see Ramadan, the month of fasting, is linked to the phases of the moon. Now the phases of the moon have been predicted and known in advance for millennia, in fact, it was probably Arab scholars in the year dotdot that wrote them down for the first time. However, although any decent diary from Smiths would have the information in it and most of the Arab world has a fixed start date and knew Ramadan would start on Thursday, here in Afghanistan they were not sure and were waiting for the word from Mecca that the moon had been spotted and Ramadan would start on Wednesday, so, apparently there were frenzied did it, didn't it phone calls all through Tuesday night and consequently a lot of tired people at work on Wednesday. And of course it began Wednesday night, which conveniently brings me to my activities on Thursday. This was a day off as the first day of Ramadan and there would be no-one in the office, so I took the opportunity to go to a real, genuine, 100%, actaul minefield and see mine clearance in action. We went to a village in the valley south of Bagram airbase (yes the notorious Bagram airbase). The vilage itself was fantastic. It is situated in a valley below mountains and has a strong stream running through it from the mountains. It makes the area where the village is quite lush and the mud houses are surrounded by vineyards, orchards and fields. Well, it is surrounded by these where the mines have been cleared. The minefields are really interesting and I think I shal explain that another day as this entry is getting rather long.

In fact I wil cover that with the ice cream man, my new room and veggies later. Take care.
BFN