sorry its been a while since i last posted.
well whats happened and where do i start.
the last few weeks i have been to brunei on ensco 51 oil rig. the flight out there was with royal brunei ailines and was 8hr flight which would have been ok but my entertainment screen didnt work and as the flight was full i couldnt change seats so for 8 hrs i watched the back of an airline seat.
the rig was ok, very small but ok, the food was exellent and one of the few rigs that promote healthy eating, each day a menu board had what was on offer and besides each meal it was rated 1 to 4 stars with 1 being most healthy in concern to fat and salt level to 5 being very unhealthy. i tried to stay around the 2* level. Also had an exellent gym which i took full advantage of.
we spent 8 days on rig then caught the 7am chopper back to dry land with the medic who was doing a visa run to malaysia, i went along for the ride and we ended up having 4 beers in malaysia at 9am in the morning in a roadside cafe, the thing is it just seamed normal to be doing that.
im now in duabi until next monday when im of to jakarta for 8 days then after that im of to mumbai in india for two rigs and then leave again.
now everyone knows how i hate the arrogance and ignorance of americans so dawn has decided that she wants to go to new york for her birthday so it looks like we are going to go with dave and miriam. i will go but i will just need dave to keep me in track because if any of those americans are arrogant and rude in the airport i wont be able to stop myself from saying something, i have already had to put a few rednecks in their place while on the rigs and wont hesitate to do it again. Dont get me wrong i have met some decent lads on rigs but a lot of them like to think they know everything even about my job and just wont admit they might be wrong for once.
anyway everyone speak soon
tony
Monday 18 June 2007
Tuesday 22 May 2007
home soon
Hello everyone
well what have i been upto lately , was suppsed to be doing a job in the local docks (sharjah) but we turned up and that was a total f**k up as the rigs were getting refurbished and were in such a mess that we just turned around and went back to dubai.
hence there is no work at the minute so im doing my bosiet course at the minute for 3 days ( http://www.rgitmontrose.com/training/course_info.asp?uid=7 )
though im not doing it aberdeen im doing it in abu dabhi in the UAE.Then i will be back to uk landing on fri morning 6:30 and if anyone wants to offer to pick me up from manchester airport so i dont have to get the train feel free to LOL
anyway catch up with everyone when im in england
tony
well what have i been upto lately , was suppsed to be doing a job in the local docks (sharjah) but we turned up and that was a total f**k up as the rigs were getting refurbished and were in such a mess that we just turned around and went back to dubai.
hence there is no work at the minute so im doing my bosiet course at the minute for 3 days ( http://www.rgitmontrose.com/training/course_info.asp?uid=7 )
though im not doing it aberdeen im doing it in abu dabhi in the UAE.Then i will be back to uk landing on fri morning 6:30 and if anyone wants to offer to pick me up from manchester airport so i dont have to get the train feel free to LOL
anyway catch up with everyone when im in england
tony
Friday 18 May 2007
Wednesday 16 May 2007
ho chi min city
well finally got of the rig and had a night in ho chi minh city (formally saigon)
very hectic place reminds me of bangkok,our hotel was fasntastic and only $50 per night (paid for coutesey of ensco).
fisrt place we went to was the famous rex hotel which is the hotel that all the top officials stayed in during the viet war and its featured in all of the vietnam war films. http://www.rexhotelvietnam.com/
we then went looking for a bar to get a drink and well out of nowhere we found a bar called sheridans and it was an oustanding irish bar owned by a guy called mike from cork. only downfall it only sold guiness in bottles but at 1 quid a throw who's complaining. we asked mike to give us some places to go that night but he done one better and jumped in the taxi with us and came with us.
first bar was a tourist bar called apocalypse now and was dedicated to the film, outside there was a big sign abouve the door saying "charlie dont surf" god knows how they get away with that (bottles of heineken 50p haha) .
next we went to a mexican type live music bar and the vietnamese friend who owned it was a friend of mikes, he was the spiiting image of the guy in the film good morning vietnam, you know the gay veitnamese bar owner nad this guy was as gay as they come as well.
after two more bars which were just basic tourist bars with pool tables we headed back to his irish bar for a jamesons or two where we met thumper a viet veteran from australia who had never left since the war and had a viet wife, he also looked like anyone of the guys from zz top.
anyway next day we went to the biggest market in saigon called ben thanh market and it is the biggest fake suplier in asia supposedly. we went round and the stuff you could buy was amazing, i ended up buying a pair of jeans, some sunglasses and some presents for dawn (not going to say what as she will read this and spoil the surprise).
well after that eventfull day and a half we finally caught our plane from saigon to singapore and then to dubai at 5pm and finally touched down at 3am in dubai.
just two weeks left and then i will be back in uk (on thw 2nd of jun)
so see you all soon
tony
very hectic place reminds me of bangkok,our hotel was fasntastic and only $50 per night (paid for coutesey of ensco).
fisrt place we went to was the famous rex hotel which is the hotel that all the top officials stayed in during the viet war and its featured in all of the vietnam war films. http://www.rexhotelvietnam.com/
we then went looking for a bar to get a drink and well out of nowhere we found a bar called sheridans and it was an oustanding irish bar owned by a guy called mike from cork. only downfall it only sold guiness in bottles but at 1 quid a throw who's complaining. we asked mike to give us some places to go that night but he done one better and jumped in the taxi with us and came with us.
first bar was a tourist bar called apocalypse now and was dedicated to the film, outside there was a big sign abouve the door saying "charlie dont surf" god knows how they get away with that (bottles of heineken 50p haha) .
next we went to a mexican type live music bar and the vietnamese friend who owned it was a friend of mikes, he was the spiiting image of the guy in the film good morning vietnam, you know the gay veitnamese bar owner nad this guy was as gay as they come as well.
after two more bars which were just basic tourist bars with pool tables we headed back to his irish bar for a jamesons or two where we met thumper a viet veteran from australia who had never left since the war and had a viet wife, he also looked like anyone of the guys from zz top.
anyway next day we went to the biggest market in saigon called ben thanh market and it is the biggest fake suplier in asia supposedly. we went round and the stuff you could buy was amazing, i ended up buying a pair of jeans, some sunglasses and some presents for dawn (not going to say what as she will read this and spoil the surprise).
well after that eventfull day and a half we finally caught our plane from saigon to singapore and then to dubai at 5pm and finally touched down at 3am in dubai.
just two weeks left and then i will be back in uk (on thw 2nd of jun)
so see you all soon
tony
Friday 4 May 2007
Hello everyone.
Still on rig ENSCO 97 in vietnam, after the debacle of our losdt luggage well ensco decided to lose our magnet which is essential for MPI inspection. After a few days scurrying around trying to find it and get it on to rig, the heliport wouldny fly it on the helicopter as it might effect the controls being a magnet amd all that.
they are going to send it by supply boat so we will be here for a few more days, try and drag it out till thursday as most of the american staff are going back home on thursday after a night out in ho chi min city and have told us we are most welcom to join them if we go off thursday ourselves (im sure we can be busy till then.
was supposed to be going singapore next but thats been canccelled so we might end up going to a land rig in yemen which should be fun.
just heard that a platform explosion has happened 15 miles from here, a platform is what the rig attaches to, lucky enough there was no oil rig threre but supposedly we haerd the platform had a gas explosion.
anyway more soon
tony
Still on rig ENSCO 97 in vietnam, after the debacle of our losdt luggage well ensco decided to lose our magnet which is essential for MPI inspection. After a few days scurrying around trying to find it and get it on to rig, the heliport wouldny fly it on the helicopter as it might effect the controls being a magnet amd all that.
they are going to send it by supply boat so we will be here for a few more days, try and drag it out till thursday as most of the american staff are going back home on thursday after a night out in ho chi min city and have told us we are most welcom to join them if we go off thursday ourselves (im sure we can be busy till then.
was supposed to be going singapore next but thats been canccelled so we might end up going to a land rig in yemen which should be fun.
just heard that a platform explosion has happened 15 miles from here, a platform is what the rig attaches to, lucky enough there was no oil rig threre but supposedly we haerd the platform had a gas explosion.
anyway more soon
tony
Sunday 29 April 2007
vietnam
well finally got into ho chi min city airport and breezed through customs, and went to collect our bags but guess what they lost them, filled in all the forms for lost baggage and then had a two hour drive to a place called wang tau.
stayed in the palace hotel which was pretty decent, just like a holiday inn, night time went out for a few beers and realised it was 50p a bottle of lager how good is that !!
went on rig next day and have been on since saturday without any bags, just the clothes i am wearing but bags arrived this morning so everything is ok.
most ironic thing this year
today is independance day in vietnam and on the rig they had a big celabration (victory against americans) but the rig is american and all the senior staff are americans :0 :0
photos
click on photo to see more photos
tony
stayed in the palace hotel which was pretty decent, just like a holiday inn, night time went out for a few beers and realised it was 50p a bottle of lager how good is that !!
went on rig next day and have been on since saturday without any bags, just the clothes i am wearing but bags arrived this morning so everything is ok.
most ironic thing this year
today is independance day in vietnam and on the rig they had a big celabration (victory against americans) but the rig is american and all the senior staff are americans :0 :0
photos
click on photo to see more photos
tony
Tuesday 24 April 2007
manchester utd
Unfortunately after watching last nights game i have to admit that i can see utd winning this yrs champions league, ok their defence is just crap but they are an excellent attacking team this year a lot better than last season and luck is on their side.
i was hoping for a Milan v Liverpool final.
though one day the mighty tranmere rovers will be there
anyway I'm off to ho chi min city on Thursday now with a new lad from Norwich, looking forward to a day off and do the tourist bit, my aim is to go and see the VC tunnels from the war.
after Saigon off to Singapore which should be another good trip.
speak soon everyone
tony
i was hoping for a Milan v Liverpool final.
though one day the mighty tranmere rovers will be there
anyway I'm off to ho chi min city on Thursday now with a new lad from Norwich, looking forward to a day off and do the tourist bit, my aim is to go and see the VC tunnels from the war.
after Saigon off to Singapore which should be another good trip.
speak soon everyone
tony
Monday 23 April 2007
sorry its been a while
been busy in saudi working on land rigs, also keeping my tan topped up on the beach on my days off ( have to keep my tan for barcalona)
off on wednesday to my next job, going to vietnam for a couple of weeks then off to singapore and due back into dubai around the 19th of may.
tony
off on wednesday to my next job, going to vietnam for a couple of weeks then off to singapore and due back into dubai around the 19th of may.
tony
Sunday 18 March 2007
Monday 12 March 2007
just my luck
waiting to go to damamam airport in Saudi and the helicopter is late so i was worrying about missing my flight to Dubai but no need to worry now as some Bangladeshi pilot has decided to crash his plane on Dubai runway.
lucky enough nobody was injured but it means that the airport is closed for 8 hrs
AND I CANT EVEN HAVE A BEER
oh well
lucky enough nobody was injured but it means that the airport is closed for 8 hrs
AND I CANT EVEN HAVE A BEER
oh well
Saturday 10 March 2007
finally leaving Saudi tomorrow to go back to Dubai at last
I'm sure each time i go back to Saudi roustabouts from Saudi just get lazier and lazier never met such a bunch of effing lazy ****.
got my review when i get back as well boy I'm i looking forward to that lots to say about this and that. we used to get 100dhs allowance when travelling to a job (a measly 14 quid) now they have stopped that and only long haul flights get it, talk about penny pinching, soon see about that lol.
anyway don't you all forget the 17Th of march , no i don't mean st Patrick's day i mean my birthday :) any of the lads reading this in Dubai well a few drinks in the Irish village is on the books
tony
I'm sure each time i go back to Saudi roustabouts from Saudi just get lazier and lazier never met such a bunch of effing lazy ****.
got my review when i get back as well boy I'm i looking forward to that lots to say about this and that. we used to get 100dhs allowance when travelling to a job (a measly 14 quid) now they have stopped that and only long haul flights get it, talk about penny pinching, soon see about that lol.
anyway don't you all forget the 17Th of march , no i don't mean st Patrick's day i mean my birthday :) any of the lads reading this in Dubai well a few drinks in the Irish village is on the books
tony
Tuesday 6 March 2007
still in saudi
still in Saudi on a rig called ensco 95 this was the first rig i went on back in august last year and all the same crew are here so its not to bad can have a bit of a laugh with the expats on board.
yesterday we moved 12 miles and had some divers from UK come aboard they had to dive down and check the legs of the rig where they enter the seabed. thankfully i was told we are ok from toppling over !!.
one good bonus is we have wireless Internet on board i just bribed the rig manager with some movies from my laptop and he gave us the code to access it.
will be back in Dubai on the 12Th of march for 3 weeks, looking forward myself to having sometime off and relaxing on the beach, been in Dubai since august and never seen the beach yet how sad is that. though the most important thing to happen in the 3 weeks i have off is on mar 31st ITS THE DUBAI WORLD CUP cant wait and this should be highlight of the year, if anyone doesn't know its the richest horse race in the world held in Dubai where GAMBLING IS BANNED so my mobile will be red hot that day on calls to William hill in the UK.
anyway another post soon
tony
yesterday we moved 12 miles and had some divers from UK come aboard they had to dive down and check the legs of the rig where they enter the seabed. thankfully i was told we are ok from toppling over !!.
one good bonus is we have wireless Internet on board i just bribed the rig manager with some movies from my laptop and he gave us the code to access it.
will be back in Dubai on the 12Th of march for 3 weeks, looking forward myself to having sometime off and relaxing on the beach, been in Dubai since august and never seen the beach yet how sad is that. though the most important thing to happen in the 3 weeks i have off is on mar 31st ITS THE DUBAI WORLD CUP cant wait and this should be highlight of the year, if anyone doesn't know its the richest horse race in the world held in Dubai where GAMBLING IS BANNED so my mobile will be red hot that day on calls to William hill in the UK.
anyway another post soon
tony
Thursday 15 February 2007
im still here everyone
Still here everyone, been doing my NDT level 2 course which is basically non destructive testing.
pretty easy though a lot of it i will never ever use again on my life lol.
will be in Dubai for another 7 days then I'm off to Saudi for a few weeks.
weather has been glorious in the 80's most days (perfect beach weather). went on a rig for 4 days do do mpi inspections (magnetic particle inspection) of lifting eyes and that was my first time as lead inspector so i will have my review sometime next week and should get a nice big pay rise as promised.
speak toy you all soon
tony
pretty easy though a lot of it i will never ever use again on my life lol.
will be in Dubai for another 7 days then I'm off to Saudi for a few weeks.
weather has been glorious in the 80's most days (perfect beach weather). went on a rig for 4 days do do mpi inspections (magnetic particle inspection) of lifting eyes and that was my first time as lead inspector so i will have my review sometime next week and should get a nice big pay rise as promised.
speak toy you all soon
tony
Monday 29 January 2007
not much happening here
been stuck in the office all week due to having no passport , it has been sent to to Saudi embassy in London to get a visa stamped in it so until its comes back I'm going nowhere.
weather is perfect here just 73 degrees today :)) shame i don't get a day off.
oh well speak to you all soon enough
tony
weather is perfect here just 73 degrees today :)) shame i don't get a day off.
oh well speak to you all soon enough
tony
Thursday 25 January 2007
photos
hi everyone
here is my photos from this last trip
http://www.bubbleshare.com/album/115527.2908f58e2da
some decent photos of a ship sinking so the rigs can come of
here is my photos from this last trip
http://www.bubbleshare.com/album/115527.2908f58e2da
some decent photos of a ship sinking so the rigs can come of
Wednesday 24 January 2007
hello everyone
first of all sorry i haven't updated for a while, i have been offshore and the rig was on tow to sharjah docks for refurbishment so no Internet.
been on a rig called rowan Paris ( http://www.rigzone.com/data/rig_detail.asp?rig_id=952 )
wasn't bad but believe it or not we have had rain in the uae and the wind was a bit to strong so we had to anchor up for 3 days waiting for the wind to drop before we could get towed into the port.
was supposed to be going to Saudi on Sunday but that has now changed as i haven't had my passport back from the visa office. so that means i cant go anywhere until i get my passport back :))) though i do have my seaman's book (i can be used as a passport I'm told).
just got back and found out that ROGER WATERS is playing live here on the 25Th of Feb and guess what !! I'm in Dubai for then :)))))) (for all you people who haven't heard of him well he used to be the lead singer of pink Floyd ).
anyway the weather here is just perfect at the minute only 72 degrees today, shame i have to work. I'm going to watch fc Zurich play this weekend against the red bull salzburg in abu dhabi, got a couple of tickets for less than a fiver can you believe that (cheaper than leyton orient ) http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/sports/2007/January/sports_January747.xml§ion=sports&subsection=football
any way will post again in next few days
tony
been on a rig called rowan Paris ( http://www.rigzone.com/data/rig_detail.asp?rig_id=952 )
wasn't bad but believe it or not we have had rain in the uae and the wind was a bit to strong so we had to anchor up for 3 days waiting for the wind to drop before we could get towed into the port.
was supposed to be going to Saudi on Sunday but that has now changed as i haven't had my passport back from the visa office. so that means i cant go anywhere until i get my passport back :))) though i do have my seaman's book (i can be used as a passport I'm told).
just got back and found out that ROGER WATERS is playing live here on the 25Th of Feb and guess what !! I'm in Dubai for then :)))))) (for all you people who haven't heard of him well he used to be the lead singer of pink Floyd ).
anyway the weather here is just perfect at the minute only 72 degrees today, shame i have to work. I'm going to watch fc Zurich play this weekend against the red bull salzburg in abu dhabi, got a couple of tickets for less than a fiver can you believe that (cheaper than leyton orient ) http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/sports/2007/January/sports_January747.xml§ion=sports&subsection=football
any way will post again in next few days
tony
Friday 12 January 2007
back in dubai
Hello all
back in dubai now landed at 19:15 guess what its bloody chilly.
i'm off to qatar tommorow but instead of getting the helicopter we are going by barge, lovely 3 hours to get to the rig instead of 20 mins :( .
turned on my laptop to find my proxy isnt working so all those websites banned by UAE i cant get on now that includes win2win. hopefully download another proxy when i get to qatar.
have fun everyone
tony
back in dubai now landed at 19:15 guess what its bloody chilly.
i'm off to qatar tommorow but instead of getting the helicopter we are going by barge, lovely 3 hours to get to the rig instead of 20 mins :( .
turned on my laptop to find my proxy isnt working so all those websites banned by UAE i cant get on now that includes win2win. hopefully download another proxy when i get to qatar.
have fun everyone
tony
Thursday 4 January 2007
had my ukooa medical today and it cost £100
couldn't believe it £100 for that. all they done was the usual hearing, blood pressure, eyes, you know the usual. i phoned my GP when i got back and asked him how much an annual medical would cost and what was involved , he does everything that i had done for my ukooa medical but for £65, so it cost an extra £35 to have the words "fit for offshore" typed on.
anyway i passed
couldn't believe it £100 for that. all they done was the usual hearing, blood pressure, eyes, you know the usual. i phoned my GP when i got back and asked him how much an annual medical would cost and what was involved , he does everything that i had done for my ukooa medical but for £65, so it cost an extra £35 to have the words "fit for offshore" typed on.
anyway i passed
Monday 1 January 2007
happy new year
happy new year everyone
me and dawn stayed in last night , TV was utter crap so we watched you me and dupree on dvd its utter crap.
opened our champagne at midnight and went to bed , this getting old lark isn't good
tony
me and dawn stayed in last night , TV was utter crap so we watched you me and dupree on dvd its utter crap.
opened our champagne at midnight and went to bed , this getting old lark isn't good
tony
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