Jim Nelson Studio

How hot is it in the Middle East?

When I arrived in Saudi Arabia in May 1985, the air temperature even at night was probably around 40°C.

Stepping off the flight in Dhahran at 2:30 AM, I was sure that the airline steps were right in the path of the exhaust from the engines, but it wasn’t, it was just the heat.

From the airport I was brought to an Algosaibi guest house in the city, where even though there was air-conditioning of a sort, I lay sweating profusely on my bunk until I got the call for breakfast in the morning.

Continue reading “How Hot is the Middle East?”

A visit to Veracruz and the Pacific Ocean.

In the summer of 1999, while working on board the barge Europa in the Gulf of Mexico, we were caught cold by hurricane Bonny.

We had heard from the mad radio operator that the US met service was warning all shipping to go for cover. Apparently they issue a 12 and a six-hour warning, and by the six hour warning, any boats in the affected area should be gone.

The master of our vessel did not consider it prudent to heed the warning, so by the time he got around to ordering his crew to start pulling our 6 anchors to leave, we were in trouble.

Continue reading “A visit to Veracruz and the Pacific Ocean.”

I have mentioned Cecil’s bar in Port Said Egypt in one or two I of my stories before this one.

In the other tales the bar was mentioned peripherally as somewhere that expats could go for an alfresco beer in the evening.

It was a place to relax, yet experience the vibrant street life that is Port Said on a busy shopping street.

Cecil had a fenced off area where customers could sit to avoid being tormented by shop owners, seemingly desperate to sell their genuine Egyptian ‘knockoff’ papyrus and carvings to tourists or oil workers like us.

This exclusion zone was very, very important when it came to the protection of Cecil’s clientele.

Continue reading “Cecil’s Bar in Port Said Egypt”