Sat 11th – It Suddenly Dawned On Me…!

Well, I’ve read over what I wrote last night and think I deserve at least a Gold Star as basic English, Grammar & punctuation are all in attendance!

Yesterday was pretty much covered in what I wrote last night – just bar my usual ramblings! Not that I like to tell a story or two – the people who are laughing at that last statement have just been taken off the Christmas Card List – for those of you in the know, I’ve NEVER had a Christmas Card List!

Last night was quite fun. By now we’ve all started to splinter into smaller groups and hang out with the people from other Villas. Some of the crew are, for use of a better word, ‘clingy’ and seem to be expecting everyone else to keep them entertained. “I’m bored”, “What are you doing today?” are common cries. As myself and a few of the others have said, we signed up as Dome Op’s, not baby sitters. I find it funny that some people just can’t enjoy some quiet time or aren’t able to amuse themselves. This early into the gig it’s kind of worrying how stir crazy people may become – especially if we’re able to help them along by pushing buttons as we go! (Not that we would…!)

My overnight shift got cancelled which was good due to the imploded feeling. I was up at Adams’s spot as that was where I was going to be working from and watched the Hero Horse rehearsal. It was gold as it’s a section that I won’t be able to see in show mode as it’s above and slightly behind me. Basically, the Prince (it’s supposed to be a real Arabian Prince but the Cowboys reckon it will end up being one of them!), get’s the flame from the Seeker and then gallops from the centre of the Field and then up a ramp (quite steep) all the way thru the stadium seating to a platform and then lights the Cauldron – the big grand finale. I have no idea what the Flame is called ie. Olympic Torch etc.

Figuring this was an opportune time to actually get some footage of it – it looks great in rehearsals so by the time everyone’s in costume, with lights etc. should be huge! Anyway, the 3 times the horses did the run I managed NOT to record it! Because it’s such a steep run, they can’t continually do it over & over and they have to gear the horse up before he/she charges away. The first time, I’d been following the horse around & around & around and turned away to see if I could get a clean shot all the way to the top, turned back and they were halfway up the ramp! 2nd time, my camera did that clever battery saving thing and went “I’m not being used so I’ll go to sleep” just as the rider went to press the record button, literally! Third time, Adam said something and as I had headsets on, turned to him to say “What?” to the cries of “Brother!” and him pointing as the horse bolted off again! Oh well, at least I’ve seen it, just won’t be able to show you guys. The Cauldron is very special. I do hope SBS televises it or they release a DVD copy here before we leave so you guys can piece together everything we’ll all be talking about upon our return – still some 5 odd weks away…! Ah….!

Upon arriving home knackerd & very grateful that we’d knocked off at 0130 instead of the scheduled 0530 it was beer first, shower later – which is the usual way as you come home with that “matter of fact, I got it now” feeling. Then we al disperse, come back refreshed and crack another. Myself, Adam & Paul fired up quite quickly and were the last ones standing! Now, before you get the idea that we are all a punch of piss pots (we have all earnt that title over many other occasions) and get drunk each night – we don’t. It’s pretty much a couple of beers. Some carry on, some go to bed, some come and write to their friends (!). Tonight though, Paul, Adam, Sarah & I got drunk! Quite happily put my hand up and say that (especially as I’ve already posted something to that effect!) It got to sunrise, quite quickly, and Sarah ran off to bed and myself, Paul & Adam decided that we’d go up on the roof to try and see the sun rise as it’s supposed to be spectacular and take photos. Please note that we are easily able to access our roof – it’s flat and has stairs leading to it from inside. We didn’t climb up pipes or do anything stoopid – we did that AFTER we were on the roof to get on top of the shack that houses hotwater etc.!

We got onto the roof hut to try and get an unobstructed view and waited for about 20 mins, figured it was hidden behind smog and then clambered down. Just as we were about to go inside this huge pink orb burst over the horizon and proceeded to rise quickly, changing colour as it went! Beautiful! We got some snaps but they not as good as if we’d still been on the roof shacks roof! Myself & Paul were covered in the white dust that is absolutely everywhere in Doha! I have a very funny photo that Adam has titled “We Were Not On The Roof).

That was bedtime but myself and Adam decided that there was at least time for one round of PS2! We then proceeded to make tea, play & chat –the first quiet time the Brudda’s have had. A good proper chinwag. Went for a swim at 0900 – this a good 3.5hrs after we’d stopped drinking, I don’t want you all to be shaking your heads thinking we just kept boozing on – we actually couldn’t as our fridge was empty and Bernie’s house was locked! Whilst swimming we had to make the choice of staying up or actually going to bed. We didn’t have to be on the bus until 1530 so we had options, but that, as I’m already into Sunday is for another day!