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A story about Oman written by a mate....


coxyhog

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Very good story. I especially loved the part where even though they admit it was likely the “pedestrian’s” fault, as the foreigner, “if he wasn’t there, it wouldn’t have happened”

What country have I heard that in before, can’t quite place it? 

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7 hours ago, Golfingboy said:

Very good story. I especially loved the part where even though they admit it was likely the “pedestrian’s” fault, as the foreigner, “if he wasn’t there, it wouldn’t have happened”

What country have I heard that in before, can’t quite place it? 

France?

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Nice story, but:

Quote

At times we would sleep overnight, in cargo nets, at the side of the river bed. One morning I woke up to find I had been bitten 31 times in the head by mosquitoes. Luckily they must have been male mosquitoes which don’t carry the feared Malaria disease.

Only female mosquitos bite, not all carry Malaria.

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10 hours ago, Golfingboy said:

Very good story. I especially loved the part where even though they admit it was likely the “pedestrian’s” fault, as the foreigner, “if he wasn’t there, it wouldn’t have happened”

What country have I heard that in before, can’t quite place it? 

They had a fund raising auction in the bar to help with the blood money.We always did that for the families of any expat company employees who died & when I got to Oman in 1983 they employed around 2000 people so there were a few.

The auctions were always on a Friday afternoon,the bar stayed open and we all got extremely drunk.At one such event held for a mate who died in an RTA I bought a blow up doll which was wearing an Aer Lingus lifejacket then I re-inserted it into the auction & bought it again.....all great fun in a good cause.

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17 hours ago, Tj916 said:

Nice story. I think I would go crazy working in that kind of heat.

 

After spending a fair bit of my working life out in temperatures down to -40C or worse, I'll take the heat, thank you - the heat may beat you down but the cold hurts...

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1 hour ago, maipenrai said:

After spending a fair bit of my working life out in temperatures down to -40C or worse, I'll take the heat, thank you - the heat may beat you down but the cold hurts...

Check Calgary’s forecast coming up......I have to fly out too any day now, Dad is on his has last few days

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  • 1 month later...

Great story, brought back some memories of "wadi bashing" in a land rover, also doing a bit of driving around the Empty Quarter when we were in Salalah, they don't call it the empty quarter for nothing lol. It was like the surface of the moon, barren, hot and not much happening anywhere lol.

The airworks guys had a reputation for kicking back. I think they were based at Seeb in the military area of the Airport which was at the far end, and also there was one or two based at MAM HQ to work on the Helo's based there.

Accidents were more common than one may think, I recall a story of a Jundi hitting a camel in an old Toyota corolla, it came through the windscreen and killed the poor sod.

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23 minutes ago, Butch said:

Great story, brought back some memories of "wadi bashing" in a land rover, also doing a bit of driving around the Empty Quarter when we were in Salalah, they don't call it the empty quarter for nothing lol. It was like the surface of the moon, barren, hot and not much happening anywhere lol.

The airworks guys had a reputation for kicking back. I think they were based at Seeb in the military area of the Airport which was at the far end, and also there was one or two based at MAM HQ to work on the Helo's based there.

Accidents were more common than one may think, I recall a story of a Jundi hitting a camel in an old Toyota corolla, it came through the windscreen and killed the poor sod.

@ButchNice to see you back mate.

Used go wadi bashing at a place called Kitna, in the Omani side of the Hajar mountains. Fun times. BBQ's and beer and camping under the stars! Was living and working in Al Ain at the time.

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39 minutes ago, karon steve said:

I was always amazed at how you can be miles from anywhere in the desert, nothing in sight but rock and dust and no camels or livestock but as soon as you open a window you get a fly in  the truck.

Not only that, years ago my Dad was on a patrol in the Empty Quarter near the area it intersects with Yemen, they were in a pair of Land Rovers with all the gear, but still managed to come across the occasional Jebali driving a Toyota saloon or pick up.

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4 hours ago, Butch said:

Great story, brought back some memories of "wadi bashing" in a land rover, also doing a bit of driving around the Empty Quarter when we were in Salalah, they don't call it the empty quarter for nothing lol. It was like the surface of the moon, barren, hot and not much happening anywhere lol.

The airworks guys had a reputation for kicking back. I think they were based at Seeb in the military area of the Airport which was at the far end, and also there was one or two based at MAM HQ to work on the Helo's based there.

Accidents were more common than one may think, I recall a story of a Jundi hitting a camel in an old Toyota corolla, it came through the windscreen and killed the poor sod.

When I was there 83-92 Airwork practically ran the Sultans armed forces and there were Airworkees at Salalah,Thumrait,Masirah,Seeb & quite a few other places.MAM was where we at Seeb were quartered & there were plenty of Airworkees working in the HQ there,which everyone called the Kremlin.

Rumour has it that expat female nurses were warned to stay away from Airworks when on their induction course,we had a reputation for playing & drinking very hard.

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1 hour ago, coxyhog said:

When I was there 83-92 Airwork practically ran the Sultans armed forces and there were Airworkees at Salalah,Thumrait,Masirah,Seeb & quite a few other places.MAM was where we at Seeb were quartered & there were plenty of Airworkees working in the HQ there,which everyone called the Kremlin.

Rumour has it that expat female nurses were warned to stay away from Airworks when on their induction course,we had a reputation for playing & drinking very hard.

I think we had a similar conversation a while ago on another thread,apologies if I've repeated myself.

It's me age guv🤣

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17 hours ago, coxyhog said:

I think we had a similar conversation a while ago on another thread,apologies if I've repeated myself.

It's me age guv🤣

We did lol, I thought some of it looked familiar!. Best thing about MAM HQ was the massive pool, we would grab a couple of large inner tubes and float around on them, problem is they were black and got pretty warm...

I went up in a Helo out of MAM once along with my brother, on a trip my Dad arranged for us, we landed briefly at the SON Naval base near the palace, had a refuel stop after flying about and ended up over Jebel Akdhar with a stop off at Rustaq before heading back. Really exciting stuff.

My memories of witnessing the aftermath of an Airworks gathering ( a BBQ at the SON base) were several bins full of empty "Amstel Beer" cans 🍻.

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2 hours ago, Butch said:

My memories of witnessing the aftermath of an Airworks gathering ( a BBQ at the SON base) were several bins full of empty "Amstel Beer" cans 🍻.

Once they had a special takeaway offer 2 for 1 on cases of Amstel....my little apartment was full of them😆.

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I found it really "hoppy" but it was nice when made into a shandy. I think if anyone ever dredged the route between the SON base and the Bustan beach (which we would visit before anything was there, even a road into it) or Bhandar Jissar they'd get about 100 tonnes of Aluminum from the empty cans we dumped over the side with holes in them!.

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We used to go beach fishing on a Friday morning on the one opposite Seeb.A couple of 4 x 4's with a parachute canopy to give some shade,cast out with a bit of squid for bait,put your rod into a piece of purloined BAC 1-11 tail docking & open a can.We always had a head start when the bar opened at 1pm.Then when the bar closed we'd get a big carry out & adjourn to the snooker room for the rest of the afternoon.

Happy days!

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4 minutes ago, coxyhog said:

We used to go beach fishing on a Friday morning on the one opposite Seeb.A couple of 4 x 4's with a parachute canopy to give some shade,cast out with a bit of squid for bait,put your rod into a piece of purloined BAC 1-11 tail docking & open a can.We always had a head start when the bar opened at 1pm.Then when the bar closed we'd get a big carry out & adjourn to the snooker room for the rest of the afternoon.

Happy days!

It was mentioned in the story about the sunken ship just off Qurum beach down from Seeb, I think it was carrying Marble when it sank, and was a popular diving spot and was also good for fishing. We would pull a workboat out and do low speed trolling, then HM purchased a couple of Hateras fishing boats and we used them when no one was watching. they were epic bits of kit.  Did you ever visit the Inter Continental hotel further down?. It had a nightclub and a disco , along with themed food nights. it was a great venue, and wasn't that expensive for booze either.

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49 minutes ago, Butch said:

It was mentioned in the story about the sunken ship just off Qurum beach down from Seeb, I think it was carrying Marble when it sank, and was a popular diving spot and was also good for fishing. We would pull a workboat out and do low speed trolling, then HM purchased a couple of Hateras fishing boats and we used them when no one was watching. they were epic bits of kit.  Did you ever visit the Inter Continental hotel further down?. It had a nightclub and a disco , along with themed food nights. it was a great venue, and wasn't that expensive for booze either.

Went down there for the food nights they were quite good.Also about a year before I left a Mongolian restaurant opened(not sure where) & that was pretty good.For our first wedding anniversary I took the missus to the Al Bustan,expensive but bloody good.There was a chicken grab place just outside MAM & we used to go there occasionally.My mate went down there pissed once & fell asleep after his meal.A couple of guys he knew woke him up & he ate with them,not realising until half way through that he'd already eaten.

I only went out in a boat once,I'm fair skinned & got burnt too quickly.However a couple of guys I knew used to go out fishing regularly but didn't eat fish,so they knew I did & had a big chest freezer & would give me their catch.I used to have regular BBQ's on my balcony,usually on a Friday when we were on late shift on the Saturday.The cooks in our mess would bone the fish for a couple of Rats.

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