To make a short story longer, we have to go back a few months (when the plan hadn’t even been thought of) to my previous job working out here in the desert. As most of you will know, and if you don’t then it’s time to go back and read the previous blog, I lived here in the Tilal Liwa Hotel (where I am writing this at the moment) for about the first 5 months of this year, working on a contract which was part of a much larger contract for one of the Government departments here (The Department of Municipal Affairs – sounds grand but is essentially the local council run on a national level).
I was covering the Facilities Management workstream and was working as part of the Support Services Directorate (which included other stuff such as IT, HR, Procurement, Accounts, and for some strange reason, PR & Comms). Alongside of Support Services were a series of other local council type directorates such as Land and Property Registration, Customer Services etc. etc. etc. Parks and Recreation was a Directorate all on its own, which will give you some idea of the importance they attach to their parks over here – they also had the largest budget of any of the departments within the whole ministry………where that money went was anyone’s guess but Internal Audit were scrutinising their expenditure with a fine toothcomb when I left………. Anyway, Bayleaf (as in Bayleaf the Gardener) was the Subject Matter Expert (SME) for Parks and Recreation as I was the SME for FM. His real name was Ian as well, and I’m certain he features in some of my adventures from the last blog. He was the one that organised the BBQ in the desert and who came with me and the Physiotherapists to the largest sand dune in the world, so I know he’s in there somewhere…….
Anyway, where was I, oh yes, the plan – for a number of reasons Parks and Recreation didn’t get fully completed at the end of the contract (I had already left by then, but I believe that the client simply didn’t want the final aspect of the training which was scheduled, and that Ramadan had just started which was complicating things beyond practicalities) and Ian was paid and packed off. This was in July or August and it’s taken until November for the powers that be summon Bayleaf back to finish his task (apparently the Municipality decided that Parks & Recreation didn’t have a choice !). Bayleaf flew into Dubai last week and arrived back in the desert yesterday. I knew all of this because I’d kept in touch with him, and with a number of other people who I have lived and worked with during that contract, especially the Arabic members of the team. They, the Arabic members that is, are generally still around in one form or another (I’ve just got one of them a job with my new company, and I’m lining up another one as we speak) and one of them has been asked to be Bayleaf’s Arabic support for his month back in the sand. It just so happens that she lives near me in Dubai (she’s the one who’s wedding party I went to when I got back here) and because I’ve been back and forward from Abu Dhabi and Dubai, I’ve been giving her a lift when she’s needed to go to Abu Dhabi to sort out this piece of work.
So I’ve been in touch with all of the details of Bayleaf’s visit……….. We just haven’t told him (can you see where we’re going with this now ?). Now Bayleaf knew I was back in the Middle East because we regularly communicate via e-mail and Linked IN, and he had some idea that I was working on a contract in Abu Dhabi, what he didn’t know was that I was back in the Western Region and that I was staying in the Tilal Liwa at the same time as he was……….until last night that is.
Everyone had promised to not to let on that I was going to be here as well and Rasha (his Arabic support) texted me to let me know his whereabouts towards the end of the day so I could pick the best moment. I went for a swim with Psycho (90 lengths – 2250m ! Awesome……except I’m supposed to be winding down for the race on Friday !) and then went for dinner. As I got around towards the restaurant I could see Rasha, and a couple of other ex-colleagues, in the bar, and there, with his back perfectly facing me, was Bayleaf ! It couldn’t have been simpler to sneak up behind him and whisper something in his ear – I won’t tell you what that was because there are children that read this blog and this was part of a very adult conversation !
I couldn’t see his face but I’m told that it was the proverbial picture. All the others around the table had played their part and we had got him ! Afterwards, when we were talking later in the evening, he said that a lot of other niggling things fell into place at that moment, and things suddenly made sense – I remember the same feeling when Mrs G had organised a surprise party for my grown-up graduation way back when (never do that to me again by the way !), but the whole thing was perfect. We had man hugs and back slapping and all that stuff when you realise you’ve been the victim, and later we raked over the coals of the sting in glorious detail as we sat and caught up on the past few months – happy days.
We will do it all again with wine in a few days but until after the race on Friday I’m being a good boy (well, that’s the theory anyway !)
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