Tehran Traffic

Tehran in the mroning ....

Tehran in the evening ....

'Nuff said.

I think this is the one place on earth where removing ALL road markings, traffic control and road signs would probably improve traffic flow.

Birthday greetings

The Postulant celebrates her birthday today. I won't embarrass her by posting her age or the photo I still carry of her as a small young lady. I will say happy birthday Val, may you celebrate many, many more and may the year to come bring everything you hope for.

I remember all too clearly the first sight I had of her and that first moment of holding the precious little bundle that is a new born child. It is something I treasure for each of my now adult children and, I suspect like many working parents, wish I had been there to see more of their growing up instead of balancing work, career and family.

Tehran

Today its midweek in Tehran - Mittwoch in German or our equivalent of Wednesdy. Its also almost the end of our first three week course and its gone rather well. Better than my attempts this morning to upload some photos for the blog! The pictures load - and then vanish.

Hey, ho, our transport is here, so its time to pack the MacBook and brave the daily traffic assault course ...

The weekend begins on Thursday.

Fire spread ....

The photographs show the development of a fire in one of our Investigation Scenes. Starting next to the bed head, it soon spread to the acrylic pillow, then to the curtains. From there it leapfrogged to other combustible materials at higher level, then to materials below the plume. Eight minutes later it reached the stage seen in the last photograph.

Back to work ...

Why does Saturday feel like Monday? Mainly because it is in Iran. It's turning into an interesting time, my colleague assisting me in these courses is flat out with a serious dose of the runs. I'm just hoping I can stay clear of it, the last thing I need is a dose of that. Getting treatment for it is entertaining, it involves taking him to a clinic - through traffic that is so choked up to get to the clinic will require longer than the intervals between visits to the thunder jug in the bathroom.....

Add to that, the problem of language and the things that slip between description of symptoms and translation of same. We now have, for a guy with the runs, a bottle of laxative and pills which may also be in the same category. Meantime I'm trying to sort him out and avoid the bug myself. Oh, and teach my classes this week.

Guess I'm earning my corn this time round!

Mistakes to regret ...

Two stories in the news have caught my eye in the last couple of days. The first was the Somalian Pirates who attempted to board the French Naval Supply and Command ship. Did they ever pick the wrong ship to attack. The French sailors responded pretty effectively and the pirates eventually surrendered having thrown their arms overboard. They are now "guests of the French Navy" and face trial in a French Court for Piracy.

The French Courts won't mess about with all the liberal touchy-feely "oh you poor pirates, victims of evil ship owners" guff that would obscure a British Court's decision either. These guys will have a long time to contemplate the mistake they made.

The second story was even more hilarious. Two drunken yobs in Cardiff attacked a pair of "transvestites" who turned the tables on them and put both in hospital. The "transvestites" turned out to be "cage fighters" in drag for a friends Stag Night party. The two yobs may have consumed umpteen pints of "brave maker" but they are lucky to have escaped with concussion. And the magistrates let them off lightly despite their having attacked several other people in the course of their drunken spree. A hundred hours of "Community Service".

Next time perhaps we should let the French deal with it.

Fun in the sun

Today is the equivalent of Saturday in Iran so my colleague and I are "at home" in our apartment and doing our household chores. Or will be when we have generated sufficient energy. Ironning must be done, washing up and probably a quick whizz round with the vacuum cleaner also on the cards.

Two weeks into our twelve weeks here and the Monk is missing his old cat, Paddy, his books and his home comforts. He brought a few books with him of course, and his drafts of his future books yet to find publication, so he has plenty to do. But its been hard work and the excitement of yesterday hasn't quite gone away yet, it will have a few repercussions for us all over the next few weeks. At least I'll be able to Skype Mausi later and hear how her Druids Convocation in Bad Liebenstein went!

Ce la vie, I'll try to get some worthwhile pictures of things here over the next few days and see what delights I can share via the blog when I do. And now to the chores!