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Only one year here - but weird......
Again - Wal is to blame. He was doing some business with a recruitment company in West London, saw they were wanting people for Saudi and suggested he and I could do the job. Poor old sod didn't get accepted - but I did. Whooops!! What have I got myself into - without my mate Wal??
1 year contract with Aramco (the Saudi Oil Company) in Dahran up on the Arabian Gulf, helping set up their Advanced Office Systems operation.
On the plane going over - Rick Chandler........
....himself
some weeks/months later at Ras Tanura.
.....comes over and introduces himself - we'll be working together - apparently its all to do with Micro computers - now the nearest I'd got to a micro - was a mini - i.e. 3 or 4 user Data General Nova, or DEC PDP 11/40 - small but not micro - which turned out to be ...... PC's!!! I'd only ever mucked about with Bassy's Apple II and Lisa, and even then I couldn't use the Mouse at all - it kept going where I didn't want!!
So - in we smooth - to be met by Talal Mousley (how do I remember that?) - a very nice and helpful guy (Saudi), with whom we'd be working. To the Marriott Hotel - very pleasant - big rooms "save water - its gold" on the taps, and camels in the desert, out the window.
Working - it turns out with 3 Americans, Saudis, Indians - mixture and our role was to vet Applications to buy "small office systems" and assist Departments in formulating their applications. Amazingly "small office systems" was defined within Aramco (because it claimed to be IBM's biggest customer), anything below the 9000 Series (big Mainframes) - so included 4300's, DEC Vax's etc...I can remember OK'ing applications for 200+ user 4380's and DEC VAX's. Also, one memorable request for the Aramco Schools - 673 Apple 2's!! 673 * US$ 3,000 = US$ 2,000,000 +!!
Not allowed to stay more than 12 weeks in Saudi - so had to leave every 3 months - return to London get new visa and go back. One big BONUS was getting on the Aramco Shuttle - a 747 - all first class - only 120 seats which flew Dahran, Amsterdam, Houston - continually. But it was so brilliant to get on-board at Dahran and order champagne, or vodka/orange or whatever - "as soon as we take off" - actually I think the rule was - "once we leave Saudi airspace"....
The downside was arriving at Schipol Airport Amsterdam at 02:00AM with the whole airport closed - and having to wait for your first flight out at maybe 07:00 or whatever.
Memorable incidents were:
The desert - going out in a 4WD and just turning the engine off - and walking 200 yards away - you could hear each other talking at normal volume over hundreds of yards - the peace.........
Ras Tanura - this was a "resort" up the coast - not really it was just a bit more "holiday" than Al Khobar, and Aramco had sailing and other "clubs" there. The big trick was to get a pass (each time you arrived back in Saudi/Aramco) that allowed you into these and other (golf courses etc) recreations.
The beach at Ras Tanura - very select!!.......
Sea-snakes - curl up on the beach in winter - I remember Rick kicking one he thought was dead - not a happy snake. Also he did a scuba-diving course and said they (the sea snakes) seemed partial to a certain type of glove that divers wore - he said you'd be in a circle doing some exercise/practice and across from you, you'd see someone with their arms up - and a snake happily chewing on their gloves!!!
I enjoyed zotting about in the Aramco 737 - just to go shopping at Hofuf oasis on a weekend (Thursday/Friday). You'd fly over massive palaces in the desert, wonderful to see (green, water - beauty) kept immaculate and ready at short notice - and the King/Princes may never visit!!
Lived in a house in Al Khobar for a few months with other Contractors - also lived in Ramada Inn for a while (after they moved us out of the Marriott and into North Camp).
There was Main Camp (very nice) - and where we stayed for about 6 months - North Camp (basically very large trailers parked in the desert - thousands of "workers"
North Camp views...
Not too nice!!
Also house-sat for Bob ??? New Zealand guy - big house in Main Camp - had 2 Saluki dogs.....
In the
back-garden..
and a Toyota Land Cruiser (the really old one) - 5.+ Litre engine, I used to
take the dogs for a run over the golf course (that's it parked at the golf
course - have no idea where the Salukis are!!) - in reality they jumped out of
the Toyota and I hardly saw them again. I can remember one group of players
lining up a putt (remember the golf course has no grass (you have to take a
square of astro-turf with you for second/third etc shots) and the greens are
re-swept after each group passes through - they are sand sprayed with oil) and
just as he was on his backswing - booooom!! the 2 dogs zoomed through the
complete green at total Mach 19 - the golf foursome didn't know what hit them -
and I was quarter of a mile away - deciding to stop shouting unless I drew
attention to myself as the "owner" of bastard dogs.
Foreground is
sand sprayed with oil - to make a "green". A one-ball lining up a putt!
Lots of booze stories - it being totally banned in the country and fully available - one guy dropping a bottle on the bus home - and the whole bus smelling of alcohol - another guy blowing himself up (dead) - trying to brew the stuff at home - Aramco houses used to have a room set aside for this - with instructions for operating a Still on the inside of the door.
General views in and around Al Khobar...
This one may be inside Main Camp...
So there you are - a boring year - and I've run on.........what were the positives?
The money, the desert, initially the Marriott Hotel and useful work experience (I still reckon their way of getting User Departments to justify in financial terms any Computer Hardware/Software purchase - it having to pay for itself in savings within 2.5 years - is the best way of deciding whether to go or not go with a project).