6 June 2017

It was a short night for me; re-surfaced around 23:00, I think and woke up at 5:00. I wish these new-fangled computers could dim – the screen is too bright as I sit in the dark. I’ve opened one curtain in the lounge, it’s such a beautiful view! City lights along the beach with the morning star guiding in the new day. I’m thinking of my future, trying to discover where I want to be and what I want to do. In that light, it doesn’t feel as terrifying as ‘wondering where I’ll be sent next, and what I’ll be doing’. Choice is purely a matter of attitude in my case. Project work brings a lot of uncertainty with it – but on the plus side: also a lot of variety! I think the variety is the only reason I’ve lasted this long in this job. I’ve never made it to 3 years my entire life, yet here I am: 6 years and going strong. I’m here at least until September. Then, however, I’ll need to decide.

Just made myself another cup of coffee and on the way back saw the first light of dawn, so I snapped a lot of photo’s trying to capture the beautiful colouring! I’m not a good photographer, mostly I use the point-and-click smart settings; but I do enjoy capturing what gives me pleasure – and my memory fills in the missing shades.

I’m a sort of jack-of-all-trades master-of-none; professionally and with my hobbies. My father called it my biggest flaw, that I start so many things but never finish anything. That’s why he introduced me to philately, hoping I’d stick with it. Well, Papa, I have! Sort of. All my stamps and books on philately are still with me. I haven’t touched them in over a decade, but I’ve not given up; though I know that’s not what you meant. In the windy city (Port Elizabeth), philately is NOT a good idea – even with all windows closed, there’s always air movement. So they’ll travel with me a little further before I attend to them again.

Well, it’s time to go to work.

Afternoon lull at work. Project manager & Client Team Manager just arrived and are on a walkthrough of the site. On Thursday we get yet another site manager, the 4^th one in less than one year! Seeing as the project is nearly finished, this should be the last. I’m wondering whether this will affect my work and my contract. Each site manager has his own idea of what the site secretary’s duties are – and altogether I’ve by now worked for 7 site managers. 1 Austrian, 3 Germans, 1 Philipino and 2 South Africans.  It’s been my experience that my duties are directly proportional to the relevant site manager’s competence. The most competent site managers delegate, the least competent issue instructions. On one site my most challenging duty was to get the guys their daily breakfast! The rest of the day I was nothing more than an animated printer. Every morning I received an e-mail with precise instructions to print this, hang that up there, file this here and write that there – while listening to the site manager’s non-stop monologue going ‘I’m the greatest manager ever! I am so fantastic! I am the best-looking man on site!’ I kid you not! He even had a superhero name for himself and talked about himself in the third person! Luckily I was able to escape after three months. Urgh! Let’s not go there again!

This project has been the most challenging and fun one for me. The first site manager was highly competent – and arranged that I have access to the project folder on the server. At the start of the project, I got involved in the logistics – co-ordinating the transportation of containers off the vessels to the plant with the Transporter Company and offloading the containers with our team on site. I soon found a website where I could track the ships – as a joke one of the Line Managers asked me at how many knots it was travelling, which I promptly answered. Which earned me the nickname ‘Captain’ with regular ‘Aye, Aye, Captain’s being thrown my way.

I was about to add how that task got even trickier when the client suggested I co-ordinate ALL container transportations – when the lull ended and work got busy again. The drive home was unusually quiet as the car radio decided to stay switched off. It’s been playing up lately, switching itself off for no apparent reason.

Most weekdays I finish work at 16:00 and enjoy a 30-40 minute drive home. I drive out of mountainous Uitenhage towards coastal Port Elizabeth, past the occasional pond sometimes abandoned, sometimes teeming with fowl. Some of the scenery I pass is beautiful. Turning into John Talliant Road the factories briefly overwhelm sight, sound and smell - only to lead to the Indian Ocean. Coming up the hill heading for Brighton Beach looking ahead it’s ocean and ships, and for a brief moment, before turning onto the N2, there’s a feeling of greeting, almost like a brief spiritual merging with the ocean. Hello, I’m here. Driving alongside the sea, watching the waves crash against and over first the rocks, later the Dolosse. On this stretch I don’t mind if the traffic is slow – I simply enjoy. Looking across the sea to the harbour it often appears to form a hill! It’s a strange effect and I don’t yet know its cause.

After a brief stretch of city-traffic I’m home. On the last km the radio decided to switch itself on again, so I had a few minutes of Peer Gynt before parking the car in the garage.  I noticed the Council hasn’t collected the garbage – again! Had a nice long chat with my neighbour, she mentioned the builders would be coming tomorrow to sort out the rising damp on the west side of our building. I live upstairs from her. Our homes are built identically one above the other, so my kitchen is above hers, etc. I mentioned that I occasionally catch a whiff of a strange pong when I enter the bedroom – and she, strangely, has the same experience in hers. It can’t be coming from the roof, nor from her garden, nor from the neighbours – or we wouldn’t both catch just the odd whiff now and again; with no clue to the source.

Dinner tonight was what I call fast-food: steamed potato with butter. Watered all my pot plants, made lunch for tomorrow, decided to try the luxury relaxing lavender bath salts tonight – didn’t feel worth the price, but nice enough.  Anyway, it’s nearing 22:00 so I’m off to bed.