The third episode of Once Upon A Time In Iraq was very interesting. It centred around the US clearing operation of all insurgents in Fallujah, the serious wounding of an Iraqi baby and his mother and the death of a US marine whilst escorting a reporter to take a photo of a dead insurgent in a Minaret. The journalists had been following the marines since the beginning of Operation Phantom Fury had stuck with them through street fighting and house-to-house clearance operations. The journalist wanted to go alone to the minaret in order to take the photo however the commander insisted he was escorted by the marines. He wanted the photo as evidence that terrorists were using places of worship, protected under the Geneva Convention, to carry out their activities. Initially, the marines were unhappy about having the journalists with them however changed their opinion when they got to know them.
Another part of the episode centred upon an Iraqi baby seriously wounded with his mother. The Iraquis had been warned by the Americans that the attack would be coming and told to leave the city. Many left but those with little money, no transport or no relatives outside the city remained. The mother was carrying the baby when she got caught up in the conflict. The baby was seriously injured and taken to a hospital where the mother was told to expect him to die of his wounds. Later, the Americans came to the hospital and arrested the doctors so the patients were then left unattended. As things turned out, the baby ended up in USA where he was cared for and fitted with a prosthetic leg. He is now a teenager living back in Iran with his family.
It was another outdoor night after some IT support tasks which I needed to attend to out of hours. There was no music and very little noise. I even recorded the night on an app which only records when there is a significant sound nearby. Luis barking for example – not that he would, of course!
I was expecting the Promontory to be stuffed full of FreeLoaders considering the number of vehicles littering the car park. The small tents stationed near the Big Rock were still in position and other tents and maggots were on the Big Beach. We went across the Big Beach once but there were quite a few people out and about at 05:15 on a holiday Sunday morning. Despite this, we completed our circuits and headed towards the river valley for the second part of the extravaganza. During one of the circuits, Kostas passed us in this 4×4 as he arrived to collect his salt. We had a chat and he bemoaned the demise of Dave and Boris now over two years on.
We met up with VGD who remained tranquil despite both Luis and Fido barking at him.
He made a bit of a fuss when we walked away as I think he might get a little lonely. We were soon overtaken by BullDozer Man in his Mitsubishi van. We caught him up and I asked if he was working but he replied he was there only for maintenance. You may have heard me say that there is no word for ‘maintenance’ in the Greek Language however one exists after all!
We walked on and passed him servicing his machine as we returned by the valley floor. Only Luis barked at him very briefly, the others ignored him. We clambered over the, now diminishing, pile of rocks under the road bridge to come out by the sea. I sat for a while so the dogs could swim. Plus One approached in the distance so all but Obi and Skinny went to investigate. Only Luis and Isabella entered the water after him and they appeared to be being nice to him. They came back and Plus One evaporated. We continued back to the camping and I went for a swim.
It was gone 08:00 so more people were in the water. My swim evolved from a twenty-minute affair into a forty-five minute trip to the small island and back. I’m not sure quite how that happened and Luis would have been very bored had he been there. He’d self-bathed his bottom earlier with Plus One.
I showered under the hosepipe, made breakfast and fed the dogs. I had to check on the work I’d started the previous night and there were a number of support events including a couple of calls from Mr Lawrence as his wife had locked herself out of her laptop but needed to work. I’d restored her documents from their home backup and put them on Simon’s work laptop which he planned to bring to his home so Jean could work.
I spent time finding a replacement for Jean’s laptop as she’s decided it’s past it’s prime and could do with replacement.
I also put up the SunBlocker as there is no strong wind forecast. It is a little windier now but it has been generally almost still all day.
Other than that, the day has just passed me by although I cooked a corn on the cob, some potatoes and cauliflower later on.
People have left the camping and I think some of those stuffed up against my fence have packed up: although they’ve not really bothered me, I’ve not worried about them. They’ve had bouts of noisiness but then so have the dogs…
It looks as though the Season Finale has come and gone…
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