This camp is just a short drive from a nearby military airport which is also use for civilian purposes. This is quite handy as my company can fly me for 3hours on a commercial airliner to this airport from the capital of Tripoli. It is served by a rather old, Soviet-era passenger airliner, run by a Libyan company.

A week before I’m due to go on leave to the UK, the plane broke down. Now, normally you’d think, so what, they will fly a replacement plane. Nope, if it breaks down, that’s it until someone superglue the wings back on or something.

This mean I will be bussed to Benghazi, 7.5hours away via the coastal route rather than the straight desert road (it would take 3 hours if you survive it). This straight desert road is too dangerous for long distance travel and the desert road is known as “Death Road” because it is so unbelievably straight, and flat for the most part, with undulating terrain.

The glaring desert sun is hard on your eyes as you squint, and the shade temperature reaches 40c forming mirages. These play a trick for your eyes and your mind is working to remind itself that what you see is not what it is. The camber of the road is quite pronounced so you are straining to keep the car straight and not veer off, holding the steering at a very odd angle to keep it straight and putting a lot of strain on the overheated tyres.

Absolutely bugger all to see too.

It makes me tired after about 10minutes of driving on it.

People who drives on it are paranoid that the oncoming vehicle is not paying attention, so they flash their lights and if no response, they slow right down. A good technique.

Below image: close up of the desert by the roadside, not much to see…

Alison Byran summed up well about the problems of accessing videos on BBC website – there are no sign language on them (I’m not a sign language user myself but not having access is putting disabling into the word disability) and minimal subtitles.

Increasingly I’ve noticed articles on BBC News online are in video only, with no text articles (I can’t seem to find them anyway).

I’ve personally contacted the BBC about the online subtitling trial, saying I am very happy that it is happening, but they should really look at news videos as well.

So get mailing to the Beeb and let them know what you think! The BBC has a chance to clear the way ahead and it will do them good if they take this with a more serious eagerness than before.

In a routine, robotic fashion, I get washed and dress on a daily basis. I picked up a spray and sprayed my armpits. I then went to reach for a t-shirt when I felt a squelchy notion on my armpits. Shaving Foam.

Tonight, I had a bowl of curry – I put it down, and I went from a sitting position to a half-lying down position and £6 of coins fell out of my jeans and splashes into the bowl.

I’m glad I stayed in all day, who knows what else might have happened!

Walk down my street, and you could be well forgiven for thinking it was Christmas yesterday or that Christmas falls on 25th November.

Neighbours now started their one-upmanship on having the best Christmas tree(s) in their windows, the most rubbish (ie, inflatable snowman/santa/uglythings) in their gardens, and of course more lights on their exterior walls/windows than a small African nation.

Now, will people PLEASE take a reality check and follow these instructions on how to have a Christmas:

1) No Christmas decorations of any kind until a week before Christmas. Personally, my family used to put them up on Christmas Eve. That way, Christmas fatigue doesn’t set in as early as you would get it.

Also, who cares if your neighbour has a better decoration than you have – so keep it simple, don’t deprive your neighbourhood of electricity – number 31 on my street will be getting a bill for my laptop if I get a brownout when the kids come home from school to switch the lights on.

2) You do not need to have as much presents as the boy did in Home Alone. Your lounge is not Toys R Us. Therefore you do not need to spend as much time shopping. Stop commercialising Christmas.

3) Stagger your Christmas shopping.

4) Save money on cards, don’t bother. And save the trees and reduce the environmental effects of transportation of sending said stuff.

5) All the family should be together on Christmas Day, with a giant turkey, and all the clippings and booze up, but not binge drink.

Keep Christmas simple, in the family, and short. The shorter it is, the more you appreciate it and don’t feel sick of it by the time Christmas actually comes round.

While I’m on the soapbox, I’d like to draw your attention to my Amazon wishlist *coughs* http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/registry/2EY914QPFMKKW *coughs*

Oh, and one more thing. It has bugger all to do with Christanity except in name – we’re celebrating an ancient pagan festival that the days are getting longer again.

I have left my desk job in Holland now that I secured another job. I’m very very much looking forward to the new one.

It will take me all over the world, meeting new people and to areas where no one with half a brain cell would go to. I will get paid lots and tax-free soon!

To be eligible for tax-free income, I must not be in the UK for more than 3 months in a tax-year. So I’m planning new US roadtrips. I also get a third of the year off work to do my elaborate tax-evasion scheme.

Can’t beat that!

However, that’s all very well but if the job turns out to be unchallenging, not tasking my brain, then no perks in the world will make it better.

Anyway, enough rambling. My contract and associated paperwork was posted to my UK address in early October.

It didn’t arrive until the last week of October due to a typo in the address.

I duly filled out all the forms, and sent it back. A week later, it was discovered I needed to send another form back which wasn’t on the supplied checklist.

More delays. A renewed passport means my visa to a country somewhere in Africa needed renewing.

Bets are on now for whether I’ll actually get to go to work before Christmas. I need the money, as if I don’t, it will be two months without pay, and that’s over Christmas/New Year…

What is the point of having a Euro Cent coin?

No one ever bothers with it. Can’t use them in vending machines, shoppers don’t generally bother giving you any change involving a single cent coin. Say an item costs 51 cents. Rather than giving the shop keeper 60 cents (made up of a 50 cent coin and 10 cent coin) or even a euro coin, they just ask for the 50 cent coin. Same if its 53 cents, they sometimes prefer the 50 cent coin or charge 52 or 55.

As a result, Im building up a worthless pile of 1 euro cent coins that I can’t get rid of on the rare occasions I do get the exact change.

I have an interest free overdraft with a bank. Now that I’m in Holland, and because I’m deaf, I cannot telephone the bank to renew it over the phone like most people could do. It’s due for renewal in three days’ time.

So I got my mum to go into a branch and ask them to renew it, explaining that I’m out of the country and unable to renew it myself over the phone. She pointed out it would not cost me anything to keep it on as it was interest free, and I’ve had this for a long time now, so it’s just really to extend the status quo.

The bank staff, unusually, obliged to the request but then got a denied request (for the first time in six years), and then took my overdraft off and replaced it with half that amount and now accuring interest. I am now also being charged for being “over the limit” of the new limit plus extra high interest rates.

My mum pleaded with them to extend the original terms for just a week, so that I can come in.

They wouldn’t even extend the courstey to do that, and rather let me accrue my debts VERY rapidly whilst I am unable to do anything about it. They said it was “head office orders, you will need to ring head office to resolve this” whilst embarassed that head office would not acknowledge that I could not phone them. I was not best pleased.

As mysteriously as the overdraft being denied, it was reinstated without further intervention five days later to its original terms, and all charges refunded. It’s a strange one.

Last night, I got bitten by a fly (or flies) whilst I was asleep. All over both of my hands, on my forehead.

And one on my bloody eyelid.

So I squint all day at the office, and for the next few days whilst it’s swollen.