Stranded Poems: May 2008

Small break from wellsite life

Don't worry friends, almost two years of working in coveralls and hardhat, covered in mud and up all night, hasn't changed me that much ;-)

These pictures are from yesterday's short 'sfilata di moda' to spice up an Italian TV program. I helped out a friend of a friend who designes wedding dresses and evening wear, by trying to look pretty. Some Italian hairstylist there had fun with my hair, and clearly has a different idea of 'pretty' than I do :-s
Ok, back to coveralls and a day of good rough work!

Rainbow round the sun!

It happened this afternoon. You might not believe it, so I took pictures ;-)

(Note for the Irish people: where does the crock of gold go when the rainbow is circular?)

Sunrise ... sunset ... sunrise ... sunset ...

These past months, the activity for us engineers here got crazy and I spent most of my days at wellsites and on platforms in the Croatian and Italian Adriatic sea. As usual between my job being very busy, there were lots of lovely moments, even if I didn't have time to post them here till now. Here's a small picture overview to share them with you:

...Sunset...

...Moonrise...
Both pictures taken from the same place and at the same time.

'Walking' on the beach waiting for a job to start at a wellsite nearby.
I don't accept comments about my clothes ;-)

At the end of March I jumped on a plane back to Belgium for just 3 days, including one doctor's visit, 2 walks in the countyside and 2 family parties in different cities! (the schoolbook example of good time management skills ;p )

Always nice to have cousins who can dance!

I had a walk on the beach at home back in Italy one morning when I couldn't sleep (platform life doesn't exactly promote a normal biorythm), and found a garfish. Nice way to start the day!

Nothing like a nice restaurant and lots of food (and football, which explains why nobody else is looking at the camera) to de-stress. (trust me to pose, and then miss the only goal of the game :-D )

More food (it's Italy after all), this time a BBQ at our base where one of my collegues ate these shrimps alive!!!! Waaaaaahhhhh!!!
(and some others ran after me with them, iiiewww)

April, back offshore, where life is hard but you get energy and peace from the beautiful skies...

Snowy memories

Spring came and went, summer is here and I have left you all in the dark about my winter fun. Time to catch up!

Snowfun in Italy: teaching the Australians how to make a snowman. Coming from Belgium, with the limited snow to practice on in my youth, I was quite impressed myself :-)

I learned to ski this winter in Roccaraso, in the middle of the Abruzzo mountains. (note: white ski-clothes are not the best when you get lost)

End of Februari I got crazy being on an oil platform for too long and decided to either jump off the helideck, or fly to Utah for some rrrreal powder and amazing skiing... Which I did, via Rome, Zurich, Chicago and Salt Lake City. Feast for your eyes in Chicago O'Hare airport, where they have a light show in the walkway from one terminal to the other.

Plenty of resorts over there with 360 degrees of slopes all around. This is Brighton (if I remember well, I'm a little confused because we were skiing a different resort each day ;-) )

Look at the ski tracks on that mountainside, some of them are mine :-)

Met a moose in Park City. There was a real one living by the little river in the canyon up to Brighton, Alta and Solitude. (By the way, notice the bag from the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory... I bought so much chocolate and fudge I'm still eating it!)

Pretty pink bench in Park City

My cowboy boots feeling at home again in the No Name Saloon, after 4 years of walking all over Europe. (note for next time: cowboy boots on icy surfaces = bad idea + real Americans laughing at you)