Nad-e Ali blog 8: New lift-pump anyone?

It's hard to believe I've been back from leave for two weeks. Some days it feels as though I've been back two days, some days it feels like two decades. Time's a funny thing....

So much has happened. 3 Para finally signed off last night and handed over to 42 Commando (remember how we have to pronounce that, right? Not "forty-two" but "four-two") and I am getting used to food now being "scran" and not "scoff", loos being "heads", a "brew" is now a "wet"; and the cookhouse the "galley" - and the guys are "bootnecks". All quite nautical eh? But why would you want to call yourself a bootneck? Oh well....  Note to 42: it would be nice if the scran/scoff in the cookhouse/galley became tastier/nicer. And more/lots of it.

Lots of travel too in the last two weeks with many a "happy" hour spent being bounced around in the back of a Mastiff armoured vehicle. I'm just glad my fillings are secure. Lots of shuras, lots of meetings, lots of shaking hands and lots of wishing "salaam" all of which is resulting in progress being made and builds on the good work previously achieved. 3 Para gave the insurgents a pretty good talking-to last autumn (or Fall if you are a US reader) and, so far at least, they have not come back. It's early days yet: the poppy harvest is about to start and, traditionally, Brother Taliban is not ready to pick up his AK47 till after that. Got to  take care of business first, right? The departure of the Taliban has increased the confidence in the communities and their willingness to engage with both the Afghan Government and ISAF. So agreements are happening over the setting up schools, clinics, mosques..... all really great news. The local representatives of the government ministries are beginning to travel and meet the people and, generally, there seems to be a bit of an "up-tick" as the US military describe it. Long may it last.

Of course all is not sweetness and light. Light especially. I got back last night, hot, dirty and dusty, from a series of meetings and poundings in a Mastiff - to find our generator had packed up. A broken lift-pump. I knew nothing about lift-pumps before yesterday. Now I love them dearly. And I want one. A new one. We have no power. This means no lights, no AC (and we now have temperatures in the mid-30s and rising rapidly) and, most importantly, no Internet. What did we do before the Internet? Has there been an invention that has more impact on life than the Internet? I can do without lighting. I can manage in 30 degrees of heat at night. But no email? Can't check the footie results? Which reminds me: FA Cup Semi-Final:  Manchester City 1 Manchester United Lost. I have waited for that moment for more decades than I really want to think about. Manchester must have been en fête. And London, Singapore and Dublin - and bits of Stretford - in mourning. Thank you, God.

And talking of all His creations: poppy harvest. Just in case you have never seen any, here are a couple of photos of poppy in full bloom. Heroin on stalks. There are fields and fields of the stuff. And it's really pretty. Red, white, pink.... the Governor's poppy eradication program has been zipping around the district chopping poppy down - much to the horror of the growers. But he did warn them. And growing it is illegal.

So that's the latest: military handover; progress on projects; poppy chopping; and City in the FA Cup final. Ain't life Grand? Can we now have some up-ticks on the scran? And a new lift-pump.