Efes:
sandway:
Not much fun sitting in your hotel room in Baghdad with nothing to do even if you are on one of the top floors with fantastic views. So we organised a small group of exhibitors from the Baghdad Fair, hired two descent taxis with air conditioning, talked Hanan, one of the girls working in the British Pavilion to come with us as a guide and headed off to Babylon.Babylon is about eighty five km south of Baghdad and situated just outside the large town of Hilla by the Euphrates. A large part of the structure was in a bad state as the mud bricks were disintegrating but Sadaam Hussein had parts of it repaired using the traditional bricks which looked a bit odd but better than doing nothing.
We spent about three hours there. Of course we’ve all heard of the ‘Hanging Gardens of Babylon’ but I can tell you there’s definitely no gardens there now. Just the overpowering heat and dust. We were all pleased to have made the effort to see these famous ruins but doubt any of us would go back again. Best bit was having Hanan along as guide. This was a couple of years before she escaped from Iraq and made her way to Canada. I use the word escape as when the Iraq/Iran war was on only young children and the elderly were allowed to travel abroad.
Do you iron your jeans, Sandway? Looks like it…
Jeans–JEANS!!! Do you really think I was a Jeans person Efes. I have never worn jeans in my life, not even when broken down or changing a wheel or something equally dirty. Jeans indeed. Interesting what you said about Bill. I must have known him but as I keep saying, ‘the little grey cells are not what they were’. However, I do remember one company complain cos one of our rigid box lorries was to underpowered to haul two Ford Mavericks around the mountains in Spain. The lorry finally broke down and I had to fly out there to placate them and sort out a repair.
Talking about breaking down, my trusty Scania decided to do that on my first trip to Austria at Schladming. Unfortunately I didn’t have my camera with me but I did have Welly Ward alongside me. He of course soon made it clear that Promotor drivers weren’t allowed to hang around so after we had informed the office and a local Scania mechanic was on his way to me John roared off into the distance.
I am posting some general photos I took of Austria as well as a few I found on the web. However the last one of the castle was taken before, I think, the Austrian border at Salzburg in Southern Germany. Its well known so somebody will I am sure identify it.
