1st leg completed

...ah the joys of an airport hotel...might be 5* but I may as well have been sleeping on the runway. Managed 2hrs kip before the Director I was meeting rang me to arrange our rendezvous :o/

The Iraqi airways flight eventually took off from T2 an hour and a half late. Getting used to this type of erratic approach to timetables now and just buried my head in a book and stood back from the mêlée that ensued when the gate opened...you'd think that there weren't enough seats on the aircraft or they desperately needed to flee the country. I guess queueing really is a British institution...

Fortunately I'd also been warned to expect a bun fight at immigration when I landed at Basra that's exactly what it was. I think the basic premise is if you're not Iraqi, you automatically go to the back of the queue. Eventually got my health stamp and then had to go to another booth for a visa. The guy behind the desk gave me a big smile and put my passport separate from the others to be processed. Wasn't sure how that boded but it turned out to be a good omen as once he'd collected the others in he pushed mine out first so I was actually waiting in the arrivals lounge when my colleagues turned up which is apparently un-heard of.

So first impressions of the Combined Operating Base is a huge site with approx. 9km perimeter. There's nothing but sand and a mass of shipping containers used for everything from accommodation to shops, cafes and gyms. Very military looking...to be expected I suppose....concrete blast walls, razor wire and armed guards as well as a Phalanx (fast-reaction, rapid-fire 20-millimetre gun system that provides defence against missiles, destroys them mid-air which I'm hoping I won't hear going off!). It's all set out on a grid basis so with no discernible differences it's a bit of a rabbit warren which didn't help when I tried to find my way back to the office in the dark tonight.

Bizarrely in the middle of the camp shielded by a bunker there's a coffee shop with rows and rows of amazing looking patisserie. On the basis of such promising coffee breaks I thought I might manage a few days here ok but I'm reliably informed they're nowhere near as nice as they look..."gutted" as Minor Mayhem would say.