Nowruz 1391

Happy New Year, or Nowruz! It is now the year 1391 (Iranian Calendar). A calendar believed to have been created by Zoroaster, it is used in a number of countries in this region. Nowruz marks the first day of spring, the day of the astronomical vernal equinox, usually March 21 or a day either side. So today, in Afghanistan was a public holiday.

So I thought I'd have a day off from "serious blogging" too and instead just tell you a little bit about my day.

I woke early, because it was cold! Now, I know for you Canadians this isn't cold, but they tell me that it was about -5 overnight, but the wond chill factor took it a few degrees colder, (it's spring, it's warming up). My bedroom is in a big, old, two storey house, the windows don't seal properly, and you can hear the wind squeezing through the gaps. I sleep under two very heavy, thick blankets that make it impossible to move once you're under them.

A few days ago (allegedly) the Taliban blew up a section of the oil pipeline from Turkmenistan which is Herat's supply, and the fuel for their electricity generators. So we are having increasingly frequent electricity cuts. So no heaters, no lights, no hot water, no internet. The house generator roars to life outside my room at about 6:00am. But this is a good thing because then the world starts to warm up. (Apparently the power limiting will continue for a while.)

Anyway, I'm up; I get breakfast and I'm off by one of a number of different routes to the office by about 8:00am. Depending on the day's activities, I'll start with a security update, and I'll spend time with staff in the office or visit a project in the field. I'll try and keep up with emails and drink some tea. And if it's like yesterday, I'll try stay out of the cold wind.

There's a 6:00pm curfew, so it's back into the team house and working from the house office, or having a drink and chatting with the programme team until we get our dinner at about 8:00pm. It gets dark about 7:00pm and that's about when the power went off tonight. But this time the big generator needs a rest! So the small one is fired up, but we can't run heaters on it. So tonight it might be an extra blanket.

And that's my day. Fascinating and exciting isn't it? :)