Bill Price

May 2006 has seen a few movements, some more distant than others. On Monday 1st, Barry landed at Bangkok International Airport to start a new life. He soon got himself a new Internet Connection (that Alan code-named his life-line!) and an apartment into which he can put his computer. In addition, there have been mentions of food, booze and heavy nights, so we are all jealous.

Wednesday 10th, Linzi jetted off to the Med to join Giovanni on the Radisson Explorer for seven days of doing nothing. Marj got the job of dog and house sitting for a week, which at least gave her the chance to do some energetic housekeeping and dog-walking.

Sunday 28th marks the date when Donna and Ronny experience the advantage of having a mortgage. They move into Bentley Street, just round the corner from us.

* WPG2 Plugin Not Validated *Monday 18^th April saw us take off for Puerto Plata for two weeks at the Casa Marina Reef Hotel in Sosua. All inclusive food, drink and sunshine, can’t be bad. It’s in a really nice place overlooking Sosua Bay, and the gardens, pools and beaches are unbelievable. On the Tuesday we want to do the business – sorting out the bank, and getting an update from our agent, Froka, about the villa in Perla Marina. We had asked for them to arrange for us to inspect the property on the 20^th, and that had been done. 

The tenant has two young ladies staying in the villa, and they are making good use of the pool. Unfortunately he has decided to paint the walls of the villa green, but never mind.   

The winner of the Naff Souvenir competition. Sorry about the picture quality - something big had blocked out all the light.* WPG2 Plugin Not Validated *

Here’s the motley crew. From left to right Lady Marj in David’s jumper, the little rude boy, Invisible Mike, Anna and Heather.* WPG2 Plugin Not Validated *

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* WPG2 Plugin Not Validated *This trip was for Marj and I to see if there had been any progress in the building of our new apartment since last year. The construction at Senorio de Roda was originally expected to be complete in October 2005, but this was not to be.

We went expecting further delays, but happily all the construction on our block of apartments was complete. Still outstanding were just some of the internal fittings.

We went to the Notary in Torrevieja to authorise our Lawyer to sign the contracts and take possession of the keys as soon as everything is complete. We instructed him to pass the keys to our good friends Richard & Carol (who live in Spain) who will take charge of the furnishings and linking up with rental agents.

The first meeting of the Couples couples in 2006 was in London. We’d agreed to have a Theatre weekend in March, so your blogger, as honorary Convenor, was tasked with finding and booking the hotel and theatre. Luckily the internet connection in Kabul stayed up, and londontown.com got us a good deal at the Copthorne Tara in Kensington. Finding a play or musical was more difficult; because we had to ensure the entertainment would keep David awake, rather than everyone else from his snoring. We eventually settled on The Producers at the Royal Court, Drury Lane, and paid Ticketmaster the normal ticket cost plus charges. 

March 24th saw us meet up in the Hotel bar as normal. Invisible Mike & Anna had checked in at 2pm, when non-smoking rooms weren’t yet available, but by the time Dave and Heather, Bill & Marj arrived, our rooms on the 10th floor were ready. In the evening we sauntered round to a nice Italian Restaurant, where the food was fine and the service laid back. 

Back in the Hotel bar we held the Committee meeting, of which the highlight was the Treasurer’s report. Our investment portfolio is now extremely healthy, and although not enough to buy a round, should keep us in luxury in our Anchor Home at some point in the future. The Competition theme this time was “naff souvenirs”, which despite creditable entries dredged from places as far apart as Devon and Bangladesh, David won handsomely with his Beefeater duck from Stratford-upon-Avon (picture to follow) 

Our 15th anniversary holiday cruise in April 2008 could be to Alaska &/or Hawaii – more planning for the Convenor. The next meeting was to be planned for Canterbury at the end of September . 

Saturday morning saw us standing outside the hotel for an hour and a half. The Fire Alarm went off at 7.50am, and we weren’t allowed back in until 9.15am by the Fire Brigade. As recompense, the hotel provided everyone with a free breakfast. 

After breakfast, we took a stroll through Hyde Park, visited the Diana memorial, up Park Lane to Oxford St and into Selfridges for ages and ages. In the evening we took taxis to Covent Garden, and had dinner in an Anatolian Restaurant. At the Royal Court theatre we enjoyed The Producers, ice creams at £3 each and bottled water at £2. 

Taxis home took us back to the hotel Bar – where Mike was invisible again! We took photos with mobile phones and passed them round by Bluetooth.  After Sunday breakfast, we all checked-out, and got our various taxis & trains home.  

Here’s a photo of Chloe.

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I nearly missed this one, because the tickets and visas didn’t come till the last minute. The Emirates e-ticket was fine; the UNHAS e-ticket was stuck in someone’s inbox (not mine!); the real problem was the visa. In order to get a new visa I had to have an invitation letter from Kabul, and this time one from the British Council as well. The internet in the British Embassy in Kabul was down, and then I would be in Thailand and Dhaka. So I had to use the old passport for Thailand, and get photos and forms posted to the caring arms of the British Council in Manchester, and hope everyone worked out - which it did.
Everything came through with about two days to spare, so I quickly booked a chauffeur and a window seat with Emirates, and started packing.

On 11th February I was picked up at 4.45pm, and whisked through the permanent M60 roadworks to check-in. I had a big argument with the staff, because they wouldn’t put the usual “Short Transfer” labels on my cases, to ensure they got over to Terminal 2 at Dubai. While I pursued the Manchester with the Emirates rep, the check-in dragons went before her and my backs to give their side of the story to her boss, and had her overruled.

Up to the Executive Lounge for a coffee and a paper, and before long I was standing in the cattle pen that masquerades as Gate 26. Luckily I knew the ropes, and pushed my way forward to get on board at the same time as people in wheelchairs and families with small children. The cabin crew soon had my jacket hung up and champagne poured, so not too bad really.

No sleep again, but never mind. Once in Terminal 1 at Dubai I had a few hours to kill, and as I was not waiting for another Dubai flight, my Silver Skywards flight didn’t work enough magic to get me into the Business Lounge - bring on the Gold Card! So I went and priced up booze for Barry and Alan, and various other duty free for family members. Then I bought half a dozen postcards and scrawled on them while I had a coffee.
10am is the time to go over to Terminal 2, but they had a surprise for me - the system had changed yet again. Instead of getting a boarding card at the door, we were to get proper tickets with seat numbers, and were led upstairs like a troop of boy scouts, to queue up for special cards - only to be led down again for them to be distributed.

Into the grotty minibus for the unpleasant trip to Terminal 2, which has all the glamour of Blackpool Airport. Everyone was just sat around reading their books, or in some cases smoking directly under the No Smoking signs - but no-one did anything about it.

The plane was an hour late arriving (i.e. it had left Kabul late) so we didn’t get into Kabul until nearly four o’clock. By the time the British Embassy guy had got my luggage, it was getting quite late, and we left without my passport - with the words “Don’t worry” ringing in my ears.
Rahim (the Embassy driver) took me straight to the Guesthouse, and I was allocated the same ground-floor room I had in December - home from home!

Clive and Anthony soon returned from work, and we quickly opened a few cans of Becks for a double celebration- to mark my return, and drown our sorrows at the state of the project.

Monday 13th
First up was a meeting with with my old friends Messrs Baizayee and Rahimi, the Appintments Board Secretary, Clive, and Major Rob Hart from the Canadian Strategic mission, who had been allocated to work with us. The meeting was to agree proposals for non-PRR Ministries (don’t worry about it). Afterwards I met with Rob to see how best we could work together.
In the afternoon I sat down with the Secretary and senior specialists form the Board to find our how much progress had been achieved since December. Not much, but some wondewrful and varied reasons why!
That was followed by a meeting with the Chasirman of the Civil Service Commission Dr Mushahed, a former Mujahadeen commander, to get some strategic direction.

Tuesday 14th
I agreed to train the Commission HR “experts” in Criteria Based Assessment, so started writing four workshops for them - poor buggers.

Draft Assessment test for Graduate Potential
2pm Meeting Clive Rob & me with 5 Commissioners on lack of progress
3.30pm Meeting Dr Mushahed, Clive, Anthony, Rob

Wednesday 15th
11.30am Meeting Saddiky re LEP
Lunchtime was the highlight of the week. As Afghanistan is a ‘dry’ country, the only way we can get booze is to visit the ISAF PX, nicknamed the ‘Supreme Supermarket’- all sorts of drink, plus a full range of food, clothing and military-type purchases. Because this place is in a dicey area off the airport road, we have to be kitted out in flak jackets and keflar helmets, INSIDE an armoured car. What a sight - three old men looking like something out of Dad’s Army - good job there were no photos! Guess who forgot his passport - two minutes later we were off, and only 2 minutes away at the edge of time we drove through the checkpoints into the compound. Passing notices to check our guns, we grabbed our trolleys and started loading up cases of Carlsberg, Becks and wine, along with various t-shirts and snacks. Everything in US$, so nice and easy. We went back to the Guesthouse to dump our contraband, and drove back to the office as if nothing had happened.
2.15pm Meeting with 3 Commissioners to agree use of new interview forms

Thursday 16th
9am Meeting with Mr. Baizayee on Major Rob’s work with Elyas. They had developed a prposal for staff training - an example of traveling hopefully.

Friday 17th

The day off, so instead of prayers at tge Mosque, we went to the American Market at Camp Eggars, where I bought CDs and a Blackadder DVD. ISAF Market. After lunch I had another go in the Gym!

Saturday 18th
8.30am Chased Zarif to finish 2 documents on Workshops and 1 on Selection; then get Ashraf to pick up my dry-cleaning and something for lunch.
9am Meeting Rahimi on Internship Selection and CBA Workshops
12pm Seyar - IAB Specialist Teams doc
1.30pm Take Templates to Commissioners
2pm Meeting with Baizayee to catch up, and request date for full meeting
3.30pm Meeting with Baizayee & the Appeals Board to sort out responsibilities.

Sunday 19th
10a.m. Received CSFs for Graduate Internees from Rahimi’s Department
10a.m. Seyar - Take docs to Nazari and Noori; check with Secretary time of Mtg
Clive - Baizayee’s 2 queries
Zarif - Attendance list and 24 test papers
1.30pm CBA Workshop 1
3.30pm Meeting Adele McGorkin MOD Selection Testing

Monday 20th
8.30a.m. Zarif - postcards; Appeals Workshop; Dry Cleaning
11am Meeting LEP team on CBA
? Seyar - 14 sets of Role Play Handouts for Commissioners Meeting
2pm Appointments Board meeting on CBA. Cancelled.

Tuesday 21st
? See Baizayee with Clive about his two concerns; new meeting
Zarif HR workshop handout x 25
1.30pm CBA Workshop 2 - Min Perf Stds & Handout

Wednesday 22nd
10am Meeting Messrs Baizayee, Rahimi re President’s Office
2pm Appointments Board meeting on CBA.
Zarif - minimum performance standards document - type up
Zarif Translate Written Test for Rahimi
Pack papers and notebook for tomorrow

Thursday 23rd
Guesthouse meetings on Appointments Procedures & CS Law with Clive &Anthony
PX with Adele
Samarkand

Friay 24th
American market at Camp Eggars- went mad and bought CDs, Mont Blanc pen and TAG Heuer watch
then onto the ISAF market to get an MS Office disk

Saturday 25th
Turn Akbar’s notes into a Marking Frame for this afternoon
Seyar - New Role Play Document for HR Workshop on 25th
10am Meeting Shairzay with Clive - CSC Recruitment Panel Training; Schoolteacher assessment
1.30pm -3.30pm CBA Workshop 3 (Using Nahid exercise) (Application Forms,
Interviews, Test and Exercises)
Zarif - change $100; Tuc
(3pm Mushahed meeting)
(4pm Omar meeting)

Sunday 26th
Seyar - Appeals Workshop handouts
9.30am - 11.30am (Hotak, Wahidi & Baizayee not available) Appeals Board presentation - Take handouts, plan Ashraf, Khatera, Humayoun (Grade 3 Admin Officer)
4pm See Rahimi about Graduate Assessment test results and the written test
Give Zarif draft Baizayee report

Monday 27th
Zarif - Prepare CBA certificates
10.30am Dr Rahimi
(11am - 12.30pm Sherzai/Rahimi/Baizayee/Quan IARCSC Tashkeel)
Zarif - Reliability and Validity Handout for this afternoon
Seyar - Monitoring procedure for this afternoon
1.30pm - 3.30pm CBA Workshop 4 (Record keeping for Monitoring & Evaluation,
Reliability & Validity handout)

Tuesday 28th
Morning meeting and Lunch Guesthouse Clive/Anthony - draft Monitoring Procedure and Civil Service Law
2pm Meeting Rahimi, Baizayee, Mosawi on changes to the Appointments Procedures
4pm Meeting Ms Rahela, with Clive & Anthony
Zarif - $30
Pay Guesthouse Bill

Wednesday 1st March
9 Alawi & Rafiqi
Handouts to Rahimi, Paikan & Noori
11.30am - 1.30pm - Tank Graveyard and Supreme Supermarket
2pm Meeting Messrs Alawi & Mosawi
(3.30 - 4pm Certificate Ceremony)

Thursday 2nd
(9am Tashkeel meeting)
9am Naziri and Noori
1.30 - 2pm Mosawi
note to Noori
letter to Baizayee
3pm Zarif - Transport & UNHAS ticket

Friday 3rd
Markets - Watch, MS Windows
Pack books and toffees to give as farewell presents

Saturday 4th
Worked at the Guesthouse on revisions to the Appointments Procedures

2pm Wash-up session and submit Final Report to Baizayee
check with Yousufzai, Dr Rahimi & Paikan
Pay Guesthouse Bill
Shandiz Iranian Restaurant - eight of us - Clive Anthony and me, Zarif Seyar and Jamshid, drivers Ashraf and Rasul

Sunday 5th
Travel Day
7am Rasul took me to the Airport
Met Chris & Jalma while waiting for the UNHAS
Dubai duty free, business lounge
I sat in seat 1F on the flight home, and chatted with a guy who works around the world sorting out Foundry Ceramics
Manchester, Chauffeur home, right on time for Corrie at 7.30

I was asked to consider a long project in Bangladesh, where my expertise in Occupational Psychology, executive development, OD and international civil service reform would be useful. This would require me to move to Dhaka for three years.
This sounded great, so I worked on the project and the final presentation from Afghanistan and the UK, and expected to participate in the presentation in Dhaka in mid-December 2005. The date slipped, but OK, that gave us more time to work on the detail, and I liaised with John Wallace from the Helm Corporation, who would be the other full-time international consultant

The presentation was finally set for 25th January 2006, and flights were arranged for me to go out overnight on the 22nd/23rd to take part in the preparation meetings. I was booked on BA, the shuttle from Manchester and the flat bed of Club World from Heathrow to Dhaka. Sleep was impossible because of small children playing and screaming; and I had to wait an hour for my Priority suitcase to reach the carousel at Dhaka International Airport. Finally through immigration, I got a lift to the Marriott Guest House in Gulshan 2. I was very impressed – things had picked p considerably in the last ten years. I finally got some sleep and had some breakfast at 1pm. The staff were very helpful and attentive. They fixed me up with an internet cable for my laptop, water and soft drinks, and even meals on demand. My car came at 2pm, and took me downtown to the Helm Bangladesh office, where I met John, Mike, Barbara Samira & June. We had our first planning session for the presentation and interview. In the evening Mike Fraser took John and I to his favourite Indian Restaurant, where we had dhosas and a great curry.
Tuesday was a full day planning meeting, so we had a chicken noodle takeaway for lunch, and I ate dinner in the guest house.
On Wednesday morning, John’s driver picked me up for the last planning meeting, at the other HB office in Gulshan. We finalised the presentation and then went to the DFID office. John gave the presentation, and Mike allocated team members to answer questions over the next hour. Everything seemed to go OK, and we were told a decision would be made the next day. After the presentation, John showed me around Gulshan and banana, to see the sort of accommodation and facilities were now available. I was sure Marjorie would enjoy it here.
In the evening I was invited to dinner at the residence of June Rollinson, the British Council Director – a great meal including Parma ham – must be a rarity in Dhaka.
I was picked up at 3.30am the next morning to check in at the Airport for the return flight to UK, and only had about 30 minutes in the executive lounge before we were off. I had a bit of sleep on this flight, which was great. After landing in Heathrow, I got the bus from Terminal 4 to Terminal 1, and waited in the Executive Lounge for the shuttle up to Manchester. Linzi and Marjorie met me at the other end and whisked me home through the M60 roadworks.