Friday, September 03, 2004

Take One Goat...

How To Activate A Chemical Processing Plant In Iran

* Check the infrastructure for leaks
* Prime the pumps and condensers
* Sacrifice the goat
* Switch on the plant

Say what?

The Brother was round for beers and home made curry tonight. He brought the beers (courtesy of a recent excursion to Belgium), I provided the curry. It never fails to amaze me how other people's lives are so much more interesting than one's own. The Brother specialises in turning on or turning off Big Engineering. Last year he was in Iran, Saudi, Belgium and Ellesmere Port. I'm not sure which was the more distressing assignment.

Tonights 'funny foreigner' tale was concerned with activating a processing plant in Foreign. The nightmarish complex of pipes and tubes was designed in England and assembled by the local workforce. And by all accounts, an excellent assembly job was done. My brother turned up to do the final checks and press The Big Red Button.

And found the control room knee deep in blood. Well, a substantial puddle at least.

It transpired that the locals had decided to sacrifice a goat 'for luck'

My brother grinned at this point in the tale and said "You know what? In all the years I've been doing this, this was the first plant that started first time. And thats why I keep rabbits. In case I decide to do any DIY in the house...."

I think he was joking. I think.