Saturday, July 19, 2008
In the Baghdad Doldrums
Today was an uneventful day. The day went slowly, beginning with an early morning decision to skip breakfast. At lunch we were going to head for Camp Liberty, but some of our IPA colleagues came back from the air base without getting on a plane for somewhere else. So we skipped Camp Liberty for lunch, planning to go there for dinner. But that got eclipsed by other not-very-compelling urgencies.
The steel trailers absorbed too much sunlight and radiated infrared. Cool water helped, but not much. More people arrived, taking some vacant beds in the tent. The internet seemed to stop working for awhile, so I read some of the e-book my son bought me online.
All in all, a day full of something that nautical Germans call "Windstille," a more descriptive term for the doldrums- literally, "No wind." That pretty much describes today- no wind nor other propulsive element to make progress in being here. Iraq just seems so far away and so close. The dust is out there, and the 120-degree heat makes any effort seem pointless. Inside, things are a bit more comfortable but the word "interminable" comes to mind in describing the slow way the day unfolds.
The steel trailers absorbed too much sunlight and radiated infrared. Cool water helped, but not much. More people arrived, taking some vacant beds in the tent. The internet seemed to stop working for awhile, so I read some of the e-book my son bought me online.
All in all, a day full of something that nautical Germans call "Windstille," a more descriptive term for the doldrums- literally, "No wind." That pretty much describes today- no wind nor other propulsive element to make progress in being here. Iraq just seems so far away and so close. The dust is out there, and the 120-degree heat makes any effort seem pointless. Inside, things are a bit more comfortable but the word "interminable" comes to mind in describing the slow way the day unfolds.
# posted by rich @ 7:12 AM 
