Valhall's Bouillabaisse

Unexpectedly, the repairs of MOT Delta's vehicles were finished last night at about 2000. But we didn't leave for Aybak, because M told me that they had gotten another assignment for Sunday morning from COS (the Chief of Staff). "Så det blir sovmorgon för dig", he said and laughed. I was not amused. In the morning, instead of sleeping late I gathered my things after breakfast, read for about an hour and went to the gym. After a quick lunch I hurried to the RVP (rendez-vous point) with my gear, only to find that the guys in delta had just arrived from their patrol and would have lunch before we leave, which for me meant 30 more minutes of waiting. It was quite hot, so I took off my equipment vest and combat body armour and went to get a cold drink and enjoyed in the shade.


One more peculiar sign spotted in Camp Northern Lights!

The trip to Aybak went fine, except slower than usual. The RG-32 vehicles are slower than our MB 28oG's. In Khulm there was a traffic accident where a van had driven off the road and fallen on its side. We stopped but as no-one was injured and the driver had things under control, we drove on. Our Finnish safe house was crowded as usual, but we managed to fit in, myself, two gentlemen from PRT staff, and MOT D. The Swedish MMT and American Tracker were there, as well as two Nato signalists, one from Croatia and the other one from Germany, but both Polish policemen were on leave. This is a truly multinational operation. It felt good to be back.

The news about the withdrawal of the other candidate from the second round of the elections has been the cause of much speculation, but for now it seems that the elections are on. We had a briefing about the current situation in Samangan province and another about our tasks during the elections. In the evening I washed some laundry and organised some things that I brought back from CNL.

The lunch in the dining hall or mess hall, Valhall, in CNL today was something special: a bouillabaisse with saffron. In the soup was salmon, mussels, crab, giant prawns, and octopus, and also some vegetables. Last night's dinner was also excellent: grilled lamb with cream potatoes and red wine sauce. The cooks really try to do the name of the place justice, not that the food at the PO is in any way of a poorer standard.


"The Hall of the Slain"