Wayward: Provincial Development Council

I forced myself to get up early to get some exercise, first on the treadmill and then on the cross-trainer. I forgot all about the food trucks, until P from the OCCP mentoring team came into the gym to remind me. Everyone helps along to get the food and water out of the truck and into the storage facilities quickly and smoothly. The meeting that wasn't yesterday, was today 1000. But before we got that far, I had had to answer five phone calls, write three emails, meet one building contractor at the gate, have two texts translated, and watch Isaf get soaked. (She was lying in the ditch, cooling herself down, when a flood wave came. The locals build dams in the ditches if they need some more water for washing clothes etc., and a dam was opened up further up the ditch.) This morning reminded me vaguely of some of the days last year, when I was second in command. Those were busy days, and this morning was busy.

The PDC meeting was rather entertaining, actually. The provincial governor got angry with the chief of the agricultural department. In the last meeting, the PGOV sent the chief away, but this time the governor settled for insults. "Everyone in your department are drunk by 5 pm every day", the governor said, and continued: "I know that your department is corrupt. I will find evidence and prove that you are taking bribes, and then I will have you all replaced". There were about 25 people in the room, heads of departments and provincial officials. Have I mentioned how important it is for Afghans to save face?

After the meeting we delivered a letter to the NDS. The air was cool (since when have I started calling 37 degrees "cool") and humid after the night's rain. The dove had swithed position - she was now facing towards the door. There are vast numbers of various versions of bugs and critters everywhere, even though all greenness is starting to disappear from the desert.

The afternoon saw me writing a number of papers, and reading an even larger number of them. The OCCP mentoring team returned from Marmal and brough a generator mechaninc with them. At 1700 it was time for the earlier Thursday briefing, and then the barbeque on the sundeck. Had we had the same weather as yesterday, there would definitely not have been any barbecue, but this evening was nicer than we've had it in a long while.