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bu1410 · 4 months

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Good morning TUMBLR - March 7th - 2024

''Mr. Plant has owed me a shoe since July 5, 1971."

Ch. VIII - 1985- 1989 - Bahrain - Part 2

Construction progress at Sitra GPIC Ammonia & Methanol Complex - Bahrain.

Tree of Life - Bahrain Desert

With collegues Mr. Mastronardo and Mr. Gigliola on the way to Tree of Life - Bahrain

Italy's Bahrain National Football Team

LIFE IN AWALI Life continued, but I couldn't handle the 3 fellows Italians that were sharing the wooden villa with me.

There a guy, Mr. Mura, a Sardinian who was part of the start up team (the first of a long series of Sardinians with whom I realized that, in the long run, you can't avoid quarrelling with). After a few days he began to dissociate himself from us, and started cooking tons of sauce and pasta just for him. Then Mr. Pasi , a guy from Romagna, always looking for a reason to spark discussions (for example that once you used the soap in the bathroom, you had to wash and dry it - the soap - before putting it back on the sink) Ronci had gone to live in another house (thank goodness…) but had been promptly replaced by another Italian, Mr. Serafino Girolami, from Ascoli Piceno. The onoly good and polite person of the group. We had hired an Indian as ''butler'' for the house: as per tradition in his country, he washed, ironed and prepared dinner if requested. And then he cleaned the oysters that we collected on Fridays at the seaside. We had bought a small used boat, and than one day we went to Manama to buy the engine at the Mercury dealer. We bought a new 35 hp outboard engine, loaded it into the pick up and left the dealer's yard. After a few meters, Mr. Pasi objected that 35 hp had too little power for the size of the boat, so we went back to the dealer and told him that we wanted to return the engine we had just bought and get a 50 hp one.

Yes but now this one you got is second hand – objected the Arab.

As second hand, it is still in its packaging! Mr. Serafino replied.

Yes – said the Arab – but if you want a 50 hp I can give you a good price. In short, as usual the Arab prevailed, and within a few minutes we lost 170 dollars. Every time we returned from collecting oysters from the sea in front of the Emir beach, Mr. Kutty's face betrayed how much it bothered him to wash and clean all those oysters! An Indian of the Hindu religion, Mr. Kutty told us that he did not drink alcohol – in practice, taking advantage of our absence, he chugged from the bottles of whiskey and cognac that we kept in the living room. He was told several times: - Mr. Kutty do you drink whiskey? - No Sir, I don't like alcohol. - Ok Mr. Kutty, but in case you decide to drink from our bottles, you can do it…. BUT DON'T REFILL THE BOTTLES WITH WATER, UNDERSTAND???? BECAUSE YOU SPOIL THE TASTE!!! - Yes, Sir, understand Sir…. But Kutty continued as if nothing had happened to put water in the bottles from which he drank, to make it appear that the level had not dropped …. No longer able to stand my housemates, I asked and obtained from the Chief of Staff to move to live with Mr. Ugo Cipriani - after obviously asking him if he agreed. He was one of the most respected elements of the start up team, to the point that once the plants were put into operation he remained as head of the operation of the methanol plant. Originally from Bolzano, he had built a house on a plot of land right below Montevecchia, my father's village of origin. Intrigued by my surname, Ugo one day asked me if I was originally from Montevecchia, where my surname is very common. Knowing that Montevcchia was my father's hometown, a lasting friendship and mutual respect began.

Being one of the ''Chiefs'', Ugo lived alone in a small house with two bedrooms, so my move to his house was no problem, with the understanding that I would have to move out when his family would arrived.

STAFF COMERINT had divided the staff and the various nationalities according to the plant they followed: the Italians, with the support of Indians and Bangladeshis, managed Methanol and Utilities - the English with the Pakistanis, were taking care of Ammonia plant. The participation of Italians in the operation of the plants and their maintenance was therefore widespread. They mainly came from the three chemical centers in crisis in Italy, namely Ravenna, Porto Torres and Gela. I therefore had the opportunity to meet a whole series of more or less valid characters, both from a professional and human point of view. And the latter was a source of more disappointment than satisfaction. For me the four years in Bahrain – side by side with so many different nationalities, represented a great school of life.

Mr. AMADEI ''The African'' Ettore Amadei, a methanol plant operator, was originally from Ravenna. We had made our first trip to Bahrain together – Ettore was coming from a somewhat traumatic experience in Somalia. Craxi's Italy, given the relations he had with the then dictator Mohammed Siad Barre (who had studied in his youth at the Military Academy of Modena) in the framework of cooperation in the former colony, had sent some technicians and a total of 7 .5 billion Italian lire in aid, with the aim of restarting a fertilizer plant in the capital Mogadisho. Ettore was one of those people who was a victim of that particular malaise called ''Africa sickness'' which affects many individuals after a stay in Africa. He had left a piece of his heart there in East Africa, and as soon as he met a black woman in Bahrain (a woman of Cuban origins) he immediately invited her to live with him. Our man had come to Bahrain with his beloved Bianchi racing bike in tow, and all the equipment to use it (boots, super-tight overalls, helmet, etc.). One day the Ministry of Sports of Bahrain organized a sporting event, one of those bicycle rides open to all cycling amateurs, that are also held in Italy. Ettore immediately signed up for the race. Obviously in his free moments he had trained conscientiously to make a good impression at the event. On the morning of Bahrain National Day everything was ready for the amateur cycle race: 45 km of ups and downs with start and finish line at the National Stadium. The participation of competitors and the public in the event was exceptional and enthusiastic. Ready to go and instead of tackling the first ramps leading towards Awali together, the participants began a dizzying event, at very high speed. Ettore, somewhat surprised, followed. We, his fans, were following in a car observing the unexpected development of the race. The more experienced among us commented that ''in Italy we don't do it like that, at least for the first few kilometers we're all together''. Somewhat worried, we followed the race, while in the meantime it was starting to get hot. After just a few kilometres, when he was facing a small climb towards the village of Riffa, we saw Ettore slow down his action and lose ground towards the group, until he stopped on the side of the road. We stopped the car, and suddenly we saw Ettore collapse on the ground!! We rushed to help him, while someone called the medical service. The ambulance arrived a few minutes later and took Ettore on board, who appeared conscious but extremely tired. He was admitted to the Bahrain General Hospital, where he underwent a series of examinations and tests with negative results, and discharged after two days of hospitalization. The diagnosis: simple illness caused by heat stroke. We, the colleagues, relieved by the positive conclusion of the affair, prepared a special welcome for Ettore's return to the plant. The entrance to his office in Main Control Room was carefully decorated, and a welcome sign taped to the door read:

- WELCOME BACK ETTORE! FROM NOW ON, IN CONSIDERATION OF YOUR AGE, YOU MUST MAKE A DEFINITIVE DECISION: EITHER THE BIANCHI (''The white bike) OR THE BLACK (The Cuban's woman.) But Ettore was not only passionate about cycling, he was also an animal lover. At the bird fair in Manama he bought an Indian blackbird. The bird soon learned a few words including the name of its new owner, so when Ettore left the bird in the cage on the terrace of the house - to the happiness of the neighbors - it repeated over and over again: - ETTOREEE….ETTOREEE…. ETTOREEEE…. A problem arose when Ettore decided to bring the blackbird to Italy, where his family - wife and four daughters - managed the Charly Brown bathing establishment in Marina di Ravenna. How to transport the blackbird? Someone suggested the solution that Ettore made for him: a few hours before leaving for Italy, I gave the blackbird a teaspoon of whiskey!! The blackbird traveled wrapped in a blanket inside Ettore's hand luggage - no one noticed anything (at the time the scanners in airports were not so efficient) and the blackbird woke up after 7 days in its new home in Ravenna.

ENG. CATALANO Engineer Catalano was our Direct Boss. Born in New York, he was living in Trieste, North/East tip of Italy. He was a man his '70, of encyclopedic culture. He spoke 5 languages fluently in addition to Italian and on the occasion of his final departure - to the amazement of the Arabs present - he gave his farewell speech in Arabic. The Arabs were looked at each other in the face and a question shone through their expressions: -How come, in all this time did he understood the jokes we were saying behind his back?? A mechanical engineer, he didn't understand anything about mechanics, but managed to get by brilliantly when the discussions became 'too technical'. On one of his first tours of the plant, passing in front of the large MACCHI boilers of the Utilities, he blurted out:

''Of course these methanol furnaces are truly gigantic!''. Catalano had been married to his Lady for 40+ years and the couple had no children – one day I asked him: - Mr. Catalano, have you ever thought about adoption?

The Engineer almost spilled the cup of coffee he was drinking….

Are you crazy?? he addressed me! Never, ever have my wife and I thought about adopting a stranger's child!! Who could assure us that we wouldn't bring home a deranged person? Or a serial killer? Or worse yet: A POSSIBLE FUTURE COMMUNIST !??

Mr. Catalano was literally terrified by President Tawfiq, and therefore had asked all of us to follow his moves, warning him in case Tawfiq left the so-called ''White House'' (where the President had his mega office) and approached the Technical Building , where Catalano used to massacred his nails.

Mr. ROSARIO CROCETTA Among the Italian colleagues worthy of note, there was a future politician of the Demotrtic Party and governor of Sicily. At the time he was head of the plant's data processing department. Extremely feared by his subordinates, he bossed them around and shouted unrepeatable curses and insults at the unfortunates in case of mistakes. When we moved to Manama to a new condominium rented entirely by COMERINT for us employees, Rosario was one of my neighbor on the fourth floor. Strange characters visited his apartment, but he justified himself by saying ''I'm learning ARAB Language.''

On your next holidays are you going to Italy, Rosario?

Well look… I think this time I'll stop in Egipt during the holidays, you know… to continue learning Arabic.

Mr. PALMIZIO GIUSEPPE Giuseppe was brought in from Italy following Tawfiq's dismissal of the fire chief. Originally from Palermo, he had lived in Gela for years and worked at the ENI refinery. Pleasant and ironic person, full of Sicilian anecdotes, jokes and proverbs - excellent cook, usually upon returning from trips to Italy he would delight us with his ''ziti con le sardines''. He took his wife and daughter to Bahrain, where they stayed for a whole year, and they went on to form that group of Sicilian families who were the protagonists of a not exactly edifying episode. Unfortunately Giuseppe was the victim of a serious accident while carrying out his duties. Among the tasks of the fire brigade team that arrived from Italy was the training of local elements who would one day have to replace the expatriates. To train future firefighters, special containers had been set up, with a sort of zigzag path inside, where bins with diesel had been positioned and set on fire.

. Wearing his firefighting suits, Palmizio accompanied 2 aspiring firefighters at a time through the fire, to ''get them used to'' a possible fire which in plants like the one in Bahrain could occur at any time. The first two passes inside the containers and through the fire went well. On the third pass, Giuseppe and the two Bahrainis did not exit the final door of the container! The rescue team, positioned outside, immediately intervened with fire extinguishers and oxygen masks. They were carried out in arms, after being found lifeless on the floor. Outside, after having resuscitated them, a serious mistake was made by the rescuers: they forcibly removed the Silvani fire suit from Palmizio, who, being on his third passage through the fire, appeared to be in the worst situation. The skin on his legs and partially on his shoulders and arms remained stuck to the suit, causing serious burns. Giuseppe was transported to the burn center in Manama, where he remained for 30 days in an aseptic room. We visited him regularly, talking to him through a microphone. The worst moments, he told us, were those of the daily bath.

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personal-reporter · 1 year

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Il Giardino delle Esperidi 2023 a Lecco

Dal 23 giugno e fino al 2 luglio torna Il Giardino della Esperidi, il Festival di teatro e arti performative organizzato da Campsirago Residenza tra i borghi di Colle Brianza, Olgiate Molgora, Ello, La Valletta Brianza, Sirtori, Valgreghentino e Olginate. Come sempre, la XIX edizione vedrà protagonista la performance itinerante declinata in varie forme tra sensoriale, esperienziale, inclusiva, in paesaggi naturali altamente suggestivi. Quest’anno il Festival ospiterà, tre prime nazionali, La capra, in scena all’alba e al tramonto domenica 25 giugno nella radura del bosco de La Fura, venerdì 30 giugno e sabato 1 luglio, nel bosco di Campsirago, sarà la volta di Humana Foresta della Compagnia Teatrale Petra in co-produzione con Campsirago Residenza; e infine, all’alba e al tramonto di sabato 1 e domenica 2 luglio, presso le Piramidi di Montevecchia, debutterà Sun Followers, del regista olandese Sjoerd Wagenaar, ispirato al personaggio di Giordano Bruno. Per la prosa ci sarà sabato 24 giugno a Villa Sirtori lo spettacolo Aldo morto firmato dalla “premiata ditta” Frosini/Timpano e interpretato da Daniele Timpano e, il 1 luglio, a Campsirago Residenza sarà la volta di Spezzato è il cuore della bellezza di Dammacco/Balivo. I due venerdì del Festival saranno all’insegna della giocosità, il 23 giugno, a Valgreghentino, si terrà Cucine(S) di Floriane Facchini & Cie, un banchetto che esplora il rapporto tra costruzione sociale, tempo e cucina, per condividere storie e saperi e il 30 giugno, a Campsirago Residenza, è il momento di WonderBoom! di Stefano Cenci: una performance surreale, creata ad hoc per ogni spazio che la ospita. Da non perdere, sabato 24 giugno, la versione accessibile della performance itinerante ed esperienziale Alberi maestri. Molti anche gli appuntamenti pensati per tutta la famiglia o dedicati precipuamente ai bambini, ad esempio giovedì 29 giugno, a Olgiate Molgora ci sarà una riscrittura di Hansel e Gretel, che scenderà dal palco per diventare un percorso itinerante; e sabato 24 giugno sarà la volta dei Tre Porcellini, nella nuova produzione di Campsirago Residenza, intitolata 3 PIGS. Cosa è casa con la regia di Anna Fascendini. Per i più piccoli l’appuntamento sarà con Miloemaya di ScarlattineTeatro/Campsirago Residenza domenica 25 giugno e sabato 1 luglio. Il teatro delle ombre sarà il filo rosso di Gilgamesh del duo Fossick Project, in programma domenica 25 giugno; mentre Il fanciullino di Renata Ciaravino, in scena lunedì 26 giugno a Mondonico, vedrà quattro anziani raccontare le storie che hanno segnato la loro esistenza di fronte a gruppo di bambini. Jazz e incontri, percorsi nella natura ed esperienze multisensioriali completeranno il bouquet di iniziative che daranno il via a una estate davvero magica. Read the full article

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