People of a certain age will be able to tell you where they were and what they were doing when they heard that John Kennedy had been assassinated.Younger generations will probably tell you the same, with respect to 9/11.

Much of this story first saw the light of day in September 2001, in the form of an e-mail to a colleague working overseas. I have modified it to remove superfluous information but have retained the original style as I believe it is complimentary to the story.

But beware! It is five pages long and the subject matter and style may not be to everyone's taste.

The long journey home. (http://sheffieldwriters.ath.cx/SFStoryArchive/ 1173897904.doc)

I bet you never forget that time in your life, Falls. You must have been very relieved to get home. I had been in The Worlds Trade Centre a few years previously.

Hello,

The job in Kerala was one of the most disorganized projects that I have every worked on. It wasn't one of my company's jobs, I was on loan to another consulting outfit but the problem was the Contractor.

There was a steaming panic to get me out there for June 16th 2001 (I was) to commission some new power generating equipment. That, supposedly, was so that it could go "on-line" (make power) by June 20th.

Well it was still not competely ready for me to test when I left on September 11th. I had all the mechanical parts installed by early July (not supposed to be my job), but then I just had to sit around waiting. The problem was the fancy computer control system -not tested or made to conform to the equiment before it was shipped from Canada. (does all this sound familiar?).

I spent weeks just sitting around waiting. I sat under a tree at the entrance to the powerhouse and read books or drank tea with the drivers. I would occassionally watch a Mahood brink his elephant down to the river to wash it. I went for walks ( I stopped doing this after a confrontation with a cobra).

I wasn't alone in all this. There were three other engineers hanging about waiting to do commissioning work on other parts of the project. What a waste of time and money (Canadian taxpayers aid money).

Regards