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- Blog No.1 - back in the Sandpit!
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| Blog No.1 - back in the Sandpit! |
| Written by Adam Proto | |
| Thursday, 04 August 2011 00:00 | |
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Finally arrived back in the sandpit after a long flight sitting next to a couple who prayed on takeoff and every time the pilot made an announcement. As a hardened long haul traveller I continued with my usual routine of three Bloody Marys and then pulled the blanket over my head in an attempt to sleep in the best foetal position a six foot three inch person can when he is squeezed into a five foot three inch space. The sticker with “do not disturb” carefully placed on outside of the blanket approximately where my forehead was supposed to send my nervous travelling companions the idea that I was not expecting to move for the next seven hours even if the plane was going down. So after not actually sleeping because my new friends were unaware of the flying etiquette of “synchronising going to the toilet” I landed and went to work – yes this is the reality of the jet set event world. I am currently working on a number of jobs in the UAE all of which are fabulous and have a mind bending amount of work still outstanding. Let me tell you about one of them - Abu Dhabi Art is an art fair which is now in its third year, although it’s not until November we have approx a mile of stock walling that needs to be rubbed down, filled and painted with three coats of white paint ready to be installed, we need to build a theatre as well as the gallery, a VIP Majlis and a kids area. Everything needs to be designed, approved and built over the next two months – The venue for Abu Dhabi Art this year is a building that was designed by Norman Foster for the Shanghai Expo, it’s been given back to Abu Dhabi and is currently being built on an island - only it’s not, because the Chinese crew dismantling it have broken all twelve of the special tools needed to re-build the structure, we have now remade the tools but its touch and go if we will have time to complete the build. Consequently we need to have a plan B and the whole event is being planned for two venues simultaneously, if the main venue doesn’t look like it’s going to be finished, we need to build another temporary structure to house the fair in. So we don’t have to re-plan everything all the creative work and planning has to overlay exactly so the switch can happen with the minimum amount of change to the overall operation, layouts and infrastructure. Oh and the size of structure we need isn’t available in the country so by the time we need to make the call on the switch the only way we can get our structure here on time is to fly it in!!!! I will leave you with that thought while I go home to bed and catch up on the sleep I should of had if only they made aeroplane seats bigger and provided rohipnol for nervous flyers.
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