Oman

Front Cover

In February 1980, Andy embarked on his first job, after leaving college. He joined a company called Geosource, who had recently bought out Petty-Ray Geophysical. His first posting was to the Sultanate of Oman, in the Middle East.This is a photographic restrospective of the wonderful time that we had in Oman. As a footnote, we revisited in 2014 and 2016, and were delighted to find that, unlike other countries in the Middle East, Oman had been developed in such a way, that it had never lost it's "soul".

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Arrival - Feb 1980
Andy flew into Muscat, and then onto the Petty-Ray (Ray-4) thumper seismic crew. It was located in Central Oman, somewhere near Mukhaizna. He spent over a year there as a Seismologist, assisting in the office, with analysis, reporting, inventory, and most importantly, keeping the bar well stocked. During his time, there were numerous camp moves travelling all over Central Oman. The crew was quite diverse, with staff from Oman, India, Pakistan, England, France, Ireland, and Malaysia. Most evenings, after work the Brits played cricket against the Indians and Pakisatanis. We placed a huge piece of wood panel on the sand, and this was the wicket! In the evenings, we tended to play darts, and crash out early, as we knew we had to be up at the crack of dawn to start operations. There are many other stories that I may recount at a later time, although you will get some gist of what went on from the photobook.Camp conditions, by today's standards would be considered disgraceful. Camp was basically four portacabins positioned as a square. These were for "senior staff" accommodation, the office, the wash/shower/laundry portacabin, and the mess/bar. More support portacabins were beyond this square. The "support" staff were in tents. The "senior staff" portacabin, was split into 5 rooms. In each room there was a wardrobe, a desk and a bunk bed, so two to a "room". The mess and bar portacabin, had the kitchen portacabin linked by a small walkway. The toilet was a hole in the ground located some distance from camp (torches provided). The Omanis, Indians, and Pakistanis lived in tents, and I would estimate that in each tent there were at least 10 people. I have no idea about their bathing and toilet arrangements. We managed, and it was actually a fun time being on rotation. It also meant that Andy could head back to the UK every 45 days, to spend 18 days with his then fiancee, Christine.Christine lived at home, working at ...