Inside Bigstan

The Yamazaki distillery is Japan’s oldest whisky distillery, founded in 1923 and is owned by Suntory who seem to make many of the better Japanese malts.

I saw this, originally, in a pub in Newcastle and asked my companion to order me a glass when she went to the bar. She returned with a glass of whisky and upon tasting it, I assumed they bar staff had picked up the wrong bottle - I was convinced it was a Speyside malt.

I saw it the other day in Tescos and decided I’d have to taste it for real.

I just poured myself a glass and am shocked to realise that the bar staff had made no error, this whisky is, at first, very reminiscent of a Speyside malt.

The colour is light and golden.

The nose is floral and oaky with a hint of spice.

On the palate it is slightly spicy with oak and vanilla and is quite sweet.

The finish is short but pleasantly sweet and spicy.

In conclusion, this does appear, at first, to mimic a Speyside type malt but when you pay proper attention to it, it’s very much it’s own drink - and very nice it is too. It does taste a little young and I think another few years in the cask would round it off well. I look forward to trying an older expression - I believe there’s a 12yo and an 18yo. I can’t wait.

I ordered a bottle of this whilst I was home last time but it didn’t arrive until I’d gone away to work again. I got back 3 days ago and the first thing I did, before I unpacked or anything mundane like that, was to unwrap it and pour a glass. I would have done the review before now but I have been busy catching up on stuff and I was enjoying the whisky too much to analyse it fully.

What can I say about this whisky? Well, as a long time fan of Laphroaig, I was looking forward to this immensely.

To start with, it’s nothing like any Laphroaig I’ve ever experienced before. It’s considerably darker than the 10yo, the 15yo, the cask strength or the quarter cask, for starters. I would say it’s (to quote the Stranglers) “Golden Brown”. It has taken quite a bit of colour from the oak sherry casks in which it is matured – that’s right, I said sherry casks – it’s the only Laphroaig to be matured in sherry casks, the rest (to my knowledge) are matured in Oak bourbon casks (with the exception of quarter cask and the 40yo which are matured in European oak casks).

The nose confirms the use of sherry casks with a distinct sherry aroma mixed with a bit of oak, peat and smokiness – an altogether well rounded nose which is a pleasure in itself.

So, on to the good bit – the tasting. As expected, the first burst of flavour on the palate is predominantly sherry with plenty of peaty undertones. The most surprising thing is that there is only the slightest hint of the “medicinal” characteristic for which Laphroaig is usually famous. This does not detract from the whisky at all – quite the opposite, given the sweet fruitiness and heavy roundness of the whisky, I think the pungent flavour which dominates the other Laphroaigs would not fit in.

And so to the finish. The finish is extremely long and extremely pleasurable – the smoky peat and sweetness battle for supremacy on the palate for some considerable time after drinking, giving the perfect ending to a highly pleasurable experience.

Conclusion:

With my ‘Friends of Laphroaig’ discount, when ordered from the website, this whisky cost me £190 for the bottle. Was it worth it? I hear you ask. Damn right it was; every penny. Will I buy it again? You bet!

I was a bit dubious as to whether the whisky would taste significantly better than others to justify the price tag – I needn’t have worried, my favourite distillery didn’t disappoint and I am delighted I had the courage to risk the venture.

If you can get a taste of this, do so, it’s a wonderful experience – one which every whisky drinker should share.

Band – Various.

Album – Greatest Hits of Punk and New Wave

Track List –

Disc: 1

1. Barbed Wire Love - Stiff Little Fingers

2. Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t ‘Ve?) - Buzzcocks

3. Rockaway Beach (Live) - The Ramones

4. Hanging On The Telephone - Blondie

5. White Wedding - Billy Idol

6. The Sound Of The Suburbs - The Members

7. Into The Valley - The Skids

8. Don’t Dictate - Penetration

9. Homicide - 999

10. Staring At The Rude Boys - The Ruts

11. Money - Flying Lizards

12. Little Girl - The Banned

13. Stand Strong Stand Proud - Vice Squad

14. Goodbye My Love - The Stiffs

15. C30 C60 C90 Go - Bow Wow Wow

16. I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles - Cockney Rejects

17. Peaches - The Stranglers

18. Wild Wild Life - Talking Heads

Disc: 2

1. Love Like Blood - Killing Joke

2. 51st State - New Model Army

3. Shot By Both Sides - Magazine

4. Outdoor Miner - Wire

5. Turning Japanese - The Vapors

6. Something That I Said - The Ruts

7. Valley Of The Dolls - Generation X

8. Denis - Blondie

9. Firing Squad - Penetration

10. Rise - Public Image Ltd

11. Whip It - Devo

12. This Perfect Day - The Saints

13. Rich Kids - The Rich Kids

14. Dancing The Night Away - The Motors

15. Sgt Rock (Is Going To Help Me) - XTC

16. Geno - Dexy’s Midnight Runners

17. 2-4-6-8 Motorway - The Tom Robinson Band

18. Milk And Alcohol - Dr Feelgood

Disc: 3

1. Go Buddy Go - The Stranglers

2. King Rocker - Generation X

3. Concrete Jungle - The Specials

4. Straw Dogs - Stiff Little Fingers

5. Promises - Buzzcocks

6. Last Night Another Soldier - Angelic Upstarts

7. Nasty Nasty - 999

8. Teenage Lobotomy (Live) - The Ramones

9. Working For The Yankee Dollar - The Skids

10. River Deep Mountain High - The Saints

11. Top Of The Pops - The Rezillos

12. No Rest - New Model Army

13. Eighties - Killing Joke

14. Senses Working Overtime - XTC

15. Glittering Prize - Simple Minds

16. There There My Dear - Dexy’s Midnight Runners

17. Road To Nowhere - Talking Heads

18. Never Take Me Alive - Spear Of Destiny

This one took me a couple of nights to listen to properly due to there being 3 CDs and 54 tracks.

I bought this for a fiver from the bargain bin at Woolies a couple of years ago – bargain in my opinion. There are some excellent tracks on this compilation, some mediocre tracks and some simply awful tracks.

Some particular favourites of mine are:

Barbed Wire Love - Stiff Little Fingers

Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t ‘ve?) - Buzzcocks

White Wedding - Billy Idol

The Sound Of The Suburbs - The Members

Into The Valley - The Skids

Don’t Dictate - Penetration

Staring At The Rude Boys - The Ruts

Money - Flying Lizards

Stand Strong Stand Proud - Vice Squad

Peaches - The Stranglers

Love Like Blood - Killing Joke

Shot By Both Sides - Magazine

Firing Squad - Penetration

Rise - Public Image Ltd

Sgt Rock (Is Going To Help Me) - XTC

Geno - Dexy’s Midnight Runners

Milk And Alcohol - Dr Feelgood

Straw Dogs - Stiff Little Fingers

Working For The Yankee Dollar - The Skids

Top Of The Pops - The Rezillos

Senses Working Overtime - XTC

Never Take Me Alive - Spear Of Destiny

Tracks I particularly disliked are:

Whip It – Devo - WTF is this doing here????

C30 C60 C90 Go - Bow Wow Wow – Go wild in the country would have been a better choice for this compilation – better song by far.

I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles - Cockney Rejects - Shit

2-4-6-8 Motorway - The Tom Robinson Band - Shit

River Deep Mountain High - The Saints – Ruined a perfectly good song

Glittering Prize - Simple Minds – Never been a Simple Minds fan and probably never will be

There There My Dear - Dexy’s Midnight Runners – Not a big fan of Dexy’s – although I quite like Geno, it’s about the only song of their’s I like.

The rest of the tracks on the compilation, I can either take or leave – decent enough background music.

One of the problems with compilation albums like this is that, everybody has their own ideas and there are tracks on here which, I believe, shouldn’t be anywhere near it and there are many songs which should have been chosen before them. The next person who reads this may well have a completely different point of view and think I’m completely barmy.

Band – The Verve.

Album – Urban Hymns.

Track List –

1 Bitter Sweet Symphony.

2 Sonnet.

3 The Rolling People.

4 The Drugs Don’t Work.

5 Catching The Butterfly.

6 Neon Wilderness.

7 Space And Time.

8 Weeping Willow.

9 Lucky Man.

10 One Day.

11 This Time.

12 Velvet Morning.

13 Come On.

Why the fuck is was this still in my collection?

The only track on this album which didn’t have me looking for a stout piece of rope and a high ‘H’ beam was ‘Lucky Man’. Seriously, every song on this album is like a dirge – one of the dullest hours of my life so far.

Honestly, if you’re going to listen to this depressing pile of crap, make sure the razor blades are locked away securely.

Now deleted.

Working out here in Egypt as I am, the majority of the local workforce are Muslims. Today sees the first day of the ninth month of the Muslim calendar, which is called Ramadan. The month of Ramadan is very important to Muslims as it is the month during which it is believed that the Holy Qur’an was revealed to Mohamed. The Holy Qur’an is described as having been “sent down from heaven, a guidance unto men, a declaration of direction, and a means of Salvation”. During the daylight hours during this month, Muslims are forbidden to eat, drink, smoke or have sexual relations – these activities are allowed during the night. At the end of the day the fast is broken with prayer and a meal called the iftar.

According to the Holy Quran:

One may eat and drink at any time during the night “until you can plainly distinguish a white thread from a black thread by the daylight: then keep the fast until night”

Taken from Wikipedia:

“During Ramadan, Muslims are also expected to put more effort into following the teachings of Islam as well as refraining from anger, envy, greed, lust, sarcastic retorts, backbiting, and gossip. They are encouraged to read the Qur’an. Sexual intercourse (in Islam there is no pre-marital relationships - the relationship is only with one’s spouse) during fasting in the day is not allowed but is permissible after the fast. Obscene and irreligious sights and sounds are to be avoided. Purity of both thought and action is important. The fast is intended to be an exacting act of deep personal worship in which Muslims seek a raised level of closeness to God. The act of fasting is said to redirect the heart away from worldly activities, its purpose being to cleanse the inner soul and free it from harm. Properly observing the fast is supposed to induce a comfortable feeling of peace and calm. It also allows Muslims to practice self-discipline, sacrifice, as well as sympathy for those who are less fortunate, intending to make Muslims more generous and charitable.”

To take account of the fasting and extra religious observances, we try to make allowances at work to accommodate our Muslim employees. As such, I have changed my two operators’ shifts from 6 until 6 to 12 until 12 so that one guy doesn’t have to work an entire shift with no food and drink. Also, because they do not take meal or cigarette breaks, they are free to pray at the times they need to.

Band – The Waterboys.

Album – The Best of the Waterboys 1981-1990.

Track list –

01. A Girl Called Johnny

02. The Big Music

03. All the Things She Gave Me

04. The Whole of the Moon

05. Spirit

06. Don’t Bang the Drum

07. Fisherman’s Blues

08. Killing My Heart

09. Strange Boat

10. And a Bang on the Ear

11. Old England

12. A Man Is in Love

I must admit, this is an album I hadn’t listened to all the way through until tonight. At first, I wasn’t too enamoured, the first 3 tracks sounded a little dull and not particularly inspiring at all. Things seemed to pick up a bit after ‘The Whole of the Moon’ (always enjoyed this song) and I enjoyed the rest of the album, so I decided to listen to the whole album again to give it a chance.

My opinion of the first three tracks was fairly close, although having listened to them again, ‘A girl called Johnny’ is actually quite a good track – still not too keen on the other two though, they just don’t seem to register. I try to listen to them properly but my attention wanders within about 20 seconds.

Still liking ‘The Whole of the Moon’; also really enjoyed ‘Fisherman’s Blues’ and ‘Old England’ isn’t a bad track but my favourite has to be ‘And a Bang on the Ear’ – an absolutely cracking track and along with ‘The Whole of the Moon’ and ‘Fisherman’s Blues’, helps rescue an otherwise unremarkable album, in my opinion.

I quite like the “Rock with a Celtic influence” style and wouldn’t mind listening to more of these guys to get a better feel for their music. I may have to start a shopping list.

Band – The Who

Album – Who’s Greatest Hits

Track list –

Substitute

The Seeker

Magic Bus

My Generation

Pinball Wizard

Happy Jack

Won’t Get Fooled Again

My Wife

Squeeze Box

The Relay

5:15

Love Reign O’er Me

Who Are You

Released – May 1983.

Comments – went double platinum in August 1993.

My opinion –

The Who are one of the most influential bands in British music history. They were one of the mainstays of the Mod era and have influenced numerous big name bands for the last 4 decades.

A greatest hits album for a band such as the Who would need to contain 40 or more tracks to truly reflect the immense musical presence of the band but, unfortunately, these things must have realistic limitations. Personally, I would hate to try to choose thirteen tracks to construct a compilation for a band such as The Who. In my opinion, the mix of the album as it is and covers a reasonable spectrum of their music.

Unsurprisingly, I have my own ideas regarding which songs would have been better left out and others which should have been included. I am pleased to see some of my personal favourites, such as; ‘Substitute’, ‘My Generation’, ‘Happy Jack’ and ‘Squeeze Box’. Personally, I wouldn’t have included ‘My Wife’, ‘5.15’ or Love Reign O’er Me’. Songs I would have substituted are ‘I Can See For Miles’, ‘The Kids Are All Right’ and ‘You Better You Bet’, amongst others. I suppose you can’t please everybody.

As you would expect, safety is a major issue on an offshore oil installation. The fatality and injury rate in the early days was truly shocking and steps had to be taken to improve safety drastically.

Over the years, safety has become gradually more important; to the stage we are at now where it is paramount in all daily operations.

Because there are many tasks being performed simultaneously in a relatively small space, often involving heavy equipment, machinery or harmful substances, operations need to be planned well and the risks assessed fully before any task can be undertaken.

There are several safety tools on board the rig, including: permit to work, for non-routine tasks or tasks which pose particular hazards like hot work (welding etc.) or confined space entry (cleaning mud pits etc.); JRAs (job risk assessments) which cover almost every activity on the rig from heavy crane lifts to drilling operations to mopping the floor in the galley – every activity can create hazards and needs to be assessed in order to minimise the risks to personnel; mini prompt cards which are used as a supplement to generic JRAs, these are used to ensure that individual employees have thought about the risks involved to themselves and to others arising from the task they are about to undertake.

Another tool which is used is the FOCUS (Field Observation Constantly Upgrading Safety) system (that’s what GSF call it; other companies have their own systems like STOP or START or whatever). This system uses cards on which individual employees can write down observations regarding unsafe conditions they may encounter during their shift. These can be regarding unsafe condition of equipment or work areas or they can be regarding unsafe actions by another employee. If someone observes one of his colleagues working in an unsafe manner, he has the right (and the obligation) to stop that person and point out the unsafe condition and reach an agreement that the other guy will correct the problem and make sure the same task is done safely in future. These cards are handed in to the STC (Safety and Training Coordinator) who logs all of the cards and checks for problem areas or specific trends which need to be addressed. This system operates on a “No name, no blame” principle (i.e. no names are mentioned on the cards, only the unsafe condition).

Most rigs offer awards for the best cards each week as an incentive for the guys to participate in the system. This rig offers three prizes of 200 LE (Egyptian Pounds), about £20.00GBP each week, which members of my team are regularly awarded. This rig also has an award called the “Safety Champion of the Month”, which I am delighted to say, I was the recipient of for the month of August 2007. This is the first time, in the five year history of the rig, that someone from a company other than GSF has won this award.

The award was given for “Outstanding safety leadership qualities”.

This is a picture of me being awarded my beer mug by the STC on board the rig.

Here is an excerpt from the e-mail sent by the STC to the GSF office in Cairo:

“Stan –supervisor TWMA has been awarded “Constellation II Safety Champion August 2007”. Stan has shown continuous safety leadership from the start of the contract with BP. TWMA fully participates in the FOCUS system. Every day there is a valuable contribution from Stan and his boy’s.”

We have regular safety meetings on board the rig. There is a pre-shift safety meeting held before each shift begins and there is also a weekly general safety meeting on Monday which everyone is expected to attend. We also hold “Tool box talks” and review JRAs before undertaking each task.

What I do:

My job title is “Senior Lead Engineer”. It is my job to organise the work and my team and to report to the client and my management. It is also my job to liaise with the client and to troubleshoot and rectify any problems we may have on the rig.

Where I work:

I am currently posted on the GlobalSantaFe (GSF) Constellation II, which is in the Mediterranean Sea, about 50 miles off the coast of Egypt. The Constellation II is a Jack up rig and is quite new (less than 5 years old).

What we do:

Taken from our website:

“TWMA is a customer focussed company providing a specialist range of equipment and services to the oil and gas industry. With innovative technologies and dedicated personnel the company has led the way in reducing the environmental impact of drilling and other associated activities within the petroleum sector. Integrated drilling, engineering and environmental services form the core components of the business both in the company’s domestic and international markets.”

The best way to find out what we do is to visit the website. We utilise a variety of interesting and innovative technologies in order to deliver the best service possible to our clients.

What we do aboard the rig:

Our main function on this rig is to transfer the drill cuttings from the shale shakers, which separate the cuttings from the drilling fluid (in this case oil based mud), to cuttings skips which, when full, are transferred by ship to our base in Alexandria for processing. We also supply a vacuum system aboard the rig which is used to vacuum up any spillages or liquids from cleaning etc.

Life aboard the rig:

Unlike most jobs, I don’t go to work and arrive home the same day. I fly out to Egypt; spend two or three days in Alexandria and then fly out to the rig in a helicopter. I remain on the rig for 28 days; working 12 hour shifts (06:00 to 18:00) every day. When my 28 days are up, I get another chopper off the rig, back to Alexandria and spend another day or two there before flying home – I am usually away for about 32 or 33 days and home for 23 or 24 days. This work pattern suits me; the 28 days on the rig can be quite tough – even if we’re not particularly busy but the time off is really handy. Because this rig is relatively new, the accommodation is pretty decent compared to some, we have two man cabins (I share with the night shift supervisor, so there is only ever one of us in the cabin at one time) with en-suite shower and toilet. There is air-conditioning throughout the accommodation so it is quite comfortable most of the time.

Food is served in the mess room (or galley) and on the whole is fairly decent. Because we are working in Egypt and a large proportion of the crew (including the catering staff) are Muslims, we don’t get a lot of pig meat – there is no bacon at breakfast time but we do occasionally get barbecued pork ribs and chops, which are usually cooked by the Barge Master.

I am quite lucky in that my position as head honcho for our team affords me a cabin on the fourth floor which has a LAN connection so I can surf the web, post in my blog and generally keep in touch from the comfort of my own cabin.

There isn’t much in the way of entertainment on board the rig. There are no TVs in the cabins (there are on the fifth floor but that’s where the grown-ups live). There is a TV room on the second floor but most of the programmes are in Arabic and the twenty or so words I’ve managed to pick up can’t quite get me through an Egyptian epic.

Personnel aboard the rig fall into three main categories: The client (BP), the operator (GSF) and third party service companies (us).

The client is the company which commission the rig to drill for the oil or gas (gas in this case). The operator is the company which own and operate the rig; they are responsible for the drilling operations, the loading and unloading of equipment and supplies, rig maintenance and the general upkeep of the rig. Third party service companies are companies who perform a specialised function aboard the rig, not performed by the operator – for instance, we handle the drill cuttings, MI Swaco look after the drilling fluids, Halliburton look after cementing operations and down hole logging etc. etc.

A little over half of the crew aboard the rig are Egyptian nationals with the rest being made up from all parts of the world. We have Scots, English, Americans, Canadians, Dutch and several other nationalities on board.

Salary:

Pretty damned good, considering I only work about 7 months of the year.

Well hello there.

What can I say in my first post? I’ll keep it short and make some proper posts when I have more time to structure my thoughts properly.

If you’re reading this, you really need to find something better to do with your life - only kidding, I’ve enjoyed reading other peoples blogs whilst researching how to go about mine and it’s really quite fascinating seeing different viewpoints on a huge variety of topics. Many people can discuss the same topic or review the same movie, game or book and pick up on entirely different aspects and have completely differing opinions.

That’ll do to get me up and running. Look out for more stuff in the future, some of it will be dull, some of it will be fun, some of it may be controversial - I’ll try to keep an even balance.

Once I get the hang of this excellent Wordpress software, I will add things too, so try to keep up with things - why not subscribe to the RSS feed?

I’ve put some information on the about page, in case anyone’s interested in reading a little about who I am.