Author: bravo22c

An idea brought on by my Military Wives post.  Let’s put together a Playlist of favourite carols from all of us?  For Ferret:

So happy that she’s finally ‘caught up’ with her big brother – just look at the gleam in her eyes 😀

 

Some may not think so, but that’s me. A mate just sent me this and when I was watching I seemed to get something in my eye…

What might this really important stuff be, then? Before we get onto that, I’d like to talk about some of the fun stuff. A good part of my time is taken up by the continuing battle against illicit traders – counterfeiters and smugglers. Not that I am a policeman, my role is to gather information and make sure the right people get it. It is often the case that different branches of the authorities in the less-developed markets operate on the old Soviet principle of hoarding information for the supposed advantage it might bring them – Customs don’t talk to Police, the Financial Police don’t talk to the Criminal Police… It is also often the case that I, and by that I mean of course someone in a role like mine, talk to all of these people and can help whoever seems most likely to make use of the information to put it all together and take some effective action. Sometimes, if I achieve a really good relationship with a policemen or customs officer or something, I get to ride along on raids and seizures and watch – from a good and safe distance, of course – while some of the Rsholes, (‘scuse me ladies*) are reeled in.

The really important stuff, though, happens in the office. I have to start explaining why with a statement of the blindingly obvious, the security manager can’t be everywhere at once. Every employee, as King Agesilaus of Sparta is often misquoted as saying, has to be a brick in the wall. The security manager has to manage security not by managing, but by influencing. He or she has to be able to take a full part in business meetings at all levels, to put together a business case that stands up to often clinical examination by the finance, marketing and corporate relations types and, I always insist, has to be accountable. Some of the stuff I do sometimes has to be confidential, never anything illegal (- as I’ve said before, I work in some places where you really, really do not want to see the inside of a gaol,) but sometimes not the sort of thing you would discuss in polite society. Whatever I’m doing though, I must be able to account for it to someone in authority, if not the whole board. So accountability is important, and so is a demonstrable ability to contribute to the bottom line. Continue reading “What I do when I’m not on my holidays Part 3”

I read this story, lo, these many moons ago, (about 600, plus or minus,) and came across it again, as you often come across stuff, when googling something else. I shared it with my children and my two daughters confessed to squeezing out a little tear, as did I when I first read it – hey, I was a sensitive lad once, before life knocked a few rough edges on to me, like, ‘Hey, if you have to knock someone down, the last thing you want to do is let him get up again, you prat.’ But I digress, it’s still a haunting little tale even after all these years. It was written by a Tom Godwin and appeared in ‘Astounding,’ or ‘Amazing,’ or one of those good ol’ pulp fiction sci-fi mags – sadly missed in these days of eBooks, Kindles and whatnot – though I read a lot electronically these days, everything to its place and a Kindle’s place is not next to a roaring fire on a rainy winter afternoon with a glass of something smooth, mellow and golden…but I digress, again. The story is now public domain, so no copyright issues. I hope some of you might enjoy it as much as I did. The Cold Equations, by Tom Godwin

So, what do I actually do when I start a new contract? It depends on the type of contract. I do shorter engagements where there is a specific requirement, such as audit security at a particular installation – perhaps ‘short’ is the wrong description, a review of the security of a company’s ocean-shipping facility can take a reasonable amount of time – but those are quite rare and usually part of a longer engagement. Short engagements usually last from a few days to a few weeks – anything more than a month and my daily rate goes down a bit to reflect the length of the contract. Bummer

I did ask if anyone would be interested in hearing what corporate security is really all about so here, by popular request* it is.

Is this how you think it is?

I’ve been on the Silk Road this past week, doing security reviews on offices, a factory and a tobacco leaf fermentation plant.  (300km from Afghanistan, which is as close as I ever want to get, thank you very much.)  It was hectic schedule with rotten weather over some prety rough roads, so I didn’t have much time for sight-seeing, but I snapped a couple of shots with the iPhone:

A pit-stop on the road between Tashkent and Samarkand. Continue reading “Uzbekistan”

My younger daughter has got religion.  I’m not quite sure how she managed it, being a firmly rational type up until now, but there it is.

The problem is the type of religion she’s ‘got.’  She has joined one of those happy, clappy, give me 10% of your wages and buy the t-shirt, book and other promotional items, evangelical thingies.  I’ve learned that it is orginally an Australian church and there is some speculation about how the ‘pastors, Brian and Bobby Houston managed to build a real-estate empire…

If any of the antipodean charioteers could give me a steer on the matter, I’d be very grateful.  My daughter’s a grown woman and what she does or doesn’t do is up to her, but if these two ‘pastors,’ are at it with her 10%, I’d be grateful for a steer.

One of my old mates from the Regiment just sent me this…

 

Paddy was working at the fish plant in Cork when he accidentallycut off all 10 of his fingers… He went to the emergency room in Cork ‘s hospital.

The doctor looked at Paddy and said, ‘Lets be avin’ da fingers and I’ll see what oi can do’.

Paddy said, ‘Oi haven’t got da fingers.”Whadda ya mean you haven’t got da fingers?  Lord Tunderin’ Jesus, it’s 2008!  We’s got microsurgery and all kinds of incredible techniques.   I could have put dem back on and made you like new!  Why the fock didn’t ya bring da fingers?!?’

And Paddy said,  Continue reading “Irish Joke”