Road Accident.

Driving in Albania can be crazy most of the time...
...and I mean CRAZY!

I don't understand the reason why...
Is it people thinking there is no state, so they drive anyway they want to?
Is it people driving who don't have enough experience?
Is it young people who are too immature to be driving fast cars?
is it people driving after drinking?
Is it just driving too fast?

The number of deaths in road accidents has quadrupled(x4) in the last 5 years.
From January-July 2007 there were 200 deaths on the road - more than one per day.

Unfortunately, many drive so badly, that it is the other drivers that suffer from their bad driving as they have to swerve and avoid them.

There is one thing for sure - there are far too many accidents on the roads!

Yesterday, i was with my wife making our way back to Shkoder from Tirana.
I was directly behind a large bus, and we were crossing a bridge. I must have been driving about 80km/h and I reckon the bus was doing the same speed.

Towards us there was a long line of traffic and I saw I could not pass the bus.
Just then, a white mercedes pulled out of the oncoming traffic and directly in front of the bus. The bus driver had little time to react, and they collided. The car was crushed under the front of the bus.
One woman was killed, and there were 3 other passengers injured as well as 2 small children.

I have no idea why he/she pulled out....but being directly behind the bus, we saw the whole thing.

The Police took ages to come, and the ambulance longer. Most of the victims were already taken away by other drivers to get aid at the nearest hospital.

My thoughts are with the family of the woman who died, and those that are injured.
But also for the bus driver who had nothing that he could have done to avoid the accident.

I am also thankful to God for his care over us yesterday and also for the many times we have travelled on difficult roads.

Filing System - Albanian Style

Went to pay the water bill the other day.
This was their filing system.

I pity the poor office worker that has to look through THAT to find a bill!

Large oil find in Albania?

I grew up in Scotland in a fishing town called Aberdeen.
I was a small boy when the oil boom hit and oil was discovered in the North Sea.
Suddenly, everything changed.

The fishing boats moved to a different town.
Aberdeen became the oil capital of Europe.

Almost overnight house prices doubled, as oil workers from the U.S. came to live in Aberdeen. Our local shop was bought and became an American Food Store and none of us locals ever shopped there as it was so expensive - yet it was packed with Americans all day!

Suddenly there were jobs everywhere in the oil business,(and for BIG wages!!) and new firms opening up their offices in Aberdeen.
All this...just because oil was found in the North Sea.

Now oil prices are at a record level of $120US a barrel and it could hit $150US this year!! :-(
(Yes, you better go fill your car up with petrol NOW!)

So what would happen if COMMERCIAL oil or gas was discovered in Albania!?
Now there is a thought!!
I think the problem of foreign investment would be a thing of the past....and every business would be investing as much and as quick as possible in Albania to get cheapest prices before "oil madness" takes over.

DWM, a subsidiary of Manas Petroleum, announced a new exploration project on Monday to refine nine identified prospects of oil and gas reserves in Albania.

"In January, the company announced the find of a vast oil and gas reserve in the north of the country.

The find was based on an independent report compiled by Gustavson Associates LLC on behalf of Manas Petroleum Corporation, which has been awarded a contract by the Albanian government to explore the north for oil and gas reserves.

According to their findings, the unproven reserve holds up to 2.987 billion barrels of oil and 3.014 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

If the oil is capped with a layer of gas, Gustavson calculates the field may total 1.4 billion barrels of light oil and 15 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

If only gas is present, the reserve is expected to contain 28 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

Of the approximately 345 million barrels of oil reserves in the Balkans, 198 million barrels are located in Albania ."

As i say, if this oil or gas is commercial and anywhere near the estimates....then you are going to have SHELL and others keeping a VERY close eye on Albania!!

I just can't get my mind round the figures they are claiming!!
I hope you realise how BIG this could be!

And if these reserves are confirmed at the rates above, then there will be plenty of companies interested in drilling a well to try to get a commercial flow.

Now that would be interesting for Albania!!

You can take a look at Manas website and report on the work here.

Olta Boka - Zemren e lame peng (Albania Eurovision 2008)

Eurovision is coming….May 20th-24th.
For those who have not yet heard it, here is the Albanian entry for Eurovision Song Contest 2008 in Serbia.
I find that really funny that this years contest is in Serbia.
I wonder how many votes we will get from Serbia?!
I wonder if they will give Kosovo a late entry to participate?! ;-)

Anyway, all the best to Olta.
She is great singer and there is absolutely nothing wrong with this song….except that I think it is not the kind of song that wins the Eurovision Song Contest.

Still she is considered a better chance the the UK and the German entry, so what do I know.

It must be rather disheartening though, to realize that one of the favourites is a singing turkey!!

And they call it a “song” contest!

Rather than waste 3 hours of your life….why not buy “Blood on the Tacks” (click on Listen to samples)by Bob Dylan and give that a listen!