It is early. Sunlight filters through the rooftops, the beams (attenuated by dew lingering in the morning air) illuminate the building on the Paasheuvel. Birds twitter their morning songs. And i’m in front of the reception building, awaiting a group of worksmen to dig a hole.

Yesterday I arrived at the HAR2009 event site, and established a logistics stronghold. Essential supplies such as a soldering iron, big boxes with flatterband and ductape, some tools and of course the necessary electrical wiring. We mapped out the tents to be built up by the rental company, who for some insane reason plan to have it all up by the end of the week. The day was not without spectacle though, as the local fire department came in with blazing sirens to rescue two actor-victims from a crashed car. Although merely a drill, they took out all their equipment to cut up said car really well.

I stayed over for the night, in one of the cabins. The cabin that will in less than a week be transformed into a fully airconditioned equipment room for the NOC, 19 inch racks and all. Tonight, however, silence ruled. Quite a change from down-town The Hague.

As I sit here, the world around me awakes. Garbage is collected, the receptionist collects the newspaper giving me an odd stare; little does she know that next week, there will be thousands of me; geeks typing away on their laptops.

On the agenda today: purchasing a basic stock of non-perishables for the first early volunteers to arrive on the 6th, greet the worksmen who promised to dig a hole to splice in the analog lines for the entrance tent, getting myself a cheap KPN cellphone (the only operator with some reception here), a quick dash over to The Hague to collect some gear, supposedly the water-people will finish their job of digging in the plumbing for the various catering outlets and a pick-up of the ST:TNG pinball machine. In between, I plan to do some of the finance and essential email.

But for now, i’m alone on a picnic table still wet from fresh dew, eating bananas by lack of a proper breakfast. The cold clear sky a promise of the heath that will blast down on the terrain later today. After a year of anticipation and hard work, it has finally begun! HAR2009 is really happening!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 4th, 2009 at 08:02 and is filed under English, HAR2009, Science 'n stuff. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.