Iraq: The British hostage displayed a sense of humour when he briefed newcomer Ken Rogan last year on the intricacies of working in Iraq
"It's supposed to be the cradle of civilization, and I can't find anything," Ken Bigley told me during and interview at the al Hamra hotel in Baghdad last December.
The engineer who worked for Gulf Supplies & Commercial Services found the time to give me, a newcomer to journalism in Iraq, a briefing on the country. With no small edge of humour, he talked of the difficulties of finding skilled builders to work construction contracts in Iraq. This was not the only obstacle he had encountered.
In the flashpoint town of Fallujah, he could not get near the site he was supposed to be working on.
"We have a contract in there but the local mafia shoot at us when we show up," he said. "One of my trucks has four bullet holes in it. When we first arrived, we were mobbed by a crowd and somebody spray-painted a mark on the truck. That made us a target for anyone with a gun in the area and the drivers won't drive a marked truck.
"Now we have sub-contracted the job to locals in Fallujah and half the guys working there were shooting at us when we tried to come in," he said.
The Liverpudlian went on to outline other troubles. "There are no skilled workers left here. Nothing has been built for 25 years. Maybe there are electricians and plumbers - people need light and water - but the rest of them left in the 80s and now I cannot find anyone to work for me."
"Houses are going up but the walls are unsafe and badly rendered - you could literally kick them down. The foundations look like you stole them from Babylon!"
Mr Bigley discovered that some of the problems he faced had their roots in a tribal mentality.
"All the local guys with any ability start their own companies and employ unskilled workers. On any given site, all the workers are related by blood. If you bring in another local who isn't, the others won't work with him."
Ken Bigley's experience in the region was extensive; his complaints were those of a man amused by obstacles rather than defeated by them.
At the time, he was a resident of the Green Zone, the heavily-guarded administrative centre of Baghdad. Some of his daily concerns were universal and mundane, for instance the dreadful traffic in the city and the difficulty of getting a decent meal.