41st National Day

Well National Day came and went again, the 5th time for us! It included all the usual craziness....

Good stuff , like this:

...and really stupid stuff like this (a small child) :

UAE National Day

Today the UAE celebrates 40 years of the union of 7 emirates into The United Arab Emirates. It is a hugely significant day for the Nationals and long term residents of the UAE. The progress made in 40 years is astounding - funded by the discovery of oil in the late '60s/ early '70s.

Much has changed, but many things have been cautiously maintain - and rightly so. They are passionately proud of their heritage and history.

I hope they follow their plan and spend money wisely to support the population well for the days when oil is no more, which inevitably will come.

Here's to the next 40 years!

Mabrook UAE!

UAE 39th National Day

It's National Day here in UAE, when they celebrate their birth as a nation, bringing together the 7 Emirates as one country. The National have done a great job of producing some good material about the history of the day. They are working on what they call the "History Project" which will culminate in next year's 40th anniversary. Take a look at their website.....

http://multimedia.thenational.ae/historyproject/


A nice touch from Google today....

Caroline is still stuck in the UK due to the snow (she was due back yesterday), so I am here on my todd for National Day. I'm just taking it easy with some time by the pool and may go to a cafe and read the paper in a while over coffee and shisha. I've decided not to go to the Corniche this year, having witnessed the madness the last two years! It is great fun and well worth watching at least once, but I can't face the traffic getting in and out.

You can see some pics from last year on my previous blog....

http://neilandcaz.blogspot.com/2009/12/38th-national-day.html


So, mabrook to my Emirati readers - enjoy your day!

38th National Day

The locals celebrated their 38th National Day (commemorating the unification of 7 Emirates into 1 independent nation of Emirates) in their usual inimitable fashion! Emiratis love their country and their leaders and they love to celebrate, so on National Day all these things come together. The Corniche in Abu Dhabi become an unofficial DIY parade, with people who have spent 1000s of Dirhams decorating their cars driving up and down the street. There is a real party atmosphere which everyone joins in with.
This year there was much made about a massive firework display that would be set off from 25 points around the city and from barges on the waterfront. They started an hour late (at 9.30pm) by which time many people, especially those with young children had already gone, or started going home. When eventually they came, they were the biggest let down ever! Most towns back home would have better displays on Nov 5th. I don’t know what happened – maybe it’s the credit crisis!