Golf

Today I actually played my first round of golf here since arriving! I played at The Abu Dhabi Golf Club which recently hosted a PGA tournament with some of the top European players. I played 18 holes (10-27; tee offs are staggered) with the CTO from one of my customers.

It certainly beats playing golf in the UK in February! The buggy was air-conditioned and had GPS on board showing the hole layouts and distances etc. We tee'd off at 7am which meant I had to miss out on my lie in on a Saturday - Caz said I was not entitled to moan about this as it was for pleasure reasons! It started off a very pleasant temperature and got warmer, but also windier. The wind got up so much that the atmosphere got very sandy and a bit unpleasant really. The first 9 holes were best forgotten, but the back 9 I didn't do too badly on (45 shots) - but I definitely need some more practice I reckon, so going to look for more opportunities to play.

More misc......

Sorry about the quality of these pictures, they are just snapped from my phone, often hurriedly!


Abu Dhabi Securities Market


This is not like any other stock exchange I have ever been in! (and I have been in a few) It has a very chilled vibe about the place, not the hustle and bustle you would expect. Guys just sitting around in big comfy leather armchairs drinking coffee - and trading $4Bn a day! I think the exchange is really the only legal gambling in UAE :-)

Red Flag Men

This is seen all over the UAE -a Red Flag Man at roadworks. He is a human warning light system - I guess because he is cheaper! So, basically he stands there all day waving (not very vigorously after anything more than 10 minutes) a red flag to warn drivers that there are roadworks, which is totally pointless because by the time you see the man you are already in the roadworks!

Blackberry meeting

This might be why the world is in such a crisis! I saw these guys having a breakfast meeting and everyone of them was on his Blackberry. Maybe if they tried talking to each other some business might get done!

An exchange on a Friday

All the currency exchanges are busy on a Friday in the UAE as expats are queuing to send home what little money they can.

Palm Tree?

I think not! Just managed to snap this as I drove by. A telecoms mast cunningly (not very) disguised as a palm tree.

Went to IDEX today

The International Defense Exhibition (IDEX) is held every 2 years and is visited by military personnel, government ministers, ambassadors and others connected with the defense sector from all over the world. Why was I there? It's top secret - I can't tell you! Only kidding. ADNEC is a customer of mine and it's good to keep up with how they deal with different exhibitions, but also I had a few customers exhibiting there. It was certainly an eye opener. I've never had the opportunity to get up so close to so much military hardware. Some pictures follow with a link to all the pictures at the end (including some of and from the new bridge over 30th street).


Some vehicles I'd like to drive down Airport Road to sort out the idiot drivers:-








Some shots of the bike display team:-








The bridge:-







The full album:-

IDEX '09

Emirati "mini-me"

Saw this well behaved young man watching the jet skis last week with his father. They do look very smart in their little kandooras.

What a ridiculous law

OK, so basically a new law has been passed that prevents companies from sacking local Emiratis unless it is for "extraordinary misconduct". The Government want to keep up the levels of locals employed and for some reason believe that this policy will “increase their productivity, performance and loyalty” - will it my butt! I don't know if I'm alone, but if I knew I could just do the absolute bare minimum with no chance of getting sacked and still taking home my full wage, I think I might just start to take it easy a bit!

I know that some Emiratis are paid very high wages for doing pretty low level jobs (and I'm talking like c£75k a year for an admin job!) so this policy is in no way going to encourage private companies to mug themselves by employing more locals than they legally have to. The Government also says:

"The new policy also stipulates that underperforming Emiratis could not be sacked but must be given more training or transferred to work more suited to their skills."

What like? Tea boy?

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Debate over impact of Emirati job protection
Salam Hafez
The National - News
20 Feb 2009

Private-sector companies are more likely to employ Emiratis because of a new government policy that protects them from being laid off, a labour official said yesterday to counter claims to the contrary. Feddah Lootah, the acting director general of the...read more...

Tech Tags: The National - News newspaper The Emirates