Airport run

We took the kids back to the airport this morning. Was sad to see them go, we've had good fun this week. Mind you, the kitchen is now totally devoid of any food, like a swarm of locusts (or is it loci?) had descended and finished off anything in sight, except the tin of biscuits I bought specially which we will now have to eat and make us even fatter! The kids were mainly nocturnal this week, so I am guessing they will probably be asleep on the plane.



Observation of the day: Gaza/Israel - where is Tony Blair? Wasn't he supposed to be fixing all that?


Set up my new camera. Here a few of my first shots:-










Well, back to work tomorrow :-( . I've got a full day training a customer on how to design his Data Centre - thrilling I know. Caz is working two night shifts this week. House always feels really empty and boring at night when she's not here, so not really looking forward to that.


Got some sleep to catch up on tonight.

Visit to Dubai

After a lazy start to the day we left the house around 1pm. The motorway between Abu Dhabi and Dubai is so long and boring, made even worse today by having to make the journey in what Caz calls an "Indian" bus. We had to hire a 15 seater bus for the week while the kids are here to ferry them all about and do the airport runs with their luggage. This type of bus is almost exclusively used by Indian workers, so we were getting some very weird looks as we travelled about. Lots of workers by the side of the road couldn't understand why the bus didn't stop to pick them up.

Showed the kids all the places where the barriers had been smashed to pieces by car crashes and the endless skid marks. Idiot drivers - no shortage of them here. Cars over here have to make a beeping noise when they get to 120kmph and in hire cars they do not stop beeping until you go back below that speed. I prefer to drive faster than this and hate driving that slow. The cameras on this Abu Dhabi stretch are set at 160kmph (c.100mph) which what I would normally be doing in my car. I've kind of got used to the beeps on my regular trips to Dubai and can sort of mentally blank them. Caz however find them very annoying, so I had to try and keep myself from going over 120, not successfully at times, leading to a berating.

Made our first stop at Ibn Battuta Mall. This is our favourite mall in Dubai. Has quite normal shops and isn't stuck up it's own bottom. By now we were all starving so headed straight to Pizza Express. To no great surprise they got the order wrong.

Went round most of the shops, although for having 4 females with us, it wasn't too enduring. I did however make one purchase myself, a digital SLR camera which I was gently told by Caz I didn't need because I already had 3 digital cameras! This is of course true, however my last camera purchase a 10mp Nikon has a damaged screen (I sat on it) and so is rapidly becoming useless. I've wanted a digital SLR for a while, so when I get it up and running I'll be posting some results.

After the mall we headed for Burj Dubai, currently the tallest building in the world. Just a quick Kodak moment and then we went back up Sheikh Zayed Road to the Madinat Jumeirah, a really nice Souq with restuarants and a waterway which you can take boat rides on. there is a good spot here to take pictures of the Burj Al Arab hotel, but unfortunately it wasn't lit up (it was dark by now). I think this may have been because there is a week of official state mourning over the death of the Ruler of Uumm al Quwain (one of the 7 Emirates). This has also meant that the radio stations that normally play rock and pop are now playing classical music ad all others are reading from the Qur'an.

Same boring drive home. More berating. Starting writing this and was deemed "sad" by all for writing a blog. Beginning to wonder if they are right? Well, if at least a few friends and family read this to hear what we are up to that will be fine. I'm not looking to make world headlines and become a millionaire by blogging. Just as well I guess.

Yay! One follower!

So now I have one follower and one comment - both from family members! .....wondering if it will ever be read by anyone else??? We will see.......

I'll be updating after our trip to Dubai today.

Went to Corniche Beach

Got in the car and went to the beach today with Lee, Rochelle and Jessica. It take a about 35 mins from our house. Not to many nutters on the road today, makes a nice change. Found a parking space not too far from the bottom of 30th street right opposite the main entrance to the beach. Result.

The beach was free when it first opened, but within a week they had erected (ironic choice of word as you will read!) ticket entry booths and closed off all other access. Basically, this was to stop the (mainly Indian/Pakistani) workers from gathering in groups on the beach to perv the women. Many complaints had been received and so now they charge 5 Dirham to go on the family side and 10 Dirhams to go on the "Persons" side. I have had to go on that side when I have gone to the beach when Caz has been working and it does make you feel like an outcast! Anyway, the entry price has precluded the workers from entering as they can't afford it. Now they just peer from a distance on the walkway to see as much as a glimpse of a female in a bikini. I do kind of feel a bit sorry for them as they work like 14 hours a day, 6 days a week, their wives/girlfriends are back home and they probably don't get to see them hardly ever - they don't have too many pleasures in life! But I guess I would think differently if I were a woman.

I read The National newspaper while sat on the beach. The National is about the only sensible local newspaper. It is written in good English (mainly) and isn't full of government propaganda and general sycophantic brown nosing. There are always stories that make me smile though. Today there was a story about the problem of graffiti in one of the housing areas (Bani Yas). Basically it is being done by local yobs who are bored and have nothing else to do. There was a great quote from one of the yobs, one Mr Saleh al Mahri, 18. He is quoted as saying:-

"The only bad thing we really do is throw stones at those who bother us or
our women, but we definitely don't spray-paint because it's destructive"

Two things stuck me about this; one, an 18 year old taking about "our women" like he is a real man of the world and has like 4 wives (!), and two, throwing stones at people is ok, but they would never spray-paint!

It seems like there is either no one policing what people wear on the beach or things are pretty much going the way of Dubai where anything goes (not topless though of course). Supposedly things are meant to be more conservative here and the beach rules state that you must moderate what you wear. There wasn't much sign of it today. One particular group of girls, who were actually quite close to the Police office, were pretty scantily clad. One had a tiny thong and super enhanced boobs. She was quite obviously very proud of her looks and definitely wanted to be seen! Clearly, I don't really have a problem with it (!) but if there are rules I do think they should be observed. Given the local sensibilities, I do think it is somewhat of a p-take.

Lee had decided to apply suncream himself. Not a good idea. Now he has huge patches of bright red and white. Still, the kids enjoyed the beach, even if the water was freezing!

Passed the stadium on the way home where the tennis tournament is taking place. Looked packed. Got in just in time to see Murray win through to the final.

Probably going to do some of the sights and shopping in Dubai tomorrow.

New year, new blog!

Well, I thought I'd give this blogging thing a go! Let's see how I get on.

Caz and I have now been in Abu Dhabi for 6 months, give or take a couple of weeks - and what a weird 6 months! Neither of us has lived abroad before, but I think even if we had it would still seem weird! We are definitely getting used to it, but it has taken some adjustment to deal with life in the Middle East.

This is where we live - we have the ground floor. It's on a development called Mohammed bin Zayed City about 40 mins out of the City Centre. It's quite roomy and provides parking, which is like gold dust in the City. As I have to travel to Dubai regularly it also cuts down the journey time to get there. I work for a Global IT Infrastructure distribution company based in Dubai and Caroline works at a maternity hospital in Abu Dhabi. I guess you will get more of a flavour of our work as these posts continue, but for now I want to talk about this week.

We have had all our kids over from the UK this week which has been great. Christmas Day was a bit of an anti-climax as we both had to work, but we did get chance to "Skype" with my family in the evening which was good. Basically, we saved our Christmas festivities until our kids arrived on the 28th. So a full crimble dinner was a must and we swapped pressies.

A couple of days ago we paid a visit to the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque which is absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately we got there past the time for visitors so we could only look at the outside. Caz and I will definitely go back though to take a look inside.

For New Year's Eve we booked to go on a Desert Safari. We were picked up by our driver and host, Amir who expertly guided us though the desert in his 4x4. The crazy dune bashing was fantastic - the hysterical laughs of terror from the kids were pretty funny! We stopped by some camel farms and watched the sun go down on top of the dunes - very nice, awwww.

We arrived at Bedouin camp where we had Arabic coffee, dates, tea, kebabs and rice. As Amir is a regular host he let us smuggle in our own drinks for the night (!), so a good time was had by all. The girls had henna tattoos which looked really lovely. They even bought some of their own henna today and did some more themselves.

So on the strike of midnight we cracked open the Champagne, but unfortunately as a heavy fog had descended, there were no fireworks. All in all, a great day.

Good job we hadn't booked anything in Dubai as all outdoor events (fireworks, concerts etc) were cancelled by order of Sheikh Mohammed as a mark of respect to the people of Gaza during the current conflict with Israel. I guess the rockets fired into Israel by Hamas over the last couple of weeks, unilaterally breaking the ceasefire, don't count! Anyway... quite a few upset people in Dubai I would imagine.

Today was a little more subdued. Lee was not feeling too great (too many Fosters me thinks!), but the rest of us went to Al Raha Beach Hotel for brunch. International buffets are great! I had salad, sushi, fresh crab, smoked salmon, lobster, beef, roast pots, all manner of puddings, fruits and cheeses! Finished off with coffee. Yummy! ....yes I know, I am a pig!

Tomorrow I think we may be off to the beach......