The drugs aren't working...

The change of seasons, even in the desert, generally heralds the arrival of various colds and ailments and that has certainly been the case at Safa Towers. V. has been struggling with a particularly nasty cold for a couple of weeks and I started to succumb at the end of last week and have been coughing and spluttering my way through meetings for most of this week (much to the delight of colleagues and clients I am sure). I have been using a combination of lemsip and panadol to keep the symptoms at bay but to little avail - tonight I have therefore moved on to the heavier stuff - actifed - which I am assured will fell a charging rhino at 20 paces. Will report back tomorrow as to whether it has been successful.

Drive me crazy

During our days in Hong Kong, I frequently commented on the standards of driving on the roads of the Big Lychee. It was not as if driving in Hong Kong was particularly dangerous when compared to other Asian countries (given the small number of roads and the large volume of traffic, it was actually quite difficult to go fast enough to do any thing particularly dangerous although the minibus drivers did there best.... By contrast during a visit with my Father to Beijing last Christmas we saw the after effects of 4 recent crashes in the space of a 20 minute cab ride from our Hotel to the Forbidden City). There were however certain local idiosyncrasies that would occasionally cause a road user disquiet – the habit of minibus drivers of stopping dead in the middle of the road with the only outward sign that this was likely to happen was the hazard signs being switched on a millisecond beforehand, the daredevil practices of certain taxi drivers (as described here: http://taitamtales.blogspot.com/2009/01/taxi.html) and the challenges of driving during a black rain storm. However, moving to UAE has certainly brought the different driving styles between the Middle East and the Far East into sharp focus. For a start, the cars here tend to bigger – 4WD SUVs including various Hummers and Hummer wannabes. There are also more, and longer, roads. The Sheikh Zayad Road (SZR) is a six lane highway that starts near my office in Dubai and ends in Abu Dhabi and driving on it can be likened to a combination of the Wacky Racers and Death Race 2000 – E. refuses to drive on it and we had to choose the location of our home by reference to whether it would be feasible to get the kids to school using the most convenient available alternative route.

The main problems are that (a) their are lots of (big and fast) cars; (b) a number of driver’s are quite prepared to overtake/undertake or tailgate at very high speeds; (c)some of the road users regard any suggestion of deference or caution in their driving style to be a stain on their honour to be avoided at all costs. You quite literally require eyes in the back of your head to make sure that all potential hazards are kept in sight.

I recall when I first arrived here being driven by a taxi in the outside lane and being overtaken on the outside (ie in the small gap between the edge of the outside lane and the metal central reservation barrier) by a motorbike doing at least 160KPH. I also remember standing a the side of SZR near the trade centre roundabout and watching a motorbike doing wheelies in the carriage way towards Abu Dhabi, weaving in and out of cars overtaking them. I would not say that this is par for the course, but it does give a flavour of the Dubai driving experience and explains why, despite its many and manifold problems driving in HK was a piece of cake by comparison!

Seasons of mist and mellow fruitfulness........?

As noted in an earlier post we have now very much reached the cooler season here in Dubai. Not quite the same as UK (certainly our garden is not looking particularly fruitful - the grass has retreated from its verdant bushiness at the beginning of the Summer to a rather patchy piebald despite our attempts to use some spare rolls of new grass leftover from a neighbours re-turfing to pep things up while my sister was here). However, the days are clear and the sky is definitely blue - during the heat of the Summer the sky was a hazy white presumably due to the heat haze.

As with elsewhere in the world the shops here are turning their thoughts to Christmas and I was unable to resist a toffee nut latte this morning at Starbucks (so sweet that it made my teeth throb). E. pre-Christmas present shopping has also started so it will be interesting to see how the Golden Date celebrates Christmas - we will be staying in Town and will be visited by my Father and the in-laws. Never quite managed a BBQ on the beach at Christmas in HK so fingers crossed that we can manage it here.

Jazz Hands

A couple of weekends ago we purchased a piano. This has been on the "to do" list for a while and this assumed a sharper focus since my Father promised to contribute some money to the acquisition earlier in the year. We had discussed getting a piano in HK but had decided that apartment living did not really lend itself to a full size "Joanna" and we made do with our little electronic keyboard instead. However, our move to Dubai and the larger space we have in Safa Towers meant that we had the luxury of not only being able to accommodate the piano but also had a number of potential locations where it could be put.

We had already looked at a couple of potential new and second-hand pianos when my Father was over in April/May. A fairly basic new Yamaha is around AED12/13,000 here. Second-hand pianos were being offered on Dubizzle for anything between AED5 -20,000 and we looked at very nice second-hand Yamaha owned by some Canadian school teachers which they were offering from c. AED10,000. Even though the wife confided to us as we were leaving that she thought the husband was asking too much they did not take our offer on it and we gave up the search over the Summer as E. and the kids returned to UK.

The search resumed in earnest after the holidays and E. spotted an advert for a U2 Yamaha located in JBR. I fixed up a viewing and we met by two charming American chaps - the piano player was in fact a trained pianist who specialised in modern Jazz and he regaled us with some fabulous music which captivated the kids and sold the piano (notwithstanding a couple of dents).It was apparently an ex-demo model from a music shop in Ibn Battuta Mall. After some (spectacularly) unsuccessful haggling I agreed to pay the asking price of AED10,000.

The next bit (transporting the piano from the 27th floor apartment in JBR to Safa Towers) was more challenging. I contacted a removals man recommended by our neighbours who turned up with a small pick up truck, a rather fragile looking mate and lots of plastic sheeting. After much grunting and heaving, the piano (surprisingly bulky) was man-handled to the bottom of the block (fortunately it fitted into the lift). Lifting it up onto the back of the truck (a distance of about 2 feet) nearly killed all three of us but ultimately the piano was fixed in position to make its rather unsteady way to its new home.

Removing the Piano from the back of the truck into our home proved (marginally) easier, and our new toy now takes pride of place in the Dining area where A. has been doing his piano practice, V. has been thrashing around on it (doubtless in imitation of its previous owners style of play although with slightly less successful results) and I have been trying to remember how to play my old Grade 5 exam pieces.

October Frenzy

Safa Towers briefly became (even more of) a hotel during the course of October, as we entertained my Father and Uncle (K.), and then after K. had left, my Sister and her family. A house containing 10 people (including 4 children aged 8 or below) is certainly an exciting place to be!

Peace has now returned, so a chance to reflect on October. It started hot (and humid) and remained that way whilst my Father and K were with us (my Father stayed on whilst my Sister was visiting) and they entertained themselves at the pool and at the beach (where they indulged in sunbathing and snorkeling). We also managed a visit to Meat & Co at Souk al Bahar to watch the dancing fountains and some drinks at the Burg Al Arab - surely the last bastion of ostentation in a country which already does a fair amount of ostentatiousness (not sure if that is actually a word!).

The weather became cooler and clearer just as my Sister arrived and we entered probably the best part of the year weatherwise. The coruscating heat of the Summer has been replaced by the more gentle temperatures of Autumn (which appears to have prompted the Landlord to turn on the chiller in the pool...) and for the last two weeks it has been positively balmy. I managed to take a few days off to entertain our visitors which led to a pleasant trip to Bab al Shams and separately a visit to Aqualand which was great fun (although I think I might be getting a bit old for hurling myself done steep drops protected only by a water ring).

The start of the month was marked by my second visit to Doha (Qatar) for a conference which was interesting and I have some travel back to London to look forward to at the end of this month. But for the time being I am able to savour the delights of a (relatively) quiet house and the comfort of my own bed.

Staycation

In my commuting days last year, I managed to rack up a huge number of points with Starwood Hotels and we decided to use some of them for an "end of Summer" stay at the Sheraton next to JBR. We had already stayed at JBR - for a week during our "look see" last Autumn and for a month or so following our arrival in Dubai at the end of December last year so we knew the area well.

We had a great time and it was quite interesting how things felt and looked rather different when staying there "on holiday" as opposed to living there!

I had negotiated an early check in and a later check out so we had the best part of two days lazing by the pool and swimming (me for the first time since moving to Dubai) in the sea by the Hotel's part of the beach. The kids loved the children's club and we were upgraded to a suite which meant that we all had a little more space. We visited some of our old haunts along "the Walk" and I also managed to catch England's victory over Bulgaria in the Euro-qualifiers - everyone was happy!

Given that we only live 20 minutes away from the hotel the trip home was also painless and everybody felt ready for the week ahead (including the (temprorary) return to school prior to the Eid holidays. We will be doing this again I hope.

Lazy Days of Summer

A second post, no more than a month (sort of...) from my last post! What is the world coming to! I have finally managed to gain access to my last blog so thought I would post the link here so that anyone interested can take a look at what we got up to when we were living in Hong Kong - link is here www.taitamtales.blogspot.com . We have now got back from our holidays in the UK so at some (hopefully) not too distant point in the future I will provide an update on our adventures back in blighty.