Well not exactly but as alluded to in my last post from a couple of weeks ago we have had some rain here in Dubai and I have to say that in comparison with the previous 4 years or so (since we started living here) we we seem to have had more than our fair share of "rainy days" this year (in fact even when it rains here, it does not really pour - unless it happens to be when the rugby 7s is on!). Maybe nothing like the rain in UK but when you are used to sunshine 24/7, grey and drizzily weather can have a disproportinately discouraging effect! We travlled down to RAK a few weekends ago (and stayed at the very glamourous Wal.dorf Astori.a which is another blog post in itself) passing through quite alot of desert which was beginning to sprout grass due to the amount of precipitation.
In any event, today was sunny although the temperature remained low - it has been almost chilly in the mornings - well may be below 15 degrees! However this was perfect for V.'s sports day which took place this morning and she seemed to revel in the conditions - 4th in the girls sprint final and 6 or 7th in the 700m final which was pretty good going given the large number of kids participating in the heats. We also got a letter to say she had been selected to run for her school in a cross-country competetion at the beginning of February (as has her brother A - although he has much more of a track record as a runner)so it is good to see both the kids defy their parents lack of running skills (well certinaly mine in relation to distance running) and excelling on the track!
Stats
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
Monday, January 6, 2014
I've been driving in my car
Given that the above title is taken from a song by Madness it is perhaps appropriate that the subject of this post is driving in Dubai. On my journey into work this morning I was cut up by a White Nissan Patrol and nearly run off the road by a Toyota Innova whose driver was drifting between lanes mainly I would guess as a consequence of the fact that he was talking on his mobile phone at the time (I could see him waiving it towards his ear as I passed him later). I think I have previously discussed the sad problem of indicator lights being broken in Dubai - the number of cars affected is huge and the issue seems to afflict pretty much all types of vehciles - alternativly I guess the problem could simply be that some drivers here do not bother to use their indicators. Whatever the reason, it can make for some interesting driving experiences but certainly this morning the Sheik Zayad road had its fair share of "challenging" drivers. I also noticed that we have since had some rain this morning (fortunately after I had arrived at work). Driving in rain is very much a novelty in Dubai so I imagine that matters did not really improve. Hopefully it will all have calmed down by the time I go home!
Sunday, January 5, 2014
Happy New Year!
The first post of the year - hopefuly presaging a more regular updating of this blog following the access issues of last year.
We spent Christmas this year in Dubai along with the Grandparents T and P. The weather has been great so we managed a number of visits to the beach (including a Christmas Day swim)which has provided a nice contrast to the tales of storms and flooding that we have been receiving about the weather in the UK.
After our swim on Christmas Day we had a very traditional (BBQ) Turkey with some Australian friends over in Dubailand which was terrific (and rather than an open fire burning in the hearth the created a firepit Assie style in the back garden and the kids had great fun toasting marshmallows over it).
Apart from a trip to Adu Dhabi half way through the holidays I had the whole Christmas/NY period off so managed to catch up on a bit or reading and also to set up my new Ipad and sound system (Father Christmas was very generous this year..). A less welcome addition to the household was a rat (or possibly a mouse - the jury is still out) in the garage so I have spent some time on the phone to various rat catchers around Dubai to get someone to deal with it. Actualy getting someone to come out was surprsingly difficult - evidently the pest control sector is booming at the moment. The traps have now been set and we are awaiting the results with some interest. Needless to say the resident "rat-catcher" Minnie has disdained any involvement in the process although I do seem to recall her taking an unusual interest in the garage just before Christmas so prehaps she was aware that something was up. Our cat has however managed to lose no less than three collars over the holiday period which has necessitated much angst in (a) finding suitable replacements (cat collar fashion in Dubai tends towards the blingy) and (b) attaching them as collarless cats tend to be impounded (or worse) without further enquiry here.
NYE was spent at an early dinner at the Al Manzil hotel followed by a view of the Burg Khalifa fireworks in the relative comfort and convenience of the end of our road in Al Safa. All in all a very satisfactory holiday.
We spent Christmas this year in Dubai along with the Grandparents T and P. The weather has been great so we managed a number of visits to the beach (including a Christmas Day swim)which has provided a nice contrast to the tales of storms and flooding that we have been receiving about the weather in the UK.
After our swim on Christmas Day we had a very traditional (BBQ) Turkey with some Australian friends over in Dubailand which was terrific (and rather than an open fire burning in the hearth the created a firepit Assie style in the back garden and the kids had great fun toasting marshmallows over it).
Apart from a trip to Adu Dhabi half way through the holidays I had the whole Christmas/NY period off so managed to catch up on a bit or reading and also to set up my new Ipad and sound system (Father Christmas was very generous this year..). A less welcome addition to the household was a rat (or possibly a mouse - the jury is still out) in the garage so I have spent some time on the phone to various rat catchers around Dubai to get someone to deal with it. Actualy getting someone to come out was surprsingly difficult - evidently the pest control sector is booming at the moment. The traps have now been set and we are awaiting the results with some interest. Needless to say the resident "rat-catcher" Minnie has disdained any involvement in the process although I do seem to recall her taking an unusual interest in the garage just before Christmas so prehaps she was aware that something was up. Our cat has however managed to lose no less than three collars over the holiday period which has necessitated much angst in (a) finding suitable replacements (cat collar fashion in Dubai tends towards the blingy) and (b) attaching them as collarless cats tend to be impounded (or worse) without further enquiry here.
NYE was spent at an early dinner at the Al Manzil hotel followed by a view of the Burg Khalifa fireworks in the relative comfort and convenience of the end of our road in Al Safa. All in all a very satisfactory holiday.
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
Broadcast recommencing
I had intended to try to a post every month for November (as per previous years) but for reasons that still remain unclear, every time I tried to create a new post the screen froze on "loading" and no matter what I did it steadfastly refused to allow anything to be drafted. But we are back now so I had better get cracking in case computer starts to say "no" again!
My last post was in July so I guess the starting point is our Summer holidays - particulaly hectic this year. We had gone back to London for a few days to sort A.'s passport out in early July and had a lovely time in and around Kew Gardens. After retuning to Dubai for a few weeks (the kids and E stayed in Bristol) I came back to UK and headed to Bristol where E's parents were settling into their new house and we all flew off to Spain where we had a great week in L'Escala staying at a nice place about 15 minutes from the beach and a short drive from my Sister's place where they were staying at the same time so plenty of BBQ's and lazy mornings drinking coffe overlooking the kids playing on the beach.
We then went back to Bristol for a few days before heading off to Ireland - first stop my Cousin's house in Killarney. We were only there for 3/4 days but managed to visit - in the pouring rain - an undergound cave with ancient stalagmites and tites. We also took a trip to Valencia island (great lunch of crab claws salad in a little cafe overlooking the harbour) along the Dingle peninsula (lovely part of the world) and we also learned all about the Skelligs - it was a beautiful day so we were also able to see them off shore as well as visiting the aquarium in Dingle itself. We also had time for the traditonal day of surfing at Inch(which the kids enjoyed although the Atlantic waters were rather colder than they are used to...).
After Killarney we drove down to Castletownbere where we met up with the America/London/Cork based cousins at Mary Etnas (and went to the sheep racing held by the Adrigole GAA - not to be missed) and then on to Castletownbere where we met up with Kevin S and various other cousins. Spent a great day at the regatta (by a miracle the sun shone as it had two years ago the last time we had been to the regatta) and we had a great time catching up, pottering around on K.s boat and enjoying the guiness in McCarthys.
We then headed back to Bristol and then on to Maidsotne for the last part of the holiday with Dad and M and B before I returned to Dubai followed by E and the kids a week or so later (due to on-going dental issues with V.).
A busy Summer!
My last post was in July so I guess the starting point is our Summer holidays - particulaly hectic this year. We had gone back to London for a few days to sort A.'s passport out in early July and had a lovely time in and around Kew Gardens. After retuning to Dubai for a few weeks (the kids and E stayed in Bristol) I came back to UK and headed to Bristol where E's parents were settling into their new house and we all flew off to Spain where we had a great week in L'Escala staying at a nice place about 15 minutes from the beach and a short drive from my Sister's place where they were staying at the same time so plenty of BBQ's and lazy mornings drinking coffe overlooking the kids playing on the beach.
We then went back to Bristol for a few days before heading off to Ireland - first stop my Cousin's house in Killarney. We were only there for 3/4 days but managed to visit - in the pouring rain - an undergound cave with ancient stalagmites and tites. We also took a trip to Valencia island (great lunch of crab claws salad in a little cafe overlooking the harbour) along the Dingle peninsula (lovely part of the world) and we also learned all about the Skelligs - it was a beautiful day so we were also able to see them off shore as well as visiting the aquarium in Dingle itself. We also had time for the traditonal day of surfing at Inch(which the kids enjoyed although the Atlantic waters were rather colder than they are used to...).
After Killarney we drove down to Castletownbere where we met up with the America/London/Cork based cousins at Mary Etnas (and went to the sheep racing held by the Adrigole GAA - not to be missed) and then on to Castletownbere where we met up with Kevin S and various other cousins. Spent a great day at the regatta (by a miracle the sun shone as it had two years ago the last time we had been to the regatta) and we had a great time catching up, pottering around on K.s boat and enjoying the guiness in McCarthys.
We then headed back to Bristol and then on to Maidsotne for the last part of the holiday with Dad and M and B before I returned to Dubai followed by E and the kids a week or so later (due to on-going dental issues with V.).
A busy Summer!
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
Hither and Thither
Just back from the second of two trips back to the UK following my return from HK. Both times the weather was absolutely splendid - London definitely looks at its best in the sunshine. For various reasons I flew with the three main carriers from Dubai back to the UK - Emirates, BA and Virgin - for BA and Virgin I was in the premium economy (PE) cabins. It is quite interesting to compare the three airlines. Emirates remains by far the best in terms of all round service, quality of food and plane etc. (even though it was economy, the seat pitches were not significantly less than the PE seats on the other carriers). Virgin provided a welcoming glass of sparkling wine but apart from that it did not seem noticeably different (apart from the legroom) than their economy offering. Even though it was a 777, the BA plane's entertainment system seemd quite old fashioned when compared with Emirates and Virgin. However, BA did provide some fancy earphones.
I suspect that next time I will probably stick with EMirates unless I had to fly economy rather than PE.
Did quite a lot of driving up and done the M4 for the last trip as we had to get A's passport renewed so we had a night in London staying at the Moran Hotel in Chiswick - nightmare to reach from the M4 (traffic at the Chiswick roundabout on Sunday afternoon was terrible) but pretty convenient to get into Victoria for the passport office and also to go to Kew Gardens where we spent a lovely afternoon potterng aroung the grounds (the kids were particulaly taken with the rowing throught the "Tutti Fruitti" groto on the boating lake - special glasses and banana smells made the experience rather surreal.
We also had a trip around the Tower of London - V. insisted on queuing for the crown jewels so we were all exhausted (although to be fair the queue whilst seemingly interminably long did move reasaonbly quickly) by the time we had returned to pick up the car (now rather dented following an unfortunate altercation with a pillar in the carpark after Saturday's scrapping incident in Bristol...).
Now back in Dubai in time for Ramadan before heading abck to UK for my main hols in a couple of weeks.
I suspect that next time I will probably stick with EMirates unless I had to fly economy rather than PE.
Did quite a lot of driving up and done the M4 for the last trip as we had to get A's passport renewed so we had a night in London staying at the Moran Hotel in Chiswick - nightmare to reach from the M4 (traffic at the Chiswick roundabout on Sunday afternoon was terrible) but pretty convenient to get into Victoria for the passport office and also to go to Kew Gardens where we spent a lovely afternoon potterng aroung the grounds (the kids were particulaly taken with the rowing throught the "Tutti Fruitti" groto on the boating lake - special glasses and banana smells made the experience rather surreal.
We also had a trip around the Tower of London - V. insisted on queuing for the crown jewels so we were all exhausted (although to be fair the queue whilst seemingly interminably long did move reasaonbly quickly) by the time we had returned to pick up the car (now rather dented following an unfortunate altercation with a pillar in the carpark after Saturday's scrapping incident in Bristol...).
Now back in Dubai in time for Ramadan before heading abck to UK for my main hols in a couple of weeks.
Bonkers in Honkers (Part 6)
After the rather late night last night we had a very quiet day today - again heading off to Stanley for breakfast at Rolf's and then on to Shek O to take advantage of the beautiful weather. If anything the beach was even more crowded than yesterday. After a relaxing couple of hours sunning ourselves we headed back to the Hotel for a quick change into our travel clothes and then headed off to the airport for our flights back. Whilst there were a couple of Lions shirts to be spotted (catching flights on to Oz) we were sharing our flight back to the Middle East with the London Scottish ruby team who had apparantly beeen touring in HK.
The flight back was uneventful and we were back home by around 11:30pm. All in all a really fabulous trip.
The flight back was uneventful and we were back home by around 11:30pm. All in all a really fabulous trip.
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Bonkers in Honkers (Part 5)
The day of the big game dawns bright (but not so early after our visit to Stanley last night..) and we travel back to Stanley for the "classic" breakfast at Rolf's (Spyagia) down on Main Street. Then onto Shek O again by taxi as it is another fantasticaly clear day. By the time we arrive (just before Noon) it is alrady very crowded and after the umbrella ladies have worked their magic we are happily reclining in our deckchairs surrounded by what appears to be most of the population of HK. I swam out to the pontoon and the view back to the beach clearly showed how crowded it had become with very little sand visible between the arrayed sun-worshippers.
Having had such a massive breakfast we did not bother with lunch and headed back to the Hotel at around 4pm in order to get ready for the evenings entertainment. After a quick shower and change of clothes our next challenge was to find a taxi to the Hong Kong Stadium.
In theory we could have walked it in around 25 minutes. It was however over 75degress and the humidity made such a plan very unattractive. However, on a Saturday afternoon taxis were plentiful but fully booked no matter where we stood and waited (at the hotel, out on Wong Nai Chung Road and then at the bottom of Stubbs Road). A couple of taxis stopped and the occupants offered a lift - but only had space for one until one chap kindly gave us a lift in his cab to a nearby restuarant where he was meeting a friend to walk on to the Stadium and let us have his cab thereafter. It turned out (small world) that he knew a former colleague of mine in London. In any event, we arrvied at the Stadium in good time to enjoy a pint of beer, buy some Lions shirts and then take our seats high in the stand amongst a sea of red (Dad and I were also wearing our newly acquired shirts although they were not really suitable for the sub-tropical heat and humidity of HK - we certianly felt hot and sweaty up in the stands - goodness knows what the players must have been feeling at pitch side!).
The match was keenly fought albeit with frequent water breaks. Given the temperature and humidity the players certainly made a huge effort (including Mr Farrell who ended up getting involved in some fisticuffs with a South African clubmate). The Lions were deserved winners although the extent to which this provided a menaningful prelude to a tour of Austrlai in Winter is somewhat debatable. Neverthe less the corwd (c.29,000) certainly enjoyed it and we made many friends (including a bunch from Austalira celebrating a 50th birthday of one of their number - they had sponsorship and everything!)with fellow Lions travellers as we all made our way towards the post-match celebrations in the direction of the Casueway Bay an Wanchai.
Predictably Wanchai was heaving and after a couple of drinks dad and J headed home and I caught up with some old friends. I go t abck at arpudn Midnight and J was still at the Hotel bar and in consequence we decided on a night cap which ended up being one of many as various Lions supporters trcieled in from the vairous bars and joined us for a few drinks (including a chap from Nepal who seemed to ahve used the Lions tour as an excuse for a medical safari which included various check ups en route).
Having had such a massive breakfast we did not bother with lunch and headed back to the Hotel at around 4pm in order to get ready for the evenings entertainment. After a quick shower and change of clothes our next challenge was to find a taxi to the Hong Kong Stadium.
In theory we could have walked it in around 25 minutes. It was however over 75degress and the humidity made such a plan very unattractive. However, on a Saturday afternoon taxis were plentiful but fully booked no matter where we stood and waited (at the hotel, out on Wong Nai Chung Road and then at the bottom of Stubbs Road). A couple of taxis stopped and the occupants offered a lift - but only had space for one until one chap kindly gave us a lift in his cab to a nearby restuarant where he was meeting a friend to walk on to the Stadium and let us have his cab thereafter. It turned out (small world) that he knew a former colleague of mine in London. In any event, we arrvied at the Stadium in good time to enjoy a pint of beer, buy some Lions shirts and then take our seats high in the stand amongst a sea of red (Dad and I were also wearing our newly acquired shirts although they were not really suitable for the sub-tropical heat and humidity of HK - we certianly felt hot and sweaty up in the stands - goodness knows what the players must have been feeling at pitch side!).
The match was keenly fought albeit with frequent water breaks. Given the temperature and humidity the players certainly made a huge effort (including Mr Farrell who ended up getting involved in some fisticuffs with a South African clubmate). The Lions were deserved winners although the extent to which this provided a menaningful prelude to a tour of Austrlai in Winter is somewhat debatable. Neverthe less the corwd (c.29,000) certainly enjoyed it and we made many friends (including a bunch from Austalira celebrating a 50th birthday of one of their number - they had sponsorship and everything!)with fellow Lions travellers as we all made our way towards the post-match celebrations in the direction of the Casueway Bay an Wanchai.
Predictably Wanchai was heaving and after a couple of drinks dad and J headed home and I caught up with some old friends. I go t abck at arpudn Midnight and J was still at the Hotel bar and in consequence we decided on a night cap which ended up being one of many as various Lions supporters trcieled in from the vairous bars and joined us for a few drinks (including a chap from Nepal who seemed to ahve used the Lions tour as an excuse for a medical safari which included various check ups en route).
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