The next week at work was spent using every spare moment trying to sort out when I was going to get the keys to my place!!! It had to be cleaned and painted before I could move in, and I was constantly chasing.
There was a works party planned for the Thursday…it is marketed as the annual party rather than the Christmas party….non the less I had opted out of going….i thought it was a get dressed up affair and given it was at festival city and I was living at the greens it was just a hassle and I was stressed over the villa…..but I chatted to a couple of mates who persuaded me to change my mind….now all I had to do was coordinate with the lease agent to meet me in the morning to exchange keys and then I could meet everyone at the do, just down the road from the villa and drink…….but as with everything in Dubai…plans just don’t work out…I couldn’t get the keys till later in the afternoon…so I went to the party and watched everyone around me get drunk……..REALLY DRUNK…it was a free bar….god I was miffed I couldn’t drink…..but hey…I got my villa keys and was able to start moving in on Friday…..
It wasn’t too much of a logistical nightmare as Lou and Jim……….well ok Jim (lou was suffering the effects of the free bar!) helped move the larger items to the place……
I didn’t have a bed or anything so the mission was to get to Ikea ASAP….Scott leant me a blow up bed…….actually a lot more comfortable than I thought it was going to be but roll on the 4th
Feb……the delivery arrives! Bought a load of curtains and poles….borrowed a drill and the mission for the week was to get the windows covered….adds to the privacy and makes the place feel more homely I think!..............it was a mission that saw me in Ikea and Ace everyday for nearly a week….(ACE is like B&Q in the UK)…not only for plugs and screws but for foam to stop the noise through the windows……a few of the poles went up like a dream…apart from the odd wonky bracket…ok so that can be hidden…..no drama. But behind some of the walls there was like a really hard plate….we were using the wrong bit but once we worked it out we got through it like a hot knife through butter…..
Now I have been here 4 and a half months and really craved a night out…old school style…memories of waxy O’Connors and jimmy Dix and some really cool nights out were filling my head…so I emailed a few peeps and got a few together……Waxy’s took a while to warm up but when it did, it was really good…as usually rushing around I didn’t have time to eat…but had a really nice burger at the bar!......in between free cocktails and sparkling wine….What a mix!! Then it started….the gin and tonic….it was time to find somewhere to dance…although I had been singing and dancing in Waxy’s Lou reminded me of the rest of the mission. Some of the group followed to what was the biggest shock I have had since returning to Dubai! WHAT THE HELL HAS HAPPENED TO JIMMY DIX!!!! 1:30 and it was empty…no band and I counted 9 people in there….Cannot believe it….i am totally GUTTED! The place was crud! I was pretty impressed that Lou and Mary hit the dance floor…..AN EMPTY DANCE FLOOR, only to be joined by 2 of the admin team from work…..who I have since spoken to and were equally as shocked at what has happen to the place!....i couldn’t move from the bar area….a mixture of stability reasons and total disappointment…..
One drink in JD and three of us moved on…rapidly! To Double Deckers….that was also quite empty…don’t know what was going on! But it was still good to be out…and people watching was a comedy activity!!
Grabbed a cab around 0300….had to stop once on the way back as a dodgy moment came over my friend….never seen a cabbie move so fast to open a door…it was a nice cab….leather interior hahaha….Found the villa ok…and the next thing I know…its morning….OW.
The planes were well noisy…I literally dumped my stuff and went to bed no ear plugs…….Friday was Slow….around lunch Scott and I went to get my car from NGS Via Diera City center to get some shopping. Oh god that was not so fun……so busy and the waves of nausea periodically hit me…but….worked on through! Hahaha RESULT! Bought a microwave…so at least while waiting for gas, I can have hot food at the villa!!! Just chilled in the afternoon….sorted the washing machine, the cooker is now level and generally didn’t do much else….there was a terrible sandstorm so going out wasn’t pleasant….in fact there were mini sand dunes forming under the doors……
Saturday was Hair day and try to sort the internet day and back door maintenance guy day! The only success out of those tasks was the Hair…Etisalat were not doing connections, and back door peeps never turned up…still……..it gave me time to clean up a bit and do washing…..
Did I mention I joined a gym…..there is one in Mirdif with a pool….25m training pool outside. Been two nights in a row so far and it is cold…I have IKEA delivery tonight so not sure I will make it…but I am being hounded to book my free personal trainer sessions….i don’t want to…..too scared!!! Especially the part where they analyse your BMI….FAT CONTENT….oiy…I know I am over weight…that’s why I joined a gym…..FOR SWIMMING!......i will get round to it….later this week….will let you know how it goes!
Sunday, 3 February 2008
No sooner had the guys got back and I was on the town again! Lou had just had a birthday and a number of other people at work were celebrating their birthdays too, so only fair to paint the town…..so again we hit Yalumba. A champagne fest………….plan was going good until the fact that the heavens opened solidly for two days that week causing major flooding and tail backs from Sharjah that affected just about every major artery in Dubai for just about a week!!!!
I opted for a cab share with a guy that lived in the Marina…he picked me up at the greens and we headed into town…I assumed he knew where we were going….so to make doubly sure I told the cabbie which hotel it was too…….it seemed to take ages and yet again we went a way that I wasn’t sure off….all the roads keep changing so I wasn’t totally surprised…..Now, when we got off Garhoud bridge and the guy I was with said…its ok we can walk from here, the alarm bells should have started ringing! I was wearing impractical shoes for walking!!! But we went for it as we were nearly an hour late due to MEGA traffic….well basically we went to the wrong hotel! It wasn’t til we got to the front door that I noticed this….OOPPPSSIEEE…but the big question was…with grid locked traffic everywhere…how the hell do we get to the right place….luckily just asked the door man and it was across the road….(well that was where he pointed us to go)……eventually we made it (it was not far)……1 hour late we started munching and slurping….had some catching up to do…..
It didn’t take long for the bubbles to start to take effect…and as the time ticked on and the guests started to clear, our table started to come alive….. 
Some tables were cleared and moved out of the way, the music was cranked up and we had a mini dance floor…..GAME ON! ………now this is where it gets a little cloudy…..i didn’t remember the gang making a human pyramid until the photos came around the next week….
but I have a lasting memory of the lads and a birthday cake…
It started with Scott dancing around with said cake, it was then passed to Will to balance on his head…..no drama he took it off his head but as he held it, the cake slipped and splatted on the floor…..i nearly wet myself it was so funny…..that provided the prop for the funniest dancing I have ever seen in my life. I think the phrase cake dancing can be coined….someone started sprinting on the slippy mess, I mean REALLY sprinting, flicking cream and chocolate in all directions, then another started a version of breakdancing, followed by numerous guys trying to out do each other….Topped off by Tom who did rolley polleys through it wearing white shirt and light cream trousers….you had to have seen it to appreciate how funny it was……
The inevitable move to the bar area superseded the cake antics….especially when a waiter put pay to the fun by clearing up the cake with his tea towel!!! Spoil sport………but this didn’t stop the fun…..for Scott and Kev decided to start a limbo competition!!!! Not sure where the rope came from but most people had a go…and the difficulty rating for each attempt increased mid limbo….thanks to the two guys dropping the rope a few cm at a time…as the munchies set in (god knows why as I had just consumed all I could eat from the buffet!!) I dared Jim to nick a couple of nice looking cookies from a jar that was obviously for decoration purposes….they were RANK….oh my god….i left my remains in a plant pot before my body rejected it involuntarily! Was funny to see Jims face as he took a bite and reailsed why I didn’t finish it!!!
The crowd then decided to try and go to Chi, but it was getting on and money was running low, so me and the guy I cabbed with left for our places…….
Oh the pain of the champagne brunch….totally self inflicted but I can confirm that for me…the champagne hangover is the most painful of all hangovers.
Basically I got up at 10:30 which I thought was pretty good….went to socialize with J&C and the kids but it was too bright and I was not feeling tops…went back to bed till the afternoon and basically wasted the Friday….
Saturday was my turn to give a helping hand. A friend was moving flat, so I helped with the proceedings…He hired a van to move the big stuff and we shifted it to another mates place while waiting for the next place to be free….we started at around 0900 and didn’t finish until 2230, well…I left then…I think he still had to sort stuff out at the old flat….was hard work but it was such a workout, especially given I had skipped dragon boating.
I opted for a cab share with a guy that lived in the Marina…he picked me up at the greens and we headed into town…I assumed he knew where we were going….so to make doubly sure I told the cabbie which hotel it was too…….it seemed to take ages and yet again we went a way that I wasn’t sure off….all the roads keep changing so I wasn’t totally surprised…..Now, when we got off Garhoud bridge and the guy I was with said…its ok we can walk from here, the alarm bells should have started ringing! I was wearing impractical shoes for walking!!! But we went for it as we were nearly an hour late due to MEGA traffic….well basically we went to the wrong hotel! It wasn’t til we got to the front door that I noticed this….OOPPPSSIEEE…but the big question was…with grid locked traffic everywhere…how the hell do we get to the right place….luckily just asked the door man and it was across the road….(well that was where he pointed us to go)……eventually we made it (it was not far)……1 hour late we started munching and slurping….had some catching up to do…..
It didn’t take long for the bubbles to start to take effect…and as the time ticked on and the guests started to clear, our table started to come alive….. Some tables were cleared and moved out of the way, the music was cranked up and we had a mini dance floor…..GAME ON! ………now this is where it gets a little cloudy…..i didn’t remember the gang making a human pyramid until the photos came around the next week….but I have a lasting memory of the lads and a birthday cake…It started with Scott dancing around with said cake, it was then passed to Will to balance on his head…..no drama he took it off his head but as he held it, the cake slipped and splatted on the floor…..i nearly wet myself it was so funny…..that provided the prop for the funniest dancing I have ever seen in my life. I think the phrase cake dancing can be coined….someone started sprinting on the slippy mess, I mean REALLY sprinting, flicking cream and chocolate in all directions, then another started a version of breakdancing, followed by numerous guys trying to out do each other….Topped off by Tom who did rolley polleys through it wearing white shirt and light cream trousers….you had to have seen it to appreciate how funny it was……
The inevitable move to the bar area superseded the cake antics….especially when a waiter put pay to the fun by clearing up the cake with his tea towel!!! Spoil sport………but this didn’t stop the fun…..for Scott and Kev decided to start a limbo competition!!!! Not sure where the rope came from but most people had a go…and the difficulty rating for each attempt increased mid limbo….thanks to the two guys dropping the rope a few cm at a time…as the munchies set in (god knows why as I had just consumed all I could eat from the buffet!!) I dared Jim to nick a couple of nice looking cookies from a jar that was obviously for decoration purposes….they were RANK….oh my god….i left my remains in a plant pot before my body rejected it involuntarily! Was funny to see Jims face as he took a bite and reailsed why I didn’t finish it!!!
The crowd then decided to try and go to Chi, but it was getting on and money was running low, so me and the guy I cabbed with left for our places…….
Oh the pain of the champagne brunch….totally self inflicted but I can confirm that for me…the champagne hangover is the most painful of all hangovers.
Basically I got up at 10:30 which I thought was pretty good….went to socialize with J&C and the kids but it was too bright and I was not feeling tops…went back to bed till the afternoon and basically wasted the Friday….
Saturday was my turn to give a helping hand. A friend was moving flat, so I helped with the proceedings…He hired a van to move the big stuff and we shifted it to another mates place while waiting for the next place to be free….we started at around 0900 and didn’t finish until 2230, well…I left then…I think he still had to sort stuff out at the old flat….was hard work but it was such a workout, especially given I had skipped dragon boating.
I have been totally terrible in updating the blog of late and for that I apologize.
It has been a manic 2 months since the rugby 7s…..let me try and enlighten you in what has been going on…….Trust me it has been Stressy…..
Basically Jean and Chris were getting ready to go back to NZ for their 6 weeks holiday and Steve was due to arrive in less than a week (6th Dec). I was aware that the pressure was on to find accommodation. J&C had been so good to me by letting me live with them but I wanted to let them have their family home back!
Many people had suggested to me that the way forward was to share a flat with someone…this however is illegal here as it is classed as co habiting. Cutting a long story short I discussed with some mates and I had a plan of how I was to get my accommodation before J&C came back…..and a plan was hatched.
Steve arrived on the 6th to start 1 month of job hunting…this proved a really difficult exercise….many places just simply not responding or sending signals that they were interested but then not actually following through. For the fun side of his trip I had to make an itinerary….i want to do a number of things while he was out…notably something for Christmas and new year…..but ever looming over my head was this damn accommodation issue!!!!
I had already tried to view accommodation out here with very little success. So the prospect of trying again was daunting. Basically looked on Gulf News classifieds and rang around a few places….saw some apartments in Barsha and they were pretty nice but the consideration was the distance from work. I was already commuting from the greens to Wafi and the traffic on that route was a nightmare and pretty unpredictable. Same goes for JBR near the marina. Then it came to my attention that for the same price I could get a villa in Mirdif as get an apartment in these places….so my attention turned….found a nice new place….basically did the deal with the guy mid December and had to wait for Eid, Christmas and new year to pass before finding out that actually they were a bunch of robbing bstrds…….yep…….we had been caught in a scam…….FKRS……sorry about that outburst but when you have lost an amount of cash to some unscrupulous muppet it kinda leaves you a little sour!........................
Anyway…..back to the drawing board with the accommodation thing.….meanwhile steve was having a mare with the applications….turned up to some joke of a walk in interview at the airport. Basically turned out to be an unorganized maul with guys literally screwing CVs in balls and hurling them over the fence…..sufficed to say he didn’t hear anything from there…..
Back to my itinerary I decided to get him out to a few touristy things during his stay…we went to the ICE bar at Times square mall which can be compared to sitting in a supermarket warehouse freezer….I used to work for Waitrose and the similarities were uncanny….in fact you even got given the same coats that we used to have to wear when picking stock!!!. We went to Ski Dubai which was a crash course…… literally….Trying to reacquaint myself with the white stuff…. and quadding, not to mention the odd trip to the beach for a bit of tanning.
Christmas day was nice…got up went to the beach for breakfast and then headed to the Grand Hyatt for Lunch…..Traditional lunch….was nice however marred slightly by the inept service from Dubai Taxi who’s control centre staff and taxi drivers seem to have a different idea of how long two minutes is compared to reality. In fact it was 58mins different from reality meaning I had to drive in the end….but the food was sooo good…
New year was spent at the Park Hyatt with two friends (Lou and Jim)…..to our amusement on turning up we were given wrist bands that stated we were on an alcoholic package and we were hurded to our “area”……..there was a hogmany party in full swing with loadsa kilt clad men running around…..i was going to ask “THE” question but bottled it…(I had already found out the answer at the 7s really”…the food was a brunch type buffet affair…really good, and the fireworks were amazing….in fact I thought we were being mortared….
The end of the night was spent on the dance floor with Lou while the boys stayed at the table on doubles….somehting that steve later regretted…..SO DID I AS HE USED MY BLOODY PARTY HAT AS A SICK BOWL!!!!! I had decorated it as well! Swine!
Soon the 6th Jan arrived and Steve left for blighty….he had to go back to finish up packing the house….i had a couple of weeks before J&C returned to find a new abode……(I wasn’t being kicked out, but I made them a promise…..).
Anyway, I hit it running…..I viewed so many places and jumped out of work at lunch to rush to various parts of Dubai…a mate was supplying me with ads, and I followed them up….eventually through a stroke of luck a place came up in mid January…... 2 bed plus study…..bonus….but having been burnt once already I was gonna be bloody sure this time that I wasn’t going to be messed around a second time…….to be fair the lady was really good…..and after a few maintenance issues were resolved I sorted the contract out just after J&C got back…(16th January)….It was good to see them all again, they looked all refreshed from their break.…..and the kids, they seemed to have grown up lots since last I saw them!
It has been a manic 2 months since the rugby 7s…..let me try and enlighten you in what has been going on…….Trust me it has been Stressy…..
Basically Jean and Chris were getting ready to go back to NZ for their 6 weeks holiday and Steve was due to arrive in less than a week (6th Dec). I was aware that the pressure was on to find accommodation. J&C had been so good to me by letting me live with them but I wanted to let them have their family home back!
Many people had suggested to me that the way forward was to share a flat with someone…this however is illegal here as it is classed as co habiting. Cutting a long story short I discussed with some mates and I had a plan of how I was to get my accommodation before J&C came back…..and a plan was hatched.
Steve arrived on the 6th to start 1 month of job hunting…this proved a really difficult exercise….many places just simply not responding or sending signals that they were interested but then not actually following through. For the fun side of his trip I had to make an itinerary….i want to do a number of things while he was out…notably something for Christmas and new year…..but ever looming over my head was this damn accommodation issue!!!!
I had already tried to view accommodation out here with very little success. So the prospect of trying again was daunting. Basically looked on Gulf News classifieds and rang around a few places….saw some apartments in Barsha and they were pretty nice but the consideration was the distance from work. I was already commuting from the greens to Wafi and the traffic on that route was a nightmare and pretty unpredictable. Same goes for JBR near the marina. Then it came to my attention that for the same price I could get a villa in Mirdif as get an apartment in these places….so my attention turned….found a nice new place….basically did the deal with the guy mid December and had to wait for Eid, Christmas and new year to pass before finding out that actually they were a bunch of robbing bstrds…….yep…….we had been caught in a scam…….FKRS……sorry about that outburst but when you have lost an amount of cash to some unscrupulous muppet it kinda leaves you a little sour!........................
Anyway…..back to the drawing board with the accommodation thing.….meanwhile steve was having a mare with the applications….turned up to some joke of a walk in interview at the airport. Basically turned out to be an unorganized maul with guys literally screwing CVs in balls and hurling them over the fence…..sufficed to say he didn’t hear anything from there…..
Back to my itinerary I decided to get him out to a few touristy things during his stay…we went to the ICE bar at Times square mall which can be compared to sitting in a supermarket warehouse freezer….I used to work for Waitrose and the similarities were uncanny….in fact you even got given the same coats that we used to have to wear when picking stock!!!. We went to Ski Dubai which was a crash course…… literally….Trying to reacquaint myself with the white stuff…. and quadding, not to mention the odd trip to the beach for a bit of tanning.
Christmas day was nice…got up went to the beach for breakfast and then headed to the Grand Hyatt for Lunch…..Traditional lunch….was nice however marred slightly by the inept service from Dubai Taxi who’s control centre staff and taxi drivers seem to have a different idea of how long two minutes is compared to reality. In fact it was 58mins different from reality meaning I had to drive in the end….but the food was sooo good…
New year was spent at the Park Hyatt with two friends (Lou and Jim)…..to our amusement on turning up we were given wrist bands that stated we were on an alcoholic package and we were hurded to our “area”……..there was a hogmany party in full swing with loadsa kilt clad men running around…..i was going to ask “THE” question but bottled it…(I had already found out the answer at the 7s really”…the food was a brunch type buffet affair…really good, and the fireworks were amazing….in fact I thought we were being mortared….
The end of the night was spent on the dance floor with Lou while the boys stayed at the table on doubles….somehting that steve later regretted…..SO DID I AS HE USED MY BLOODY PARTY HAT AS A SICK BOWL!!!!! I had decorated it as well! Swine!
Soon the 6th Jan arrived and Steve left for blighty….he had to go back to finish up packing the house….i had a couple of weeks before J&C returned to find a new abode……(I wasn’t being kicked out, but I made them a promise…..).
Anyway, I hit it running…..I viewed so many places and jumped out of work at lunch to rush to various parts of Dubai…a mate was supplying me with ads, and I followed them up….eventually through a stroke of luck a place came up in mid January…... 2 bed plus study…..bonus….but having been burnt once already I was gonna be bloody sure this time that I wasn’t going to be messed around a second time…….to be fair the lady was really good…..and after a few maintenance issues were resolved I sorted the contract out just after J&C got back…(16th January)….It was good to see them all again, they looked all refreshed from their break.…..and the kids, they seemed to have grown up lots since last I saw them!
I have been totally terrible in updating the blog of late and for that I apologize.
It has been a manic 2 months since the rugby 7s…..let me try and enlighten you in what has been going on…….Trust me it has been Stressy…..
Basically Jean and Chris were getting ready to go back to NZ for their 6 weeks holiday and Steve was due to arrive in less than a week (6th Dec). I was aware that the pressure was on to find accommodation. J&C had been so good to me by letting me live with them but I wanted to let them have their family home back!
Many people had suggested to me that the way forward was to share a flat with someone…this however is illegal here as it is classed as co habiting. Cutting a long story short I discussed with some mates and I had a plan of how I was to get my accommodation before J&C came back…..and a plan was hatched.
Steve arrived on the 6th to start 1 month of job hunting…this proved a really difficult exercise….many places just simply not responding or sending signals that they were interested but then not actually following through. For the fun side of his trip I had to make an itinerary….i want to do a number of things while he was out…notably something for Christmas and new year…..but ever looming over my head was this damn accommodation issue!!!!
I had already tried to view accommodation out here with very little success. So the prospect of trying again was daunting. Basically looked on Gulf News classifieds and rang around a few places….saw some apartments in Barsha and they were pretty nice but the consideration was the distance from work. I was already commuting from the greens to Wafi and the traffic on that route was a nightmare and pretty unpredictable. Same goes for JBR near the marina. Then it came to my attention that for the same price I could get a villa in Mirdif as get an apartment in these places….so my attention turned….found a nice new place….basically did the deal with the guy mid December and had to wait for Eid, Christmas and new year to pass before finding out that actually they were a bunch of robbing bstrds…….yep…….we had been caught in a scam…….FKRS……sorry about that outburst but when you have lost an amount of cash to some unscrupulous muppet it kinda leaves you a little sour!........................
Anyway…..back to the drawing board with the accommodation thing.….meanwhile steve was having a mare with the applications….turned up to some joke of a walk in interview at the airport. Basically turned out to be an unorganized maul with guys literally screwing CVs in balls and hurling them over the fence…..sufficed to say he didn’t hear anything from there…..
Back to my itinerary I decided to get him out to a few touristy things during his stay…we went to the ICE bar at Times square mall which can be compared to sitting in a supermarket warehouse freezer….I used to work for Waitrose and the similarities were uncanny….in fact you even got given the same coats that we used to have to wear when picking stock!!!. We went to Ski Dubai which was a crash course…… literally….Trying to reacquaint myself with the white stuff…. and quadding, not to mention the odd trip to the beach for a bit of tanning.
Christmas day was nice…got up went to the beach for breakfast and then headed to the Grand Hyatt for Lunch…..Traditional lunch….was nice however marred slightly by the inept service from Dubai Taxi who’s control centre staff and taxi drivers seem to have a different idea of how long two minutes is compared to reality. In fact it was 58mins different from reality meaning I had to drive in the end….but the food was sooo good…
New year was spent at the Park Hyatt with two friends (Lou and Jim)…..to our amusement on turning up we were given wrist bands that stated we were on an alcoholic package and we were hurded to our “area”……..there was a hogmany party in full swing with loadsa kilt clad men running around…..i was going to ask “THE” question but bottled it…(I had already found out the answer at the 7s really”…the food was a brunch type buffet affair…really good, and the fireworks were amazing….in fact I thought we were being mortared….
The end of the night was spent on the dance floor with Lou while the boys stayed at the table on doubles….somehting that steve later regretted…..SO DID I AS HE USED MY BLOODY PARTY HAT AS A SICK BOWL!!!!! I had decorated it as well! Swine!
Soon the 6th Jan arrived and Steve left for blighty….he had to go back to finish up packing the house….i had a couple of weeks before J&C returned to find a new abode……(I wasn’t being kicked out, but I made them a promise…..).
Anyway, I hit it running…..I viewed so many places and jumped out of work at lunch to rush to various parts of Dubai…a mate was supplying me with ads, and I followed them up….eventually through a stroke of luck a place came up in mid January…... 2 bed plus study…..bonus….but having been burnt once already I was gonna be bloody sure this time that I wasn’t going to be messed around a second time…….to be fair the lady was really good…..and after a few maintenance issues were resolved I sorted the contract out just after J&C got back…(16th January)….It was good to see them all again, they looked all refreshed from their break.…..and the kids, they seemed to have grown up lots since last I saw them!
It has been a manic 2 months since the rugby 7s…..let me try and enlighten you in what has been going on…….Trust me it has been Stressy…..
Basically Jean and Chris were getting ready to go back to NZ for their 6 weeks holiday and Steve was due to arrive in less than a week (6th Dec). I was aware that the pressure was on to find accommodation. J&C had been so good to me by letting me live with them but I wanted to let them have their family home back!
Many people had suggested to me that the way forward was to share a flat with someone…this however is illegal here as it is classed as co habiting. Cutting a long story short I discussed with some mates and I had a plan of how I was to get my accommodation before J&C came back…..and a plan was hatched.
Steve arrived on the 6th to start 1 month of job hunting…this proved a really difficult exercise….many places just simply not responding or sending signals that they were interested but then not actually following through. For the fun side of his trip I had to make an itinerary….i want to do a number of things while he was out…notably something for Christmas and new year…..but ever looming over my head was this damn accommodation issue!!!!
I had already tried to view accommodation out here with very little success. So the prospect of trying again was daunting. Basically looked on Gulf News classifieds and rang around a few places….saw some apartments in Barsha and they were pretty nice but the consideration was the distance from work. I was already commuting from the greens to Wafi and the traffic on that route was a nightmare and pretty unpredictable. Same goes for JBR near the marina. Then it came to my attention that for the same price I could get a villa in Mirdif as get an apartment in these places….so my attention turned….found a nice new place….basically did the deal with the guy mid December and had to wait for Eid, Christmas and new year to pass before finding out that actually they were a bunch of robbing bstrds…….yep…….we had been caught in a scam…….FKRS……sorry about that outburst but when you have lost an amount of cash to some unscrupulous muppet it kinda leaves you a little sour!........................
Anyway…..back to the drawing board with the accommodation thing.….meanwhile steve was having a mare with the applications….turned up to some joke of a walk in interview at the airport. Basically turned out to be an unorganized maul with guys literally screwing CVs in balls and hurling them over the fence…..sufficed to say he didn’t hear anything from there…..
Back to my itinerary I decided to get him out to a few touristy things during his stay…we went to the ICE bar at Times square mall which can be compared to sitting in a supermarket warehouse freezer….I used to work for Waitrose and the similarities were uncanny….in fact you even got given the same coats that we used to have to wear when picking stock!!!. We went to Ski Dubai which was a crash course…… literally….Trying to reacquaint myself with the white stuff…. and quadding, not to mention the odd trip to the beach for a bit of tanning.
Christmas day was nice…got up went to the beach for breakfast and then headed to the Grand Hyatt for Lunch…..Traditional lunch….was nice however marred slightly by the inept service from Dubai Taxi who’s control centre staff and taxi drivers seem to have a different idea of how long two minutes is compared to reality. In fact it was 58mins different from reality meaning I had to drive in the end….but the food was sooo good…
New year was spent at the Park Hyatt with two friends (Lou and Jim)…..to our amusement on turning up we were given wrist bands that stated we were on an alcoholic package and we were hurded to our “area”……..there was a hogmany party in full swing with loadsa kilt clad men running around…..i was going to ask “THE” question but bottled it…(I had already found out the answer at the 7s really”…the food was a brunch type buffet affair…really good, and the fireworks were amazing….in fact I thought we were being mortared….
The end of the night was spent on the dance floor with Lou while the boys stayed at the table on doubles….somehting that steve later regretted…..SO DID I AS HE USED MY BLOODY PARTY HAT AS A SICK BOWL!!!!! I had decorated it as well! Swine!
Soon the 6th Jan arrived and Steve left for blighty….he had to go back to finish up packing the house….i had a couple of weeks before J&C returned to find a new abode……(I wasn’t being kicked out, but I made them a promise…..).
Anyway, I hit it running…..I viewed so many places and jumped out of work at lunch to rush to various parts of Dubai…a mate was supplying me with ads, and I followed them up….eventually through a stroke of luck a place came up in mid January…... 2 bed plus study…..bonus….but having been burnt once already I was gonna be bloody sure this time that I wasn’t going to be messed around a second time…….to be fair the lady was really good…..and after a few maintenance issues were resolved I sorted the contract out just after J&C got back…(16th January)….It was good to see them all again, they looked all refreshed from their break.…..and the kids, they seemed to have grown up lots since last I saw them!
Monday, 17 December 2007
Wow, your treated today!.......another post!
So my other half flew out on Thursday night (6th Dec). He is out for a month trying to weigh up the employment market here, but also have a great holiday…….
Chris and Jean were on a countdown to flying to NZ for Christmas but got to meet him for a couple of days before they left and I started my house sitting.
Friday was spent over at festival city…plodding round the shops and of course IKEA! Getting some inspiration for the new accomodation…when I get it! Nothing to strenuous as I was tired from a week at work and the boy had been travelling the previous day. Now a deal has been struck on the accommodation front, and the search begins from now…..well Saturday actually (8th Dec)…..
Steve had spotted that the power boats were in Dubai…(I had seen the signs in Doha the week before) they looked cool! So we took a trip down to the marine club place to watch them….i forgot sun cream…oops..and got a tad burnt…the boats were sooo loud..as I understand it, they had twin V12 engines! They were rapid but it was a little boring for someone into tin top car racing with the odd contact…but the helicopter flying was something else…The coverage must have been on TV somewhere. I also managed to rip my jeans….god I was p#@%%d off! Picture this…nice pair of next jeans…(with pleated foldy bits at the top of the thigh……well sat down and pulled them up a little to hard RIIIIIIPPPP…….s$#t….great big rip…had I been in the 80s it may had passed for cool…but 2007, Dubai marina….powerboats….NOT COOL! The rest of the day was spent hiding the rip with my bag, till we left to go flat hunting….(I had to go get changed first!)……
Saw some really nice flats that night!one at JBR…(Jumeirah beach residence..) but it was a little far out….the hunt continues……………..will up load pics shortly…they are all at home!
So my other half flew out on Thursday night (6th Dec). He is out for a month trying to weigh up the employment market here, but also have a great holiday…….
Chris and Jean were on a countdown to flying to NZ for Christmas but got to meet him for a couple of days before they left and I started my house sitting.
Friday was spent over at festival city…plodding round the shops and of course IKEA! Getting some inspiration for the new accomodation…when I get it! Nothing to strenuous as I was tired from a week at work and the boy had been travelling the previous day. Now a deal has been struck on the accommodation front, and the search begins from now…..well Saturday actually (8th Dec)…..
Steve had spotted that the power boats were in Dubai…(I had seen the signs in Doha the week before) they looked cool! So we took a trip down to the marine club place to watch them….i forgot sun cream…oops..and got a tad burnt…the boats were sooo loud..as I understand it, they had twin V12 engines! They were rapid but it was a little boring for someone into tin top car racing with the odd contact…but the helicopter flying was something else…The coverage must have been on TV somewhere. I also managed to rip my jeans….god I was p#@%%d off! Picture this…nice pair of next jeans…(with pleated foldy bits at the top of the thigh……well sat down and pulled them up a little to hard RIIIIIIPPPP…….s$#t….great big rip…had I been in the 80s it may had passed for cool…but 2007, Dubai marina….powerboats….NOT COOL! The rest of the day was spent hiding the rip with my bag, till we left to go flat hunting….(I had to go get changed first!)……
Saw some really nice flats that night!one at JBR…(Jumeirah beach residence..) but it was a little far out….the hunt continues……………..will up load pics shortly…they are all at home!
Sunday, 16 December 2007
YAY the Rugby 7s!
OH GOD the RUGBY 7s!!Its all in the title! The weekend of the 30th Nov/1st Dec at Dubai Exiles was the Doobers round of the 7s tournament…I love rugby, but I also like socialising and this was an event on a par with the gold cup! Despite the laws surrounding alcohol…..it was readily available.
Kaths friend Caroline got our tickets and I had to get to the NGS for 0830 on Friday morning so we could get an early start. I didn’t get in till late the night before as I had to get an evening flight from Doha(they didn’t understand me when I tried to change the flight) and didn’t get in till around 1030, .................so 0830 in the morning was EARLY!Got to the flat and Kath and her mates (tom and Matt) from the UK had been out on a date with Bullfrog the night before…..they were not so good…infact…still in bed…
Matt cooked a full English (complete with proper bangers…….) and at 1030 we headed to exiles.It was already getting full and we perched on the BP stand, slightly separated because some of the guys got there early…..i made contact with my work colleagues and went to find them to say hello…..and stayed there as we were all sat together and having a laugh, i did see kath later...and Stu and katie dressed as NZ farmers complete with stubbies!!!.
About 1pm went and got the old beer tokens and my cool bag of 12x heineken…let the games begin.. water was also on tap as it was a whole day event (with Saturday to come too) and I didn’t want to peak. 
The rugby was ace, and food was bought to the stand…burgers, pies etc. One of the guys had made a drinking contraption out of a funnel/tube and valve…basically it was a siphon….beer up high, open valve away you go…and many members of the BP stand had a go! 
Periodically a massive blow up rugby ball would be released and bounced from one end of the stand to the other…I managed to get a hand on it on the first day! And as the drinking progressed a guy at the bottom of the stand kept trying to make it his mission to start a Mexican wave…sometimes it worked.
Didn’t feel too bad by the evening and we decided to have a tame one because obviously Saturday was another day of the same..so we hit the free bus and went to double deckers to get taxis…..the problem was that A) the bus system was a joke and b) all they served to do was shift the queue from exiles to the murooj….although jim had a cunning plan to rush round to the hotel (we bypassed queues and got a cab in 5 mins!).
Saturday…..feeling a little dodgey I made a deal with myself…not to start until 11am. Got to exiles at 9ish and met up at the same spot with my colleagues. And sure enough the second day was as hot as the first day, and equally as messy….saw some rugby, but have gaps filled in by flashbacks. I remember a fleece hat with bright bits sticking off it on my head in 30 degree heat…and hard hats and these plastic blow up noise makers that kept getting burst, getting the munchies late in the afternoon and sharing this MAAAHOOOOSIVE bag of pick and mix between 4+ adults…hahah it was a comedy day….
Over the course of the weekend we witnessed the sight of 5 guys not shy about breaking the myth of what Scots wear under their kilts…….oh yeah and there was poor tom who involuntarily flashed to the world………he wasnt that shy as later he accepted a bet from some randoms to try and take his pants off without removing his trousers!!.
At the end….erm…NZ won…and we were treated to them getting their tops off..then we moved on….
There was a band but as no more tokens were being sold and we couldn’t get beer, we headed to IV!
Thankfully the bus situation had been rectified..
There was a band on at Irish Village and we hit the dance floor. Jim and Scott had to leave quite early…think it was the onset of hangover, but lou and I (hardcore) carried on till later……we met up with some welsh guy who was a geologist offering us work in Oz hahahah and by chance a guy that works for the same company we do! Small world! End Ex was 0230….
Thankfully there was a public holiday on the Sunday and in the evening we had a beach BBQ….NGS+…it was good till kath had to leave rapido….nothing to do with the cooking…that would have been a little to fast…suffice to say a pitstop was made on the way home and a few diacalm!….and then Caroline burnt her hand on the sand! But it was all fun…..not had a weekend like that in ages….was ace!
The rugby was ace, and food was bought to the stand…burgers, pies etc. One of the guys had made a drinking contraption out of a funnel/tube and valve…basically it was a siphon….beer up high, open valve away you go…and many members of the BP stand had a go! Periodically a massive blow up rugby ball would be released and bounced from one end of the stand to the other…I managed to get a hand on it on the first day! And as the drinking progressed a guy at the bottom of the stand kept trying to make it his mission to start a Mexican wave…sometimes it worked.Didn’t feel too bad by the evening and we decided to have a tame one because obviously Saturday was another day of the same..so we hit the free bus and went to double deckers to get taxis…..the problem was that A) the bus system was a joke and b) all they served to do was shift the queue from exiles to the murooj….although jim had a cunning plan to rush round to the hotel (we bypassed queues and got a cab in 5 mins!).
Saturday…..feeling a little dodgey I made a deal with myself…not to start until 11am. Got to exiles at 9ish and met up at the same spot with my colleagues. And sure enough the second day was as hot as the first day, and equally as messy….saw some rugby, but have gaps filled in by flashbacks. I remember a fleece hat with bright bits sticking off it on my head in 30 degree heat…and hard hats and these plastic blow up noise makers that kept getting burst, getting the munchies late in the afternoon and sharing this MAAAHOOOOSIVE bag of pick and mix between 4+ adults…hahah it was a comedy day….
Over the course of the weekend we witnessed the sight of 5 guys not shy about breaking the myth of what Scots wear under their kilts…….oh yeah and there was poor tom who involuntarily flashed to the world………he wasnt that shy as later he accepted a bet from some randoms to try and take his pants off without removing his trousers!!.At the end….erm…NZ won…and we were treated to them getting their tops off..then we moved on….
There was a band but as no more tokens were being sold and we couldn’t get beer, we headed to IV!Thankfully the bus situation had been rectified..
There was a band on at Irish Village and we hit the dance floor. Jim and Scott had to leave quite early…think it was the onset of hangover, but lou and I (hardcore) carried on till later……we met up with some welsh guy who was a geologist offering us work in Oz hahahah and by chance a guy that works for the same company we do! Small world! End Ex was 0230….
Thankfully there was a public holiday on the Sunday and in the evening we had a beach BBQ….NGS+…it was good till kath had to leave rapido….nothing to do with the cooking…that would have been a little to fast…suffice to say a pitstop was made on the way home and a few diacalm!….and then Caroline burnt her hand on the sand! But it was all fun…..not had a weekend like that in ages….was ace!
Ok so i am having an attack of amnesia...not even an entry in my filofax for the 23rd/24th Nov......will try and remember and come back to edit this post... 
I remembered….ok so I was prompted by some photos while writing the rugby 7s piece!
I went to the Redbull FlugTag at Creek Park. Lou and I had been discussing it and decided we would go and see what it was all about…plus my old company (Atkins) had an entry to raise money for a hospital here and we really wanted to see it in action.
If you don’t know what the FlugTag is, it’s a lot of people making their own flying machines and jumping off a platform over water trying to “fly” as far as possible! They cant have engines…
I got there around 1300….i think it started at 1330, and it was really busy and dead hot!
I made the stupid assumption that I would be able to park at the creek and got stuck trying to leave the car park for about 1/2hr! luckily there was a lot of rough car parking on the other side of the road near what I think is a hospital. The only thing is it meant I had to navigate my way across an 8 lane road…..I HATE PLAYING CHICKEN!
Lou met me in the park and we stood watching the “aircraft” plummeting from the stage to a watery demise. People watching was comedy....checkout the guy with the big hair...we reckon it was natural! OMG BIG BIG BIG HAIR!!
After an hour and a bit we decided to find somewhere to sit and have a picnic….unfortunately for us it happened to be home to several million ants too! At least they were not red ants!
We walked back to the viewing area to see the mini Burj Al Arab getting ready for a plunge…it was funny…good skills to the guys that made it…must have taken ages!
Caught up with Stu and Katie who were sat on the beach area and watched the remaining entries… 
We split after the competition had finished and I got a text from lou saying they were going out for a meal, so I pitched up later and 7 of us went for a really nice Mexican at Ridges Plaza (excuse the spelling).
I really cant remember what happened on Saturday…I must have gone dragon boating as I didn’t go clubbing with the others the previous night, but other than that I don’t know!!!!!!
Meanwhile work is fab...had to go and get my safety boots for a work trip to Doha!..dead excited...however somewhat overshadowed by the events leading to my GETTING THE BOOTS! got the business card of the place i had to go to...(prefered supplier)....on Shiek Zayed Road (SZR)....near crowne plaza......i left the office at 4pm and was there in about 10mins...the traffic on the service road was heaving and i couldnt see this place...so i pulled over and called...
"hi i have come to get some safety boots" ARRRR maam, they are not stored here anymore, you need to go to Al Quoz Ind Area....ring this number.....
So i called the number...repeated my statement.....oh, can you ring this number.......i was starting to simmer...i had cars all around me, i couldnt move and to top it off the lady gave me the same number i just called...deep breath! rang the guy again (a little agitated), and he gave me directions and insisted i had to go to Al Quoz....
Anyone who knows what Al Quoz is like will appreciate my nightmare thoughts...its rush hour...the place is like a rabbit warren of industrial units, trucks buses everywhere, no order to addresses and a labour camp out the back!
i really dont know how, but i found the place first time......
Chose my boots and went to pay, only to find out they dont take cards! ARRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH (been at this task for a few hours by this point...all i wanted was some boots!)....
i was told there was a supermarket with cash machine at the back of the estate...so i left on the search, but got totally lost and ended up driving through the labour camp in rush hour and decided to sack it off and go back in the morning....
got into work and another colleague said...i would have just got some CAT boots from Wafi......GREAT!
Anyway...Doha was cool....literally...
the weather was not like Dubai...less humid and in the evening really cool (not freezing or anything like that, but i only took one jumper (and i used that during the day and it smelled of diesel as the core boxes were in a little cabin that had a generator in it). It is not as high rise as Dubai and there is one area of tall buildings...its worth a visit
I remembered….ok so I was prompted by some photos while writing the rugby 7s piece!I went to the Redbull FlugTag at Creek Park. Lou and I had been discussing it and decided we would go and see what it was all about…plus my old company (Atkins) had an entry to raise money for a hospital here and we really wanted to see it in action.
If you don’t know what the FlugTag is, it’s a lot of people making their own flying machines and jumping off a platform over water trying to “fly” as far as possible! They cant have engines…
I got there around 1300….i think it started at 1330, and it was really busy and dead hot!
I made the stupid assumption that I would be able to park at the creek and got stuck trying to leave the car park for about 1/2hr! luckily there was a lot of rough car parking on the other side of the road near what I think is a hospital. The only thing is it meant I had to navigate my way across an 8 lane road…..I HATE PLAYING CHICKEN!
Lou met me in the park and we stood watching the “aircraft” plummeting from the stage to a watery demise. People watching was comedy....checkout the guy with the big hair...we reckon it was natural! OMG BIG BIG BIG HAIR!!
After an hour and a bit we decided to find somewhere to sit and have a picnic….unfortunately for us it happened to be home to several million ants too! At least they were not red ants!We walked back to the viewing area to see the mini Burj Al Arab getting ready for a plunge…it was funny…good skills to the guys that made it…must have taken ages!
Caught up with Stu and Katie who were sat on the beach area and watched the remaining entries… We split after the competition had finished and I got a text from lou saying they were going out for a meal, so I pitched up later and 7 of us went for a really nice Mexican at Ridges Plaza (excuse the spelling).I really cant remember what happened on Saturday…I must have gone dragon boating as I didn’t go clubbing with the others the previous night, but other than that I don’t know!!!!!!
Meanwhile work is fab...had to go and get my safety boots for a work trip to Doha!..dead excited...however somewhat overshadowed by the events leading to my GETTING THE BOOTS! got the business card of the place i had to go to...(prefered supplier)....on Shiek Zayed Road (SZR)....near crowne plaza......i left the office at 4pm and was there in about 10mins...the traffic on the service road was heaving and i couldnt see this place...so i pulled over and called...
"hi i have come to get some safety boots" ARRRR maam, they are not stored here anymore, you need to go to Al Quoz Ind Area....ring this number.....
So i called the number...repeated my statement.....oh, can you ring this number.......i was starting to simmer...i had cars all around me, i couldnt move and to top it off the lady gave me the same number i just called...deep breath! rang the guy again (a little agitated), and he gave me directions and insisted i had to go to Al Quoz....
Anyone who knows what Al Quoz is like will appreciate my nightmare thoughts...its rush hour...the place is like a rabbit warren of industrial units, trucks buses everywhere, no order to addresses and a labour camp out the back!
i really dont know how, but i found the place first time......
Chose my boots and went to pay, only to find out they dont take cards! ARRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH (been at this task for a few hours by this point...all i wanted was some boots!)....
i was told there was a supermarket with cash machine at the back of the estate...so i left on the search, but got totally lost and ended up driving through the labour camp in rush hour and decided to sack it off and go back in the morning....
got into work and another colleague said...i would have just got some CAT boots from Wafi......GREAT!
Anyway...Doha was cool....literally...
the weather was not like Dubai...less humid and in the evening really cool (not freezing or anything like that, but i only took one jumper (and i used that during the day and it smelled of diesel as the core boxes were in a little cabin that had a generator in it). It is not as high rise as Dubai and there is one area of tall buildings...its worth a visit
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