Thursday!!!! ALREADY!!!!!!! Where is the time going? Finished my second week at work, and it is going really well. But Thursday means one ththaaaanggggggg……The weekend is here!
Forget fountain of knowledge, Kath, the Dubai Niagra Falls of knowledge was facing her 26th birthday on Friday, so it was only fitting that we all got together for a big celebration.
She had booked 2 tables at Yalumba at the Meridian Dubai for the champagne brunch…..being Ramadan the options for a good old fashioned session were limited, and technically the brunch was an evening meal..but that’s just a timing technicality!
After work I scooted off over to the NGS to Kaths to get ready…..i was sure I had the right day……but why was kath not opening the door???? Was she having a laugh!!!!! No! she was in the shower and I was banging on the door ringing her phone….eventually she let me in……………soon the other NGS residents started to descend for pre party drinks! Not that we were going to need them as the champagne was free as much as you can drink from 9pm to midnight! OMG!
Caught up with Katie and Stu and Chris….havent seen them since I left in April….was cool to see them again, and when we had all arrivals we headed for the taxis….The taxi firms wouldn’t let Kath book 3 taxis on a Thursday night…they said they wouldn’t have three available…..WHAT!!! we easily found three when we got downstairs….muppets!

Yalumba restaurant was like a buffet arrangement…go up and fill your plate as much as you wanted. From roast lamb and beef where your plate is piled HIGH!! to prawn, crayfish, sushi, noodles, couscous…..you name it and it was there! So much where do you start! Meanwhile, slurping down the champers, with a guy that fills your glass as soon as you take a millimeter out of it….lets just say it didn’t take long for the bubbles to take effect…..there are many foggy areas from Thursday night…but the pictures do well to fill in the gaps! I remember numerous occasions where Alison and I were just laughing…..i don’t know what we were laughing at but it was funny at the time. Things started to get messy when we moved to the bar….we had a big group photo and then the hardcore select few opted for the evil elixir………tequila…sufficed to say, at 1pm we wrestled kath to a car and got back to the NGS where again we struggled to get her to go to bed…..she was ALL OVER THE PLACE! Hahaha it was comedy, right up to the point where she accidently smacked ammie in the mouth and went running down the corridor…..although I am not sure it necessarily happened in that order!…..i end ex’ed at 3:30, but I understand caroline got kath in bed and went off in search of cheesy bread, high jacking some random and getting him to drive them round dubai on their quest!! Ahahha

FIRSTLY….CAN YOU GUESS WHAT THIS IS!!!!!
Friday was a bit of a funny morning….woke up at 7 and just couldn’t sleep….kath woke up too and was laughing at the photos from the night before…it is prudent to mention she was still inebriated! We logged into facebook so we could see the pictures from Doulls session at Oktoberfest…the way we were feeling….we had full sympathy for her!
Kath cooked up some bacon and retired back to bed…………I just played on the computer and recovered slowly…….i must have left around 3pm and headed to MOE to get a key cut….WHAT A MISSON…..wandered around looking for the shop, the only one in the mall that cut keys, which, when I did find it….no longer cut keys!!! GDI! I was exhausted and needed sleep…however I had a phone call from my mate jean that perked me up…..they had a baby sitter and were heading to the shooting club at Jebal Ali and I was invited too!! ACE! Headed back to the apartment totally fed up that I had used valuable energy searching for a shop that didn’t offer the service I required!!! Grrrrr

The baby sitter arrived and we headed to Jebal Ali shooting range! They offer a wide variety of weaponry activities….YEAH BABY! I like it!
I was going to try the archery on Saturday but as we were there together we decided to hit the shotguns! They also have a pistol range (like something out of Cagney and Lacey…..god I am showing my age!), and archery but about 8 different types of shotgun range, which I was educated, they call Traps…..the clay disks are fired in an array of directions, but we opted for the one where the clay pigeons went away from you…..was easier for the beginner…..
Was quite nervous actually….was bizarre to just go down to the counter….get your jacket, pick up a gun and have a box of cartridges whacked on the counter….i am used to full on weapon handover procedure…hahaha but here….plonk the gun on your shoulder and walk out to the range!
The instructors were brilliant….and after 25 shots we had exhausted our ammo….and GOD did my shoulder know about it! (in fact I have nice bruising!) was worth the pain though…I will do it again although it doesn’t seem that social…..we shall see……
Following shooting we hit Ibn Battuta for some grub and a wander round the shops….we had a proper comedy moment in the sports shop!!!!! Remember the obscure piece of equipment in the picture above? Hahahahahah well it was a horse……and electronic horse…called an iGallop……it had multiple settings and would be more fitting to be seen in an Ann Summers catalogue! Well that’s what I think anyway! Chris got on it first….i nearly wet myself! But I had to have a go too…and I do have a video…and no I am NOT putting it on here…..maybe on facebook though! Bought some swim wear and was surprised to stumble across a new brand of swim wear hahahahah OOPPPSS think they need a new sign! We had a coffee following our little electronic pony trek and then headed home…I was ready to drop!

Saturday! Well needed lie in to catch up on lost sleep! I had a bit of time on the internet and then headed to Ibn Battuta Mall….mainly because the night before we had spotted a key cutting shop…but the queue was soo long I couldn’t be bothered to wait! Was an adventure to remember the route Chris took to get on the E11 towards Abu Dhabi….but I made it…..had a wander around the shops and headed back…..had a call from Jean and was invited to go round their friends and watch the NZ vs Romania and Australia vs Canada games…..and also stayed to watch the Wales game……..it was great! A very nice couple with a young lad…they put on nibbles and we had Lebanese……..it was a really nice afternoon/evening…..but before we knew it….the weekend was over!