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!
Monday, 17 December 2007
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
Ok so I feel bad….i am lying to you all with false promises of monster updates etc, when I just seem to spend my evenings swimming and going to bed! Where is the time going?
So following the Ed Birthday weekend my body took a battering…..SOMEHOW (and I blame aircon) I managed to get a cold…..i rode it for a day and and Wednesday I just felt too rough…..i spent the day in bed surrounded by all the cold and flu drugs I could lay my hands on….Jean was fab…she played nurse maid….just spent the whole day sleeping….well I was woken once by a call organising what was happening about the Arabic wedding we were going to attend on Thursday night…..assuming I felt better that is…….
Thursday (15th Nov) I felt better….was in work and made arrangements to pick Stu and Katie up at NGS around 7pm…….OMG how bad was the traffic….OF ALL NIGHTS……
A former colleague from the secondment was getting married and had invited us all to attend at a hotel in Sharjar……now at the best of times Sharjar is a nightmare to navigate…..try adding rush hour into the equation and your basically in for a VERY long journey.
I didn’t get to NGS till around 7:45 as SZR was a total cluster, and it didn’t improve from there! We barely got to Al Nahda and Weimin called…….he reported to Stu that he had been on the road 2hrs (straight from work) and still wasn’t at the hotel…..WE HAD ONLY JUST LEFT NGS!!!!!!!! So Sharjar Traffic…its not like Dubai traffic, It doesn’t move very fast at all……in fact with my trusty Navigator Stu……we didn’t take any wrong turns we just took 2 hrs to get to the Hotel….Katie Stu and I rushed in to find a table with Choon Seng and Weimin. But the wedding hadn’t started yet…
Chatted and caught up with everyone, and Scott managed to find his way there…..Louise and Jim managed to get stuck on a slip road and end up back in Dubai….but they got to the hotel about an hour later……
The hall had a massive red carpet down to a dance floor and a stage beautifully decorated! Salah and Rasha came in surrounded by female relatives (I assume) with a young girl walking in front…..there were cameras everywhere, including on a massive boom…..then the celebrations started….it was non stop music, dancing and they even had salsa dancers……was pretty cool…..they walked around the tables and said hi to everyone and then around 12:30 the doors opened to the biggest Buffet I have seen for a long time……the thing was…we were all starving….not knowing what to expect and having little time to get ready after work we didn’t have tea….and you cant exactly get a beer to fill you up….A) it was an Arabic wedding and B) sharjar is a dry emirate….but by that time I was passed eating…..got a couple of small plates and sat up the other end of the hall talking to everyone…..
I had exclaimed earlier in the night that there was no way I was dancing sober! BUT!!!!! Salah and Rasha came to the table and asked us all to go up……we all looked at each other and waited for the first excuse but it never came…..they did say we didn’t have to …but I thought, we had just driven there…lets do it….so we charged the floor! Was pretty cool….have to say I don’t ever remember dancing and actually having control of the shapes I was making…..but it was getting well late and the lack of alcohol induced adrenaline didn’t help so we all split….i took Stu and Katie home and got back to greens around 2am.
So refreshing to wake up on a Friday and NO HANGOVER! Decided to hit the beach for the day with Stu and Katie….people watching and swimming…the water was pleasant to swim in…not to cold!.......lots of kids on the beach and one of them unfortunately lost a bucket…HMMmmmmm Stu and I had an idea….lets create our own Atlantis (there is a hotel being built on the palm!) so we collected the bucket from the water and had a quick look around for a wailing kid (who may have lost this attractive bucket that we were about to play with) and scuttled up the beach to prepare the foundations!
Several mix designs later we found the right consistency of sand to start our creation…………well it has been years since I made sand castles!........
It got to a pretty impressive height….but a few to many damaging structural crack got Stu’s goat and he booted the sands castle to the ground!.........it was fun for an hour or so! (photos are with Katie…just trying to work out how to send them to me…)
Saturday there was no Dragon boating….it was soooo foggy! So I just came back to the flat and chilled till the sun appeared and lazed by the pool!
So following the Ed Birthday weekend my body took a battering…..SOMEHOW (and I blame aircon) I managed to get a cold…..i rode it for a day and and Wednesday I just felt too rough…..i spent the day in bed surrounded by all the cold and flu drugs I could lay my hands on….Jean was fab…she played nurse maid….just spent the whole day sleeping….well I was woken once by a call organising what was happening about the Arabic wedding we were going to attend on Thursday night…..assuming I felt better that is…….
Thursday (15th Nov) I felt better….was in work and made arrangements to pick Stu and Katie up at NGS around 7pm…….OMG how bad was the traffic….OF ALL NIGHTS……
A former colleague from the secondment was getting married and had invited us all to attend at a hotel in Sharjar……now at the best of times Sharjar is a nightmare to navigate…..try adding rush hour into the equation and your basically in for a VERY long journey.
I didn’t get to NGS till around 7:45 as SZR was a total cluster, and it didn’t improve from there! We barely got to Al Nahda and Weimin called…….he reported to Stu that he had been on the road 2hrs (straight from work) and still wasn’t at the hotel…..WE HAD ONLY JUST LEFT NGS!!!!!!!! So Sharjar Traffic…its not like Dubai traffic, It doesn’t move very fast at all……in fact with my trusty Navigator Stu……we didn’t take any wrong turns we just took 2 hrs to get to the Hotel….Katie Stu and I rushed in to find a table with Choon Seng and Weimin. But the wedding hadn’t started yet…
Chatted and caught up with everyone, and Scott managed to find his way there…..Louise and Jim managed to get stuck on a slip road and end up back in Dubai….but they got to the hotel about an hour later……
The hall had a massive red carpet down to a dance floor and a stage beautifully decorated! Salah and Rasha came in surrounded by female relatives (I assume) with a young girl walking in front…..there were cameras everywhere, including on a massive boom…..then the celebrations started….it was non stop music, dancing and they even had salsa dancers……was pretty cool…..they walked around the tables and said hi to everyone and then around 12:30 the doors opened to the biggest Buffet I have seen for a long time……the thing was…we were all starving….not knowing what to expect and having little time to get ready after work we didn’t have tea….and you cant exactly get a beer to fill you up….A) it was an Arabic wedding and B) sharjar is a dry emirate….but by that time I was passed eating…..got a couple of small plates and sat up the other end of the hall talking to everyone…..
I had exclaimed earlier in the night that there was no way I was dancing sober! BUT!!!!! Salah and Rasha came to the table and asked us all to go up……we all looked at each other and waited for the first excuse but it never came…..they did say we didn’t have to …but I thought, we had just driven there…lets do it….so we charged the floor! Was pretty cool….have to say I don’t ever remember dancing and actually having control of the shapes I was making…..but it was getting well late and the lack of alcohol induced adrenaline didn’t help so we all split….i took Stu and Katie home and got back to greens around 2am.
So refreshing to wake up on a Friday and NO HANGOVER! Decided to hit the beach for the day with Stu and Katie….people watching and swimming…the water was pleasant to swim in…not to cold!.......lots of kids on the beach and one of them unfortunately lost a bucket…HMMmmmmm Stu and I had an idea….lets create our own Atlantis (there is a hotel being built on the palm!) so we collected the bucket from the water and had a quick look around for a wailing kid (who may have lost this attractive bucket that we were about to play with) and scuttled up the beach to prepare the foundations!
Several mix designs later we found the right consistency of sand to start our creation…………well it has been years since I made sand castles!........
It got to a pretty impressive height….but a few to many damaging structural crack got Stu’s goat and he booted the sands castle to the ground!.........it was fun for an hour or so! (photos are with Katie…just trying to work out how to send them to me…)
Saturday there was no Dragon boating….it was soooo foggy! So I just came back to the flat and chilled till the sun appeared and lazed by the pool!
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