the good, the bad and the ugly

When someone tells you there is good news, and there is bad news, which do you choose to hear first? I like to start with the bad news and get it out the way, and hope that the good news will somehow make up for it. Sadly, in life, you don’t always get both options, and have to deal with one or the other. This last week was a little bit like that…but I will start with the good (in line with the famous movie title anyway).

The “good” this past week was completing our 28 day Warp Speed Fat Loss plan. Stu lost 6.1kgs, and I lost just shy of 2. Whilst it wasn’t quite what I had in mind when I started I concede that some of the weight that I didn’t lose may in fact be gained muscle weight as we have been gymming 6 days a week for the past 4 weeks. I am feeling leaner and more toned overall which is exactly what I wanted to achieve before my holiday in France, where I will undoubtedly stuff my face solidly for 2 weeks with cheese, bread and all things starchy, washed down with copious amounts of red wine and champagne, but I digress. The proof really was in the pudding though, when getting ready to go out for dinner on Friday night I happily discovered that some trousers that had been a little too tight to wear fit me comfortably again. A happy result!

For dinner we tried somewhere different, a seafood restaurant called Pierchic at Al Qasr hotel.

Set in the glow of the Burj Al Arab, Pier Chic offers imaginative seafood dishes with a contemporary Mediterranean slant, matched by a flawless wine list.

from The Professional Travel Guide

What a delightful evening we had. The overhead lights (pictured) are shaped like giant jellyfish, and the wall sconces like giant spotty shells. The service was flawless and unobtrusive! I started with a confit of salmon which was cooked to perfection, still rare in the middle as salmon should be. I then had a Tasmanian ocean trout served with lobster falafel and horseradish cream, accompanied by some green beans (also pictured). We had originally made the booking for a birthday, as a friend was due to visit us on her way to Greece, but sadly her plans changed suddenly when the house she was to stay in burnt down in those terrible fires (very sad indeed). We kept the booking, and our last minute “fill-in” guest had a unexpected surprise when the complimentary birthday cake for our special occasion (chocolate mousse yum yum) was placed in front of her, and the waiters started singing. Priceless! The six of us enjoyed a few bottles of Three Cape Ladies from Warwick Wines (South African of course), delicious, although after 28 days of no alcohol and no sugar my head, and my sinuses, were a little unhappy the next morning.

Firmly in the “bad” category was the annoying power failure we suffered Wednesday night. Incidentally this was our first power failure since moving to Dubai, not a bad track record at all, and a pleasure for us, especially after living through the rolling blackouts in Johannesburg courtesy of Eskom at the beginning of last year. And actually the “bad” part wasn’t even the initial outage. When we called DEWA (Dubai Electric and Water Authority) to report the issue they already knew about it and had technicians on the way to the area, in fact they even told us the repair should take no more than an hour. We had an even bigger surprise when, true to their word, the power was back on in less than half an hour. The annoying thing in the end was that the issue turned out to be more serious than they thought and so the power went on and off most of the rest of the week whilst they worked on the problem. Not great when you are living in 50 degree temperatures, or for people trying to make an iftar meal after fasting all day.

However they did at least make an alternative arrangement for the residents of our suburb, when I returned home from work on Thursday each substation had a massive mobile generator connected to it (pictured), and so whilst it was rather noisy (we have one opposite our house) we at least had cool air and water (yeah no power = no water pump = no water either). The collateral damage of this workaround however was that the surge from the generator popped the board on our broadband box, so we had no landline or internet until today, and unlike DEWA, our broadband provider, du, were not so efficient or helpful. When I complained about the slow service on our issue they told me that to lodge a complaint I would need to … send an email….? Hmm, tricky with no internet but anyway.

Another candidate for the “bad” label was spotting a trellidor on a neighbouring villa in our area. For those of you who are not South African, a trellidor is a sliding security gate, turning your home into a prison. A very common sight in Johannesburg, but definitely the first one I have seen here. Not quite sure yet what to make of that but I am hoping it’s just an overly cautious (or even neurotic) resident, and not a sign of anything more ominous.

Last, but certainly not least, we have the “ugly”. It seems that I have become a Global Recession or Credit Crunch statistic (take your pick). Yes, sadly this week I was told that my role is being moved to a low-cost region and I am therefore redundant. This was my last first for this week and certainly one new experience I could have done without. It is something that is hard not to take personally, but maybe the cliches are true, and that I should see it as an opportunity; when one door closes another opens, etc. I don’t know yet, but at least it will give me some new blog material – I will be able to tell you all about job hunting in Dubai. Not an experience I am relishing. 🙂

And on that happy note I will close this post. I wish you all a happy week.