holidays

a shift-free zone

No that’s not a typo. And it’s not a subtle way of not swearing. I really mean a shift-free zone. For those of you that don’t live in Dubai you may wonder what the hell? Well for the uninitiated, shifting = moving (as in house). And happily this year, for the first time in 3 years, we are NOT SHIFTING. Woooohoooo. Yes it is exciting, not least of all because the average daytime temp is about 45 degrees Celsius right now. And that makes moving anything extremely un-fun, well unless it’s moving your body into a nicely chilled swimming pool that is. That’s about the only moving that I could bear to imagine. Also as we have moved 4 times in 3 years, I think we have earned a year off, at least.

brunch-time

[brunch-time!!]



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goats and hunch-backs

Well today is Friday the 13th – woooooooo. If you are superstitious you will most probably have avoided black cats, ladders and mirrors today. But why?

friday13

According to our friend Wikipedia, font of all information (true or not), the origins of this fear are fairly recent (the 19th century) but not exactly clear. There seem to be 3 theories in play.
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i love my Mom(s)

Happy Mother’s Day!

Today, the 8th of May, is Mother’s Day in South Africa and the US. Here in Dubai we had Mother’s Day on the 21st of March, the same day as Bahrain, Lebanon, Egypt, Palestine, Jordan, Syria, Kuwait and Yemen. If you live in Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, India or Pakistan you will have to wait until the 10th of May for your breakfast in bed ladies. Mothering Sunday in the UK falls on the fourth Sunday of Lent, which this year was the 3rd April. In Mauritius it’s the last Sunday of May.

flowers

[image credit: Arnaldur Halldorsson at NordicPhotos]



I was going to start this post by saying I am lucky and grateful to (now) be blessed with three Moms as it were. Number one of course is my actual Mom, the woman who gave birth to me and put up with me firstly as a serious toddler, later a stroppy teenager and then a major party animal in my twenties, and who is still wonderfully supportive and non-judgemental. I love you Ma! Later there was my step Mother, who came along when I was all grown up, and has been a generous and brilliant person to me and a welcome addition to the family. And lastly I gained a mother-in-law, the last Mum on the scene who, despite some initial clash of wills, has become very important to me too.

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feet of .. uh .. sand

I’ve had a wonderfully busy April what with visits from both my Mom and then my Dad, and then a little mini holiday in Spain to visit my Brother and his family (and that gorgeous nephew of mine). It’s lots of fun having visitors, especially people who have never been to Dubai before. Mom and I had a grand old time exploring the city, shopping, having lunch and generally catching up on all the chats and laughs we haven’t had for over a year together. One of the things I did here for the first time was the Big Bus Tour. I actually learnt quite a bit, although the commentary is horribly out of date in some places, and still refers to projects that have definitely been shelved. However it’s a great way to spend a couple of hours and see the city, especially the older parts of Deira and Bur Dubai where parking is a nightmare most of the time.

bastakiya-circle

[lovely traffic circle in Bastakiya]



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festive sand dunes

It’s true what they say, time waits for no man…uh…time flies… no no time marches on! Either way you look at it I have now spent my third Christmas in Dubai, I can’t actually believe it. Seems like only yesterday I was doing the whole family thing times three (yeah divorced parents and one in-law). I can’t complain however, we spent a very merry weekend with some great friends here and had a wonderful time all in all, even if I did miss the fandamily (just a little bit).

The day before Christmas Eve I braved the Mall to do a last spot of shopping – it wasn’t as crazy as I was expecting, but nevertheless Stu would have lost his mind. I can deal with the crowds, tyre-kickers, babies in strollers, you name it (if I have to) but the thing that drives me slowly insane is being bombarded in each and every store by a different cheesy Christmas carol or stars forbid, Boney-M. This year was no exception and seemed actually worse than last year, or maybe I wasn’t this silly last year and had stayed away this close to day.

xmas-table

[our lovely Christmas table]



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Animal Rescue

If you would like to contribute a few dollars towards my TNR work with stray cats I would be most grateful

what you missed