sandCat in Dubai

Category: mobile

  • jebel-ali lake

    Last night whilst I was watching some nasty reality show on TV, actually “the spa of embarrassing illness” I am ashamed to admit, and waiting for Stu to get back from his business trip, I suddenly noticed that I could no longer hear the TV over a strange roaring / dripping sound. My first thought was that the geyser had burst. After dashing around the downstairs of the villa for a few panicked moments I realised that the noise was coming from outside. I opened the front door a crack to be confronted by what can only be called bucketing rain! It didn’t last long as per normal, but my goodness did it come down hard. I am not sure if it rained during the night as well, but it started up again this morning at around 7am, thunder and lightening and all as well.

    Jebel Ali "lake"
    [nasty deep puddles due to no drainage]

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  • sand and roses

    Dubai is a dust-bowl today. Driving to work this morning was more hair-raising than normal; not only did I have to contend with the usual aggressive, impatient or just plain bad driving (by other people of course) but the wind was also trying to blow my car straight off the road at the same time. The cherry on the top today was all the sand thrown up by the gale also made visibility extremely bad, this is always a recipe for disaster especially when you have idiot truck drivers doing mad-dash u-turns across a busy road unexpectedly. Anyway I managed to make it to the office in one piece. I did try to take a picture of the dusty conditions on my way in but for some reason my phone was on video mode and took a movie clip instead. It doesn’t really give you a good idea of the situation so I won’t bother to upload it here.

    I have been battling to get rid of a head cold since last Friday, and as a result have been at home sick almost as much as I have been at work this week. I wondered why Stu was so interested in whether I would be in the office today or not, but all was revealed about an hour ago when this lovely arrangement was delivered for me! An early Valentine’s day present. It has really made me feel a whole lot better all of a sudden!

    Valentine's Day

    I hope your Valentine’s day is equally as special!

  • another sign of the times?

    After a few warmer days earlier this week the weather has turned chilly again, chilly and windy in fact. This might be the reason that I have suddenly developed a nasty head cold and am feeling rather grim. It could also be that Stu has just had a cold and I didn’t fight the germs off effectively. Either way the result is the same, and I stayed home today.

    taxis
    [taxis waiting for business]

    However I did have to venture out this morning to the shopping centre up the road, primarily to visit the chemist but also for some groceries, and that is when I took the photo shown above. It seems that a combination of Dubai Taxi’s poor customer service and generally fewer people in town, both expats and tourists, has left the taxi drivers with nowhere to go and nothing to do. So they have turned the parking lot into a rather haphazard and disorderly taxi rank. In fact whilst I was parking the car I watched one fellow reverse into another, complete chaos really.

    In a way I feel almost sorry for the drivers, no passengers means no income, but on the other hand I feel they only have RTA, and themselves, to blame.
     

  • Dubai in the rain

    rainy puddles

    This is what happens here when it rains, big puddles everywhere as drainage non-existent. Nightmare for drivers but its so awesome to see storm clouds again.
     

  • would you like some traffic with that?

    traffic aargh

    If you are fond of brakelights and rude aggressive drivers then I can highly recommend the “my typical drive in to work” tour. Its fun I promise. Convinced? Well I tried. Have a good Monday.

    **edited 23/09 to answer Fiona’s question about the public transport here**

    Currently there is a rather sad collection of buses that seem to be the main effort around public transport. Using these entails waiting in a supposedly air-conditioned (but mostly not) bus-stop in anything up to 50 degree heat, so most people who can afford it drive. However there is some light at the end of the tunnel, the Dubai metro rail is being built at the moment (started the same time as the Gautrain incidentally), the first line (red) due to open 9/9/09, the second (green) line to open the following year. This will be a completely automated train system and will hopefully alleviate the traffic issues for many people, however the building of this has led to more traffic as roads have been diverted whilst stations are built, and the ensuing construction has led to more busloads of workers being moved around. Hopefully when this, and all the other roadworks, is complete things will improve. Am really holding thumbs..