London Trip

Well, we have returned from London and a great time was had by all.

I will post some pictures up, but we spent Thursday and Friday touring around London and saw all the major sites, went to the Tower of London, rode on all forms of London transport including a Thames River cruise and had a memorable lunch in a small pub off Oxford St where we had fish, chips and mushy peas!

Highlights included Trafalgar Square which was busy and the girls were impressed with the size of the lion statues; the Big Bus Tour of London in which we rode around in the open top double decker bus; the Tower of London and the showing of medieval weaponry and the Crown Jewels and Westminster Abbey late on our last day in which the sunset made the Abbey look very pretty.

We also did the London Eye and I was impressed that we were on board 10mins after buying a ticket.  They sold tickets at 17 pounds for adults, 8.50 for kids but you could buy "Express" tickets for 27 pounds a head.  Given that our general tickets got us on board in 10mins, I would say the express is a rip off!  But the trip or "flight" itself was excellent and we went late in the day when the sun was well and truly on the way down... very pretty.

We also caught up with our nephew Scotty who has been in London since last October and we had a nice dinner out at an Italian place and drank a bit... we had just 2 bottles of wine but given we have been in the middle east for a while it perhaps had a touch stronger effect ;-)

Our accommodation was better than I expected... pokey yes, but it was clean and modern and it was within walking distance of Bayswater tube station and Hyde Park / Kensington Gardens.  The girls loved the Peter Pan themed Gardens and playground and we were "forced" to go back for one last play before our car picked us up for the airport.

All in all, a bit whirlwind, but a great trip and I am glad that Niki and the girls got to experience the benefits of being close to Europe so early in the piece... since coming home, sleeping patterns have been a bit out of whack and whilst I have gone back to work, Niki & the girls have been able to sleep in but then last night the girls were still wide awake after 11pm...

Now we have to think "what next"?

Pics From Last Weekend

Had a good time last weekend.... as per my previous post we had a good weekend out and about in Dubai, so here are some pictures:

We're flying!

Figuratively and literally!  This week has flown by and I am busy trying to cram all my work into 3 days in the office because tomorrow night we fly to London!  I keep forgetting that I actually have to attend a work meeting on Wednesday, but we're all very excited about London.  We have no real firm itinerary but will hit the major sites... Buck Palace, Tower of London etc so we'll make use of a map, the Tube and the red double decker bus to look around.

I have to work Wednesday, am having Thursday off, Friday is the weekend in the UAE so thats a free day and then Saturday afternoon home.  The other thing is that its our wedding anniversary and we'll be looking to do something to celebrate it as well... English Fish & Chips and a pint of warm beer perhaps!  I am sure we'll find something to do ;-)

Its a bit of a whirl wind trip but its very exciting as its Niki and the girls' first trip to Europe and its also the first opportunity for us to travel from our more central Dubai base.  Pictures next week!

A weekend in Dubai...

Well, we have the family settled and all appears to be going well... plumbing leaks aside!

In the past week or so, we have engaged a full time gardener (he comes 6 days a week!) and yesterday Niki employed a lady to come and clean floors, bathrooms and windows.  This is a huge load of our shoulders, so there are no more lawns to mow, floors to mop or showers to clean!

So, our weekends are looking to be pretty free and easy and so this weekend we're going to try and do some things... the girls want to go and see the Dubai Fountain Show which is a massive water display at the base of the Burj Dubai and outside the Dubai Mall.  There are some cafe like restaurants along the foreshore, so we may sit and have dinner one night and watch the display...

Also, in Dubai Mall is the ice skating rink, so we may get the girls on the ice as well.

We (the adults) are a bit hesitant about Ski Dubai... neither of us have skied before but the girls are keen on that... but we may save that for another weekend....

Also, I am inclined to try and find a "Friday Brunch".  Friday Brunch is a bit of a tradition in the UAE in which you turn up and pay a flat fee and eat and drink for a solid 4hrs or so.  Some Brunches are definitely for adults only in which people tend to get very drunk but there are others that cater for families in which the adults can drink, but the kids are catered for.  All of these events however occur in hotels due to liquor licensing laws and we have a Marriott Hotel within walking distance, so I will see what they have for brunch....

Plumbers Crack

We have had our first domestic issue with the Villa!  On the weekend we noticed that the floor of one of our seven bathrooms was wet and that the water seemed to be seeping up from the floor?!

We then noticed that the room on the other side of the wall from the bathroom - a small store room where we have been feeding the cat - was alot wetter and that the water was coming through at a faster rate.

In between these two rooms is a small cupboard which is accessed from outside and it contains the gas bottles for our kitchen was also wet.  Somewhere we had a water leak inside the house!

By Saturday it was quite bad and we called the development managers to send someone around, so on my first day at work Niki was going to have to deal with local tradesmen.  First impressions was that the air con unit was somehow building up excess water which was running down the inside of the walls and then seeping out at ground level.  Our house is constructed by cement rendered breeze block walls and the water was flowing down inside it.

So, the first guy came out and determined this and called for the A/C specialists to come.  They did, got into the roof and found nothing wrong with the A/C except one small ancillary problem that we needed a valve to be replaced but that had nothing to do with the water leak.  So they started fixing the valve whilst plumbers were called re the leak.

When they turned up (and remember, tradesmen here are small armies of Indian men) they determined that the pipe in the wall behind the sink in the bathroom was cracked.  The only way of course to get in was to therefore jack-hammer into the exterior cement rendered wall and break into the pipes from the outside.  This they did, causing loads of water to spill out and the latest I have heard today is that the pipe has been fixed, our water can be turned back on, but the plumber hasnt said anything about fixing the huge crater he has left in the side of the house!!

Poor Niki, she did very well in trying to interpret Hindu-speaking tradesmen and getting the pipe fixed!

Off to Old Blighty!

Have yet another business trip to London coming next week... its just for the day but given Niki and the girls have just arrived and I wanted to get them into the spirit of the benefits of living here in the UAE, I have booked them on the same flights and we're taking a long weekend in London.

So, we fly in, I go off to my business meetings on the Wednesday, I knock off mid afternoon, and we go site seeing until Saturday.  We're on the 2:30pm flight back on Saturday afternoon which gets in 1am Sunday morning in which I turn around and go to work on the Sunday.

Whilst there, we'll do the usual things... Buckingham Palace, London Eye, Tower Bridge, Tower of London etc etc... basically a picture taking fest!

Hope the weather is kind to us :-)

Car Conked Out... The Sheikh Was Not Amused...

We had an adventure today!  We decided to drive to Abu Dhabi and show the girls where their daddy works and then onto Abu Dhabi itself for a look around.

We drove south and after seeing some camels, we arrived at my work site at Masdar City and pulled up right out the front of the main reception building and walked in to show off my office to the kids.  Niki said shouldnt we park in the parking area and I said "Nah, its a Friday... its Holy Day and the place was deserted."  So we go in and show them the office... answering Brookies probing questions on what I do all day behind my desk and then it was time to go.

Getting back to the car in the heat and the humidity, we get in and the car wouldnt start.  It was clicking over, but no spark.  Is there an NRMA in the Emirates?  Not likely and I ring the Hertz people to tell them what happened.  They said they'd send someone out asap and we head back to the air conditioned office to wait.  I told the security guard that we'd be expecting a Hertz person and that the main gate should be alerted.

The security guard, who I say g'day to everyday was a bit agitated.  He followed me out to the car and said that I couldnt park here in the front.  I said there isnt much choice as the car wouldnt start.  He suggested we push it away from the front reception (which was deserted and there was not another car in sight) and before I could argue the merits of pushing a car in 50 degree heat, my mobile rang and it was Hertz to say that they were 5 minutes away.

Now I was starting to attract some security attention and although I know some of these guys by name, they started talking into walkie talkies in an agitated fashion.  I asked what was wrong and was told that our CEO, Dr Sultan was inside and I was out the front of his office.  "So?" I said... "No, no, no Mr Clayton, you dont understand.  Dr Sultan is here because Sheikh Mohammad, Leader of Dubai and Vice President of the UAE is coming to visit him.  In 10 minutes.  And you're in his spot."

Holy shit!  The royal cavalcade was descending and my buzzbox Nissan Tiida had died where His Highness was due to arrive in 10mins.  At this point, the Hertz person came in to the compound and when the dust settled, out of the car popped a 5' tall Philipino woman.  My friend the security guard laughed and said "Mr Hertz is a chick!"  But in a flash, she pulled out a portable battery charger and we were able to fire up the Tiida.

With much urging from the security guards we drove to the far side of the carpark where the car promptly conked out again and the Hertz lady decided to give us her car and she would take the Tiida back to the shop for a new battery.  By the time we signed the paperwork, got the kids out of the office air con and into the car, the road across the site was lined with security guards and we were being waved through.

We dashed out and managed to get out I presume just seconds before the Sheikh turned up and an international incident was avoided thanks to a small Philipino lady and her battery charger!