24 July 2008I feel like I am in a breathless rush....with
too little time for Tai and I.
Tai was back from London late last night - but it was almost 2.30am
before we slept and my alarm went off just four hours later.
Then it was work (and not a great day there) until lunch followed by a
rush home and a rush to see Alex.
I am on my way to London (EK5) and will see Alex tomorrow and we will
have a few days in England visiting my Mum. But it seems so strange to be
on holiday without Tai - her schedule would not let her take a few days
off with me. So we are going to have a strange few days; and for once she
is in Dubai and I am traveling.
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In my luggage I have power chargers for my laptop, blackberry, mobile,
shaver and for two cameras. Too much? Why cant the manufacturers just
agree one standard electrical connection that recharges any device?
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The kid behind me loves kicking my seat. I may have to turn around and
strangle him. Spoiled, indulged, Indian kids.
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As for the lady who threw hot coffee over me in the lounge at DXB. What
goes around comes around.....
22 July 2008
Tai is heading to London today. Our timing is
not quite right this month!
She is staying at a hotel where you call internationally and then get
an answerphone with a whole menu to go through before you know you need to
dial a certain number to get the operator. Very annoying. And then this
really slow voice - I am connecting you to the operator - and then a
minute ringing before the operator bothers to answer. So you have been
charged two minutes of long distance call before you get a real person -
and then you have to spell the guest's name a couple of times to get
through to the room. Grrrrrrr....
20 July 20008
How to impress your girl - at 53 !!
"At 53, and looking increasingly like he should be skippering a marlin
boat off the coast of Bermuda, Norman yesterday set up the least expected
sporting victory ever as he ignored his lack of practice, the absence of
any sort of real preparation, to continue to impress the hell out of his
new bride Chrissie Evert. As showing off goes, this is now ridiculous."
Norman leads after 3 rounds of the Open. It would be the golf story of
the decade if he wins!
19 July 2008
A day trip to Fujairah. Lunch at the Hilton with
the tide in almost at our feet. Nice. And i like the drive up the coast to
Dibba.
18 July 2008
It is a quiet day in Dubai - and
to brighten it up here is a
helpful flight attendant video from the Netherlands - no translation
is necessary.
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Why when two airliners get too close do they call it a
near miss and not a near hit?
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More oil woes as Qantas announces 1,500 redundancies and
grounds 22 of its older airplanes.
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Am trying to work out why I am having to listen to
building site noise at 7.15am on a Friday morning - this is the official
rest day - when no one is supposed to be working - not helped by getting
up at 4.15am to go to the airport.
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The British Open is underway in foul weather in NW
England ad among the leaders is 53 year old Greg Norman - he
credited his recent marriage to Chrissie Evert as a factor in an Open
performance that rolled back the years.
'It has revitalised my life and that has had a rub-on on effect on the
golf, no question,' said the two-time winner of the Claret Jug after a par
70 just behind the leaders.
Wonder if my golf game will improve from October!
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More Brits behaving badly stories.....
A First Choice Boeing 767 plane, with 257 passengers and 11 crew on
board, flying from Gatwick to Cuba on Wednesday had to land in Bermuda
after a passenger tried to open a door in the plane at an altitude of
35,000 feet. Passengers claimed the man had been drinking and become
abusive before making a lunge for one of the doors.
Why oh why do airlines and airports still insist on serving alcohol on
planes and at airports?
Air-rage incidents on British planes have more than tripled in recent
years. The Civil Aviation Authority received 2,219 reports of disruptive
behaviour on flights in 2006-07, compared with 1,359 the previous year.
Common causes included drunkenness and lighting up or getting angry when
stopped from smoking. Disputes often involved couples' rows, anger over
seat allocation and irritation at people reclining seats into personal
space. In 42 cases passengers were restrained. Planes were diverted in 14
incidents, and on 19 occasions take-off stopped. Passengers were ordered
off planes in 235 cases and police or security attended 345 times. Scary!
17 July 2008
The joys of the English language
- this was the headline in the Sun earlier this week - “Boozed-up brunette
banged up for bunk-up on beach in Dubai”.
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More crime news from Dubai: Forty cross-dressing tourists have been
arrested in shopping malls and other public places and they will be
deported soon, police revealed on Wednesday.
The visitors were held after police launched a campaign against
transvestites in May. The 40 offenders were referred to the Public
Prosecution, which issued an administrative deportation order against
them.
Why would cross dressing tourists come to Dubai? A visit to Thailand
would seem less risky!
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And sending all these visitors home may not be a great idea:
Arabianbusiness.com confirms today what I
wrote a few days ago; that many hoteliers in Dubai are reporting lower
occupancy rates than normal this summer.
Although summer is traditionally a slow season, a number of the emirate’s
hoteliers say business is quieter than normal, reported UAE daily The
National on Thursday.
It must be bad to get reported. I wonder how bad.
16 July 2008
7Days newspaper in Dubai on page
2 reported under the headline - "Hotel knifer gets life" - "an Egyptian man
was sentenced to life in prison followed by deportation for stabbing
another man to death."
Not sure he will know much about the deportation!
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In another police statistic over 1.3million traffic fines were issued
in Dubai in the first six months of the year - about 1.1million issued
automatically by radar detectors; the other 200,000 issued by traffic
police.
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Tai is on her way to Hong Kong today; I wish I could go - I have cabin
fever and need a couple of days away.
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Another week without the tagboard - I miss it - and the regular updates
from my Bangkok correspondent!
14 July 2008
79 people were arrested last week on Dubai
beaches as part of a crackdown on indecent acts on all the open beaches.
Wow! People should stick to building sand castles.
13 July 2008
The News of the World newspaper web site is
actually blocked in the UAE. I did not realise that until I tried to check
the newspaper's latest views on the Mosley case !
11 July 2008
Useful advice from the Sun newspaper in the UK:
"Men and women who bonk three times a week can halve their risk of
suffering a major heart attack or stroke, according to a University of
Bristol study."
I am now planning to be very old !