The deserter

A&K Visit us in Dubai

2007-08-29T00:30:00.000-07:00

Well I'm now back at work after a glorious few days of trotting around Dubai and Fujairah with A&K. It was so great to see them again - A I can't belive I haven't seen you since October! - plus to show them where we live etc.

Despite their long overnight and sleepless flight we gave them no chance to recover and packed them on the required Desert Safari the day they arrived. Amir our driver performed the required dare-devil dune bashing with photos and water breaks.

Then on to Camel Milk, Camel Rides, Henna, Sheesha, Dinner and Belly Dancing

Day 2 and we decided to take in some culture by going on a mosque tour at the Jumeirah mosque. Dressed up in our makeshift abbayas we listed to the guide explain the muslim customs and show the gorgeous architecture inside the mosque.

It wouldn't be Dubai if we didn't manage to get some shopping in so we hit the tourist shops for some typical arabic bits and bobs.

Later a fancy dinner on a boat cruising the creek

Then off for a mid-week break to Fujairah where we could lie by the sea sipping G&T's. Feeling adventurous we drove further up the coast to Snoopy island for a spot of snorkelling - all went well until A spotted some pesky reef sharks and we lost our nerve.

Back in Dubai we unloaded the car and headed off to Wild Wadi to enjoy the water slides. The next morning we hit the city centre souks in midday heat before retreating beaten to an airconditioned. Frtantic showering and hairdrying and we were ready for a fancy night out of dinner at the Shangri-La followed by cocktails on the top floor of the Burj al Arab.

Thanks for coming guys! Miss you already and looking forward to see you in October.

Burj Dubai becomes tallest building on earth

2007-07-23T01:15:00.000-07:00

On Saturday our neighbour, the Burj Dubai, became the tallest building on earth. Measuring 512.1 metres (or 1680 ft) it has now reached 141 storeys, more storeys than any other building in the world . Burj Dubai is now taller than Taipei 101 in Taiwan, which at 508 metres has held the tallest-building-in-the-world title since it opened in 2004.

Once completed, the Burj Dubai will have consumed 330,000 cubic metres of concrete, 39,000 tonnes of steel and 142,000 square metres of glass. It will have 56 lifts travelling at 1.75 to 10 metres per second. It is expected to be completed towards the end of next year.

Fact file: Important milestones

February 2003: Emaar Properties announces Burj Dubai

January 2004: Excavation work for Burj Dubai begins

June 2004: Launches Downtown Burj Dubai

September 2004: His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, witnesses the first pouring of cement for Burj Dubai

May 2005: Deal signed with Giorgio Armani to open The Armani Hotel & Residences in Burj Dubai

June 2006: Burj Dubai scales 50 levels

January 2007: Burj Dubai reaches Level 100

March 2007: Burj Dubai, at Level 110, is the tallest structure in the Middle East and Europe

April 2007: At Level 120, Burj Dubai sets new global record for having more floors than any other building

May 2007: At Level 130, Burj Dubai is second tallest tower in the world

July 2007: At Level 141, it is tallest tower in the world

Birthday weekend in Al Ain

2007-07-22T23:14:00.001-07:00

Last weekend we decided to head out of the city to celebrate my birthday. We decided on Al Ain, is the fourth largest city in the United Arab Emirates with a population of just over 400k. It is located in the emirate of Abu Dhabi, directly adjacent to the border with Oman and is about 150km outside of Dubai. It is often called the 'Garden City of the Gulf' given the many parks, tree-lined avenues and decorative roundabouts within the city. Strict height controls on new buildings, to no more than four floors, emphasises the greenery of the city, and the lower number of expats living there gives Al Ain a more authentic Arabic look and feel compared to the larger and more cosmopilitan cities of the Emirates.

Just outside of the city is the 2nd highest mountain in the UAE - the Jebel Hafeet. And perched almost 915 metres up it is the Mercure Jebel hafeet hotel where we stayed. The mountain rises 1240 meters and offers an impressive view over the city, with what has been described as "the greatest driving road in the world" extending to the summit.

Photos at a picnic spot on the drive up to the hotel

Looking down over Al Ain

The Mercure Hotel

The pool area at the hotel

Geoff manking the most of the water slides before the midday heat set it

Vire of the pool and surrounding areas from the hotel balcony

Early morning putt putt - with a hefty fine for anyone wanting to drive the ball over the edge!

Despite temperatures being on average higher in Al Ain it's actually far more pleasant than Dubai because of the lower humidity

Driving around the city

Fort inside the National Al Ain Museum enclosure

Walking in the Al Ain oasis.

Date palms grow freely here

The ancient falaj system of irrigation is still in use in here distributing underground water by a network of tunnels emerging eventually into open channels whose flow can be directed and regulated.

The top of the Jebel Hafeet

Sand, Snow and Stylish Hotels

2007-07-22T22:47:00.000-07:00

About 2 weeks ago we had a whirlwind visit from A&C. Despite it only being a weekend's trip we managed to squash in a Desert Safari; lunch beside the ski slopes and drinks at the famous Burj al Arab.

The required tourist stop at the store that sells everything from kitch mosque clocks to sumuri wartior armour to toilet paper:

Stopping in the desert to take photos and let air out the tyres

More photos in the sun

J playing on the dunes

sand as far as the eye can see

Exploring the dunes

G playing in the sand

Our dining quarters for the evening

Relaxing in the cool(er) night wind

Our entertainment for the night

Lunch in Mall of The Emirates outside the ski slope

Crazy impressive water fountains at the Burj al Arab

Ceiling of the lobby of the Burj Al Arab covered in gold leaf

G and moi in our party clothes

The Burj al Arab lit up at night

Champagne and Chocolate at Vintage, Wafi City

2007-06-30T22:58:00.000-07:00

After hearing of a champagne and chocolate fondue special, Katrin and I were keen to check it out. With this in mind we bundled the boys into a taxi last Saturday and set off to see what all the fuss was about.

Wafi City is a Mall/Hotel complex on the other side of the creek from where we live and for some reason (known only to Dubai) it is designed in the shape of a pyramid with all the necessary accoutrements to mimic ancient Egypt. Here is Jan tickling Anubis as he guards the entrance to the hotel.

We were soo tucking in to yummy chocolate fondues served with biscuits, marsh mallows and fruit alongside the promised bubbly

Jan, Katrin and Geoff posing for the paparazzi

Geoff being the intellectual

The remains fo a good night out

Jan and Katrin caught on camera

And myself trying to catch some sleep on the sly

Out and About in Dubai

2007-06-30T22:50:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we took Geoff's new swanky camera out for a test drive.

Shops on Sheikh Zayed Road

A rare "No Smoking" sign on the creek in Deira

National Bank of Dubai Headquarters - also known affectionately as "the pregnant lady"

A Dinner Dhow anchored in the creek

A tree island left standing as the surrounding eare is prepped for construction

The beginnings of an expanding concrete jungle

Our neighbour, the Burj Dubai

Emirates Post transportation

Arabic designs on a building

Pictures of Cyclone Gonu in Muscat and Fujairah

2007-06-07T06:27:00.000-07:00

Aerosmith Concert

2007-06-02T23:13:00.000-07:00

Wow! What can I say? At almost 60 Steve Tyler still manages to rock a stadium packed with people.

There were ups and downs - 40-odd degree heat is just way too hot for outdoor concerts plus it was disappointing to not hear Crazy, Pink or Janie Got a Gun.

But he played Walk this Way, Living on the Edge, Sweet Emotion and I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing which had all the girls screaming hysterically.

Below are some photos:

Geoff and I grabbing dinner before the show:

Surprise!!!

Sitting around baking while we wait for Aerosmith to come on:

Somewhere WAAAAAAY back there is the stage plus the eager beavers who paid R1900 for Cage Tickets

Aw shucks:

Geoff with Stephanie his office colleague:

The crowd behind us:

I see somthing....

Is that them?

It is , it is!!

It's getting hot in here!

2007-05-29T01:06:00.000-07:00

Yes I know I am APPALLING with updating this blog. I have been stalling and stalling waiting for my camera but it looks like now we’re actually going to have to go out and buy another one (don’t get me started).

So since April we have had:

Visit from Marc and Julie on their way back from Singapore. Hurray! Geoff took leave for the few days they were here and had great fun showing them around. Below are some pictures which I shamelessly stole from Jules facebook site (is anyone else addicted!!)

The three musketeers did the usual – Wild Wadi Water Park, the souks (the fish is still in our fridge) and Snowboarding. And we even got a Dune safari and dinner evening in plus Spiderman 3. Neither of which were particularly successful as we had a severely hungover Kiwi in the car with us and well if you haven’t seen S3 don’t hold your breath.

Geoff then jetted off to Bahrain for a few days while I waved out guests farewell at the airport on their trip back to CT. M&J we are GREEN with jealousy!

A few days later and we were jetting of ourselves to CT via Doha.
13 hours later and we were fetched by my Dad and Liz and after a quick primp whisked off to Barristers for dinner. Mmm South African wine!

The rest of the weekend was a whirl of events and catch up. Breakfast at Sublime, A drive past our house, lunch at Rhodes Mem, Coffee at Woolworths in Cavendish, Drinks with Sue & D, Dinner in Obs (again picture theft from Fiona), Kirstenbosch, The Engagement Party and we were back on the plane 72 hours later. WHEW! To everyone that I saw it was great to be able to catch up and sorry it was so short and to everyone I didn’t see my apologies I will see you next time!

The weekend before last we hit the Jumeirah Beach Park with our neighbours and revved up the old braai. It’s starting to get seriously hot here! We got there at about 17h00 and playing Frisbee at 19h00 was almost painful in the heat. Still it was fun to see some greenery and do some outside activities. Also (shamefully) the first time we have gone in the Gulf Sea. (Fujairah was the Indian Ocean if you remember).

Last weekend we watched ABC, Go West and Tony Hadley from Spandau Ballet at the IV (same place we went for New Years and the Pretenders). The place was packed and we had a blast despite only knowing about two of their songs.

This weekend (Thursday technically) is Aerosmith at the Dubai Exiles Rugby Club. Hurray. Can’t wait. I definitely don’t want to miss a thing… ;)

News and Views

2007-04-29T03:35:00.000-07:00

No photos today as I'm afraid we've been terribly boring and not done anything remotely exciting. We caught up on the latest movies (Music & Lyrics; Wild Hogs; Blades of Glory and Shooter), wandered around the malls, investigated local restaurants and generally watched more series than you could possibly imagine.

On Thursday night the SA embassy organised a Freedom Day party for all the SA expats here. It was actually quite impressive. Tables of braaied lamb kebabs, beef chops, potjie competitions and koeksusters. The best part really though was the poor valets trying to convince 200 odd saffers to had the keys of their cars over to them. As a nation we are taught to instinctively trust no-one and some strange indian guy asking us to leave our keys in the car with the engine running is likely to get a few odd looks!

Aside from that, it's the usual day to day grind combined with getting ready for M&J's visit on Wednesday followed by Geoff off to Bahrain next week and then our trip out to CT next weekend. Atleast that's 3 duty-free trips!

Fujairah Trip

2007-04-19T00:14:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we decided to brave the great outdoors of the UAE and headed off in the car for Fujairah. The more recent emirate in the UAE (it was originally an area in Sharja) it is the only emirate with a coast line on the Indian Ocean and is also supposed to boast some of the UAE's largest mountains.

"Mountains." pshaw. Big rocks more like. Think the karroo with hills. Beach was pretty - no waves for surfing only long flat stretches of blue on which you can waterski or banana boat. Sand here is HOT though. Note to self - take flops down to the waters edge.

The hotel was nice (bit expensive) and lunch allowed us use of their facilities for the day which we spent lounging on recliners by the pool.

The trip down was the best part though. The directions I had received from the hotel included the line "drive through the desert" and they we're kidding! Proper red sand dunes covered in camels. Much more the Dubai I had imagined!! It's a bit nerve racking though hurtling along at 100km/h with no fence on either side of you and camels wandering across the road. SCARY!

The road back from Fujairah was interesting. we got to see some smaller towns without skyscrapers (although even in the blink towns there's still construction going on of course) and found some great spots for cheap carpets and niknaks. (Not sadly the cheesy kind which I am mourning here in Dubai!)

The Car...

2007-04-08T22:22:00.000-07:00

Picnic at Za'abeel Park

2007-04-08T22:11:00.000-07:00

Having spent most of the weekend gorging ourselves on episodes of Heroes we decided on some outside entertainment last Saturday. With this in mind we hit Spinneys for some ready made sandwiches and salads, grabbed a frisbee and a blanket and headed off to Za'abeel Park.

The park straddles Sheikh Zayed Rd (the main highway in Dubai) with a bridge connecting either side (No Geoff you may NOT have the camera):

The park has a Space theme with a Space maze and there is a themepark busy being built (of course - it IS Dubai) in the middle of it continuing on with this theme. This funny looking thing was actually a (pretty accurate) clock:

Throughout the park there were beautiful flower beds around various monuments commemorating ties between the Dubai Emirate and other countries. This one was for Switzerland (I think!)

Kaboom!

2007-04-04T23:04:00.000-07:00

From my medical aid rules booklet:

Professional sports and dangerous activities or circumstances: You are not covered for costs arising from weapons of mass destruction, including chemical, biological or nuclear contamination. We do not pay for treatment of any condition directly or indirectly from or as a consequence of war ..., unless you are an innocent bystander.

Hi Joe? Yeah, I'm sorry, but don't sign me up for your anarchist's cooking class... I'm not covered.

Dubai World Cup 2007

2007-04-02T07:39:00.000-07:00

Saturday was the annual Dubai World Cup. Known as the richest horse race in the world, the event called for crisp linen suits, long flowing evening dresses and of course hats hats and more hats!

We caught a taxi mid afternoon with our German neighbours (Jan and Katrin) and after (in my case incorrectly) filling in our bets we headed off to the Irish Village to quench our thirst.

The IV Tent:

Katrin strikes a pose:

The manne - Geoff & Jan

Then off to the paddock lawns to admire the winners of the first race as well as viewing our bets for the next one. By now we were in ecstasy as Jan's 1st horse had won it's race and we were anticipating a month of free champagne dinners on them...

Until his 2nd horse cam in unplaced in race 2....

Not to worry though - plenty of time left to drink frozen margaritas and strike a pose for the paparazzi!

Thanks for the gorgeous necklace dad!

Touring Egypt

2007-04-01T23:34:00.000-07:00

After much whinging from various people (yes you know who you are) I have put up some pics from my trip to Egypt with my darling dad last month.

We spent 3 nights at the Hilton in Cairo followed by 4 nights on a cruise up the Nile from Luxor to Aswan. Overall it was great and a definite must for anyone. The Nile cruise was magical and the highlight of the trip.

In Cairo we stayed in the downtown region which is rather noisy, dirty and incredibly congested. With 18 million living in the city it's not surprising. We did have a glorious view of the Nile from our balcony though and once you get used to the 24/7 hooting and music you can begin to enjoy Cairo nightlife.

View from Balcony in Cairo:

With only 3 nights there (or 2 full days) we managed to visit the Egyptian Museum (a breathtaking collection that is unforgivably haphazzardly displayed. Hopefully the new museum they are building will be better), some mosques in Islamic Cairo, Memphis, Saqqara and the Pyramids and Sphinx in Giza (which is actually just a suburb in the centre of Cairo!)

A Mosque in Islamic Cairo:

Dad in front of the Sphinx and the Pyramid of Khufre in Giza

From there we flew (first class nogal) to Luxor to board our boat - the Nile Adventurer - for our lazy river cruise . On landing in Luxor we quickly dumped out things and headed off round the Valley of the Queens, the Valley of the Kings and the temple of Haptetshut. Then lunch and off to Karnak Temple followed by Luxor Temple on the East Bank. The sheer size of these buildings is absolutely incredible. It's an absolutely awesome experience to imagine that these buildings were first erected over 4000 years ago. Quite an accomplishment since I don't know how many of the skyscrapers being built in Dubai at the moment would last as long!

The Nile Adventurer - home for 4 nights:

Outside Tutankamen's tomb in the Valley of the Kings:

Dad and me in front of the entrance to Luxor Temple showing the statues of Horus guarding the entrance:

Pillars of Karnak Temple:

The next day was a free day where we lounged by the pool on the boat and generally caught up on sleep, ate ourselves silly, lounged by the pool and ordered long egyptian beers. The following day after another punishing breakfast, day we were off to Edfu and Esna temples. Possibly the thing that made the cruise mosty interesting was that we had a really clued up guide (Osama) all to ourselves. His knowledge of all things egypt both current and ancient was truly impressive.

Dad admiring Edfu Temple (who's an engineer then?):

Day 4 and we hit Kom Ombo - a temple devoted to celebrating the crocodiles that used to bask on the sand at the river bend followed by the beautiful temple of Philae on an island out in Lake Nasr. This also gave us a chance to ohh and aah at Aswan Dam (one of the highest in Africa).

Osama, Dad and me in front of Kom Ombo:

Philae Temple from the boat on Lake Nasr:

Initially promised a sunset felluca ride, the winds had picked up and the police in Aswan insisted we downgrade to a shuttle boat ride - I was more that happy when I saw some fellucas that had tipped over in the wind with their passengers soaked and unimpressed!

Felluca's in the sunset on the Nile:

Dad and Osama - dry and safe on the shuttle boat!

The above pictures are a very small sample - anyone visiting myself or my dad in the near future should be warned they will be required to look through all 419 pics I took!

Dubai in the pictures

2007-03-28T02:12:00.000-07:00

Below are some aerial photos taken of Dubai that I got from the Gulf News website (www.gulfnews.com)

The buildings on the front left are the complex we stay in. The middle one being built is the Burj Dubai.

Sailing off the coast with the Emirates Towers in the background:

Crossing the creek from BurDubai to Deira:

The Dubai Marina - great for lunches or coffees with a view

The Grand Hyatt Hotel with the creek behind it

Villas in Jebel Ali area

The National Bank of Dubai in Deira (the building is nicknamed "the Preganant Lady")

The Palm, Jumeirah

Sheikh Zayed Road with the two Emirates Towers on the back right.

If we build it, they will come

2007-03-26T02:19:00.000-07:00

We have fast come to realise that the motto in Dubai is: Can this be built - ok lets build it. Now see this is a subtle difference from "SHOULD this be built."

Case in point we have:

1) DubaiLand - as massive touristy themepark city - covering 3 billion square feet and including 6 themed "worlds". Said worlds include: Attractions and Experience World; Sports and Outdoor World; Eco-Tourism World; Leisure and Vacation World and Retail & Entertainment World

2) AbuDhabi has launched plans to build a revolving city. Apparently residents have expressed a desire to live in villas that will rotate.

3) AbuDhabi has bought the Louvre and and the Guggenheim (I'm still trying to understand how this is going to work)

4) a man-made jumble of private, residential islands (yes, the biggest development of its kind) that will resemble a map of the world when seen from above. (predictable it's called - The World)

5) The Hydropolis, the world's first luxury underwater hotel developed and designed by Germany's Joachim Hauser, scheduled to open at the end of 2007. (So you can order fish at a restaurant while watching other fish)

6) The Burj Dubai. Reputed to be the tallest building in the world at 800m it will flank the largest mall in the world and be completed in late 2008. BUT WAIT! A new tower will be started later this year at the Dubai Waterfront (which incidentally hasn't been built yet either) reaching 1200m! Originally it was going to be built as the focal point of Palm Jumeirah (that's the other man-made island that looks like a palm tree) but no they decided a harbour view would be more salubrious. (Can you imagine? "Nanana - I'm building the tallest tower in the... oh. no wait. the 2nd tallest tower....)

Back to basics

2007-03-22T02:07:00.000-07:00

So as you know I've just settled down from a glorious two weeks of my dad visiting us, sightseeing in Cairo and sailing up the Nile. All 419 photos are available from either my dad or myself on request :D

Anyway it's back to reality (and work now).

We haven't been tardy though - last night we went to see the South African Laughter Factory at a club called Zinc in the Crowne Plaza. They had 3 SA comedians up - Joey Rasdien, Loyiso Gola and Malcolm Ferreira - and it was really great to hear some Afrikaans and SA colloquialisms again.

Tonight it's off to the golf club for drinks and dinner with friends from work and next week I have some CFA & GARP chapter stuff to attend. :)

Who's whom of what not

2007-03-05T12:08:00.000-08:00

Alright, settle down. I know it's been a while, but Helen is activity based and we've been couch slouches lately. Me? I'm just lazy.

But I will tell you this:

My new pet grammar hate in Dubai: 'revert' used instead of 'respond'. It's everywhere! 'Please revert back with any comments.' Aaaaaargh!
The tiny island kingdom of Nauru has the highest incidence of diabetes in the world, around 30%. A spokesperson for the White House (la Casa Blanca) has stated that America is sparing no effort in its attempt to be number 1.
I am slowly mastering the principals of driving in Dubai. Slow down fast and speed up fast, drive fast, hold fast and we'll be fast friends, except during fast.
Helen is going to Egypt with her dad. I'm leetle jealous.
What ever happened to the youngest son in the Growing Pains season? You know, the blond boring one? While trying to ask Google, I discovered that growing pains often strike in the late afternoon or early evening and disappear by morning. I guess those are the perils of syndication. Apparently once young Jeremy Miller is playing someone's uncle in the upcoming Chinese made movie Milk and Fashion. He never seemed avuncular to me, but hey, people change.
It's late where I am. Night-night rabbitses.

Vroom vroom

2007-02-17T02:16:00.000-08:00

We have a car! YAY! A Mitsubishi Lancer 1.6 automatic. OK so technically we're renting it at the moment but it's a start! At least we can now get ourselves lost as opposed to relying on expensive and tardy taxis.

Now I must just master driving an automatic, in the right hand lane, sitting on the left hand side of the car.... *GULP*

SA Weekender Festival

2007-02-17T01:59:00.000-08:00

Last night Dubai's Nad al Sheba race course hosted the SA Weekender Festival featuring Blinga, Watershed, Just Jinger and Johnny Clegg. More importantly thought was the supply of biltong, boerewors and castle lager!!

Watershed was great (although to be honest I only recognised like 2 songs of theirs)

The star of the show though was of course Johnny Clegg. He and his group performed all the usually songs like Impi, Scatterlings, Spirit of the Great Heart and Cruel Crazy Beautiful World. I can't even begin to describe the cheers from the (by then rather drunken) crowd when he launched into Spirit of the Great Heart. Being able to stand that close and listen to his music under the stars was a truly amazing experience.

I'm afraid by the end of Johnny Clegg it was past 10pm and I was heartily sick of being bumped and jostled by inebriated revellers that we decided to skip Just Jinger and head home for an early night.

Meet your neighbour barbeque

2007-02-17T01:46:00.000-08:00

As many of you know the complex we live in is relatively new. This being the case, EMAAR (the property developer) decided to throw a "Meet Your Neighbour" barbeque for the residents next door.

It was actually a really great event. They had a Cuban band belting out music, bean bags with african drums for the kids and lots of tables set up where adults could sit while eating, drinking and chatting.

The Pretenders

2007-02-17T01:37:00.000-08:00

Ok ok so I have been a it lax this week with updating the blog, my apologies. Since I didn't take too many photos of last weekend I'll be brief.

The highlight was Friday nights trip to the Irish Village where we watched Chrissie Hynde and the Pretenders perform. For those of you who don't know them, you do you just don't recognise the name. Their best known hit is probably Stand By You.. (think lalala, I'll Stand by you, won't let nobody hurt you, i'll stand by you.)

Still nothing? Well nevermind. It was a great night out. We were right at the front and Geoff even managed to sneak one of her guitar pick's out.

Different but Same Same

2007-02-03T07:57:00.000-08:00

Look familiar? These are some of the construction workers from our complex catching some shut eye in the sun during their lunch break.

Dhow Dinner Cruise

2007-02-03T07:43:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we decided to have dinner on a dhow whilst cruising down the creek. A dhow is basically large wooden boat like in the picture below:

The cruise lasts about 2 hours during which you have a 3 course buffett dinner and the boats sails up and down a small area of the creek. It was fun to see some of the sights and the city lights from the boat but it was a bit annoying that we kept turning around and changing direction. The creek is a salt water one about 100m wide. The building on the rhs in the first pic below is the National Bank of Dubai (or known affectionately as 'The Pregnant Lady').

But the buffet was nice and anywhere they serve alcohol is going to make me happy. Here is a pic of Geoff and me at our window seat as well as a photo of Geoff deep in discussion with the boat's pasta chef.

Ski Dubai

2007-01-30T11:17:00.000-08:00

Since Geoff mentions it below, here are some pics of the ski area in the Mall of the Emirates that I took yesterday from the outside viewing area:

Madinat Jumeira

2007-01-30T09:37:00.000-08:00

On Saturday we went to go attend the Singaporean Chili Crab and Beer Festival at the Madinat Jumeira (Madinat just means town in arabic and the complex is basically a mall). Unfortunately when we got there we found out it was actually just a couple of beer stalls, a buffett and some dancers. No worries though since Mercato has a lot going for it.

The entire mall is built in the style of an anceint arabic city or castle with stone coloured turrets, a winding river and high surrounding walls. The mall itself houses various restaurants and shops selling the typical cheesy dubai tourist stuff. If you're looking for a mini statue of the Burj or a stuffed toy camel with sunglasses then this is the place.

We had dinner at a lovely persian restaurant by the waterside with a gorgeous view of the Burj Al Arab. (PS have looked into the Burj Al Arab but since non hotel guests can only attend high tea there and high tea is 450zar per person i don't expect to be sending you photos of the inside anytime soon). Shown below are some typical arabis dessert sweets:

OK I have no idea what this camel was for but it looked funny!

I am a huge nerd

2007-01-27T12:10:00.000-08:00

A casual comment to Helen this weekend got me thinking. We were driving past the fabled Mall of the Emirates, home of the little ski slope that got lost in the desert. I said, 'Sweety, don't you think the Mall of the Emirates looks like the Starship Enterprise?' Now, we could spend an hour less commercials with Dr Phil examining what this says about me, but let's not and say we did.

Instead, let us ponder the striking truth of this statement and its wider application as a metaphor. Bear with me here. The thing is, in several important ways, not all of them amusing, the whole of Dubai is like a season of Startrek, viz:

We seem to be on a five year mission to go where no man has gone before, to build buildings no-one ever thought would be worth the money, or to get to work through Sheikh Zayed Road traffic.
All the culture I know and understand is foreign to this place, because I am the alien.
I nonetheless think I own the place.
Everything seems to run poorly until the Captain fixes it.
Communications with my home planet are difficult and expensive, with lots of special effects static on the line.
The communications officer doesn't really do anything, but still gets to sit on the bridge.
All the little anonymous guys running around doing all the work are expendable extras.

On the other hand, I get danger pay and I get to see the universe unfold before my eyes. So who's complaining?

Marina Walk

2007-01-19T23:29:00.000-08:00

Marina Walk is - coincidently- the walkway that skirts the Dubai Marina.

Basically a small, upscale yacht club, it houses a mish-mash of restaurants from the rather suave Blues to the more low key Johnny Rockets (one of our favourites I might add.) Restaurants spill out to al fresco outside seating where patrons enjoy their shisha and the usual market stalls selling jewellery, dodgy clothes, art and UAE memorabilia hug the railings.

The weather was a bit bleh when we went and started to rain as we were leaving but it is conceivably a lovely place to sit and sip virgin (not a hotel means no alcohol) cocktails as you watch the wealthy navigate their yachts. Most surprising was the clientel which was almost entirely WASP. No idea what the boat below is used for - probably evening cruise with dinner etc but it looked nice so I took a photo!

Spicy Food

2007-01-19T23:21:00.000-08:00

On Thursday night we went to one of Dubai's "Hidden Gems", Coconut Grove (this is according to the restaurant guide I gave Geoff for Christmas). CG is an Indian restaurant with the usual Bukhara type foods, an extensive cocktail list and a very reasonable wine list.

NB. In Dubai, they do not f&*k around with hot food. We ordered the Devilled Beef but the waiter very kindly pointed out to us that this dish was quite "spicy". OK. So what does he suggest? The Erachi something or other apparently which is quite "mild". Great we'll give it a whirl.

Possibly the fact that they have a box of tissues on the table should have been a warning. Holy Cow. Mild? MILD?? are you out of your skull? This dish had been sauteed in chilli's. Nevertheless, at wine under 100dhs per bottle we will be biting the bullet and heading off there again soon!

Bob the Builder

2007-01-17T13:43:00.000-08:00

AHHA!! Proof ladies! Years of subversive hypnosis mind control and interrogation techniques have finally proved successful!

(we're still dealing with the bird-flu type mask don't worry)

Home Time!

2007-01-17T13:38:00.000-08:00

Yay back home in sunny Dubai - er no sorry, pouring with rain and only 22 degrees. I tell you, move to a desert and I STILL can't sunbathe! I foresee I will end up getting a job before I can crack a tan at this rate.

C'est la vie the show must go on. We hit Carrefour (think huge Pick 'n Pay hypermarket) this evening in Mall of the Emirates to supply ourselves with the necessary drill, sander and other male type machiney. Imagine our surprise during dinner when the following show came on in the centre court!!!

Back to the Mothership

2007-01-17T13:11:00.000-08:00

Decidedly the best way to relocate overseas is to plan a trip back to your home country less than a month after you leave it. This allows you to essentially get a trailer of the next few years of your life.

Anyway on Jan 3rd we travelled to PE for Geoff to be best man and MC for Marc and Julie's, wedding. After 4 days of harried admin the wedding was held on the Saturday afternoon under a rather stormy looking sky at a place called Apron Strings.

Anyway, Julie looked gorgeous, it didn't rain and all in all went off without hitch - despite Geoff sneaking two pieces of the (chocolate) wedding cake...

And then it was off to sunny CT. Or for me it was anyway - Geoff headed back to Kimberley to see his folks and we would meet up in JHB the following Sat.

CT was great. I got to see the gang for drinks at the Radisson...

Eat chocolate brownies at Rhodes Mem with Fi...

Have a take-out girl's night with the Barra girls...

And visit Kalk Bay Harbour with my dad (just down from Kilimanjaro I might add - go dad) for much needed cocktails...

New Years in Dubai

2007-01-15T23:53:00.000-08:00

On New Years Eve we went to the Irish Village for dinner buffet, a few drinks and some live music.

The Irish Village is essentially and big Irish Pub. Think OHagans but more classy. There's also a large cobbled outside area (the cobbles apparently are imported from Ireland) and there a big grassy bank that rolls down into a small lake (precarious for drunken revellers as you can imagine.)

Anyway the band was fun - they did covers of the standand sing-along stuff that you'd expect and then let off big fancy fireworks afterwards.

Aside from the prices (250ZAR) for the cheapest bottle of red wine!!!

Searching - an exposé

2007-01-08T04:37:00.000-08:00

I'm sitting in the airport lounge in Johannesburg using the public computer to check mail and generally waste time while I wait for my flight to Kimberley. I just stumbled upon the Internet Explorer cache of google search requests. Here are a couple I found interesting:

air conditioners cape town
jugs
big jugs
cape town gay scene
bBENTLEY
BENTLE
MERSEDES
CELSE
CESEA
CESEA FOOFBALL
conferences in venezuela
famous uncut men
Spanking tools

I especially like the physically disabled person with the type a personality and an interest in cars and "foofball", but I have questions about some of the others too. Why is someone desperately researching airconditioning in Cape Town from the airport? Heard it's exceptionally hot there? Same goes for conferences in Venezuela - buddy, you're booked on the plane already! If you don't know where or when the conference is, you're in trouble. And hey, porn dog, the results on jugs not gibbous enough for you? A second search? And when you found the epic boobs you were looking for, did you bring them up in technicolour in the middle of the business lounge? People! Get it together!

Who's evolved?

2006-12-31T05:43:00.000-08:00

Here's a thing. Yesterday we went to see a movie at the Mall of the Emirates, better known as the mall with the ski slope in it. Night at the Museum to be exact. They have pretty large two tier theatres, and, atypically for Dubai, there was assigned seating. A small hurdle, but it was enough to identify that the shallow section of the gene pool had set up a primitive fort against the assault of civilisation on the left side of the theatre. They seemed to be predominantly Grunt speaking, and they seemed to want 'Ug!' often and urgently. Now in the ten minutes before the movie started, this was fine, and stood as an interesting study of our anthropomorphic ancestry.

However, as the movie started it became clear that we had landed ourselves in the middle of a war. On the one side were the aforementioned Ugs, and on the other, a scattered but strong contingent of Shhhs. The Shhhs' battle plan is less than perfect, resulting in plenty of escalating friendly fire until at one point an apogee of Shhh settles into an uneasy peace. This process takes around 5 minutes, and it reoccurs regularly.

Hero suffers the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune? The Ugs awww. The Shhhs shhh.
Hero takes arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing ends them? Everyone erupts into rapturous applause. I did not see that coming. And the coup de grâce: at the emotional catharsis of the film, about 5 minutes before the credits, the Ugs take noisy leave, cheering and raising their arms in victory! V I C... V I C... V I C T Oh my god!

Friday Brunch

2006-12-29T11:19:00.000-08:00

Friday Brunch is a long standing expat tradition in this country. Basically every non-muslim indivual is too hung over on a Friday morning (remember our weekend is Friday Saturday not Saturday Sunday) to wake up in time to make breakfast hours. This allows all hotels to basically put on extravagently expensive buffets with just the most ridiculous amount of food imaginable.

And I mean ridiculous.

Think shushi, salads, pasta, lasagne, pizza, shellsfish, fish, steaks, kebab, roast lamb, chicken wings, cheese fondues, naan breads and all the accoutrements possible that your gluttonous little tummy could possibly desire. And this on only 1 of the three restaurants that are included in the price.

They give you a wrist band when you enter. That's right. A WRIST BAND. Like you're entering a carnival or something.

And the desert table. Don't even get me started. Crepes, Pancakes, cakes, mousses, fruit and best of all ... a chocolate fountain!

Downside... above mentioned wrist band is valid from 12 noon to 12 midnight so they expect you to return for dinner... BURP!

Global Village 2006-2007

2006-12-29T11:09:00.000-08:00

So every year Dubai host what is called "Global Village" which is basically a collection of about 50 country specific stores that sell everything native to that country. So i.e. Romania you are surrounded by weird glass works and in Yemen you can buy every type of honey under the sun.
Each stall is then of course duly decorated with as much kitsch country paraphenalia as possible. Case in point - see the UK below.

In fact the only countries not represented were Israel (no surprise there) and the USA (more surprising. Maybe they felt adequately represented by the 40-off baskin robins, hardees and applebees). South Africa made a stand - albeit lumped together with the rest of the sub-saharan region.

The best part of Global Village is however definitely the (fekking expensive) rides. Being a woes I only went on the ferris wheel, the boat and some small speedy roller coaster thing. Given how high it was this picture seriously understates the fact that I was clinging onto the centre pole for dear life.

All in all my final comment is.... don't be a moron and wear heels. :(

Jingle all the way

2006-12-27T09:15:00.000-08:00

As expected on Christmas I woke Geoff at sparrow's fart and demanded my presents. Since he had already given me the camera the night before pickings were slim. (Latest Marianne Keyes and some Perfume). After devouring half the Marianne Keyes we packed up a picnic basket and headed out for Al Safa Park. Obviously I made Geoff carried said picnic goodies :D

Al Safa is a HUGE park in the middle of Dubai (technically in the area of Al Wasl). It's circumference is 3.5km (there's a running track around it) so anyone feeling bored feel free to do the math to work out the area. Anyway it's basically a public open space with green lawns in some areas, big luscious forests in others and a very twee waterfall and lake with ducks and seagulls. (it's close to the beach.)

All in all it was a great lazy way to spend the day - plus we still have tonnes of left over goodies for me to nosh while Geoff is at work! The highlight of the day has to be Geoff expression when I surprised him with his very own Daim bar. You must understand - the Daim bar is practically impossible to find either in SA or the UAE but is a chocolate that rivals all others... especially since the cadbury's here tastes like beacon. PTOO PTOO.

Hope you all had a great Christmas too!
xx

For her ladyship. Happy Chanukah :D

2006-12-27T09:11:00.000-08:00

Score!

2006-12-24T20:20:00.000-08:00

Woohoo, I got a spanky new Sony CyberShot DSC-S600 (that's a digital camerafor those not in the know!) for Christmas! And it does swanky videos! Plus it's tiny and silver and super cute :D

Unfortunately now I have no excuse for not uploading photos .... damn!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Yuletide - the washing powder of wisdom

2006-12-22T22:27:00.000-08:00

So, Christmas shopping is complete, and I feel a lot poorer. The shopping in Dubai will tend to make you overspend. The thing about Christmas presents for a woman is that you need to design them like a mall.

There has to be variety. Not just one present - many presents. This is because women don't scale points for big presents - 1 present = 1 point. And no-one shops at a mall that only has one department store.
There has to be an anchor present. Like Woolworths, or Pick 'n Pay, or Walmart, you've gotta get a good anchor in to provide the substance.
There should be bling. If your loved one cannot show off the gifts to her friends, it's not as cool. Names you can brag about - Armani, Vera Wang, Jimmy Choo - put you in the bonus round.
Finally, you must have pamper. Something to relax, to take the weight off after a long day of shopping. Bath salts or chocolate - the theme is spoil yourself.

Well, that's my 2 cents' worth. I'm pretty sure Helen will let you know how it works out.

The show that must go on

2006-12-20T02:30:00.000-08:00

"Everybody say Cypress Hill, you fucked up!"

Ok, so I'm not Cypress Hill, but I did fuck up. Sorry if you've been trying to comment for the last day or two, since I accidentally excluded everyone but myself. Talk about a captive audience. Thanks to Gareth for pointing and laughing.

So, what is the purpose of the obscure non sequitur to introduce this post? Well it's a quote from Henry Rollins. If you don't know him, he's big and scary, but in a good way. He does spoken word tours around the world, and I have tickets to see him live on December 29th. So rare I get to see a show I'm really amped for. Dubai scores its first big points with Geoff.

2006-12-19T09:50:00.000-08:00

Oh Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz?
My friends all drive Porsches,
I must make amends.
Worked hard all my lifetime, no help from my friends,
So Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz?

Photos of Flat and City

2006-12-18T23:42:00.000-08:00

Sunday we walked across the construction zone to visit Geoff's colleague Maseeh before they left for a holiday to Malaysia and Singapore.

Anyway - I managed to get some photos of our complex entrance:

Our tower's the one in the middle. There's a pic below. We're on the 14th floor and our bedroom window overlooks the pool area.

And here's a photo of Burj Dubai which is to the left of our apartment about 250m away. It's going to be the tallest building in the world and will have the largest mall in the world attached to it. Currently it is 90-odd stories but is expected to top 170 by 2009/10.

And lastly, here's a skyline of Dubai. The two towers on the left in the distance are the Emirates Towers which always shown in the Dubai City Skyline pictures.

The other one you'll usually see is the 6 start Hotel Burj Al Arab which looks like a ship's sail and is an an island just off the coast of Dubai. It very expensive though and you can only enter it if you're staying there or eating there so don't expect any photos of that anytime soon!!

The proof of the pudding is in the tasting

2006-12-17T01:35:00.000-08:00

The proof is not in the pudding. People! The proof is NOT in the pudding. The only way the proof would be in the pudding is if it were a black pudding made with human blood in a bizarre episode of CSI directed by Quentin Tarantino. It would go something like this:

EXTERIOR DAYTIME

Fixed shot in front of suburban home. Police cars are everywhere. Police, medics and random extras mill about. Police tape is strung around the yard like toilet paper after Halloween. Cut to:

INTERIOR of same home, well appointed, immaculate except for the swathes of blood on every wall and all the furniture. Three heads - those of father bear, mama bear, and baby bear - sit on the kitchen counter. Baby bear's head is just right. On the middle of the counter is a gigantic strawberry jello in the shape of a gun. An actual blood-encrusted gun is visible set in the centre of the jello.

Grisholm and Sarah Sidle face each other across the counter.

Sarah: So much blood! What do you think happened here?
Grisholm: Well, I don't know, but I think that this time, the proof is in the pudding.

Ta-dow! Opening credits roll.

Arabian Safari

2006-12-16T22:56:00.000-08:00

After living in a desert for a week one's thoughts stray to um well - the desert. This admittedly despite the fact that it was warmer in Cape Town yesterday than in Dubai...!

Either way on Friday we dutifully prepared ourselves at 15h00 to be picked up by Oasis Palm tours for some dune bashing. At 15h30 we continued to dutifully wait. By 16h00 I threw a hissy-fit and by 16h30 Farouk in all his splendid Arab-ness arrived. Think Oded Fehr from the Mummy. (actually girl's he was only splendid until he took his sunglasses off :( )

So off we set - at about 160km/h to meet up with the rest of the party in the desert just south of Dubai. This followed with about an hour of bouncing around in the 4x4 (it was a Toyota Landcruiser for any of you interested) a la tumble dryer cycle. Farouk was clearly the jock of the bunch.

Our next stop was a camel farm where we all (20 cars worth of us) duly descended on the 30-odd camels making coo-ing noises to attract their attention for photos.

After another hour or so bumping around in the back of the 4x4, all 20 cars arrived at a communal "barbeque" area for dinner and belly dancing. The drivers set up a lavish buffet on the one side with salads, bread, kebabs & chicken while the other 3 walls contained a henna tattoo parlour, a shisha partition, the bar and various touristy stalls selling sand pictures in a bottle, abayas and stuffed camels. Also available were camels rides around the compund for the little ones. In the middle was a large floodlit stage while low tables and cushions flanked it from all sides.

After dinner a Lebanese belly dancer entertained us with her gyrations as well as the usual co-ercing of tourists to attempt to belly dance. Claire-Bear you would have kicked her @ss ;)

Generally a very fun afternoon. The sun setting over the sandunes is gorgeous and once the sun sets you can readily imagine how terrifying it would be to get lost in this area. There's no table mountain to guide you and you can't see anything beyond 5m in front of you.

2006-12-16T22:52:00.000-08:00

Our furniture arrived!! YAY! Actually techincally 84 boxes arrived for us to unpack which is slightly less exciting. Wait sorry - 83 boxes. The dear old couch didn't make it. That's right, the 2.8m one you were all fantasizing about sleeping on when you came to visit.

A moment of silence please everyone.

Initial Thoughts

2006-12-12T07:06:00.000-08:00

Just a quick note to let you all know that I have arrived safely and am now happily esconced in our 14th floor apartment in Burj Dubai. The apartment's divine but the view does resemble a sceen out of Mel Gibson's Thunderdome.... lots of sand :) Also - I have to say that all of those people saying that 5% of the world's crane's are located in Dubai are talking &&%*, it's more along the lines of 30%! I can see over 50 from my bedroom window right now.

Otherwise the city itself is very upbeat and cosmopolitan. Tonnes of high skyskrapers, 8 lane freeways, neon lights and a McDonalds and a Starbucks on every corner. The people are also an eclectic mix of Arab, Indian, European and Russian. Walking through one of the many malls here you are privy to at least a dozen conversations in varying languages. Overall things are less strict than I had envisioned. People in malls wander around in tiny skirts with tops down to their belly buttons with noone even doing a double take. Ironically the muslim teen girls wear their abayas but make up for it with false eyelashes and glitter eyeshadow that stands out a mile away. Smoking is the norm here with there being no designated smokers or non smokers section. People wander the malls ashing on the floor and no restaurants or bars would dream of separate seatings. Generally people are friendly and outgoing though. For many of them this is not their home country which creates a sort of bond amongst us foreigners.

Prices are good - generally groceries and clothes are significantly cheaper than back home. Restaurants however - with or without booze - are much more expensive. A basic sit down dinner with 1 main and a coke will cost you a minimum of R120 per person, while a dinner or lunch at a hotel is upwards of R400 per person. Strange really considering that meat and fish are so much cheaper in the supermarkets than back home.

The weather is also a bit of an anomally at the moment. Overcast with rain most days - seriously minimising my tanning potential!

So here's what we have so far...

Good:
No bees, bugs, spiders or other crawly things
Jimmy Choos, Cavalli, DKNY and Zara
Taxis

Bad:
Expensive booze
Current lack of furniture
Taxis

Thumb tacks in my toffee apples

2006-11-27T05:34:00.000-08:00

I continue to be astonished by my embarrassing inability to deal with spicy food. I had lunch today at a restaurant in Deira called La Palma, which is Arabic for 'buffet lunch'. The buffet lunch was really good, and good value at three courses for 60 bucks. What follows is an actual conversation I didn't have with one of the waiters:

Waiter: Are you enjoying your food?
Me: Sweet Jehoshaphat! Are you trying to kill me? Seriously, how often do people's heads just explode on the first mouthful?
Waiter: Not very often.
Me: What is the flavouring on this beef? Super mega chili? I can't feel my tongue. Or my eyelids!
Waiter: It's barbecue, sir.

Where Kurt Vonnegut and Janet Jackson see eye to eye

2006-11-21T05:31:00.000-08:00

So, here's an update. As if you care, you glib sods.

I found a place! To stay! And then paid a crazy sum of money to rent it. In SA I could almost buy it for the price. But it is nice. I'm living in the shadow of the Burj Dubai, soon to be the tallest building in the world. Outside my window, I can see the nascent Dubai Mall, soon to be the largest mall in the world.

My kitchen is pretty and fully fitted, such that if I had any pots or crockery I could fashion a crude meal for myself. I have a walk-in cupboard.

What I don't have is furniture. I lounge nightly (in surprising comfort) on a bed of air. Which sounds cooler than a blow up mattress.

Yesterday (after two consecutive days of no bathing and no going to the bathroom) my water was connected. However, for some reason the geyser didn't heat up, and I ended up with a cold shower this morning. Which would have been great if I hadn't set the airconditioner to icicle mode.

I have yet to test the badminton and squash courts in the building, mainly because I don't have my racquets here yet. Where are the table tennis tables?

I do go for a swim in the mornings, which is quite nice. The water is warmer than what currently comes out of my tap. There's a lifeguard at the pool from 7:30 to 22:30 every day. I spoke to him yesterday. His name is Edgar. He's from the Philippines. Back home he worked as a casting technician (setting bones and stuff) in a hospital for fifteen years. He came here to find his El Dorado, and instead ends up staring at his toes all day. That's the way it goes.

I ate camel at the company function the other night. It tasted like overspiced boerewors.

Fish oil for a whingey hinge

2006-11-12T07:50:00.000-08:00

So my team of scientists, working night and day over the last week, have determined that moving to a new country is stressful. Perhaps I should publish a paper. But that would only add to the stress. Now usually I am a stress resistent super hero. I am cool and collected and happy, no matter what. But I have found my nemesis. I am taking strain the way people my whole life have done just before I laughed at them. Payback is sweet, mother-bitches.

I am stressed because of the following reasons:

I have nowhere to live. Life on the street is hard, and I am crap at blowjobs.
I am haemorrhaging cash. After tax SA cash. It's like I came to a construction site with a baseball cap and a plastic spade.
People who make me feel better are 6000km away.
People who make me feel worse (bureaucrats and daft call center monkeys who can't deviate from script) flock here like the swallows of Capistrano

Actually I'm not sure if any of that matters. I think the thing that matters the most is that where my sense of humour usually saves me, it now bounces off stoney faces like an echo that says quack!

But it's not all bad. The other day I went to the fish market. It smells of fish. One of the guys who works there took me to see some of his wares. He's from Pakistan. He listened to my iPod and then gave it back. He asked me to take a photograph of him and his friends. When I get a computer of my own, I'll post it. He was very friendly. He seemed happy, and he made me happy too. He doesn't let anything get to him. Hooray for the bulletproof!

Why Emaar call center operators remind me of stinky fruit

2006-11-09T13:11:00.000-08:00

So here I sit in the hotel lobby of the Al Khaleej in Deira, Dubai. It is 1:10am, and the temperature is a chilly 29 degrees Celsius on this mild Winter's day. The space bar works intermittently, but I keep going back to fix it. I do this for you, my beloved reader.

I have been in Dubai almost exactly a week. In this time I have managed to do exactly nothing to further the cause of the bureaucrat. I have not got my residence. I have not got my health card. I do not have a place to stay. I have not even got an access card to the building I'm working in. I have bought two new ties, and tried on a pair of pants.

Yesterday I called a company called Emaar. Emaar build big blocks of apartments and then sell them. Also they rent them out to the poor or risk averse. I asked them to rent me a place. This is not the first time that I have called them, nor the first time that I asked them for a number or a clue as to how to rent from them. The phone call went like this:

Me: Hello. I phoned two days ago to rent an apartment. You gave me this reference number.
Them: According to my records, you called at 11:30 this morning.
Me: It is 11:30 this morning.
Them: It will take 48 hours for them to get back to you.
Me: That's what you told me 48 hours ago.
Them: According to my records, you phoned at 11:30 this morning.
Me: Also,I phoned you two days ago, and the day before that.
Them: According to my records, etc.
Me: Well, can you giveme their number, so I can phone them?
Them: Sure. (Gives wrong number)

I was unaware that Emaar call center uses the same method to get rid of men as a pretty blonde in a room full of balding fourty somethings, but it was pretty effective.

I like the supermarkets here. They have lots of cool food imported from all over. I swear I saw a durian the other day. Hmmm, that's some good garlic custard flavoured eating.

And so, to bed. Like sands through the hourglass...