We've had some sad news here in the UAE, Sheikh Ahmed bin Zayed Al Nahyan's body has been found after a microlight crash in Morocco several days ago. My heart goes out to his family, terrible to lose someone so young. There will be three days of mourning here according to the newspaper. What that means I'm not sure of at this time. Some say that the country shuts down for 3 days, some say that it will be business as usual. I guess we will find out tomorrow.
Wednesday 31 March 2010
Sad news
We've had some sad news here in the UAE, Sheikh Ahmed bin Zayed Al Nahyan's body has been found after a microlight crash in Morocco several days ago. My heart goes out to his family, terrible to lose someone so young. There will be three days of mourning here according to the newspaper. What that means I'm not sure of at this time. Some say that the country shuts down for 3 days, some say that it will be business as usual. I guess we will find out tomorrow.
Monday 29 March 2010
Sleep, need sleep....
I decided to get up and do some surfing to help me settle, to take my mind off things. It hasn't worked so far, just stimulated my brain a bit more. I've been checking out laser surgery for my eyes, to get rid of my fragile glasses and have perfect sight again. Everyone I know who's had this done raves over the results. I tried my contacts again for bowling, funny to be able to see into the distance but not be able to read my texts. Better than having my glasses join the ball down the alley as I follow through on a bowl I suppose.
Surfing the side effects and pros and cons of this hasn't helped me sleep, just got me excited and a little worried. I'm going to have a consultation in Dubai in a couple of weeks then make up my mind. I've also been thinking about my friends who have left recently, wondering how they are settling into their home places. Anne is back in New Zealand and I must email her some goss. I owe others emails too.
Tonight I went to Amal's baby shower and enjoyed a cuddle with Zachariah who is only a few days younger than Noah. It was strange to get a grandmother fix with another's child. He is very cute and gave me more of an idea of how big Noah really is. Skype is good, but not like the real thing, not like holding my lovely grandson in my arms. I ate too much at Amal's. Chocolates, cake and Deidre's famous brownies washed with some tea that reminded me of Turkish chai. Lots of stimulating conversations too, no wonder I can't sleep.
Not sleeping would be OK if my alarm didn't go off at 6 and I didn't have to paste a smile on my not a morning person face and head to work. Works another cause for thoughts chasing around. We've got monitoring agency visits and people are wired. I'm used to these visits from past jobs so I'm not bothered. I need to project my calm onto others who are, to do that I need sleep. Chamomile tea finished, I'm off to have another go. Night night, sweet dreams to all you others out there stacking zzzs.
Saturday 27 March 2010
Double adapters...grrrr
Not so with the new batch of said plugs I've just bought. The old ones wore out, stopped working somehow. Not sure how that happened actually. It's not as though I went out driving in them or took them for a swim or to the gym or even to yoga. They just wore out hanging in one socket or another, maybe being moved between. The new batch, some failed to work. The one with my kettle and toaster, I take my life in my hands every morning trying to get it to a) make the kettle boil and b) cook my toast. I've given up on these actions occurring simultaneously.
My hair dryer with it's NZ adaptor then the double adapter is a nightmare. The plug fizzes and pops, the kitchen one does that too so I know the sound well. sometimes it works, sometimes I go out looking a fright. No wait, that's how I usually look, more of a fright than normal then. I'm scared to use these on my computer, I plug it all in then hook up, so far so good. I do unplug them all when I go to bed or to work. I'm not sure that concrete burns but I'm not taking the risk.
So here I sit eating toast that went a little cold while waiting for the tea to be made and wondering what today will bring. I've talked to Noah, he's so very cute, and Tim, also cute in a grown up man and now a dad sort of way, on skype. The wonders of technology being able to see my new grandson and son so clearly. The hot wind is swirling the dust around outside making this more of an inside day than one to go poolside. We shall see.
Bowling fun
Bowling, 10 pin that is, is not a common sport in New Zealand. Bowling as in lawn bowls is. In fact we have won medals and world championships in this sedate while challenging sport. Today I did appallingly in my first game, too many gutter balls to get a decent score. Then my competitive nature crept in. I got some strikes and the thing that's a strike but with the second ball so I managed a 119 in the second game, much to Phil's surprise (read horror).
You see Phil like, other Englishmen I know, enjoy taking the mickey about my New Zealand accent. Which of course doesn't exist because we don't have an accent. On the other hand the English do, a variety of accents which show where in England they come from, right down to which part of London they hail from. Usually it's my yissses and thnk yous that get me into trouble, a lack of vowels apparently. Today it was something to do with bowling and of course because the English invented the game they must be right, yeah right. So whatever the thing was that Phil said and I couldn't, I got a couple of those. They're good things to have apparently.
Seeing my boss dressed in a pink tutu with purple hair and a pink t shirt was a highlight. That the women in his team were dressed the same including a pink tie and a bow in the hair made my day, cheered me up no end. They of course got the prize for the best dress, it's going into the dinner on Wednesday night fund for us all to enjoy. So it was a good day out. Now I'm sitting at home relaxing with a tipple and ready to watch a movie. An early night's in order I suspect, I have some sleep to catch up on after some hectic weeks.
Thursday 25 March 2010
Snow Patrol
I love Snow Patrol Chasing Cars and while I was listening to that on YouTube, found this gem also from Snow Patrol. I watched the clip with the lyrics then found it tracked to one of my favourite movies. I went and saw The Notebook with Annie at the movies, not a dry eye in the place. Yes, it is a chick flick, a movie for the romantics amongst us. I sometimes get emails from readers of my blog and Natia has been writing to me lately. This one's for you my friend, I suspect you'll enjoy the lyrics and I can recommend the movie if you haven't already seen it.
Sunday 21 March 2010
Farewells
Monday 15 March 2010
Music
Sunday 14 March 2010
A photo of the night
Saturday 13 March 2010
You just have to pinch yourself....
Close your eyes and imagine sitting under the stars on a balmy evening in a mud fort with good friends listening to an orchestra play Mendelssohn, Schumann and Mozart. That was my Thursday night. Sometimes, as Sally used to say, you just have to pinch yourself.
Sunday 7 March 2010
Hello Noah James
Saturday 6 March 2010
Sting
Monday 1 March 2010
It's quiet here
Next weekend I hope to get to Dubai to see Sting in concert, if I can get the tickets that is. The following weekend I've got Sue coming over from Liwa, brushing off the sand and coming to a concert at Al Jahili Fort, can't wait. I'm also waiting for my grandchild to arrive, not long now I hope.
We had a stormy weekend, one best spent laying on the couch with a good book. The wind whipped across the dunes picking up the fine sand and distributing it everywhere. I'm always amazed how the sand gets in and coats everything in a fine dusty layer. This is a sure sign that things are heating up here. The winds blow as the desert heats up. One of the teachers was telling me that the wind comes at this time of year so the date flowers get pollinated, no wind means a low crop. Sounds sensible to me.