Audacious

Dubai is audacious. It assaults your senses. It changes your perception of "normal". It is confusing, exciting, preposterous, over the top, incredible, obscene...... but I loved my time there.

I read that Dubai is borrowing $10bn to continue it's massive construction plan. It doesn't have enough oil to finance where it wants to go. And I glean from the conversations that I had that Abu Dhabi (the next emirate) is just watching what is happening and learning from Dubai's mistakes. Abu Dhabi is building but at an extremely slower rate and, it won't have to borrow money because it has more than enough oil of it's own to finance whatever it decides to do.

I think that the Middle East is happy to let Dubai get on with it. Dubai is the Middle East's playground. In places, the emirate is a bit like Disneyland and Las Vegas. The tourist areas are false, but the finance areas that are being built are so different. They are built to impress, show off wealth, money and investment. After all, that's what Dubai is about.

I admire the modern architecture that you find there. The new hotels, office blocks, residential areas are pushing the boundaries with architecture. They are building the world's largest tower , which will over take the Taipei 101 building. It is already over 100 stories tall and it's final height is still a secret although locals reckon on it being around 190 stories high. You don't appreciate the height of the building because there aren't any other towers close by with which to compare.

Want to see how it currently compares to existing tall buildings? Click here.

Today, it is one of the hottest places to holiday...... and if you go between May and October it is literally one of the hottest places to go - 40 degrees with 90% humidity. It is better to stay indoors in summer. But is Dubai cheapening itself? The reason why I ask the question is because holidays to Dubai are now being given away as prizes to TV quiz shows etc. What a shame.

Training .... in Dubai

Things are looking up for me at work. I have the opportunity to train clients in Dubai in the next few weeks. My ticket is booked and I am flying Emirates. So, anyone tell me what I can expect?
What will I fly in? Airbus 330 or 340 or Boeing 777? It all looks incredible on the Emirates website. Does it match up to the expectations? I've heard only good about Emirates so if anyone wants to comment on how they have found things then that would be much appreciated.

It is only a 3 day, 2 night trip. I probably won't have time to view much if I am training all day. Still, I will have the evenings. Anyone got any ideas on what to do in the short time that I am there?

New.........

2007. The opportunity to start again. So what will be new for me in 2007. Only God really knows that but here is what I am aware of.

A new era - without my mother. Christmas and New Year was good but different. Christmas Day would have been the day when Mum would have been doing the dinner, organising the presents etc, but that fell to me instead. It was good to toast the day, and remember. My mum loved jigsaws, and she nearly always received one at Christmas from some family member. It was my turn this year - with a jigsaw birthday pressie from my brother!!! Traditions sometimes take a long time to die.

A new energy - I love my job. This year, it could expand, with more visits overseas. Great, 'cos as you already are aware, I love flying!!! I love the team that I work with. We are a bunch of ladies who enjoy each others company. We have a wonderful boss who is a great people person. He is the only male in the team, so I suppose you could consider us his little harem!!

A new objective - my allotment. Having taken on another half a plot, the objective for me to be more organised. Point to self: Must label all seedlings. Last year, my friend and I sowed courgettes, squashes, pumpkins and cucumbers. When they are small they all look the same. When we planted them out and they started growing, we suddenly realised that we had a space problem. Pumkins just take over and spread for miles!!!

A new challenge - I haven't got one yet. I haven't made any new year resolutions. I know better than that. It only sets me up for failure.

So, what is new for you?

45 years of marriage.......not quite

Yesterday, 2nd December, would have been my parents 45th wedding anniversary, a sapphire anniversary. Sadly, mum didn't make it. I was worried for my dad. He got through her birthday OK, just treating the day as another normal day, but this one was a little different. He came over for evening meal and spent a couple of hours with us. We didn't do much, but I didn't want him to be on his own all day.

I suspect that Christmas will be more difficult for us. Mum usually organised quite a bit of the celebrations but she won't be here. That will be something we will have to get used to. Dad can't think about Christmas. He doesn't know whether to get a tree or get himself organised to buy presents. I am not going to push him to do anything, but will have some standby pressies, just in case.

How do you start to live again after nearly 45 years of marriage?

A week off

I have been a bit of a workaholic this year. I have a holiday entitlement of up to 30 days and next year I can have the same, 'cos I am entitled to take up to 5 days over. But even with those 5 days taken next year, I still have not taken enough time off so this week I took the rest of my entitlement to ensure that I didn't lose any days.

I haven't done a lot.
Monday - Nicki's Birthday. Got up early to see her open her presents. Unfortunately, our present had not arrived. (See below) Then, Christmas Shopping. Got most of the presents and did it within my budget so far. I feel great about that but I still need to get Christmas Cards organised, wrapping presents, ensuring that I have the Christmas Dinner organised, and ordered!!!!
Tuesday - didn't do a lot at all. Rested for most of the morning to be honest.
Wednesday - Dug a bit on the allotment. Lunchtime - went to Costco with my father. Nice to do something together, just the two of us, even if it was forcing ourselves around a crowded store.
Thursday - Visited a friend from work who is on longterm sick. Came home and cleaned the kitchen and the oven. Hated doing it but pleased with the results.
Friday - today - going to see a friend who has just had a new baby.
OK - it sounds like I have been busy - but I have, intentionally, not rushed. This has been a good week for me. Still a little fragile around the edges though.

Tomorrow - back to the grind of a normal weekend. Nicki will need taking to her keyboard lessons early tomorrow. She is doing so well at it. Next year she will be taking her Grade 6 Keyboard. As a birthday present, we bought her an 88 key keyboard to enable her to play more piano pieces. Unfortunately, the warehouse didn't get it to us in time, hence my comments above. The company didn't immediately apologise for their mess up and it took about 3 emails before they even ventured to offer us an apology. Still waiting for the keyboard to arrive, but I am assured that it has been despatched from the warehouse. We wait, in anticipation.