Carnage on the Al Khail Road

On Sunday morning Dubai was covered in a thick blanket of fog. Apparently there were 150 traffic accidents. My usual 15 minutes to work on the Al Khail Road took over 2 hours. During that time I saw the wreckage of eight multi-vehicle pile-ups. In spite of the obvious problems there were still people driving way too fast, without lights, tailgating and flashing at cars to move out of the way (big problem here but not illegal). How there were no reported fatalities is beyond me - these were some of the worst crashes I have ever seen.

I arrived at work grateful to still be in one piece and it has finally persuaded me to get a big 4x4 instead of something sporty. I think it's going to be a Mitsubishi Pajero - it's called the Shogun in Europe (apparently because pajero means w****r in Spanish!). The list price for this car is £24k in the UK. Here, and even allowing for the strong pound, it is so much cheaper at just over £12k. I've got no idea how this can be, but demonstrates just how expensive motoring is in the UK compared to the UAE. In spite of going up by over 30% last year, petrol in the Emirates is still about 5x cheaper and there is no road tax. Insurance is fixed at about 5% of the car's value if you have no no-claims and 3.8% if you have. Service is a bit different too - there is always an attendant to fill you up, he cleans your windows and often hands out free boxes of tissues for some reason I haven't yet fathomed. As far as I can tell, there is no such thing as a diesel car here.

Mad dogs and Englishmen

It's been a while. Just recently I haven't got round to blogging because either nothing exciting has happened, I've been too tired, too drunk, or a combination of all three.

Max had his second birthday this week - many thanks to all who sent cards and presents. He had a great time opening all his presents. He has been a bit under the weather recently, having had a couple of chest infections, but seems to be better now.

Yesterday I got a team of 4 together for the 13th Creek Relay. This was a 35km run around the Dubai Creek. We called ourselves 'Dubai Creaks', a little unfair on Robin and Vicky who are in their twenties, but we did really well and came in fourth in the Open category. It was hot, around 30 degrees, and everyone found it incredibly hard even though it was only about 5 miles each. Afterwards there was beer and a barbeque at the Darjeeling Cricket Club. This was a typically English cricket club other than the huge roller that came out to roll the baked sand outfield and not the wicket (which was artificial). Things were marred slightly by Janet crashing the car into a water tanker on the way home. Thankfully, it was a very slow speed affair, there isn't much damage to the car, and the police were very good and sympathetic. Insurance may prove more problematic - the policy we got via the car dealer is all in arabic. We can't even find a phone number!

We have now been in Dubai for 6 months and I am embarrassed by my lack of arabic skills. You feel it most acutely in the occasional encounters with Emiratis (mostly the police!). If, say, we had moved to France or Spain I would have expected to have become quite proficient in the language and eventually become fluent. That isn't likely here. There is almost no incentive to learn the language. English speaking expats significantly outnumber arabic speakers, who nearly all speak english anyway. Even if I do take lessons there are very few opportunities to practice.

On On to the Hash

Last night I took part in the Dubai Desert Hash. I'd never heard of this before in the UK but apparently there are over 1700 hash clubs worldwide . Effectively, it is a running club with a drinking problem, or a drinking club with a running problem depending on your point of view.

A trail is laid by a 'hare' and you run around in a pack trying to follow it. There are numerous false trails and dead ends to ensure that the faster runners don't get too far ahead from the slower runners. You have to shout 'On On' if you are on the trail to guide the others. Last nights run, which is a stop/start affair, lasted 55 minutes. Afterwards there were a couple of speeches, punishments (beer down in one, sitting on a big block of ice, icy water poured over head - the usual tame rugby club sort of thing), and then a really good Philipino curry. I really enjoyed it and will probably go again. The only worry is what name they'll come up with for me. Most are completely disgusting and I can't reproduce them here, but others are quite funny (one thin guy is known as 9st cowboy).

Winter's gone

I reported on 21st November that winter is here. Today the temperature reached 30 degrees again and isn't going any lower than 20 degrees. No more need for the duvet but the aircon will have to come on again soon.

The kids school had their 'summer' fayre last week as soon it will be too hot for such an event. Ben was pretty pleased to win the prize for best hat - and so he should have been, it took us hours to make! Lucy's was pretty good too but she couldn't compete against the replica Burj al Arab hat.

Living the Dream - part 2

Cirque du soleil was excellent - better than expected - and got the weekend off to a good start. On Friday we went to the Lakes, close to where we live, with some friends for a really good brunch and the added bonus of a licensed bar and England salvaging a bit of pride by beating Australia and preventing a tour whitewash.

I went to the third round of the Dubai Desert Classic Golf tournament today. They didn't like you taking pictures, and I kept being asked where my press photo permit was, but when I came across Tiger Woods I couldn't resist. I only watched him at one hole but he hit a magnificent tee shot 220 yards to within a couple of feet for an easy birdie. The world's best ever golfer? Maybe. Certainly the richest.

Dubai certainly seems to be the favoured destination of sportsmen. Michael Schuhmacher and Roger Federer were also at the golf and Thierry Henry came later for the launch of yet another Gillette shaving product at the Jumeirah Beach Hotel.