Justice - Dubai Style

I don't intend this blog to become political in any way, but I was shocked to read these 2 stories side by side in this mornings newspaper. Draw your own conclusions.

Dubai - Brits jailed for drugs

Two British men have each been sentencd to four years in prison after being found in possesion of small amounts of hashish while entering the UAE through Dubai International Airport last month.

The actual amounts of hashish were 0.11g and 1.18g.

Dubai - Drunken motorist locked up

Dubai - A UAE national was jailed for one year and fined dhs5,000 for hitting a motorcyclist and killing him while driving his car drunk.

Back from Oz

We've just returned from holiday on the Gold Coast in Australia. Although they are having an extremely cold winter, so they said, it was still warm enough to be on the beach every day.

We stayed with our friends Jim, Sarah, Megan, Gareth and baby Ellen who emigrated a few years ago. Unfortunately, Jim was very ill and in hospital for most of our stay. He is suffering from the long term effects of Bilharzia contracted whilst a child in Africa. Thankfully, after some worrying moments, he now seems to be on the mend.

In spite of Jim being in hospital, we still managed to have a good time. It's easy to see why people emigrate to Australia and don't come back. The climate is excellent, the people relaxed and friendly and everything is very familiar. Unlike the Middle East, there is no culture shock for the expat brit.

We went up the Sunshine Coast for a few days to visit Steve Irwin's zoo. There are some great resorts with beautiful beaches and great surf - we particularly liked Noosa.




We had a good day out catching mud crabs in the river, feeding the pelicans, and fishing using yabbies (shrimps) which we pumped from the river bed.


Lucy had a great time at the Circus School at the hotel we stayed at in Coolum.



By Dubai standards the sea was a bit chilly so we all bought wetsuits.

Exodus

This blog entry comes to you from 30,000ft on an Emirates plane bound for Brisbane. Youngest son Max has finally gone to sleep and Lucy and Ben are playing hangman. Janet is reading a chick-flick. In short, for the time being, everyone is happy.

School has now finished for an eight week period and Dubai's expatriate population has started the mass exodus to escape the summer heat. The shops are noticeably quieter and all hotels are advertising very cheap deals. However, yesterday was the first day of Salik ("the new road toll system for Dubai"). Salik means cameras at both of the busy ends of Sheikh Zayed Road (near the Mall of the Emirates and Garhoud Bridge in case you're interested) which charge you the princely sum of 4Dhs per crossing. The idea, apparently, is to reduce congestion on Dubai's main artery and raise 600 million Dhs every year to invest in further infrastructure improvements. The first aim was achieved. SZR, as it is known locally, was empty. Every other road, however, was gridlocked. We only got to the shops courtesy of some improvised off-road driving in the back streets of Barsha. Of course, it's early days yet, and it's clear that many people haven't the necessary tags for their windscreens yet. I'm hoping things will have improved by the time we get back in three weeks time.

We're going to stay with old friends who live near the Gold Coast in Australia, and we're all very excited about it. I'll try and post some pictures in the coming weeks.

Postscript – we landed at Brisbane Airport at the same time as they were arresting someone suspected of being involved in the Glasgow Airport bomb attack attempting to fly out of the country. Apparently, six local doctors on the Gold Coast are implicated.