Chastised

I've been told off by mother for not updating the blog or phoning her often enough. As I explained to her, this is mainly because nothing of note has really happened since we got back from Australia. It has been hot. We've spent a lot of time indoors and the children have been increasingly badly behaved. They are back at school tomorrow and Max is starting at nursery full time. I've now managed to get the cheap calls back by cunning use of something called a VPN (virtual private network) which links you securely to a server beyond the reach of the local proxy server (censor).

We had some drama last week when, after a long brunch at the JW Marriott, Max caught his hand in a faulty lift door. He got a nasty cut in his finger which needed three stitches. It was all a bit traumatic as we were sent from one hospital to another, I got us lost trying to find it, and he was very distressed by the stitches and had to be sedated. Thankfully he is fine now and had his stitches out, after charming all the nurses all week when they changed his dressings, yesterday.

I have made my first tentative steps back to playing golf after having met a couple of people who play at the Montgomerie golf club. It is an extremely smart place and the waiting list is so long they aren't accepting any more names. I've used the practice facilities and am now looking forward to my first round (now that I've scrounged a set of clubs off another friend).

After having sacked our maid just before going to Australia, we have now hired a full time, live-in, maid from Sri Lanka called Harshi. Apparently she was a graphic designer in Sri Lanka but has been working more profitably in Dubai as a housemaid. At the end of the interview, we asked her when she could start. "Now, Madam" she said. And she meant it - all her worldly goods were in the taxi waiting outside - and she promptly moved in. I am finding it strange having someone else living in the house, but I imagine I'll get used to it, and it is good to have babysitting on tap.

If it all works out with Harshi then we will take over her sponsorship from the Local (i.e. Emirati) who is currently sponsoring her. This will cost us about 7,000 Dhs (around £1,000) per year. There is a bit of a racket here in that Locals can sponsor twenty or so people for next to nothing. These people then pay a fat fee to their sponsor and then go and work illegally for expats like us. The government has just had an amnesty for illegal workers so that they can either legalise their status or leave without fear of prison. There are estimated to be 350,000 illegal workers and the queues at the immigration place have to be seen to be believed. One of the problems is that people come in on visit visas, ostensibly to visit family, but in reality to find work. Once their visa has expired there is a fine of 100 Dhs per day. Since most maids/labourers earn less than 50 Dhs per day the fine soon mounts and they can't afford to leave and have to stay and work illegally.