Will the last one out turn the lights off please?

There seems to have been a lot of premature nonsense, in the UK media especially, about Dubai having gone bust. Apparently enquiries for holiday bookings were up 570% immediately after Dubai World requested a six month suspension on their debt repayment. There certainly are some serious problems here, and I'm hearing stories all the time of companies being owed money, but ultimately this is still a rich country with a significant percentage of the world's oil and gas. Abu Dhabi finally stepped in earlier this week, in the form of a $10 billion loan, which should keep the wolf from the door for a little longer.

In the meantime, life goes on pretty much as normal. I travel past this royal palace on Al Sufouh road every day. It, and the surrounding wall, has been completely covered in lights, presumably for a wedding. The picture I took hasn't really done it justice - there was a decent view from the main gate but I didn't want to set my tripod up with all the police there - but it made me gasp and say 'wow' out loud to myself as I walked past.

It's raining, it's pouring ...

If you've booked a winter sun holiday in Dubai this week then you're going to be disappointed. It has rained for the past days, and very heavily yesterday - more than a month's rain in a week. Not a big deal in most places, but a big problem here. Absolute chaos on the roads and, according to The National, at least 6 people lost their lives.

Rugby Sevens

Last week was filled with public holidays due to Eid and National Day, which was celebrating the UAE's 38th birthday. We went over to Abu Dhabi for a couple of days holiday and had a good time but unfortunately, despite our valiant efforts, completely missed the 'world's largest firework display' on the Corniche due to complete traffic gridlock.

Anyway, the day after was the Dubai Rugby Sevens; an expat institution (aka huge piss up) and an event which is older than the country. We normally don't go since it isn't a great deal of fun either for, or with, young kids. This year, however, was different.

Ben, 7, and Max, 4, both play for the Dubai Hurricanes in the U8s and U5s. Every Friday morning we drive 30 minutes out of Dubai into the desert location that is now home of rugby in Dubai. Even though it is often an effort due to suffering from the night before (I am not alone in this by any means!), I do enjoy getting out there. It is the only sporting activity we do that is a) not run for profit and b) run by dads of all rugby playing nationalities who want their kids to enjoy rugby. Everything else we do, at least it seems to me, is all geared up to lightening your wallet.

Ben, like his father, isn't a natural sportsman but does put in the effort and was rewarded by being picked in the side to play in an exhibition match at the Sevens between the internationals. They warmed up on the sidelines, just like the national teams, as Australia struggled to overcome the Argentinians.



The match itself was only six minutes, but good fun with a crowd of well over 20,000 shouting and cheering. The intention was to showcase rugby to local people and hopefully get them to get their kids along too. I reckon it couldn't have gone much better in that respect - the kids played well and were obviously enjoying it.

Afterwards there was a little presentation of a medal and small gift on the pitch for all the kids by Lawrence Dallaglio. Although none of the kids knew who he was, we were impressed, and a very proud bunch of parents.