For those of you that are interested !

There were 5327 men entered (plus another 3017 women) of which 448 were in my age group (45-49)

AS regular readers will know, this weekend was looking pretty busy and pretty full, as well as fraught with possible pain and misery – well, sitting here at 2pm on Saturday (which is nearly the end of the weekend for some of us !), it hasn’t turned out too bad so far !

Thursday meant leaving the desert and driving to Dubai (with my house guest as well), which meant leaving the office early, which meant closing everything off that needed to be closed off, which meant actually doing some work on a Thursday for a change.  Most of this went as it should have, Dubai traffic making a mockery of the timings and best laid plans etc. but eventually everything worked out splendidly with Residency papers signed, car swapped for a service (and a hatchback delivered in its place – which means that I don’t have to have a bike rack to move my new bike around, this saving aed 600, which is nice !), I got to my friend’s apartment at a reasonable time, but sufficiently late to not want to go out with her (which turned out to be a real blessing as she got in at 2 am and didn’t wake me !).

The reason for staying where I did was because of all the road closures around the route of the 10k/ marathon.  Life would have been hard enough with the race, without worrying about where to park and how to get to the start.  Staying where I did was so simple – it took me 10 mins to walk to the start (my race went off at 0715hrs so even staying where I did I was still paranoid enough to get up at 5.45 so as to have time to do everything !).  To cut a very long story short, I raced, and bearing in mind I hadn’t much except some training runs to guide me because I don’t do much of this running lark, and I finished.

The slightly longer story is that I timed myself from line to line (rather than when the gun went off to when I finished – because with thousands of people there it can take a while just to get across the line) and when I got my breath back and looked at my watch I’d done 46 mins & 58 seconds.  I was very excited as I’d been hoping to go under 50 mins (my previous best time for a 10k training run was 51.15 so it was always a challenge).  Psycho’s response to my time was “I must have been fannying around before then !” – bless her………. I’ve taken it as a complement, along with her questioning the integrity of my circuit training last week……… She’s probably going to send me an invoice for her “motivational coaching” – I shall look forward to that !

I wait with interest to see what the official time was (at the time of going to press the official results had not been published) as there was a debate as to whether your time was line to line (we were all wearing a microchip thingy) or gun to line – either way, I know what my best actual 10k distance time is now.  For those that are interested, I spent the first 500m wading through people that frankly shouldn’t have been allowed at the front of any race – if you have to walk after 400m then go to the back before you start !  I then speeded up way to much but the first 3 – 4k went very quickly.  I then realised that I was going way to quickly but it was too late by then, so latched on to a black bloke running slightly faster than I wanted to go without sweating (I decided that he must know what he was doing……..) and tracked him for a couple of K before he ground to a halt and I had to leave him behind.  After that I just tried to run with people going slightly faster than I felt comfortable with, or just behind women with nice arses……. Anything to take my mind off the pain that was starting to remind me that I’m clearly mad.  It then go a bit like being on a treadmill in the gym, as I was counting down (or up) strides, metres, anything frankly, to get me to the end.  Psycho used to say that she could tell when I was struggling cause I’d be staring at the ground in studious concentration, and wouldn’t say anything (quite how anyone has the energy to talk at this point is beyond me, but still !). 

Crossing the line couldn’t come quickly enough for me – it was nice when there were spectators clapping and shouting, but it was the fear of looking like a fat old bloke in front of these people that drove me on, not their cheering – and long may it continue !

I met my big boss just after the line (which might be career limiting as it appears I had a better time than him……….) so I did at least see someone I knew at the whole thing, but it was nice just to drift off when I’d finished although I think it would have been nice to have had someone to share the experience with (my hostess did at least drag her hangover out of bead and make me a coffee whilst I had a shower).

I have a medal and a plastic bag to show for my efforts (I should have a tee-shirt but they had run out on Thursday when I went to collect my number – I wait, with expectations suitably managed, for the promised e-mail………).  I’m not aware of any photographic evidence of my participation, although I’m supposed to be able to download a certificate for printing, which may or may not have my official time on ?  I’ll search the internet for photographic evidence and you will be the first to know if I find any !

Then I went to meet friends for coffee, which turned into lunch at Barasti, where we were joined by another friend who has just moved out here, and is settling in nicely by the look of it, and then off for the big event of the day –

Meet Psycho II (I have had a short debate with a couple of people and of the choices offered up, the name was a unanimous agreement).

I wasn’t sure whether I’d get a chance to ride her today, or not, as I was supposed to be going to Abu Dhabi for some Triathlon Training organized in conjunction with the Abu Dhabi International triathlon that I’ve entered next month.  However, when I got up this morning (at 0545hrs for the second time this weekend !) and went to get in the car, it was thick fog – which can be quite common at certain times of the year here.  I set off but when I realised that I could barely see the traffic lights on the way out of town until I was at them, I decided that prudence was the better part of valour and went back to bed.  A two hour drive, mostly in the dark, in thick fog, sharing a road with some of the other nutters out here, didn’t seem very sensible !

When I woke up though, the sun was out and the fog had gone (it was nearly 1000hrs after all…….) and perfect for a nice little bike ride.  It was a bit breezy but nothing to get excited about, and 36k flew by.  I wasn’t sure how far I was going to go but the road I was on didn’t really offer much choice as there are only a few turning spots on this quiet duel-carriageway.  So at least I know that the second spot gives me that distance – next time I’ll try for the 3^rd turn (the big one is the first roundabout, which is about 50k away – it’s a challenge for sooner rather than later as we have always talked about doing it and never got around to it)

Right, you’re all up to date with my weekend (apart from collecting my laundry earlier and having lasagna for tea……..) so I’m off to do something less productive !

The Calm Before The Storm

Not much to report really.

OK, so that’s not a very interesting blog on its own I guess……… I suppose I could report that I ran Yas Marina circuit last night, the first lap with my mate and the second lap rather faster.  I should mention that I have a house guest at the moment.  An old colleague of mine from my previous contract over here has got some contract work with my new company and is off to Saudi on Saturday, and for various reasons, mostly to do with the cost of hotels in Dubai at the moment (it’s the Dubai shopping festival and therefore all the cheap stuff is booked solid apparently), he’s come to live with me out in the desert until his trip kicks off on Saturday.

He has work he can do anywhere so it’s all worked out really well for both of us.  I get some company and a training partner for a few days, he gets out of the office and the hurly burly of Dubai.  He came circuit training with me on Monday night (we he did a bit of running and I did all the circuits – to be fair, he’s just starting on a new fitness regime after a few months off and Christmas etc. which is chiefly designed to give him something positive to do when he gets to KSA, and might keep him off the booze and cigars !) and then as a treat I took him to Yas Marina circuit last night – he’s never done it before.  SO he ran a lap (5.5k) then I ran the second on my own (we ran the first lap at 5.5 min kilometers – which isn’t too bad in itself, then I ran the second lap at 4.5 min KMs – great negative split times for those of you that care or understand.

The really big news is that after we ran Yas Marina last night we went to IKEA and I now have wardrobe doors (they are still in the box but I’m sure that I’ll get them fitted tonight !).  I also purchased a tool kit (about 5 quid – IKEA, you can’t knock them !) and some picture hooks, and put up Psychos Christmas/leaving present (which looks very nice thank you very much.).  That in turn gave me an idea for some cost effective wall decoration for the company apartment.  I have set my friend in AD, who’s into photography, to finding me somewhere where I can get pictures made into posters (at a reasonable cost !) and then we can set about getting them mounted (at a reasonable cost !) and then onto the walls in the apartment.

I can take them with me then or leave them (at a price………..) but it should bring a bit of individuality to the place.  The photographer chappy has to come out to the office here in the desert so he’s going to bring his camera and we can go and seek out some atmospheric pictures which will convert into posters.  Whatever else then it’ll give us something to do !

This weekend is looking interesting, if not a little hectic – Thursday I’ll be driving to Dubai (and taking my housemate back ready for his trip to KSA) so that I can go to the office with the last of the requirements for my Residency Visa, and to sign my final papers (I hope !), then pick up my race number for the 10k on Friday morning.  I’m then bunking up with a friend who lives near the race venue (it’s also the Dubai Marathon at the same time – too far for me at the moment, and roads are going to be closed and 10s of thousands of people are going to be clogging up the surrounding area looking for somewhere to park – therefore, with a bit of luck, I can get up and walk to the race start without too much hassle – a 0715hrs start is just cruel frankly, as well as the fact that I should be finished around 8 should mean that I can get at least 2 breakfasts in !).  Once the race is over and I’ve had a shower I have to take my car and swap it for a service, then I have to pick up my new bike……………….. nothing to get excited about obviously !

I haven’t decided yet whether I stay around in Dubai on Friday night or come back to the desert.  The reason there is a decision to be made (assuming my friend still has their sofa available obviously) is that I have booked to go on a triathlon training course on Saturday morning in AD (run in conjunction with the AD International Triathlon on 3^rd March).  I don’t know whether I’ll find it interesting or useful but it’s only about a tenner, so I thought “what the hell” – I might learn something/ meet people/ fill in half a day etc.

Then I’m in the throws of possibly meeting another ex-colleague on Saturday afternoon for a catch-up……… and of course, I have to find time to go for a ride on my new bike…….

On another completely unrelated note, I went and picked up my medical test certificate for my Residence Visa this morning, and I’m officially “FIT”…….. which I think is fair enough !

That’s about it in the run up to the weekend.  My guest and I are thinking of wandering up to the Tilal Liwa later to say hello to some of the staff……… and I’m thinking of sneaking in for a quick 1000m swim…… we’ll see I guess, although after two hard sessions my legs are feeling a bit stiff so I might just go for a little jog to loosen everything off as I’m not doing anything tomorrow with the race on Friday.

A Bit of a Do

Last night I was invited to an Emirati wedding in Madinat Zayed.  Now I’m not sure what you know about Muslim weddings, or Muslim weddings out in the sticks.  I wasn’t completely ignorant, nor was I fully in the know.

I asked all the right questions at least (of my host – who wasn’t the groom, but that didn’t seem to matter to him, or anyone else as it turned out.  For information only, and there will be questions at some point, the groom was soon to be my hosts Brother-in-Law – he was marrying my hosts wife’s sister……..I think…….).  What should I wear, should I take a gift, was there a bar, did I need money, could I take a camera etc. etc. etc. So from that point of view I didn’t feel particularly out of place – that fact that I was the only suit in the place was a bit disconcerting, never mind that I was the only white face !

I’ll try and set the scene for you – the marriage takes place at the official “Wedding Hall” (there are two in MZ, on run by the Municipality, who are the sort of local council, and the other run by the Co-op I think.  I know that the Co-op one is hired out for other things such as graduation ceremonies, but I also know that the Municipality one isn’t – are you keeping up ?).

Actually, there are two halls on each site, one for the men and one for the women and huge (symbolically) locked gates and an 8 foot wall between them.  I say symbolically because rather a lot a small children (boys at least), seemed to be running backwards and forwards between the two !
So, as far as the women’s side of things goes, I have absolutely no idea what happens in there……. I’m guessing something similar to the men’s side, just less noisy.  I say that because, for most of the evening (I got there just after 7 as instructed, and it wasn’t really off the ground by then) we sat outside in the car park – or that’s how it seemed.  The a very large part of the outside area had been carpeted and had armchairs lining it…….

And set up in the middle were the band (well, not so much a band as a male voice choir……but not as we know it………)

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=tn_tnmn#!/video/video.php?v=10150562304174721

That “singing” was kept up, pretty much like that, for 2 hours, with a break for prayers in the middle where those that do, and it’s by no means all of them, did.

There was the usual mad uncle, who in this case would seem to have been sober, and therefore really mad…………I have videos of the mad uncle dancing but for some reason I shot them in portait and now they are laying on their side and I can't seem to eb able to turn them up the right way.........)

We got constant supplies of tea and biscuits,

as well as copious amounts of fruit…..

The only problem was the constant up and down to shake hands with everyone.  It is custom (apparently) as you arrive you go and greet the groom, in my case shake hands and in everyone else’s case, the good old fashioned nose kiss.  That last statement will take way too much explanation, and I’m not sure that I’ve fully understood the detail, but briefly, shaking hands isn’t the only way of greeting people in the Middle East (and it varies in different parts, just to add further confusion !) but in the UAE greetings start with a handshake for people you don’t know, move up through cheek kissing (the more sides the better you know them, or maybe it’s the other way around……) and then when you get to best mates and relatives, the nose comes into play.  There are degrees of this as well, from just touching noses to full blown beak fencing for your favourite brother !

I’m never sure whether I’m upset or not that all I ever get is a handshake (I did get a hug from some of my staff before I went home at Christmas, but I’m not sure where that comes into the equation !).  It’s worth noting that anything like this with Emirate women is strictly taboo – you don’t even offer them a hand to shake unless they offer you one first (which they never have in all my time here).  Generally I get to talk to a full face veil, which I always find a little disconcerting !

So the getting up and down thing comes about because after you have gone and offered your commiserations to the groom you turn left and work your way along the line, and round the corner, and along the line (etc.) until you find somewhere to sit, all the time shaking hands (in my case) or nose kissing to various degrees (in my hosts case).  Trouble is, as soon as you sit down, you’re back up again shaking hands with the people coming along behind you…….. there were only about 300 blokes there I’m guessing, and I reckon that I shook hands with most of them !  And all the time, in the background, si that bloody music !

Even my host got bored after a while (and there’s only so much tea and fruit juice you can drink) and suggested that we went and took some pictures with the groom……….

(he’s the one in the swanky cloak in case you were wondering……), and the wall and the gate behind us is the dividing line between male and female !

Eventually, everyone gets tired of the noise, the tea and the dancing, and the groom decides it’s time to eat – I didn’t take my camera into the meal, but I did take a picture before everyone got there……

Lamb and camel were on the menu (and it tastes a bit like lamb before you ask).  I was given a spoon nut decided to try and eat with my fingers like everyone else – I have to say that civilised goes out of the window at this point, and I personally can’t see the point of making such a mess, but hey, who am I to question thousands of years of civilization (I think I probably ate less than I would have done is I’d used a spoon, so there’s something I guess !)

I left at this point (as did my host – his youngest was tired, he was only 4 and it was 10 o’clock by then.  As a matter of interest, my host has 4 children, and I’m guessing that he’s not much older than 30, if that and only one wife.  He does, however, have 29 brothers and sisters, and 17 mothers or step-mothers – his father had 17 wives……..I had one down as being rather a lot of trouble…….)…..

Apparently the groom then goes to “claim his bride from the other hall, where he has to sit with her for half an hour or so (Lord only knows what they do or talk about) and then he is free to take her off on honeymoon.

All very interesting, but frankly not a patch on drinking too much and chasing the bridesmaids around the dance floor !

Today I decided that I couldn’t put off trying to get some swimming training in somehow, so I drove to the beach (about an hour away) with the intention of getting a good 1000m sea swimming in (I have to do 1500m in 2 weeks’ time !).  Trouble was, I hadn’t given one jot of thought to tides.  In Dubai, where I usually swim, there really isn’t much of a tide to speak of and besides, there’s a big shelf just off shore so you are always in deepish water.  Where I went today was 250km further South than Dubai and clearly has a large tide difference as I had to walk and wade half way to Qatar to get into water that was barely swim friendly.  I think the tide was going out further as well as I kept swimming further out looking for deeper water, all to no avail.  I’m not sure what I actually did in the end, in terms of distance, but anything was better than nothing and it was probably at least 800m, although half the time I couldn’t do front crawl because the water wasn’t deep enough !

Next week I have to go to Dubai as I’m running in a 10k there and picking up my new bike (fingers crossed), so I think I’ll have to make an effort to go for a sea swim on the Thursday night (if I get back before dark) or on the Friday after the race.

Apart from all that, I don’t think I have a great deal of news.  I have most of my furniture in my new apartment (I only have one of three wardrobe doors, and the sofa is a slightly different colour to everything else, and I still don’t have any internet yet – but I guess you can’t have everything !) but we can see what the next week brings on those fronts.

Psycho has gone but I’ve managed to go for 2 runs and a swim without her – we’ll see how that one goes in the future…….. I need to find someone else I think, or at least have a proper training programme, or something that will get me off my arse !  The new bike should solve a third of the problems, and the running shouldn’t be too much of an issue – it’s just the swimming.  Not having an instantly accessible pool is a pain, and I’m not sure, other than pay through the nose at the local hotel, what the answer is.  I guess we should get the next couple of weeks successfully out of the way first and then concentrate the rest of February on the arrival of the family for a holiday and the run up to the Abu Dhabi International Triathlon (which in a very strange way, I’m looking forward to more than anything else).  I’ve agreed to do the AD tri for sponsorship – so watch out for the JustGiving.com address that will appear in the next few days !

Right, I’m off to bed now and I’ll post this up in the morning (when I know that the office will be open so I can use their internet !).

I’m Not Sure I Should Be Telling You This…..

But last weekend I bought a new bike……… When I say I bought a new bike, as always, it’s a bit more complicated than that.  Firstly I haven’t actually got it yet.  I’ve ordered it – well, to be absolutely clear, I’ve specified the detail and it’s being built for me.  Also, when I say I’ve bought it, if we’re going to be really clear then I have to say that I’ve paid a large ish deposit and am now reliant on my wonderful, over-worked and thoroughly appreciated wife to make a bank transfer in the UK.

I can all hear you saying that I should have saved up and paid for it myself, and I agree – it was all in hand and then the shop I was going to get it from (and am now getting it from) decided to have a sale and if you bought anything in the sale then you had to pay 100% before the end of the sale (which is the end of January).  So I had intended to hire a bike from them for the Triathlon at the beginning of February, having ordered my bike the week before, paid the deposit in January and then picked it up later in February, paying the rest then……… are you still with me ?  Anyway, the upshot is that I’ve ordered a new bike which looks something like this (only in Black):

And my wonderful over-worked and fully appreciated wife is making the cash flow problem go away until I can get the money back to her a few days later – on the upside, I won’t have to hire a bike for the February Triathlon, I can ride my own !  It’s called a Planet X Stealth if you’re desperately keen to know more about it before I can get it back and take a better picture.  I think that’s enough for this blog, but I can tell you that I’m jolly excited !

I should explain that this took place on Friday – this meant that I drove from my desert home to Dubai, then from Dubai to the bottom of Abu Dhabi Island (more of this in a minute) and then back to the desert.  In total a round trip of approximately 598.4km.  When I filled up the following day (having done  total of 630km the total bill was AED 65, just shy of 11 pounds - Not bad me thinks !

Back to the story though, I went from Dubai to AD via IKEA to get a couple of things for the apartment and then on to the Volvo Ocean Village.  This is the quay where the Volvo Ocean Round the World Yachts have been staying since they docked around New Years Eve and Friday was the last night before they took off for China on the next leg.





All very interesting, and once again it has to be said, an opportunity to see something that not many others around the world would get to.  All topped off with loads to look at and do, and then a free concert by The Straits (to those of us old enough to remember, they used to be Dire Straits but only have two of the original members so have changed their name accordingly…… or maybe they’re just not Dire anymore ?).

All very lovely, followed by a long, happy, drive back to the desert.

Generally, life here is as it always has been, with little hiccups to keep you on your toes.  I’m looking forward to getting my bike because I can then start to train properly for the bike bit of the Triathlon instead of either on a gym bike or not at all.  My next priority is to sort out a pool for the swimming bit.  I thought I only had one option (paying through the nose for access to the only decent hotel pool – actually, there is another option, which is to drive for about an hour to the beach and then use the sea !) but through work last week another option presented itself.

I was with one of my staff visiting a school and then he said that we were going to visit another school on the way home to look at a job that had come in overnight on the Help Desk.  Turned out a window had shattered (which is quite common here, I think the heat has something to do with it, as probably does poor manufacturing), and it turned out to be in a primary school, in a building housing a perfect 25m swimming pool……….  I’ve given my senior staff member the task of approaching the Principle and seeing if he can get access for an International Triathlete (that’s me by the way……. Well, I’m not a local and I am competing in the AD International Triathlon in March……..) for 3 – 4 hours a week, out of hours of course.  The schools have 24hr security so it shouldn’t be a problem access wise, but we will see how the attitude holds up………. I’m not holding my breath but it would be a bit of coup if we could pull it off !

I did my first entertaining in the new apartment last night.  Psycho came round for dinner (to be fair, she supplied the lamb shanks and brought the wine !).  It was supposed to be dinner after circuit training but when we got to the park it turned out to be Ladies Night and I wasn’t allowed in.  For reason I won’t trouble you with, she went for a run in the park and I went back to the apartment and cooked dinner.  In case you’re concerned about my fitness levels, be assured that we are going back tonight for circuits and then will be running Yas tomorrow – probably our last outing together for some time L  The plan is to do an Ironman Triathlon somewhere in the world around July 2013 (although we are struggling to find one as it’s hot countries off-season and neither of us, for some strange reason, want to go to Bolton in the UK.  We’re looking further afield towards South Africa or California now……. Well, a man’s got to have a dream !  We did identify a Half-Ironman in Sri Lanka the day before my 50^th birthday and 4 days after her 35^th in Feb 14 – now if that doesn’t look like a good family holiday then I really don’t know what does !

That’s about it from me for this weekend.  I’ll try and find something to tell you before the end of the week, just for the sake of keeping you interested you understand………

As Promised

I seem to remember that I’d update you all on the goings-on down at the Moreeb Dune with the Abu Dhabi Motors Festival.

I “popped” down there on Wednesday to make sure that we were doing our job properly (which, of course, we were !) and to take the opportunity to observe some camel and horse racing – all very lovely and Arabic and interesting.

As you will recall, after that we went and watched some of the dune buggies being generally silly – I can tell you that it only got more silly over the next two days !  I’ve uploaded more photographs and videos onto my Facebook account, and I assume that you can all view them because nobody has told me anything different ?

I’ll leave you to work out whether I had a good time or not but the presence of V8 racing cars, heavily modified quad and motorbikes, freshly cooked Shwarmas and a ready made excuse to leave work early to attend should give you a pretty good clue !

You may also recall that I have now moved into my new apartment (or to be more specific, the companies apartment) in Madinat Zayed.  The company decided to take on this apartment as we quickly worked out that it would pay for itself in about 35 days by not having to use the only hotel in the area.  It’s been a bit of a struggle to find one, get it furnished (which is still an on-going struggle), get the utilities turned on and get moved in.

Atually moving in was the easy bit !  The furniture has been a slightly different prospect.  It was agreed that I would select the furniture that we would require and that the landlord would buy it.  I tried to simplify this by selecting everything from IKEA (because you can pretty much get everything from there and they’ll deliver to the area – which surely has to be helpful ?).  Trouble is, IKEA won’t do orders on-line or over the phone and therefore I had to provide the landlord with a list and they had to go to Abu Dhabi and order it all and get it delivered – you wouldn’t have thought that this could be that difficult……..

I suspect that the language barriers didn’t help (the Landlords people only speak Arabic, the list was in English and the IKEA staff are all Indian/somewhere similar !).  The upshot is that I have 3 quarters of what was on the list, I had to go to IKEA and organize my own mattresses, I have a list of stuff that I’m going to sort out myself this evening and I have at least two things in the apartment that aren’t complete and that I can’t sort out myself because I didn’t make the original order (I have a wardrobe with no doors and a chair in pieces with no screws – I am taking the glass half full attitude with the wardrobe as it could have just as well been the other way around and I could have had the doors with no wardrobe and I wouldn’t have been a happy bunny in those circumstances !)

So that’s tonight’s challenge (as well as running two laps of the Yas Marina F1 circuit) – wish me luck !  I have to limit any potential damage to my finances by firstly taking back one or two things that were ordered that we don’t need and getting access to the credit note that the Landlord has concerning the 3 mattresses that were sent back originally because they were the wrong size.  To be fair, the last time I had to go and get something on their behalf (the mattresses) they paid me back in full the next morning so I’m not expecting any drama.

As we are on the subject of drama, since I moved in on Thursday I haven’t had any electricity (you wouldn’t believe me – but I’m going to tell you anyway, but as I was typing that last sentence the Abu Dhabi Distribution Company actually turned up at my apartment to connect me so forget that I wrote the last sentence !).

The drama involved with the simplest things in this part of the world can be exhausting – in this case, although I have signed a tenancy agreement with the landlord I couldn’t have any electricity because I don’t have my residency visa sorted out yet (which is an entirely different administrative set of long winded cockups perpetuated by someone different !) so the landlord has kindly agreed to reconnect it under his name until my papers are sorted (I suspect that the internet is going to prove a step to far in that direction but we can see if we can circumnavigate the system somehow !).  I guess it would have been more helpful if he hadn’t have cut it off in the first place (like we asked him not too………) but I guess you can’t have everything – I’ve done well not to burn the place down whilst we haven’t had any lights except candles, and I can happily live on Shwarmas and falafels so that hasn’t been an issue, and I’ve “utilized” the local hotel a couple of times for showers after I’ve had a swim and been to the gym (I guess I’m going to have to pay at some point because eventually they are going to notice that I’m no longer a resident despite the fact that I’ve been there every day for the last week for some reason or other – it’s the best part of aed 550 for a month’s membership, which is all bike money.  I guess I’mgoing to have to bite the bullet at some point because as swimming is a fundamental part of being a Triathlete and the Tilal Liwa has the only accessible pool for about 100km, it’s a bit of a no-brainer !

Anyway (I was rambling a bit there……), in summary, I have electricity now and as soon as I’ve put a plug on the cooker (tonight) and put up the shower curtain that I’m buying  in IKEA tonight (tonight) I’ll be able to have a hot shower and a hot meal – I’m going to get a kettle today or tomorrow and then I’ll be in clover !  So, if all goes to plan, I’ll be sitting on my new sofa drinking coffee and reading my book by Friday morning – wish me luck again !

Changing the subject back to more mundane things, I noticed today that I haven’t had a drink for a week, which considering there was a time when I worried that I had a drink problem, isn’t a bad thing to “notice”.  I’ve also given up smoking for the customary 2 weeks before a race (but then I have another race a week after that so it’ll be nearly a month in the end) so I may be a little tetchy for a day or two, but I’m sure my colleagues enjoy listening to me discussing issues with Head Office !

Last night Psycho and I went out for dinner in Madinat Zayed, which was the first time I’ve been to any of the restaurants in MZ.  We had the usual kebab type meal with the usual hummus and salad etc.  and the bill was a pleasing aed 30 each (about 5 English pounds to waddle out completely stuffed !) so I suspect I will be doing that again at some point in the near future !  Psycho’s off next week so I doubt we will get time to try anywhere else (not that there is much else – although I did get a pizza delivery menu through the door over the weekend) so it was nice to do something different.

I’m sure that there’s loads of other things to tell you all about but I’ve got to get my act together and go to AD to IKEA and to one of the schools that we might use when the rest of the family move over – add, having the right kit for a run around Yas to the equation and I have a number of things to think about before I set off on a 200km drive !

I’ve uploaded all the photos I have from the weekend, as well as a few video’s (in the last few days) – here’s the link to the photos - http://www.facebook.com/?ref=tn_tnmn#!/media/set/?set=a.10150535846129721.392074.846004720&type=1

Let me know if you can’t get access – I don’t know what I’ll do about it but it’ll be nice to know if someone has tried !

Until next time !

Camels & Cars

Every now and then something comes along which makes you wonder just exactly what other people are doing at that very moment – today was one of those days.

I have some fairly diverse buildings and facilities within my portfolio, and I’m sure some of the others will crop up at some point, and I also have some very ordinary ones in some diverse places.  Today’s trek was to one of those (I’m sure I’ve already mentioned it in the recent past, but, as usual, I can’t be arsed to go and look it up – you can go back and have a look, it’ll do you good !).

We manage a few “clubhouses” for the Abu Dhabi Motors Club, which on the whole isn’t as exciting as it might first seem.  However, we do manage the clubhouse at the largest dune in the world (apparently – the dune thing, not the clubhouse).  It’s called the Moreeb Dune (which I’m informed means scary !) and true to form the locals have turned it into a playground.  It’s 25km off the beaten track, directly South, off the bottom of the UAE map essentially, fairly close to the Saudi border, and right on the edge of what’s called the Empty Quarter (look it up !).

So they built a race track there – obviously, what else would you do !  Only this race track is vertical.  There is another track there as well, and it probably a little more traditional, for camels and horses (hence the title of the blog).  We’ll start with camel racing……….

 

I’ve heard the expression “chaotic, even by Arab standards” (apparently used by the British Ambassador at the official ceremony to launch the Union of the seven Emirates to form the UAE), and have always thought it was a little unfair, however, today, all that changed.  We arrived, I thought a little late, and expected to see things in full flow, to be greeted by what could only be described as a pile of camels, and having been dissapointed by camel racing in the past, my heart dropped a notch……

 

But I shouldn’t have worried – we hung around for half an hour, drinking in the atmosphere of Royal Ascot, when suddenly, and for no decernable reason, up jumped a load of camels, handlers, 4x4s, press, you name it – and off we went.  I’m not sure you’ll get the full feeling from the video (assuming I can get it uploaded OK) but it sort of summed up the British Ambassador……..

http://www.facebook.com/#!/video/video.php?v=10150524220759721&notif_t=video_processed

Mind you, the finish was even better !

http://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?v=10150524212954721

Then came the horses – there was only two horse races (there were probably at least 10 camel races in quick succession), and as they started from right over on the other side of the track I’ve only got a picture of the finish I’m afraid…….

Not really your average Point-to-Point I guess, but the principle is sound enough.

Whilst all this was going on, and as you may have noticed from the pictures and videos, the quad bikes and 4x4s were starting to circle, and then things started to get a bit more extreme………

……so we de-camped to the dune itself……..

http://www.facebook.com/#!/video/video.php?v=10150524310329721

The real racing starts tomorrow night with the motorcycle championships, under floodlights obviously, with the buggys, and the serious hotrods (these are just play things…..) on Friday night.  I’ll almost certainly be going, so you’ll just have to hold on until then !

The only other news is that I ran Yas Circuit last night (twice = 11km, in 57 mins if byone is remotely interested, which considering that it was on the back of Christmas, a heavy cold and in new trainers, I was quite pleased with myself !), I should move into my new apartment in Madinat Zayed tomorrow (I hope so – as hospitable and generous as Psycho has been there are only so many nights that you can spend on a sofa at my age !).  I spent a fun time at IKEA last night trying to sort out the three mattresses which somehow got cocked up on the original order and have meant that I couldn’t move in, but, and I mean but, subject to them  actually arriving tomorrow, I should be able to move in and start sorting things out…..which will be nice !.

Right, I’m off for a rummage in the fridge to see what we can turn into real food !

Oh, and for those of you who were worried about who was policing these events to make sure that they are conducted in a healthy and safe manner, and I know that was surely the next question on your lips…….

Well…….. it had to be done really didn’t it !