brick

4-6-0.

No, not an international dialing code. A formation. Seemingly. That would read: 4 defenders, 6 midfielders and 0 forwards.

Yes, it is the new, radical, formation that Scotland played yesterday against the Czech Republic. It's so radical that no Scottish team before it has played it. Not only that, but I do not recall another international team or other team full stop playing it. Has it come to this? No forwards on the park. Not even the worst footballing nations in the world play like that. To make matters worse, Craig Levein, the manager, dropped Miller who has scored 10 goals this season and was due to make his 50th appearance for Scotland. In his 'place' was some guy who had never played for Scotland and is playing in the 2nd tier in England. Untested, would be a nice way of putting it.

In the end, we lost. 1-0. That isn't 'bad' per se since it was in Prague but the manner of the defeat makes it hard to take. No strikes on goal. Nothing going forward at all. A joke. How can we win games if we don't go forward? How can we win games if we don't even cross the halfway line. I can't fathom it. No strikers?

The only thing that would even set a precedence for this would be the 'false number 9' employed by Manchester Utd. a few seasons ago when they won the league. They didn't actually play with an out and out striker that could be classed as a true 'number 9'. Yes, they had Tevez. Yes, they had Rooney and yes, they had Ronaldo but they were not played in the strikers position. Instead, all 3 were essentially interchangeable with Ronaldo playing on the wing and cutting in or Rooney doing the same thing. That though left the other 2 to get into positions to score and score they did. They won the league!

The only commonality between Scotland and that particular Manchester United team would be Darren Fletcher. Other than that, there is no link. Not one. We were crap and now we are not even likely to get a shot on target. It seems now that the win over Leitchenstein was a fluke. Next up, Spain. Only the world champions. God help us.

vindaloo

I don't like lateness.

I try to be on time if I'm meeting people or if I have somewhere to be. It's a common courtesy to whoever you are meeting. Of course, being late is sometimes outwith your control and that is understandable. I have been late due to this and I have apologised for it. It's not nice to keep people waiting.

By the same token, I can't be doing with people being late for things that 'involve' me. I am patient but I don't like to be kept standing around or whatever. If you say you will be there at such and such a time, then be there. It's that simple.

That's pretty much all I have to say on the matter.

Oh, and it's 10-10-10.
Is something bad or weird going to happen?

burp

There I was in a normal shop, in a normal shopping mall, in a normal part of the city, doing normal stuff just minding my own business when all of a sudden my ears pricked up. Music.

Nothing particularly strange by that you may be thinking, after all, music playing in shops isn't all that uncommon. I quite like going into a shop to find a song that I like playing in it. It doesn't necessarily make me want to buy something from said shop but it's nice to know that someone else listens to music that you listen to. However, on this occasion, it was a Christmas song. Yep, you know, a Christmas carol song. These shockingly bad ones that get played once a year and for some reason everyone things they are 'cool' when in fact, Christmas songs just aren't cool, nor have ever been cool. They're crap and should be consigned to Room 101 for all eternity.

The great irony of course, it the fact that it is the 8th October. 11 weeks before Christmas. An even greater irony being that it happened in Dubai, in the UAE, in the Middle East, in an Islamic country which doesn't even recognise Christmas as anything other as another day of the week.

Even if I had heard these songs on this day back in the UK, I wouldn't be impressed. It's a faff. It's autumn and I'm still in my shorts and t-shirt and wearing suncream. How can if possibly be 'Christmas'.

In a couple of weeks, we'll have Happy Valentines 'stuff' in the shops no doubt.

tips

I was looking forward to a relatively 'quiet' working week. You always pray for that, the 1st few days back from holiday. Sometimes it works out that way, other times it doesn't. This week, it didn't. My god, busy wasn't the word. New things constantly popping up along with the 'stuff' that you are meant to be getting on with. There just isn't enough time in a day. Next week is likely to be the same as well. I need a holiday. Again.

Today, we are meant to get out of the office at 3pm. 3pm came and went and where was I? At my desk, marking test papers, compiling the results and updating records. An hour and a half later, enough was enough. Thursday's are the start of our weekend and I was giving up my weekend. I'm not having that. In the end, I got out at 4.30pm having managed to make a dent in what I had to do.

Within 2 hours, I was in a bar, supping a nice Merlot and handful of peanuts. Perhaps it was worth it in the end?

generic

It's always a sweet moment when you wake up and think 'I should be at work now' but aren't because you have a day off!

That hasn't happened too often this year though, in fact, it's not happened since March. Alas, I did allow myself to think that this morning, knowing that I should have got up at the ungodly hour of 5.30am in order to get to the office by 7am, my usual start time. It was only for that split second or so that I even considered 'work'. The remainder of the day was more about 'holidays' and not getting burnt and thinking 'my god, it's well hotter than yesterday'.

The drive back to Dubai was relatively uneventful. When I say 'uneventful', I mean by Dubaian standards. The usual mix of speeding 4x4's, reckless driving and flashing of lights to 'warm' you to get out of the way were in evidence. Nothing new there. Oh and a great big 747 flying right over head as we were driving past Sharjah airport.

But, back to the office tomorrow. Dam it, I just thought out 'work'.

Cleaned

The joys of the beach. Kind of. I haven't really been a big fan of all things 'beach'. Covered in sand for weeks afterwards and the very real probability of getting sunburnt made previously trips to the beach not all that enjoyable. That's not to say that I dislike going to the beach. Not at all. I quite like the feel of sand on my feet and I like the sea, well, upto my knees anyway. There is often a breeze of some kind which also adds to it. In winter, a beach can be exhilarating in the cold and wind, particularly in Scotland.

Today saw a half day at the beach. With no sunburn and not much rogue sand. A shock in itself. A couple of things made it more enjoyable than normal. The first being a big massive parasol and a big sun lounger with cushions. Comfy, that's for sure. If I had had to sit on a towel with no parasol, then the experience would have been totally different and this posting may well have been a mass moan. But, I can't really find much to moan about. It wasn't busy either which was a bonus. It was good and dare I say it, I quite enjoyed it. Even the sea was relatively calm and clear; I even saw little fishes swimming close to the shore. Thankfully, nothing bigger than 5 cm in length!

I didn't like the fact that the sand was too hot to walk on but you can't have everything.

I even managed to read my book. I'm cracking on with the Man in the Iron Mask. It's getting good. The King's twin brother has been released, cunningly, from the Bastille and is going to upsurge his twin in order to take the throne. Aramis has seen to it. Although, with no mention of anyone in an Iron Mask after 300 pages, the story must still have a way to go!

Technical

Up and out of the house early this Friday morning. I generally don't like getting up early on Friday's because it's the first day of the weekend. Even in my Korean days, I didn't have class on Friday's so it was a 'relaxed' day. Alas, this Friday was different. It was holiday time!

Off to Fujariah on the Indian Ocean. It's only a 2 hour drive but a holiday is a holiday.

The drive over was pleasant enough. Not much traffic to speak of which, as a Dubaian, is a rare thing indeed. We stopped off at the 'Friday Market' at a place called Masafi. It's literally a few huts on the side of the main road which sells fruit, rugs and pots and plants. It was OK but get this, the name isn't actually a fair reflection of things - the market is there every day of the week. I would have called the Trade Descriptions people but I didn't have their number to hand, besides, I couldn't really be bothered.

We then went though through the mountains. Not Scottish style mountains but basically, just rocky hills with little or nothing growing on them. 'Moonlike' would be one way to describe them. In saying that, there were little pockets of palm trees at times. It must be a sign of underground pools of water. Plus, there were goats. A lot of them. Just wandering around, crossing the road as they do. I'm sure some of them get splatted from time to time by big 4x4 cars. I only have a small car and they would probably do me more harm than me to them.

Once we got near to Fujairah itself, there were a bunch of medium sized roundabouts to pass through. Generally, roundabouts are mounds of grass with signs in the middle. Not here. That's too easy. Instead, in the middle was a massive lantern. The next roundabout saw dolphins, the next sharks and I think there was one with Arabic coffee cups as well. I guess it's for us tourists?

Anyway, the Rotana at Fujairah. Nice. Not too big, not too small. Not too busy. The room was excellent. A big walk in shower and a nice balcony. It certainly beats some of the places I have stayed, that's for sure. It was freezing though, as the air-con must have been left on. Not that that was a big problem. Alas, it was straight to the swimming pool and a lazy afternoon lying back and enjoying the sunshine.

In the evening, we went up to one of the restaurants for dinner. It was a buffet style and it was totally fine. A big selection which just invites you to go up time and again and grab something different. It's a dangerous game to play but I've come up with the 'tactic' of only putting the bare minimum on your plate of the stuff you want. You have that, then find that you still have 'space' for more food. Well, it works for me anyway.

Then to the bar for a couple of drinks and the house band.  There's always a house band, isn't there?

Not a late night but definitely a good day; away from Dubai. oh and it's October already.