Rax

The early year events here in Dubai are coming thick and fast. Kind of.

The Dubai Tennis Championship takes place at the end of February with the top 4 men in the world booked to make an appearance. Whether or not they will actually come is another matter. But, since we literally live across the road from where it is taking place, it really would be rude not to go. Last year we only got tickets for the women's semi-final but this year, we did well. I managed to get tickets for the men's semi-final and the men's final. Delighted. Should be a big crowd in for both and with a bit of luck, we might see Federer, Murray, Djokovic et al. That would be good.

Second up is the Emirates Literature Festival /now there's a plug/ which is around the same time as the Tennis. Last year we saw Charlie Boorman, the bloke that went with Ewen MacGregor around the world on bikes. He was entertaining! We also saw Tony Parsons who wasn't quite as entertaining as Charlie but pretty insightful nonetheless. Oh and I spoke to both of them. Shameless really. Anyway this year we're going to see David Nicholls who wrote 'Starter for Ten'and 'One Day'. I've heard of him but I can't say that I've read any of his stuff. Best get onto that now. Next up will be Jeremy Bowen who is a reporter with the BBC. I bet he's got some stories to tell, that's for sure.

Looking forward to both events actually. It breaks up the daily grind I guess. Oh and a trip to Hong Kong. Maybe married life isn't all that bad?

Reprieve

For gods sake.

I got an e-mail this morning from my Admin woman saying that we may not have to park in the new parking which is further away and really not all that good. Instead, we might be able to park when the great washed park, right next to the terminal building. I'm not going to be counting my chickens just yet. I'll wait until it's all down in writing and signed by whoever!

Let's see.

What a strange week, all things considered.

Dub

To add to my annoyance this week, has been the last minute announcement that the large, 5 story car park that I park in at work will be closed and demolished. Next week. Yes, next week!

What the hell?!

There was an A4 size sheet of paper put up on the ground floor of the car park last Thursday saying that as of Sunday the car park would be closing and that everyone who parked there will be moved to another car park about 5 minutes drive up the road. In summary, the car park you are using will be gone in 3 days. Deal with it.

Only in Dubai.

I didn't drive to work on Sunday because I knew it would be chaos and that's the last thing I need on the first day of the working week. I get to work to find that the afore mentioned car park was still standing. Indeed, it was still in use despite the signs saying otherwise. In fact, some of my colleagues had parked there as normal. I was confused. My colleagues were confused. No one seemed to know what the heck was going on. One of my colleagues went to find out and to get his ticket so that he could use the other car park. He did so and he found out that the existing car park would be open until the end of the month. He proceeded to ensure his ticket for the new car park was ready and working, just in case.

That left me in a bit of a quandary. The current car park is right across the road from where I enter the airport. It totally serves it's purpose for me. The new car park is actually further away and is not across the road from where I enter the car park. It's really not convenient at all. But what are the options? There really isn't anything. The senior bosses get parking right outside the terminal building but the great unwashed that I belong to do not. That would be ideal. Plus, there is no way I am walking to work come the summer. Too hot. Too sweaty and that is at 6am. I guess I'll just have to grin and bare it.

All this because the Flight Catering arm of the company want to expand. Good for them. Probably good for us in the longer term but crap right here and now.

Alloy

The continuing saga of getting my Emirates ID card continues as does the fines associated with it. I must stress that this wasn't the only thing on my mind. I do have other things that I'm concerned about. Honest.

Anyway, after work I decided it was time to go to other place nearby to get it all sorted out. I was at the place by 6.45pm. There were a lot of people around and from the look of it, they had been waiting a while. I noticed one of those ticketing matches which, well, gives you a ticket and when the your number comes up, you go to the counter. The ticketing machine though had it's buttons covered up as if it was 'off'. Or done for the day. I must say, I was a bit sly. I lifted the cover up and pressed it. A ticket came out. I took it whilst no one was looking.

The ticket said that there were 53 people in front of me. The first of many sighs. I waited. I played one of the games on my phone. I walked about. I sighed. I texted the missus. Slowly the numbers dwindled. When I say 'slowly', I mean, I waited until 8.30pm. By which time, people had been turned away. I flashed my ticket saying I was still waiting. I wasn't giving the ticket up. With it, I would definitely get seen. I hoped. 8.45pm came. It was my number. I was there in a flash. The poor bloke at the counter was in surprisingly good spirits given that he had been there since 7.30am. Twelve hours. Then me, who had been cheeky and taken a ticket when I probably should not have. He was fine though and got on with it. In the end, I paid the money but I wasn't fined. I kept quiet about that one. I wonder if it was all a ploy to get people to register. "Yeah, lets start a rumour..." It might have been the case. Sometime after 9pm I left the place. What a waste of an evening. It's the same thing whenever you need to get 'official' things done here. I remember when I had my driving test. I was waiting for 2 hours or more to take it. Stupid. Just stupid.

The next step is to go to the main office and get fingerprinted. /Haven't I already done that?!/ Then they will send the card out. No ETA for this mind. Plenty more chances to be fined though. Let's see what happens.

Downtime

Thankfully our wonderful company has an Emirates National ID card office in the company HQ. How convenient, don't you think?! And given the news yesterday, I thought I would head over to it early doors to see if I could get my card applied for. I had all the documents required, basically my passport and the visa within it. /don't they have that information already?!/

So, I got there early, only to find that it was totally jammed packed. The word was out and all the people in a similar boat to me had had the same idea. Get it done!

I didn't stay. I would have been there all day. Besides, there are other 'typing centres' which can do the same thing. I decided that that would be the best option. After work then, I went to one not too far from my place only to find it closed. At 4pm?! I gave up. I wasn't going to go hunting for a place to do it. £3 fine or not.

Percept

So, I was up at our IT building in the morning. I'm working on creating a new online English test. It's going slowly though that isn't necessarily due to anything holding it up from my point of view. The IT guys aren't the quickest and I can't say they really consider it a big priority. Fair enough, they have other things to be getting on with. But.

To get things moving, I had to go up and meet one of them. He's OK and I get on fine with him. Before we got down to business, he was telling me about one of his colleagues. The back story is that here in the UAE, national ID cards for everyone have been introduced. In certain Emirates, they are now compulsory whereas here in Dubai the deadline to get them is June the year. After which, anyone who does not have one or is slow in getting it renewed - they are valid for 3 years - will be getting a 20 Dhs per day fine (about £3) up to a maximum of 1000 Dhs (£120 or so). That was the latest, officially.

The IT guy was saying though that one of his colleagues had gone to get his card renewed as it was more than 3 years old. He went to the office to be told that he was being fined because he was a week late in applying for it. He was also told that because Emirates as an organisation is considered 'semi-government', all such organisations and its employees had a deadline of 1st January 2012 to get their cards, and not June as had been stated.

The word was out and it had spread mild panic amongst of lot of people. I guess I was concerned too. I had to get my finger out. The irony being that Emirates has, in the past, been classed as a 'government' and non-government' organisation. It really seems to be changed depending on the situation. Take the case of national holidays. For that, we are certainly not on a par with other 'government' organisations which have more days off. I wish someone would make up their mind as to what we are. Indeed this fining was complete news to many. I doubt anyone in the upper circles of the company even knew about.

Governments, honestly.

The upshot being that I now need to get this card even though I have absolutely no need for it. It does not help me get any additional services, I don't need to come and go from the country. It's all just for show and - this is alleged - to provide a new department so that more local people can be employed in. Oh and to 'tax' everyone so the government can raise funds. Again, that is alleged!

Oh and I did get my online test moving. Though not quickly.

Taste

One minute we were at the beach watching people fly their kits, the next (i.e. withing half a hour!) we were sitting pulling on our ice skates at the Dubai Mall.

Only in Dubai.

Yes, ice skating. I can't even remember the last time I went ice skating. I do remember 'skating' on my arse last winter back in Scotland but in no way was that planned! I was a bit nervous about it to be honest. The last thing you want to do is fall on your back side or even worse, injure yourself. That would be terrible. In the end, I did neither which was some feat. The old arm waving for balance maneuver was employed on a good few occasions. It's neither classy nor cool but it does the job. My feet definitely did hurt at the end. I suppose that was due to trying to balance and grip onto the skate itself. In such situations, I guess you tend to tense up as well.

The thing that annoyed me though was the little punks who whizz in and out of everyone. OK, they are good and can skate infinitely better than me but why do they need to skate so close and so fast. They scare me. In fact, the whole experience was scary.

I wonder if we'll go back?

Perhaps. Practice makes perfect after all.