DOG'S DIARY:
7am - Oh boy! A Walk! My Favorite!
8am - Oh boy! Dog food! My Favorite!
9am - Oh boy! The Kids! My Favorite!
Noon - Oh boy! The Yard! My Favorite!
2pm - Oh boy! A car ride! My Favorite!
3pm - Oh boy! The kids! My Favorite!
4pm - Oh boy! Playing ball! My Favorite!
6pm - Oh boy! Welcome home Mom! My Favorite!
7pm - Oh boy! Welcome home Dad! My Favorite!
8pm - Oh boy! Dog Food! My Favorite!
9pm - Oh boy! Tummy rubs on the couch! My Favorite!
11pm - Oh boy! Sleeping in my people's bed! My Favorite!
THE CAT'S DIARY:
Day 183 of my captivity...
My Captors continued to taunt me with bizzarre little dangling objects.
They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while I am forced to eat dry cereal. The only thing that keeps me going is the hope of escape, and the mild satisfaction I get from clawing the furniture.
Tomorrow I may eat another house plant. Today my attempt to kill my captors by weaving around their feet while they were walking almost succeed * must try this on their bed.
Decapitated a mouse and brought them the headless body in an attempt to make them aware of what I am capable of, and to try to strike fear in their hearts. They only cooed and condescended about what a good little cat I was. Hmmmn, not working according to plan.
There was some sort of gathering of their accomplices. I was placed in solitary throughout the event. However, I could hear the noise and smell the food. More important, I overheard that my confinement was due to my powers of inducing "allergies." Must learn what this is and how to use it to my advantage.
I am convinced the other captives are flunkies and maybe snitches. The dog is routinely released and seems more than happy to return. He is obviously a half-wit. The bird, on the other hand, has got to be an informant and speaks with them regularly. I am certain he reports my every move. Due to his current placement in the metal room, his safety is assured. But I can wait; it is only a matter of time.
Anyone who's owned a dog or cat will appreciate how brilliantly their respective natures have been observed! I picked it up on a forum - there was no author quoted but a Gold Star from me for a clever piece of humorous writing.
Friday, March 31, 2006
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
End of an era
Radisson to acquire management of InterContinental Hotel Dubai
Staff Report
Dubai: Radisson SAS Hotels and Resorts will take over the management of the InterContinental Hotel Dubai, the first five-star hotel built in the emirate, on October 1.
Since the property opened more than three decades ago it has been operated by InterContinental Hotels and Resorts and is a landmark on the Deira Creekside.
The hotel has 287 rooms, including 39 suites, 16 food and beverage outlets and several meeting and exhibition facilities.
Gulf News
The InterCon is where I had my very first meal when I arrived in Dubai for the first time, in 1977. In the ground floor coffee shop, which in those days was designed like a dhow with masts and rigging everywhere. It had very uncomfortable seating too; because the whole place was shaped like a dhow's hull the seats were curved & tapered and very cramped.
It was the only international hotel here and wasn't nearly enough to meet the demand of visiting business people, so there was a ship moored on the Creek nearby which was used as a hotel. It had a good bar too. Sharjah had a moored ship also being used as a hotel.
Hard to believe? Here's a photo I took in 1977:
Staff Report
Dubai: Radisson SAS Hotels and Resorts will take over the management of the InterContinental Hotel Dubai, the first five-star hotel built in the emirate, on October 1.
Since the property opened more than three decades ago it has been operated by InterContinental Hotels and Resorts and is a landmark on the Deira Creekside.
The hotel has 287 rooms, including 39 suites, 16 food and beverage outlets and several meeting and exhibition facilities.
Gulf News
The InterCon is where I had my very first meal when I arrived in Dubai for the first time, in 1977. In the ground floor coffee shop, which in those days was designed like a dhow with masts and rigging everywhere. It had very uncomfortable seating too; because the whole place was shaped like a dhow's hull the seats were curved & tapered and very cramped.
It was the only international hotel here and wasn't nearly enough to meet the demand of visiting business people, so there was a ship moored on the Creek nearby which was used as a hotel. It had a good bar too. Sharjah had a moored ship also being used as a hotel.
Hard to believe? Here's a photo I took in 1977:
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
More bad news for Dubai...
Remember Dubai's planned underwater hotel?
I just had a look at http://www.poseidonresorts.com/ and came across this comment
We are absolutely no longer considering the United Arab Emirates in the Middle East as a possible location for anything. Our business experiences there were truly terrible.
Oh dear...
I just had a look at http://www.poseidonresorts.com/ and came across this comment
We are absolutely no longer considering the United Arab Emirates in the Middle East as a possible location for anything. Our business experiences there were truly terrible.
Oh dear...
Monday, March 27, 2006
Traffic NOT gridlocked.
Drove from Burj al Arab to Dubai Marina around 4pm, along the recently-opened Al Sufouh Road. Probably over 100 vehicles on that stretch of road. I sat on the speed limit, which is 80kph, as did three, and only three, other vehicles. There was the usual mix of Porsches, 4x4s, little hatchbacks, construction traffic...
I was in the right-hand lane of course, but even so had a cement mixer flashing at me and driving centimetres from my tail trying to push me along.
The three other vehicles that stayed on the speed limit were a beaten up old truck, way overloaded and obviously incapable of any more speed, a Big Bus tour and ... wait for it...a taxi. Yes folks, a Dubai taxi staying at the speed limit. He was in the correct lane too.
Let's hear it for driver of taxi registration 1130.
I was in the right-hand lane of course, but even so had a cement mixer flashing at me and driving centimetres from my tail trying to push me along.
The three other vehicles that stayed on the speed limit were a beaten up old truck, way overloaded and obviously incapable of any more speed, a Big Bus tour and ... wait for it...a taxi. Yes folks, a Dubai taxi staying at the speed limit. He was in the correct lane too.
Let's hear it for driver of taxi registration 1130.
Thursday, March 23, 2006
Thinning traffic
I can't quite believe it, but the roads around Dubai Marina and the free zones have suddenly, this week, become almost clear of traffic snarls.
The Al Sufouh (beach) Road is sort-of almost finished - a lot of the cones have gone anyway - flyovers have suddenly been opened and it really seems that it's all coping with the traffic. Fingers crossed - maybe it's a good sign of things to come for the new road system after all.
Two gripes though.
The emptier, wide, straight roads are encouraging the lunatics to even higher speeds. I sit on the speed limit, which is generally 80 but 60 in parts, and I swear I'm the only one anywhere near it. Estimate well over 100kph for some of them, oddly nearly always big 4x4s such as Landcruisers. More often than not with white faces behind the wheel, in spite of the letters to the papers about Asian and Arab drivers being the problem. Flat straight wide road these vehicles can cope with, but anything happens - from a tyre going to an obstacle appearing to the driver on his mobile not concentrating - and 2.5 tonnes of high-centre-of-gravity 4x4 becomes a WMD.
Hellooo! Dubai Police. Where are you? Come out, wherever you are.
The second gripe is the danger to workers chalking out the road markings. Even after dark last evening, a couple of them bending down with a piece of string and a piece of chalk, right in the middle of the three-lane road, their only protection a colleague frantically waving a red flag.
There has to be a better way.
The Al Sufouh (beach) Road is sort-of almost finished - a lot of the cones have gone anyway - flyovers have suddenly been opened and it really seems that it's all coping with the traffic. Fingers crossed - maybe it's a good sign of things to come for the new road system after all.
Two gripes though.
The emptier, wide, straight roads are encouraging the lunatics to even higher speeds. I sit on the speed limit, which is generally 80 but 60 in parts, and I swear I'm the only one anywhere near it. Estimate well over 100kph for some of them, oddly nearly always big 4x4s such as Landcruisers. More often than not with white faces behind the wheel, in spite of the letters to the papers about Asian and Arab drivers being the problem. Flat straight wide road these vehicles can cope with, but anything happens - from a tyre going to an obstacle appearing to the driver on his mobile not concentrating - and 2.5 tonnes of high-centre-of-gravity 4x4 becomes a WMD.
Hellooo! Dubai Police. Where are you? Come out, wherever you are.
The second gripe is the danger to workers chalking out the road markings. Even after dark last evening, a couple of them bending down with a piece of string and a piece of chalk, right in the middle of the three-lane road, their only protection a colleague frantically waving a red flag.
There has to be a better way.
Good news on bad news
The bad news is that there's bad news. Bad stuff happens in the UAE.
The good news is that at long last at least some of it is being published locally.
The industrial unrest (riot?) at Burj Dubai story was published overseas and there was, naturally, some discussion on blogs & forums whether it would a) appear at all in our mainstream media and b) would appear but in a heavily self-censored form.
Well, I heard it being discussed on the radio this morning and I read in Gulf News more-or-less what I'd read in overseas papers.
It's a small step for mankind, but it's a step in the right direction.
The good news is that at long last at least some of it is being published locally.
The industrial unrest (riot?) at Burj Dubai story was published overseas and there was, naturally, some discussion on blogs & forums whether it would a) appear at all in our mainstream media and b) would appear but in a heavily self-censored form.
Well, I heard it being discussed on the radio this morning and I read in Gulf News more-or-less what I'd read in overseas papers.
It's a small step for mankind, but it's a step in the right direction.
Sunday, March 19, 2006
Another one.
“The UAE has some of the worst drivers in the world despite having an excellent road network and relatively new and well maintained vehicles,” Dr Prabhakar Rao of the International Association of Human Values, an arm of the UN.
Mina Seyahi. The scene - a huge amount of traffic because of the Boat Show, general chaos, cars & construction traffic coming from all directions. Dangerous conditions even if everyone does the right thing.
4x4, windows blacked out way beyond the legal limit, drives through a red light to do an illegal U-turn. Luckily got away with it, as did the innocents he might well have injured or worse.
And here we are in the middle of safe driving campaigns.
I must say that from what I've seen and heard of them they seem to be weak and ineffective to say the least. Still, it's better than nothing I suppose and at least we may educate the next generation of drivers to be less deadly than the present generation.
For the current generation, I'm sure it's a complete waste of time. We're flogging a dead horse. Why? The problem goes way beyond bad driving or ignoring the rules. It's mindless stupidity to a breathtaking degree, a blatant disregard for the lives of others or even their own. With that mindset, education is a waste of time. Taking them off the road to protect the rest of us is the only answer.
Mina Seyahi. The scene - a huge amount of traffic because of the Boat Show, general chaos, cars & construction traffic coming from all directions. Dangerous conditions even if everyone does the right thing.
4x4, windows blacked out way beyond the legal limit, drives through a red light to do an illegal U-turn. Luckily got away with it, as did the innocents he might well have injured or worse.
And here we are in the middle of safe driving campaigns.
I must say that from what I've seen and heard of them they seem to be weak and ineffective to say the least. Still, it's better than nothing I suppose and at least we may educate the next generation of drivers to be less deadly than the present generation.
For the current generation, I'm sure it's a complete waste of time. We're flogging a dead horse. Why? The problem goes way beyond bad driving or ignoring the rules. It's mindless stupidity to a breathtaking degree, a blatant disregard for the lives of others or even their own. With that mindset, education is a waste of time. Taking them off the road to protect the rest of us is the only answer.
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