Put it down, dig it up...

...put it down again, dig it up again.

That's the Dubai way. And that's why the construction will never be finished. Along with it we get the added confusion, extra pollution, wasted money.

They're at it again in Dubai Marina. At long, long last the paving of footpaths and roundabouts is being done.

As always, resources are being thrown at the job. Dozens of workers everywhere, piles of pavers, machinery...they're doing a great job and doing it very quickly...





Less than 50 metres away the holescapers are working equally feverishly, ripping up pavers and digging big holes...





I see it all the time and I'm still amazed every time.

And so to Singapore...

In a couple of hours we're off to the airport for two weeks in Singapore. Not sure if I'll have time to post anything here...if not, see you in Ramadan.

Love those bureaucrats!

I've talked before about struggling to understand the bureaucratic mind, and I loved this story that demonstratres it once again.

Regardless of nationality, they're the same all over the world. They inhabit some parallel universe that has nothing to do with the one the rest of us live in.

There's a great example from the UK, reported in The Times.

To summarise what sounds like a Monty Python script, garbage collectors went on strike for two days last month, so garbage accumulated. I quote: "After the stoppage, collections resumed but although the householders’ bins were emptied as normal, the accumulated extra bags were left to rot at the side of the road.

Residents of the street were promised by bureaucrats at the council that a 'rapid response' vehicle (I love that!) would be sent. True to bureaucratic form nothing happened and two weeks later the rubbish was still rotting in the street.

Garbage collectors came on their regular run, again refused to take the extra bags and even refused to let the residents load the bags onto the truck themselves.

So the residents barricaded the street, refusing to let the binmen leave.

The council sent a second truck. A bureaucrat with it told the residents that to teach them a lesson their bins would not be emptied.

The residents, including children, formed a human chain around the truck.

Tempers flared, the police were called, negotiations took place and eventually a deal was struck, the barricade was removed and so was the garbage.

Then we have the message from the parallel universe of the bureaucrats.

This is how they saw the incident.

A council spokesman said: "The collection crews always do their best to collect everyone’s waste. This minor incident was quickly resolved, in line with what we would expect of our collection crews."

Amazing.


You can read the details in The Times.

Weeding out corruption

The big news covered in all the papers today is the government's renewed attack on corruption.

We've had a spate of allegations against senior executives in major development companies and financial institutions recently, including government organisations. Although the allegations are against individual executives not the companies, some big names are involved including Nakheel, Tamweel, Istithmar World, Deyaar Development, Dubai Islamic Bank.

Dubai has enjoyed a good reputation in the past as a reputable place to do business, with relatively little corruption. The government has cracked down heavily on officials found guilty of corruption and promises to continue to do that. With the future so heavily dependent on developing as a major world financial and commercial centre, that's critical.

The Ruler's office has issued a statement saying:

The Government will continue to have a strict stance against all aspects of corruption and will take legal measures against violators. There will be no tolerance shown to anybody who tries to exploit his position to make illegal profits.

With the names involved, and the share prices are already taking hits, the investigations need to be concluded and any prosecutions brought quickly. Justice must be done, but most importantly it must be seen to be done. We need maximum transparency, maximum publicity.



Reports and reactions from the marketplace in
Gulf News
The National
Khaleej Times

Snowflake in Hell's chance...

A visitor to Life in Dubai arrived after asking Google:


how to complain about etisalat in uae


What optimism!

Multiple crash on Al Ain highway

Gulf News report is already blaming the weather: Thick fog and poor visibility over Dubai was the cause of two other major accidents... so I'm sure the official announcements will exonerate the drivers and blame the fog for all the crashes.

Yesterday seventeen cars crashed on the Al Ain highway, many people were injured, thankfully no deaths were reported from this disaster.

A taxi "drifted off the road because of the low visibility and foggy conditions and bumped into a barrier on the road" and sixteen other cars crashed into one another.

See, the taxi driver didn't drift off the road because he was driving without due care and attention. He drifted off because of the fog.

And I suppose the other sixteen cars didn't crash into each other because the drivers were doing the wrong thing, it was because of the low visibility.

Looking at the photographs would you think that maybe, just maybe, some speed inappropriate to the conditions might have been involved?






Photos: Gulf News

There were other crashes too, with sadly another person added to the death statistics.

On Sheikh Zayed Road a four car crash resulted in serious injuries and two trucks collided, the driver of one died later in hospital.

And it's all the fault of the weather.





Gulf News have the report here.

A change of BushW policy?

...a solemn Bush said outside the Oval Office.

"Bullying and intimidation are not acceptable ways to conduct foreign policy in the 21st century," he said.

A change of policy? Ah, no, he's talking about Russia.

Do as I say, not as I do.


The quote is from here.

I've been cut off

A couple of days with no internet connection so I've been feeling isolated.

Suddenly on Friday the connection dropped out. Etisalat told me to do all the usual stuff of turning everything off, switching it back on, I tried hitting the box...nothing worked.

OK, they'll send an engineer on Sunday.

This morning at 8.30 an engineer called to say he could be here in half an hour but would I check the connection first.

I checked and all the lights which should have been glowing were glowing, I switched on and the connection is back working.

According to the engineer there was a problem at Etisalat - I don't know what he meant exactly but he said they had "changed over" so I assume plenty of other people have had the same problem.