It’s a beautiful sunny Saturday here in Abu Dhabi and I’ve just returned from a walk around the streets on Reem Island. I went past the newly-opened impressive Gate Towers, via the Paris Sorbonne University where my friendly security guard and I are on waving and "Good Morning" terms, then around the block back to home.
On the way I pass men working in the gardens bordering the road, men sitting on the paving stones eating their meager lunch (the words "breaking bread" take on a new meaning after living here), road workers paving the new roads, security guards guarding the intersections, men fixing the speed camera at the corner and sometimes other walkers or runners. I missed my Nepalise security guard who last week stopped me to ask how he could emigrate to New Zealand. Perhaps he wanted me to marry him?
I walked at a brisk pace due to the ‘cold’ breeze that was blowing. Now I know I’m acclimatizing when I feel cold and think I should have worn a sweatshirt out for my walk. I’ve even been sleeping with my windows open and this morning the room was cool and I could feel a breeze blowing in. Pity about the constant noise when you open the windows though.
I’m settling back into work after the break and have been finding myself tired in the evenings. The drive takes about an hour and it’s a white knuckle ride for most of that time. At the moment it’s dark when I leave in the morning so that doesn’t help with feeling wide awake. On the plus side I’m loving my new car which is a pleasure to drive.
Imagine my surprise when I received an email inviting me to the launch of the new Lamborghini. I’m not sure when I moved into that bracket as it’s surely not due to my income. I bet they’d be delighted to see me there as a potential customer. I hope I can arrange a test drive when the brother-in-law is here in July!
I’ve been spending a lot of time trolling through various websites to find suitable accommodation for the Santorini leg of our Greek Islands trip in the summer break. My table is strewn with lists as I jot things down then next day discard that information for another option. I don’t know where we girls got our list fetish from as I don’t remember ever seeing Mum make them but we sure all do. And now our kids do it too. Is it only the girls or do the boys make lists?
I managed to see the movie, "The Wolf of Wall Street" this week with a friend. I had heard it wasn’t worth seeing due to the fact they’ve cut 25 minutes from it here. People had complained that you lost the flow of the story but we decided we’d go anyway. I have to say it was the worst movie I’ve ever seen for being cut. You couldn’t understand half the sentences due to the swearing being taken out and then there was one particular scene where you really didn’t know what had happened. But even with all that I still enjoyed the movie. Imagine how I’d feel if I saw it all?
Work is ticking along. Luckily a new Co-Hof arrived this week as a transfer from Al Ain. She is still getting herself and family settled here in Abu Dhabi but I know we will work well as a team.
The apartment is full of young people which is the normal weekend (and weeknight) routine. I’m not sure what will happen come the summer when my lease expires with the teenager turning 18 and no longer being able to claim benefits for him. I would not be surprised to hear that my housing allowance has been cut back to a single person which would necessitate me moving into something cheaper. But I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.
I’ve had a busy weekend skyping and phoning family. I had a long talk to the nearly 21 year old who appears to be skipping the 21st party in favour of a ticket to visit Mum! Well that’s what he’s hoping for! The lure of Christmas skiing in Austria is quite a drawcard.
The weather is cool with fresh breezes so I’ve had the windows open and A/C off. I haven’t been swimming for a while whereas last winter I was in the pool everyday. No wonder the lifeguard kept asking where I was from as no-one else except my Irish friend and other hardy souls use the pool during the winter.
As with anything here a simple job becomes a major job. I went shopping last weekend and purchased two paintings for the apartment. The walls are bare due to not wanting to damage them by drilling into the concrete and also my reluctance to furnish a second home over here when you know at some stage you will have to sell everything.
Anyway I got a large black and white canvas print of a wharf. It reminded the teenager and me of the bach down the sounds so it is relaxing. It is intended to have pride of place as you walk through the front door. My second canvas is for my bedroom but it looks so tiny once I’ve got it home so unsure where to hang it. I like artwork to be something that you can see something different each time you look at it and both these pieces have that quality. My one is bordering on abstract with people holding umbrellas in the rain in a city. The shiny, watery background was perfect last week when it kept raining.
Anyway back to the task at hand. Hanging the pictures. I’ve still got my heavy mirror perched up on a stool as I haven’t got anyone to hang it yet. Now at home I’d have had it hung in a jiffy but here I don’t own a drill and don’t really want to buy one and drill bits etc. So off I go to buy some hooks. Obviously they don’t hang pictures with hooks here as you can only buy plastic stick on kitchen utensil type hooks. I got some 3M removable hooks which I use for various things around the apartment and hope they are strong enough to hold the painting.
First problem is to get it straight as I’m sure the walls aren’t flush. So, as I own a tape measure, I measure equal distance from the side walls then from the ceiling. But the pencil marks I’ve made still don’t look straight. So I rub them out and then try again. Finally I think they look ok so put one hook up. I leave it to ‘set’ then try to balance the painting to see if it will sit straight before I adhere the second hook. No, it doesn’t look right so I drop the hook down half an inch. Still doesn’t look right so I rip it off the wall and reposition. Ok? Not so sure now but I decide to leave it. Later, as I delicately position the painting on the hooks, I discover that it isn’t straight! Funny that. I should have gone with the original measurements. Oh well, a folded piece of paper props up one side and I must say the painting looks fabulous.
One down, one to go! I’m pretty sure I’ll be heading out to IKEA or ACE hardware to buy a drill.
On the way I pass men working in the gardens bordering the road, men sitting on the paving stones eating their meager lunch (the words "breaking bread" take on a new meaning after living here), road workers paving the new roads, security guards guarding the intersections, men fixing the speed camera at the corner and sometimes other walkers or runners. I missed my Nepalise security guard who last week stopped me to ask how he could emigrate to New Zealand. Perhaps he wanted me to marry him?
I walked at a brisk pace due to the ‘cold’ breeze that was blowing. Now I know I’m acclimatizing when I feel cold and think I should have worn a sweatshirt out for my walk. I’ve even been sleeping with my windows open and this morning the room was cool and I could feel a breeze blowing in. Pity about the constant noise when you open the windows though.
I’m settling back into work after the break and have been finding myself tired in the evenings. The drive takes about an hour and it’s a white knuckle ride for most of that time. At the moment it’s dark when I leave in the morning so that doesn’t help with feeling wide awake. On the plus side I’m loving my new car which is a pleasure to drive.
Imagine my surprise when I received an email inviting me to the launch of the new Lamborghini. I’m not sure when I moved into that bracket as it’s surely not due to my income. I bet they’d be delighted to see me there as a potential customer. I hope I can arrange a test drive when the brother-in-law is here in July!
I’ve been spending a lot of time trolling through various websites to find suitable accommodation for the Santorini leg of our Greek Islands trip in the summer break. My table is strewn with lists as I jot things down then next day discard that information for another option. I don’t know where we girls got our list fetish from as I don’t remember ever seeing Mum make them but we sure all do. And now our kids do it too. Is it only the girls or do the boys make lists?
I managed to see the movie, "The Wolf of Wall Street" this week with a friend. I had heard it wasn’t worth seeing due to the fact they’ve cut 25 minutes from it here. People had complained that you lost the flow of the story but we decided we’d go anyway. I have to say it was the worst movie I’ve ever seen for being cut. You couldn’t understand half the sentences due to the swearing being taken out and then there was one particular scene where you really didn’t know what had happened. But even with all that I still enjoyed the movie. Imagine how I’d feel if I saw it all?
Work is ticking along. Luckily a new Co-Hof arrived this week as a transfer from Al Ain. She is still getting herself and family settled here in Abu Dhabi but I know we will work well as a team.
The apartment is full of young people which is the normal weekend (and weeknight) routine. I’m not sure what will happen come the summer when my lease expires with the teenager turning 18 and no longer being able to claim benefits for him. I would not be surprised to hear that my housing allowance has been cut back to a single person which would necessitate me moving into something cheaper. But I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.
I’ve had a busy weekend skyping and phoning family. I had a long talk to the nearly 21 year old who appears to be skipping the 21st party in favour of a ticket to visit Mum! Well that’s what he’s hoping for! The lure of Christmas skiing in Austria is quite a drawcard.
The weather is cool with fresh breezes so I’ve had the windows open and A/C off. I haven’t been swimming for a while whereas last winter I was in the pool everyday. No wonder the lifeguard kept asking where I was from as no-one else except my Irish friend and other hardy souls use the pool during the winter.
As with anything here a simple job becomes a major job. I went shopping last weekend and purchased two paintings for the apartment. The walls are bare due to not wanting to damage them by drilling into the concrete and also my reluctance to furnish a second home over here when you know at some stage you will have to sell everything.
Anyway I got a large black and white canvas print of a wharf. It reminded the teenager and me of the bach down the sounds so it is relaxing. It is intended to have pride of place as you walk through the front door. My second canvas is for my bedroom but it looks so tiny once I’ve got it home so unsure where to hang it. I like artwork to be something that you can see something different each time you look at it and both these pieces have that quality. My one is bordering on abstract with people holding umbrellas in the rain in a city. The shiny, watery background was perfect last week when it kept raining.
Anyway back to the task at hand. Hanging the pictures. I’ve still got my heavy mirror perched up on a stool as I haven’t got anyone to hang it yet. Now at home I’d have had it hung in a jiffy but here I don’t own a drill and don’t really want to buy one and drill bits etc. So off I go to buy some hooks. Obviously they don’t hang pictures with hooks here as you can only buy plastic stick on kitchen utensil type hooks. I got some 3M removable hooks which I use for various things around the apartment and hope they are strong enough to hold the painting.
First problem is to get it straight as I’m sure the walls aren’t flush. So, as I own a tape measure, I measure equal distance from the side walls then from the ceiling. But the pencil marks I’ve made still don’t look straight. So I rub them out and then try again. Finally I think they look ok so put one hook up. I leave it to ‘set’ then try to balance the painting to see if it will sit straight before I adhere the second hook. No, it doesn’t look right so I drop the hook down half an inch. Still doesn’t look right so I rip it off the wall and reposition. Ok? Not so sure now but I decide to leave it. Later, as I delicately position the painting on the hooks, I discover that it isn’t straight! Funny that. I should have gone with the original measurements. Oh well, a folded piece of paper props up one side and I must say the painting looks fabulous.
One down, one to go! I’m pretty sure I’ll be heading out to IKEA or ACE hardware to buy a drill.
