Surely not an ideal shop to work in?

"Yes sir, we have a new arrival of stock expected later today"

My TV Makes its Own Political Comment

My cable box has channel information on it.

This means you get a blue bar at the bottom of the screen for a few seconds each time you change channel.

It tells you which channel number you have selected, the name of the channel, and - usually - what programme is on now, and what is coming up next.

But for some it takes a more hardline editorial stance.

Consider its views on CNN for instance:

lets see that again....

Dubai Kitchen

this is my kitchen in Dubai

the hood for the cooker is rather low.

in fact it's almost perfect eye poking-out-height for someone of my not unusual six foot height

which puzzled me for a while, as it doesn't seen the best design idea

until I realised that it's probably been built like this on the assumption that most cooking in Dubai is done by a small phillipino lady who also looks after your kids and irons your shirts as well.

Skiing in the Desert

This is Ski Dubai

It's in a shopping center

There is a cafe next to it calles The St Moritz Cafe, decorated like a ski lodge and which is dotted with 42" plasma TVs set into stone fireplaces showing a loop of video of a roaring log fire.

Apparently - according to the local paper - its very energy efficient, as it is extremely well insulated. This means it only used 2% or 3% more energy to chill it down to -2 inside during the summer when compared to the (20 degrees cooler outside) winter!

Really, there's nothing more to say about it!

Burj Dubai

from Defence Roundabout (AKA The Roundabout of Doom)

Dubai Traffic Signals

Dubai has more than a few oddities in its road layouts and traffic signals.



There is the common, high tech invisible roadsign which says "to turn left, start in the right hand lane and swerve across 5 lanes of traffic HERE"

The classic "the exit you needed was the last one" - often combined with the "no, I know we signposted the exit 5kms ago, but now you are nearer you just have to guess"

But this is one of my favourites, as it has a strong visual identity, clean meaning and is so common.

Yes, these high visibility red and white barriers cum signs are everywhere in Dubai, but most usually along both sides of 6 lane 120kph (+) highways.

Their meaning is always the same.

"If this red and white sign is in a lane adjacent to you car ON EITHER SIDE, the lane you are travelling in may - or may not - end suddenly, without any other warning sign or indicator, and at any time. It may merge with the next lane, or it may simply terminate. The precise location at which the lane terminates may change at random, and on a daily basis".

Not in an 80's & 90s hour Radio !!

This might actually become a regular feature.

Radio stations that play 80s and 90s tracks wthout any comment, "that was the year" theme time quiz, historical anecdote, band-member related contextual item.. or indeed apology.

They just turn up unnannounced as just a regular song in the playlist.

Today, this beauty made its way onto the breakfast airwaves of Catboy & Geordie Girl on Dubai 92.0



Republica.... !!

view from my apartment in dubai

Living in Old Town Dubai

Old Town is a brand new development, still under construction.

It's separate - and nowhere near - Bur Dubai, which is the old part of town.

(And I suspect "Bur" actually means "old")

It's also at the foot of The Burj Tower

(Which isn't the building usually called as "The Burj", that's technically the Burj al Arab - the worlds most expensive hotel. This Burj is just The Burj)

Which means it's rather depressing to try and get back home.

Because every day you think "ah - I can see the Burj - I must be close now!"

And then you remember that its the worlds tallest building. So its probably still just a little way off....

you know you are on the edge of civilization when

The local radio DJ utters the line...

"Now for a song about a Big Marine - yes, its Stan Ridgeway and CAMOFLAGE !!"

(Re-live the moment yourself....)