Blogs from Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Middle East - page 34

Fire, mankind's fifth oldest tool after knives, fishing rods, cricket bats and Black & Decker workmates. Much like women, fire is a wonderful slave, yet a terrible mistress. Come to think about it, there are quite a few similarities between fire and women, we all like to see them writhe and dance, they are harder to get going when it's cold, they get out of control very quickly - especially if flammable spirits are involved, they are both good at burning your dinner, it's great fun squirting them with water and they will both f*ck your car up if you let them near it unsupervised. Also, if one gets out of hand, you are best off ringing 999 sooner rather than later and they will calm down if you whack them for long enough with those ... read more

I know we had a few drinks with our dinner, but I'm almost certain I'd have remembered this being served. That's the last time I let Sherren order while I nip to the loo, although it does explain the unusual doggie bag she took home.... read more

Hi all, Hope life is great and your drinking more than I am! The dry life is not for me... Things here are going fantastic. Starting on my first real projects and trying to whip my team into some sort of shape. I'm also learning to repeat myself three or four times without being asked!! For some reason they think I have an accent! Crazy I know... Starting to enjoy bartering with cab drivers over a few cents, learning where the cheap clubs are to get alcohol (best I found is $7 a pint) and generally working too much to care about the outside world. Take care all, till next time, Scott... read more

Unbelievably, in less than 24 hours after posting the last last blog I have had over 20 people write (anonymously) berating me for spoiling the precious ecosystem of the desert in my gas-guzzling 4X4. So what is my response? Well, for a start, it is bl**dy good fun, but if you want to get picky, lets do some maths and science, like I've always said, you cannot argue with maths or science. At 15psi, each of my tyres is 300mm wide. We did 87km off road on Friday and the UAE has an area of 82,880 sq km. Therefore the total area of my tracks is 0.0003 X 2 X 87 = 0.052 sq km. That means I impacted on 0.00000062 of the UAE, which is less that 1/1500000 of the total area which is hardly ... read more

First of all I’d just like to say hello to the newest member to the clan, Isaac Jardine. Welcome aboard Isaac! Apart from that, not much else to report, Christmas out here is a very low key affair, a rather stark contrast to the Las Vegas style lights of Ye Olde Corringham Towne. If it wasn’t for the Hyundai Heavy Industries Christmas party Karaoke down at the beach club belting out “Ludolph the Led-Nosed Leindeer”, you’d hardly know the yuletide was upon us, although once you step inside a mall or hotel the decorations are pretty full on. The Rotana even had a Swiss Village in the courtyard for a few days, with an authentic Alpine band and traditional Switlandish attractions. There were stalls displaying, cheese, cuckoo clocks, Toblerone, hats with shaving brushes on them, a ... read more