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Published: October 11th 2008
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"Causeway House"
the villa is very late 1970s early 8os inside October 11th
Al Garoud
For the last two weeks we have been at the villa in Al Garoud near the airport this had good and bad points. The good points were a less rarified life closer to normality and some loss of weight away from the wondrous cuisine of the glasshouse- not to mention the ever present treats in the executive lounge and happy hour.
The bad points were the pigeons and the street cats which all use the backgarden as their personal domain and I was constantly clearing up after them. The villa is " of its time" and all in all was spacious and well designed and we know the guy- Prakesah who had moved out with his wife and children when he was moved to Abu Dhabi. There were naturally the signs of family life- where children had stuck posters etc on ceilings and walls and pictures and furniture had been removed- if I had managed to find a shop which sold anything as mundane as polyfilla and paint- rather than mink coats I would have popped a quick coat of paint on the walls but DIY is not a hobby out here!
It was rather lonely
I enjoyed watering the garden!
I only had a rake and a brush so my gardening was limited but the garden had numerous taps so watering with the hose was easy- no such thing as cold water out here- our \" cold water\" comes from Nestle and goes on the cooler in the Kitchenthe water tank is on the roof and water is pumped up to it but the plants outside seem quite happy with hot drinks. and quiet there although I was surrounded by rather a lot of people -from the Arab families at the end of the road opposite the co-op with their guards on the gates of their palacial mansions to the villas shared by numerous poor familes and groups of friends or indeed bachelor villas- all these shared properties face eviction orders on the 20th as that hasbeen made illegalto share villas. Where these people will go no- one knows or seems to care- the press over here has takeni t up to a certain extent but I am saddened to see that the story of the poor whale shark being kept in the aquarium at the Underwater hotel Atlantis is raising more sympathy than the plight of a large chunk of the population.
The villa next to the one where I was staying has already been demolished and the street skip into which we all placed our rubbish each day- no recycling here as yet- is where it used to be- it came very hard to me trained as I am to sort into so many containers to throw glass, paper etc into the said skip which was emptied every day
including Fridays and Eid! As I did my ironing, on the top landing which had french windows and balcony and was as big as a double bedroom, I was fascinated to watch the comings and goings of my neighbours in the street as things went into the skip and often retieved by other inhabitants if not by the cats.
We were the only Brits in the street which considering the huge numbers in some of the villas was very quiet- except for the mosques as we were in earshot of three and they seemed to go into competition at prayer time- there was no competition as far as I was concerned as one imam had a lovely musical chant and the other two seemed to have frogs in their throats.
The co-op and Choiterhams were just round the corner and I went shopping everyday even if it was only to fetch a newspaper just to get the exercise and some social contact as at the villa there was no internet, telephone and of course there is no post anyway. We did have tv- it is amazing what the Arabs have bought and watch- they seem to be well into
American Jewish comedy which surprised me - not to mention Corrie and Emmerdale with sub titles in Arabic. Police squad, Naked Gun etc are also favourites. Anyway I used to plod out at about 3 pm when the day was getting a little better- we ARE DOWN TO ABOUT 36 NOW AND 30 DURING THE NIGHT AND IT IS GETTING BETTER WEATHER EVERY DAY AND THE OUTSIDE RESTAURANTS AND BBQS HAVE STARTED UP AGAIN- sorry did not mean to shout but my nails are a bit long( and painted at the moment ) and hit the caps lock.I have learnt to stay well away from the zebra crossings when crossing the road as they are just a target and a complete wast of paint. The easiest place to cross is the huge speed humps as the traffic has to slow down so as it slowed I nipped quickly across- I have not really seen any elderly people out here- wonder why? There again not many people walk anywhere anyway.
The co-op looked very modern and was well stocked but everything Eastern style was in huge quantities and I wanted a small bag of flour not a sack- the same with
le meridien
We ate here on the terrace= about 30 degrees at 10pm pasta, rice etc- and my one lemon or large beef tomato was weighed with much surprise! Dubai is an odd mixture of the very modern and hi tech and , clean and polished 2008 western dateand the Moslem date 1429!! In the gleaming stainless steel preparation area of the butchery the always smiling butcher happily grinned at me as he washed his feet in the health regulation wash hand basin so that he could do his afternoon prayer which was being called.I bought the prepackaged steak washed it and hoped for the best.
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Sheilaa
Sheila Adnett
Hello From Reading
Hello Lorna I know I have e-mailed you many times but I just thought I would add a comment to your blog. I can't see any other comments so wonder if I am yet again doing something wrong!! I love your photographs. It must be something about people who travel as Fi's were superb too!!!!! I le meridien - how pretty and how lovely to be eating at 30 degrees (or is it?) at 22.00 hrs.!!!! We have our Harvest Supper tonight and I have just be shredding lettuce and cutting toms. I have also been cooking most of the morning towards tomorrow's memorial service. By the way, the church Back to Church/Harvest brunch was superb with some 100 people attending. Yummy food and also with The Word food for thought! Anyway, must away down to church to help set up. Lovely day here - why do you have to go all that way for a bit of sun?!!!!! Much love - miss you loads Sheila x