Open the Box

Matt: Thanks to my friend Tanya, I discovered a very interesting online radio station the other day. Panadora allows you to select songs that you like and then constructs a personalised radio station around song of a similiar theme or genre. You can confirm if you like the songs it plays or not while they are playing to keep them in the 'playlist' or remove them. It's very clever, very good and free.
Go check it out and get listening.

Happy Birthday Karen

Matt: It is lovely Karen's Birthday on Tuesday, but we decided to celebrate on Thursday with a cocktail party. After arriving at the party Ramie and I were sent into deepest darkest Mirdif to stock up on ingredients. It was bizarre indeed, the shop assistances were most helpful, I think in all we had 5 maybe 6 of them help us find things by the time we left, at one point we had 4 with us searching an aisle. The party was good fun though, god knows what went into some of those drinks, needless to say lots of colourful concoctions were consumed. Sometimes I am so greatful I don't drink.

The rest of the weekend was good fun too. Up early for run on Friday morning with James, we did 7k in the heat which was pretty good going, considering I had 5.5 hours sleep and there was a shamal. Ali will be pleased to hear I finally managed to see Superman Returns, it was entertaining, but felt it could have been better. Maybe the next one will improve upon the good foundations they've now set in place.
Vanda is back safe and sound from her 3 weeks home to Portugal, she's come back suitable tanned too. I was really nice to see her, Sami is most pleased to have his sweetheart back - bless!! She bought me some really nice prints of Portugal as a present, they will be going up in "Villa Moore Wilson" very soon. Thanks V. x

Free straight from the top of my dome..

Matt: Scott, Sami and I went snowboarding last night, it was "freestyle night". They open up the slope, remove the netting and open all the jumps and rails. Helmets are required.
We had a great time jumping and generally larking around! Damn I'm glad i was wearing a Helmet though, wiped out a number of times on the big jump, one particular fall smacked my head into the hard packed snow (verging on ice), Thank you Red Helmets, you saved me.


Scott and I, Larking around on the ski lift


Show me your boarder angst!!



Check out Sami's Blog for the blow-by-blow coverage!!

Blog Crazy

Matt: It's seems this blogging thing is really catching on, people are starting Blog for anything and everything. More interestingly some of my close friends are starting to get the fever, Naomi started one (Hmmmm dried up a little rapidly), Now Sämi has started one, I say one but I think he has actually started 3 so far!! Crazy, slightly unhinged Swiss Dude that he is! But a great friend! I've added the link under my useful links section!! Check it out.

Off topic: The lovely Alison 'V' Methven appears in the Gulf News supplement, Tabloid, today. Cause she is the biggest Superman fan I know..she's 'special' in more ways than one!! Click Here

Feeling Hot

Matt: Temperatures are rising fast here in Dubai, it hit 46 degrees at the weekend. So you would have thought the sensible thing to do would be to stay inside, in the Air Conditioning.. No!! James, Naomi, Sami and I decided a great start to the weekend would be to go for a run on the beach at stupid o'clock on Friday morning! Well it ended up being 9am that we started, as didn't get home the night before till 3, and the heat was ready for us. 5k, without sufficient water prior to running and deciding to leave the water we had with us in the car so it didn't interfere with our running, wasn't a good plan. Needless to say running on the sand in the heat was pretty exhausting and probably a bit stupid, So we're doing it again next week!! Maybe a little earlier this time though!

Snowboarding, proved fun again!! Declined the competition invite once more!! I'm sure they'll force me to do it and probably kill myself soon though!

Jeremy and Helen are leaving Dubai to start a new life in Doha on Friday, so we took them out to Asha's restaurant for a nice Indian meal. Remember "Cornershop: A brim full of Asha" the record? Well Asha's is Asha Bhosle restaurant , the lady the song is about, a south Asian singer famous for her amazing voice and her versatility, she sung over 900 playback songs (voice over singing) for Bollywood film. Anyway, we had a great evening was nice food and perfect company. It will be very sad to she J&H leave us. Good luck in Doha guys!!

My endurance was tested for a second time over the weekend, Naomi and I went shopping. The girl needed some new clothes and I wouldn't stand in her way - it was a fun day actually even though we started at 11:30 am and didn't leave the Mall until 6:30 pm (See? Endurance). Sami joined us for lunch as did Tanya (James' sister) so the shopping was broken up considerably. Still not sure how I walked out of there without having bought a thing. Hopefully Naomi was satisfied with her many purchases!!
A much needed rest during the shopping.
Brokeback Island: The boys entertain themselves in River Island.


Alessia has left us!! She left this morning to head back to Roma. We went out to Bar 44 last night for a few drinks to say farewell. We're hoping she sorts out things back in Italy and returns to us soon! I hope everything goes ok Babe, in bocca al lupo.

Well another week has started, I'm gonna try and catch up on sleep this week as I seem to have been out late too much recently! Luhimba plans progress also check that blog too!

Fair Comment

Matt: Vanity Fair have published an article on the 9/11 Conspiracy theories, it's an interesting read. They don't try to discount them or back them up, but just bring the theories to peoples attention! Click Here

Other news: Congratulations to Amanda for getting offered a new job, an executive PA position for a large international company!! Well Done Poppet.

Next Stop Luhimba

Matt: Plans are underway for the next adventure. You'll find a link on the right of the page, to another blog I have started. Go there and see what's happening or click here.

Other than that, had a good weekend, although frustrations of Dubai reared their head. Sometime getting what you what in Dubai proves to be tricky, I went shopping on Friday and Saturday in the hope of finding some snowboard boots, but alas, no joy! The ones I want in my size aren't available. Can we order them? Hell no! The next stock should come in September and there are no guarantees what will be in this shipment!!

Online shopping here isn't much fun either as nobody delivers here without an extortionate price tag. Hmmm what was plan C again?...

Share the knowledge

Matt: As I'm sure lots of you have been to see United 93, the film about the 911 flight that allegedly didn't reach its intended target, I thought I'd put this out there for you! Loose Change www.loosechange911.com is a conspiracy theory documentary, about 911. It raises a lot of questions and is well worth watching. I'm not saying you should believe everything they are saying, but I am saying have an open mind and question some of the details about this tragedy that we are fed. Too much evidence is controlled. Just watch and question it all.

Another very interesting documentary for you to see in "Invisible Children" it is a brilliantly film documentary by 3 US college kids, who went to the Sudan with no plan but they wanted to find a story in this war torn region, boy did they find one! Why we, the public, never hear of these things happening in our world amazes me. We think we are an informed civilisation but all we really know is what the media let us know. So much more is happening beyond media coverage!! The civilian death toll of the Sudanese Civil war is one of the highest of any war since 1945. We are talking over 2 million lives and 4 million who have fled their homes. Yet how many of us even know details of this conflict? Just check the website www.invisiblechildren.com, if you want a copy of the DVD let me know and I will get one to you!!
Even letting others know, is doing something to help..

So Fast

Matt: The weeks just fly by out here, already Amanda has been and gone, but lots of fun was had by all. Was great to see you Darby! See you in London soon.

Had a slightly less active week this week, working hard but still getting out and about socially!
We went for Friday Brunch at Yulumba, which was really nice and lots for fun. I've included a few photos.


Jo and Fiona: The Pout Queens strike a pose.

Ladies (at this point) drinking Champagne

Boys turn to pose.

The Hardcore croud, who made it to the end.

Fun Weekend

Matt: Amanda is back YEY!! and it shows in my eyes!! Miss Darby has come back to Dubai for a vacation. Say goodbye to sleep!
That being said, only one of my late nights has been her responsibility, so far!

Had a great week though - I was just off out Snowboarding after my last post, so I have enclosed a picture!! Starting to get the hang of it now!

Sami turned 32 and Vanda turned 21 (again)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PEEPS!!

So we celebrated with a big party on Thursday night (which was really nice) and we also went out for something good to eat last night (Sunday). Added to the birthday list was Chris, we went Go Karting to celebrate his, which was lots of fun! Lindsey is a very determined driver and good too!

Jeremy, Helen and little Tom are packing up thier lifes to move to Doha, so we had a leaving bash at thiers on Friday night, Wishing you guys lots of luck out there. You're gonna be missed!

Also went to Wild Wadi for the day, with Andrea, Giuseppe and Alessia. Climbing with Mark, Chris and Aimee.. So another eventful weekend! Back to work for a rest...