Matt: Yes, it's been a very long time, I'm sorry. I really have been extremely busy with work and play.
The end of April saw an amazing trip to Nepal with Lenny, Barry, Rebecca, Annalisa and Matt. It was great, hiking, paragliding, cycling, caving, camping, white water rafting, kayaking. Really enjoyed the whole experience, even with the political uprising, tension, beatings and everywhere being forcibly closed by the Maoist.
Photo Selection here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=432068&id=600455211&l=eaafd58e5a
Since coming back there has been even more fun and games. I got older for one, but my birthday seemed to last almost a week, so thanks to all my wonderful friends who made it a lot of fun.
During that time I did a multitude of activities: InDoor Skydiving, Standup Paddle Boarding, Wakeboarding, Skyride climbing, Social gatherings. All a lot of fun.
I'm pretty sure you're all bored of the 'Look what I did now' style blog, so I'll plan to find more interesting things to write about.
Ciao 4 Niao
Showing posts with label Dubai. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dubai. Show all posts
Sunday, June 06, 2010
Thursday, April 01, 2010
Can I help?
Matt: As I wandered through a mall today, hence forth known as 'the Mall', I passed a member of the Mall staff, a smily fellow, bedecked with black, Mall branded atire which bore the slogan "Can I help you?" emblazoned across it in sunburst yellow. Now I'm sure the wearer wasn't really concerned about his own ability to actually provide help, so it must be others that are unsure of his capacity. But why these 'others', be them Mall management, marketers, branding gurus or designers, thought that I might be able to answer this question baffles me. Perhaps the question wasn't directed at me personally, perhaps there was someone in the Mall, at the same time as me, that is better qualified to answer this almost rhetorical banana coloured query.
Living in the UAE we are accustom to living in a cultural and ethnic mixing pot, where, to be fair to most, English may not be the majority's first language. Are we then remiss to accept grammatical faux pas such as the above example without even a stopping to consider it?
Don't get me wrong, I'm no spelling or grammar Nazi, I make mistakes, A LOT! I'm just curious as to whether we should pass comment, correct or ignore? Or has the situation gotten so bad that most of us native English speakers don't even notice some of these errors anymore, have we come to accept and even use them ourselves?
I think the Can/May error is extremely common in everyday speech now, what other errors can you find that are overlooked in the English language these days? Or even simple errors or bad English, I'm not asking you to regurgitate the writings of Lynne Truss here, I'm just interested to find some classic advertising/marketing cock-ups.
Don't even get me started on text messaging and chat abbreviations and I wonder how many of you will just pick me up on my errors? Save yourself the time - you'll be hours finding them all :)
As for the question as it should, correctly, be written "May I help you?", shouldn't that come with about 16 pages of legal terms defining what The Mall considers that it's staff should and should not, can and cannot, may and may not actually help with? What's to stop me walking up to the poor, unsuspecting fellow and asking him to help me ram-raid the jewelers on the ground level in section C? Do you think my branded mall helper is armed with the correct response to such a request?
Hmmmm....
Living in the UAE we are accustom to living in a cultural and ethnic mixing pot, where, to be fair to most, English may not be the majority's first language. Are we then remiss to accept grammatical faux pas such as the above example without even a stopping to consider it?
Don't get me wrong, I'm no spelling or grammar Nazi, I make mistakes, A LOT! I'm just curious as to whether we should pass comment, correct or ignore? Or has the situation gotten so bad that most of us native English speakers don't even notice some of these errors anymore, have we come to accept and even use them ourselves?
I think the Can/May error is extremely common in everyday speech now, what other errors can you find that are overlooked in the English language these days? Or even simple errors or bad English, I'm not asking you to regurgitate the writings of Lynne Truss here, I'm just interested to find some classic advertising/marketing cock-ups.
Don't even get me started on text messaging and chat abbreviations and I wonder how many of you will just pick me up on my errors? Save yourself the time - you'll be hours finding them all :)
As for the question as it should, correctly, be written "May I help you?", shouldn't that come with about 16 pages of legal terms defining what The Mall considers that it's staff should and should not, can and cannot, may and may not actually help with? What's to stop me walking up to the poor, unsuspecting fellow and asking him to help me ram-raid the jewelers on the ground level in section C? Do you think my branded mall helper is armed with the correct response to such a request?
Hmmmm....
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Fight in Dubai
Matt: There is a new game in development based in Dubai after a series of catastrophic sandstorms lay waste to the place. This could make a for a very interesting setting, the developer, 2K Games, are adding sand physics to the game as a new play mechanic, this could also prove interesting.
Have a look at this preview over on Gamespot:
Spec Ops: The Line is a third-person shooter that tells the story of Captain Walker, the leader of an elite military outfit known as Delta Force. Walker is sent to the heart of the once-wealthy Dubai, which has been ravaged by vicious sandstorms, leaving the city in ruins.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Christmas Past
Matt: The financial ghost of Christmas past still haunt me. This Christmas just gone was different, in a very good way (if not a little costly). My entire family, the Wilson Clan and their spouses and children flew to Dubai to spend Christmas with their number one son, Me.
What an awesome Christmas and one I know I will not forget in a hurry and I hope the same goes for the family. We got up to all the touristy delights that Dubai has to offer. From playing in the snow in Ski Dubai, to a luxurious visit to the Burj Al Arab.
Enjoy the pics: Click Me
Having to show people, especially loved one, your surroundings and the joys of where you live certainly make you see things with fresh eyes again. We often take so many things for granted - look what is just outside you door and think when was the last time you really appreciated it? Having the family here reminded me how diverse and interesting Dubai actually is, it's too easy to criticise Dubai for many things, but look at all the different nationalities that you encounter living in peace and relative safety, daily. Have you ever been to a music concert and looked across the crowd here in Dubai? It's a sea of multi-national harmony (Pardon the pun), you're stood shoulder-to-shoulder with people from every walk of life and every nationality, all there to enjoy a shared appreciation of music and peacefully.
Look around you and appreciate what you have, be it people, environment, luxuries, health.. really be grateful and make the most of it - just for one day stop wanting the next best thing and look at what you've already got - you're rich if you actually take a minute to stop and think about it.
What an awesome Christmas and one I know I will not forget in a hurry and I hope the same goes for the family. We got up to all the touristy delights that Dubai has to offer. From playing in the snow in Ski Dubai, to a luxurious visit to the Burj Al Arab.
Enjoy the pics: Click Me
Having to show people, especially loved one, your surroundings and the joys of where you live certainly make you see things with fresh eyes again. We often take so many things for granted - look what is just outside you door and think when was the last time you really appreciated it? Having the family here reminded me how diverse and interesting Dubai actually is, it's too easy to criticise Dubai for many things, but look at all the different nationalities that you encounter living in peace and relative safety, daily. Have you ever been to a music concert and looked across the crowd here in Dubai? It's a sea of multi-national harmony (Pardon the pun), you're stood shoulder-to-shoulder with people from every walk of life and every nationality, all there to enjoy a shared appreciation of music and peacefully.
Look around you and appreciate what you have, be it people, environment, luxuries, health.. really be grateful and make the most of it - just for one day stop wanting the next best thing and look at what you've already got - you're rich if you actually take a minute to stop and think about it.
Thursday, December 03, 2009
A cyclic month
Matt: Dubai is perfect, well at least when it comes to the weather at the moment. There has been a lot of negative press about Dubai of late - the World press once positioned Dubai as this utopian play ground of Expats and gold paved streets, it was with envious eyes that most viewed the place, where people could make fast money and live the high life. So it's easy for them to turn on Dubai when things go a little dour.
The reality is that most of us living here are hard working folks just like the rest of you. We enjoy the weather and benefit of the tax free living, but it's all relative, half the time we pay more for our every day items than in the UK, food, clothes, entertainment, rent (Ouch)...
Now the latest news, is Dubai World has defaulted on it's debt, ok so a few banks share prices plummet as do stocks of various Dubai based companies, Dubai World is not Dubai or a reflection of the entire UAE. We are all still working hard, saving hard, making the most of things. It's not like the country has ground to a halt and no one is spending money. We're still in the middle of a world wide recession, of course people tighten their belts and are more cautious until they are told other wise. But most of us remain unaffected and get on with it, people are still at war, people are still starving, people are still abused, people are still disabled, get over yourselves you may have lost a small percentage of your wealth, but a much larger percentage of the world is still without clean drinking water.
Steps down..
So onto less heated debates. The Cyclic month - I grew a beard, all round my face and then sculpted it into a ridiculous Mo for Movember. Kelly hated it but hey it's for a good cause, raising awareness and money for testicular cancer.
Next I swam around the Burj Al Arab, the iconic Dubai hotel in a 1km swim for MSF (Médecins Sans Frontières). This may not seem much to you, but I'm a terrible swimmer and it was really hard work for me. Kelly swam it in an impressive 12:00 minutes, I was lagging somewhat at 15:30..
Next Lenny and myself decided to get the kayaks wet. At the start of November we took them for a nice paddle around the mangroves of Um Al Qwain. We planned out a route that took us in a cyclic route of about 20km and planned to camp on one of the islands just over half way. We were fully loaded, the front and back holds of the kayak rammed with camping gear and I even had a desk bag clipped to the rear of my kayak. To say we were sitting low in the water is an understatement.
The tide was extremely low and when we reach the base of the mangroves we had to portage the kayak a considerable way, through very muddy shallow water, with hugh blue crabs to avoid, frisky little bugger too. This lost us a good hour which meant we had to readdress our camping options as we were unlikely to make the appointed island before dark. So I scouted a few islands and found an ideal campsite. We collected wood, cooked over an open fire and bedded down under the stars. It wasn't the most comfortable sleep.
This past weekend we decided to circumnavigate the Palm Jumierah, which was great, hard work in the open sea but we took our time and completed the 19k route in under three hours. Pretty satisfying. Now we know what's in store we can push it a bit harder next time.
Kelly, Scott, Cath, Lenny and Milo 'n Budd (The dogs) also went camping this weekend, we picked a off-road desert spot well away from the usual camping and dune bashing areas of the UAE's deserts. It was really good. A little exploration in the dunes to find a suitable spot , setting up camp and then the boys went to explore and have fun off-roading - we did a big loop through the dunes, luckily I marked the campsite on the GPS as finding it again would have been extremely tricky - it was hard enough finding an accessible route even with the GPS.
Now Christmas is fast approaching.. and the Family arrive on the 21st - all 9 of them - eeeek! Can't wait really.
The reality is that most of us living here are hard working folks just like the rest of you. We enjoy the weather and benefit of the tax free living, but it's all relative, half the time we pay more for our every day items than in the UK, food, clothes, entertainment, rent (Ouch)...
Now the latest news, is Dubai World has defaulted on it's debt, ok so a few banks share prices plummet as do stocks of various Dubai based companies, Dubai World is not Dubai or a reflection of the entire UAE. We are all still working hard, saving hard, making the most of things. It's not like the country has ground to a halt and no one is spending money. We're still in the middle of a world wide recession, of course people tighten their belts and are more cautious until they are told other wise. But most of us remain unaffected and get on with it, people are still at war, people are still starving, people are still abused, people are still disabled, get over yourselves you may have lost a small percentage of your wealth, but a much larger percentage of the world is still without clean drinking water.
Steps down..
So onto less heated debates. The Cyclic month - I grew a beard, all round my face and then sculpted it into a ridiculous Mo for Movember. Kelly hated it but hey it's for a good cause, raising awareness and money for testicular cancer.
Next I swam around the Burj Al Arab, the iconic Dubai hotel in a 1km swim for MSF (Médecins Sans Frontières). This may not seem much to you, but I'm a terrible swimmer and it was really hard work for me. Kelly swam it in an impressive 12:00 minutes, I was lagging somewhat at 15:30..
Next Lenny and myself decided to get the kayaks wet. At the start of November we took them for a nice paddle around the mangroves of Um Al Qwain. We planned out a route that took us in a cyclic route of about 20km and planned to camp on one of the islands just over half way. We were fully loaded, the front and back holds of the kayak rammed with camping gear and I even had a desk bag clipped to the rear of my kayak. To say we were sitting low in the water is an understatement.
The tide was extremely low and when we reach the base of the mangroves we had to portage the kayak a considerable way, through very muddy shallow water, with hugh blue crabs to avoid, frisky little bugger too. This lost us a good hour which meant we had to readdress our camping options as we were unlikely to make the appointed island before dark. So I scouted a few islands and found an ideal campsite. We collected wood, cooked over an open fire and bedded down under the stars. It wasn't the most comfortable sleep.
This past weekend we decided to circumnavigate the Palm Jumierah, which was great, hard work in the open sea but we took our time and completed the 19k route in under three hours. Pretty satisfying. Now we know what's in store we can push it a bit harder next time.
Kelly, Scott, Cath, Lenny and Milo 'n Budd (The dogs) also went camping this weekend, we picked a off-road desert spot well away from the usual camping and dune bashing areas of the UAE's deserts. It was really good. A little exploration in the dunes to find a suitable spot , setting up camp and then the boys went to explore and have fun off-roading - we did a big loop through the dunes, luckily I marked the campsite on the GPS as finding it again would have been extremely tricky - it was hard enough finding an accessible route even with the GPS.
Now Christmas is fast approaching.. and the Family arrive on the 21st - all 9 of them - eeeek! Can't wait really.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Getting things done
Matt: Most people who haven't been to Dubai or lived here for any length of time think that it's a wonderful place and life is easy and mostly they'd be right, I love living here and have a great life, but I have a gripe..
Why is it so had to get things done here?
A few examples.
I need to procure some business software.So I call one of the largest software companies in the world, I call their office here in Dubai. I ask for sales, I get asked by the receptionist what it is I am after, so I explain my requirements to her. I get transferred to another member of staff, I explain my requirement to him, he then proceeds to tell me that they are a software company and the don't want to buy my software. Huh??. What?? So I re-explain that I want to discuss with someone my software REQUIREMENTS and see if they have a solution to sell to me. (now please bare in mind this could be worth tens of thousands of dollars to them). So he finally understand and says he will transfer me to his colleague. I hear fumbling on the line, then silence, then a little more fumbling, then 'Please hold sir' more fumbling and a little mumbling, waiting, 'bare with me sir'..wait, fumble, mumble. The guy clearly has no idea how to transfer a call and eventually after 5 minutes of fumbling noises he calls his sales guy over to his phone and hands it to him. Technical!. Ok so sales guy is on the line. Good. This should go a little smoother.
I have a brief discussion and then request a meeting
'I'd like to meet with you as soon as possible to discuss my requirements. Please could you come to meet me?'
Sales guy 'I can do tomorrow'
'Great, can you meet me at 10am at xxxxx' I'm feeling confident we're getting somewhere
'Oh, can you come to my office (miles from me) to meet here'
'I'm afraid I don't have time to come all that way' hence i suggest a half-way point.
'Can you come to me another day then?'
'I'm very busy and it would be great if you came to meet me, I'm not at your end of town very often'
'Well, I'm out of town for the rest of the week after tomorrow'
'Ok, is there someone else who I could meet with?'
'No, this is my area'
so no meeting then...good sales, well done.
Next: Last Wednesday, I see a kayak in a shop that I really like and make an inquiry (I've been meaning to buy one for a while). Turns out the Kayak I would need is the slightly bigger version that they have on the promotional sheet pinned to this Kayak. So I ask if they have any in stock, how much it is and how long it will take to deliver. The friendly sales guy takes my name and number and says he'll let me know. So the next day I'm in the vicinity of the store and I haven't heard from him yet. So I wonder in and ask another member of staff, he tries to help but doesn't know and calls the guy I spoke to the day before on the phone, I realise it's the same guy so I ask to speak to him. He tells me that the supplier doesn't know but he'll chase it and let me know. Next day, I'm there with Lenny as Lenny is interested in a kayak too - so this is now 2 potential sales of kayaks that are worth over £1,000. I original guy is there and I speak to him.. do you have a price yet? No! but the delivery could be 6 weeks. Gulp! What? I am seeing the supplier on Monday Sir so I will speak to him then. Ok.. so it's now Tuesday - almost a week after my initial inquiry? I get a call telling me - Sir we still don't know the price - we might know in 2 days.
OMG - how hard is it to give someone money in this town?
So, if you multiply these experiences by a handful per day, you start to get an idea of how efficient Dubai can be. Frustrating, so you see - it's the rough with the smooth - Dubai - Nice weather, shame about the competency!
Words that need to be learned in Dubai: Ownership, efficiency, professionalism, responsibility, reliability.
Rant over..Peace out!
Why is it so had to get things done here?
A few examples.
I need to procure some business software.So I call one of the largest software companies in the world, I call their office here in Dubai. I ask for sales, I get asked by the receptionist what it is I am after, so I explain my requirements to her. I get transferred to another member of staff, I explain my requirement to him, he then proceeds to tell me that they are a software company and the don't want to buy my software. Huh??. What?? So I re-explain that I want to discuss with someone my software REQUIREMENTS and see if they have a solution to sell to me. (now please bare in mind this could be worth tens of thousands of dollars to them). So he finally understand and says he will transfer me to his colleague. I hear fumbling on the line, then silence, then a little more fumbling, then 'Please hold sir' more fumbling and a little mumbling, waiting, 'bare with me sir'..wait, fumble, mumble. The guy clearly has no idea how to transfer a call and eventually after 5 minutes of fumbling noises he calls his sales guy over to his phone and hands it to him. Technical!. Ok so sales guy is on the line. Good. This should go a little smoother.
I have a brief discussion and then request a meeting
'I'd like to meet with you as soon as possible to discuss my requirements. Please could you come to meet me?'
Sales guy 'I can do tomorrow'
'Great, can you meet me at 10am at xxxxx' I'm feeling confident we're getting somewhere
'Oh, can you come to my office (miles from me) to meet here'
'I'm afraid I don't have time to come all that way' hence i suggest a half-way point.
'Can you come to me another day then?'
'I'm very busy and it would be great if you came to meet me, I'm not at your end of town very often'
'Well, I'm out of town for the rest of the week after tomorrow'
'Ok, is there someone else who I could meet with?'
'No, this is my area'
so no meeting then...good sales, well done.
Next: Last Wednesday, I see a kayak in a shop that I really like and make an inquiry (I've been meaning to buy one for a while). Turns out the Kayak I would need is the slightly bigger version that they have on the promotional sheet pinned to this Kayak. So I ask if they have any in stock, how much it is and how long it will take to deliver. The friendly sales guy takes my name and number and says he'll let me know. So the next day I'm in the vicinity of the store and I haven't heard from him yet. So I wonder in and ask another member of staff, he tries to help but doesn't know and calls the guy I spoke to the day before on the phone, I realise it's the same guy so I ask to speak to him. He tells me that the supplier doesn't know but he'll chase it and let me know. Next day, I'm there with Lenny as Lenny is interested in a kayak too - so this is now 2 potential sales of kayaks that are worth over £1,000. I original guy is there and I speak to him.. do you have a price yet? No! but the delivery could be 6 weeks. Gulp! What? I am seeing the supplier on Monday Sir so I will speak to him then. Ok.. so it's now Tuesday - almost a week after my initial inquiry? I get a call telling me - Sir we still don't know the price - we might know in 2 days.
OMG - how hard is it to give someone money in this town?
So, if you multiply these experiences by a handful per day, you start to get an idea of how efficient Dubai can be. Frustrating, so you see - it's the rough with the smooth - Dubai - Nice weather, shame about the competency!
Words that need to be learned in Dubai: Ownership, efficiency, professionalism, responsibility, reliability.
Rant over..Peace out!
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Racing through the year
Matt: Has it really come down to 1 post a month? That is bad.. I'm sorry! I figured you're all getting pretty bored with the same old stuff really, Oh look Matt is out in the Mountains again, oh look - Scuba diving.. etc.
So instead of telling you what I get up to at the weekend, I thought I'd tell you how an average week goes. This came about because a friend of mine asked me about training and keeping fit.
We all have a job to do, well most of us. So when and how do you fit in exercise or activity to keep the weight off and the body in shape?
I work pretty much 8:30am till 5:00pm and I try most days to do something active in the evening as I'm sat on my ass most of the day. Last week:
Sunday: 1hour Yoga session
Monday: Cycled 22k (outdoors) and went Climbing
Tuesday: 6k run (outdoors) with circuits in the middle
Wednesday: 20k cycle (outdoors) and session in the gym
Thursday: Cycled to the gym for a medium weights session
Friday: (my weekend) 5hour hike in 40degree heat - oh my!! That was hard.
Saturday: (my weekend) rest day
Unless I'm doing an activity with a friend I like to get my exercise done and out of the way so I still feel like I have an evening to relax or socialise. So I'm generally done by 6:30 - 7:00pm. It's pretty important to keep variety in your exercise regime. Think of this like an experiment, if you keep doing the same thing over and over, you can't expect different results.
Motivation comes when you start to see or feel results and when you start to enjoy your activities. For me, climbing doesn't feel like exercise because it's fun. Try joining a sports team - when there is a focus other than just exercising you tend to forget it's exercise. Find a sport that interests you and needs a general fitness level to partake.. No Dewboy! not Darts. Ultimate, Basket Ball, Netball, Football, Tennis, Hockey, team sports push you and you have to apply a certain level of commitment to them, for the teams sake. You could see this as motivation!?!?! :).
A really important part of your health and fitness is your diet. When I say diet, I don't mean a programme to loose weight. I mean just your general eating habits. We all know what is good and bad for us, it does take a scientist or some new fangled fad diet to tell us. Eat more fruit, veg and lean meat and stay off the bread and pasta. Drink plenty of water. If it's natural and hasn't been tampered with by man, as a general rule, it's good for you.
Well that'll do for now :) good luck.
So instead of telling you what I get up to at the weekend, I thought I'd tell you how an average week goes. This came about because a friend of mine asked me about training and keeping fit.
We all have a job to do, well most of us. So when and how do you fit in exercise or activity to keep the weight off and the body in shape?
I work pretty much 8:30am till 5:00pm and I try most days to do something active in the evening as I'm sat on my ass most of the day. Last week:
Sunday: 1hour Yoga session
Monday: Cycled 22k (outdoors) and went Climbing
Tuesday: 6k run (outdoors) with circuits in the middle
Wednesday: 20k cycle (outdoors) and session in the gym
Thursday: Cycled to the gym for a medium weights session
Friday: (my weekend) 5hour hike in 40degree heat - oh my!! That was hard.
Saturday: (my weekend) rest day
Unless I'm doing an activity with a friend I like to get my exercise done and out of the way so I still feel like I have an evening to relax or socialise. So I'm generally done by 6:30 - 7:00pm. It's pretty important to keep variety in your exercise regime. Think of this like an experiment, if you keep doing the same thing over and over, you can't expect different results.
Motivation comes when you start to see or feel results and when you start to enjoy your activities. For me, climbing doesn't feel like exercise because it's fun. Try joining a sports team - when there is a focus other than just exercising you tend to forget it's exercise. Find a sport that interests you and needs a general fitness level to partake.. No Dewboy! not Darts. Ultimate, Basket Ball, Netball, Football, Tennis, Hockey, team sports push you and you have to apply a certain level of commitment to them, for the teams sake. You could see this as motivation!?!?! :).
A really important part of your health and fitness is your diet. When I say diet, I don't mean a programme to loose weight. I mean just your general eating habits. We all know what is good and bad for us, it does take a scientist or some new fangled fad diet to tell us. Eat more fruit, veg and lean meat and stay off the bread and pasta. Drink plenty of water. If it's natural and hasn't been tampered with by man, as a general rule, it's good for you.
Well that'll do for now :) good luck.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Where to start..?
Matt: Another year of my life passes. I've now been in the Emirates for 3 years, where does time go? I have to say it's been a pretty interesting and exciting 3 years, I met a lot of great people and done a lot of exciting things, I was a scary move to come out to Dubai, never having lived abroad before, but it's probably the best move I ever made. Of course I miss family and friends back home, but moving here gave me room to grow as a person, discover a little more about what drives me and has taught me a few life important lessons. There are times when it's been a lonely existence - but that only serves to make you stronger and more comfortable with yourself.
The 25th also marked my 34th Birthday, I guess some of you never imagined I'd make it this far - lol - either because you'd kill me yourselves or because of the crazy things I have a tendency to get up to! But I'm here and I'm loving it. We had an awesome weekend celebrating in style - Matt Style that is.. none of this poncy dinners in posh places.. nope.. We held a School Sports Day Olympics on the beach!! A lot of fun with events like javelin, shot-put, hurdles, long-jump, sack race, egg-n-spoon.
It was a great turn out too, take a look over the pictures - links below.
We chilled in the evening with a Bar-B-Que back at my Villa. Big thanks to Aimee for all her hard work and organising and thank to Matt (no not me) too for manning the grills, SOOO much food it was stoooopid! And finally thanks to everyone for showing up and making the day a lot of fun and for your kind gifts and cards!! You all best start mentally preparing for next year!! :)
Check out the pictures.
Album 1
Album 2
Album 3
Next: We revisit the 60 Metres of Rope hike
Saturday, April 12, 2008
All in a good cause
Matt: My good friend Steve and JQ have been riding Motocross bikes in the dunes around Dubai together for a while now, along with Sean and Paul they have decided to ride the UAE Desert Challenge and raise money for charity in the process.
They asked me to help them out and get involved - which I was happy to do. So we've put a website together to track the progress, donations and the event itself. check out www.uaecharitychallenge.com for more info - photo etc.
We all had an amazing day a few weeks back when we went to visit one of the chosen charities that we will be supporting. The Dubai Centre for Special Needs. We got to meet lots of the kids and see the amazing work that the staff here do. It's a deserving charity and I'm proud to be part of the crew raising money and awareness. The guys, Sean, Steve, Paul and JQ are doing something really amazing and hoping to raise enough money to pay for a new, much needed, bus for the centre.
More photo's are available on the website gallery here.
Visit the UAE Charity Challenge website and see what you can do to help out! Every bit of your personal donation goes to help the charities we are supporting.
They asked me to help them out and get involved - which I was happy to do. So we've put a website together to track the progress, donations and the event itself. check out www.uaecharitychallenge.com for more info - photo etc.
We all had an amazing day a few weeks back when we went to visit one of the chosen charities that we will be supporting. The Dubai Centre for Special Needs. We got to meet lots of the kids and see the amazing work that the staff here do. It's a deserving charity and I'm proud to be part of the crew raising money and awareness. The guys, Sean, Steve, Paul and JQ are doing something really amazing and hoping to raise enough money to pay for a new, much needed, bus for the centre.
More photo's are available on the website gallery here.
Visit the UAE Charity Challenge website and see what you can do to help out! Every bit of your personal donation goes to help the charities we are supporting.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Busy Month
Matt: It's been a very busy month, I've had visitors for the past three weeks and work has been a little crazy!! Lesley and Sandra came out to visit - and we had a great time swanning around! The above pic was taken at 360, a 360 picture at 360 - I like it!! :) Spot the usual suspects!
Then for the last fortnight, my Sister, Claire and her family, Brian and Kalani, have been out visiting! It was really great to see them and show them around. Ok I was a little busy with work and couldn't spend as much time as I'd like with them, but they seemed to enjoy themselves, what with Snowboarding, Scuba Diving, Wild Wadi, Dune Bashing, Camping, Tethered Balloon ride, Dhow Trip and more.. I think I showed them a few things! Although there was still more to do - next time hey? :)
Thank to Alessia for these great pics:
Claire and Kalani: On the Dhow
Brian and Kalani: In the deep blueOf course I managed to teach my nephew a few new tricks to entertain the ladies, bless him, he's such a cute kid and a babe magnet, I could use him as a wingman any day - just look at that cute cheeky grin in the above photo! It was great to have you all come to stay: Love you and Miss you already.
Other news: For the first time I lead a trip into the desert for a dune bashing session, a 4 car convoy, it was great fun, a few peeps got stuck but I managed to rescue them all. Well done to Becs for being the only one not to get stuck.
Friday, June 15, 2007
I got high...
Matt: It was a hot day in Dubai, with temperatures reaching 38 to 40 degrees, the humidity was right up there too and there was virtually no wind, normally no wind would have been a bad thing but today.. it's Good!!
It maybe 3 weeks late, but for my birthday treat from Cris, she let me drive north to Um Al Quwain...fun!! you might think.. but once there I donned my headset, clambered into the cockpit and took to the skies!! I flew a Utility FH9 prop, fixed wing!! Wicked!!
From entering the cockpit to climbing out at the end the pilot let me do just about everything.. I ruddered the plane during taxiing down the airfield and I even took off, as soon as we hit 80kph I pulled up on the stick and took us soaring in to the air. We climbed to around 1000 feet and cruised around the Ras Al Khaima skies. Cris was taken up in another craft shortly after I took off. We could chat to each other on the radios and we flew in tandem at one point.
The slightest movement of the control stick had a dramatic effect on these little craft, and the rudder would slew you also. Banking steeply was pretty awesome, my pilot took over at one point to perform a sharp maneuver that bought us round 180 to pull up to Cris's 6. You can really feel the Gs when pulling hard on the stick.
The noise was immense outside the headset, you really do need them that is until the pilot say things like, you're doing really well - you can attempt the landing!! What the???? I turn to look at him - he's serious! "Ok - if you're confident, I'm game!" I said, please bare in mind that I have only ever flown a plane in MS FlightSim 2004 - and i did that pretty badly. But what the hell, the dual control are right there - what can go wrong? right?...
Thankfully, nothing! My approach was a little erratic as the slightest correction sent me way off course, but as I suspected my instructor confidently had a grip on his controls just in case. Left to me - I'm sure I would have got us down on the tarmac, it just would have been a little messy and there would have been incident reports and transporting the body costs ya-de-yah-de-yahh. So thankfully he took most of 70% control and guided us in beautifully.. What a buzz...
Only had the mobile on me - but click here for the pics. :) Thanks Crissy - Next stop a boeing!!! x
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Second Phase
Matt: Off I went with my negative buoyancy to Dubai country club for the next Scuba installment. We're being taught in a small group which is great and we all get on really well. Wendy, our instructor, knows her stuff and is very friendly and helpful. Cris and JQ have joined me on this underwater discovery adventure - which currently is confined to the pool and lectures - but we'll be in open water by the end of the month! Great!!
Look out fishies, here we come...
Look out fishies, here we come...
Monday, June 11, 2007
Underwater Golf
Matt: Golf is very popular in the Gulf, lots of people seem to play golf out here - and not just 50 year old businessmen as part of their corporate flirting ritual - younger people, girls too, even some of my friends.. So I figured that it was about time I donned my chequered pants and gave it a go.
Andrea, one of the Italian crew, has been playing now for a couple of years and is getting good, He and his lovely girlfriend Ruta, from 'bent over the front of a cop car' fame, play on a regular basis and they offered to take Cris and I out for a round. So off we went to Emirates golf course, host of the internationally renowned, Desert Classic Tournament, for a hit around.
We started off on the driving range, clubbing balls (pardon the pun) with little finesse and once we were in the swing of things (oops there's another), we progressed onto the Wadi course. It was a fun way to spend a couple of hours, ok we weren't great at it but we enjoyed it and it was our first time.
The only thing that did frustrate me more that my inability to find the hole, was the dress code, no t-shirts, collared shirts only, oh but not a fully buttoned collared shirt, god forbid you have more that 3 buttons! What are they afraid of? littering the course with pinged shirt buttons? And it must be tucked in, who these days tucks a shirt in unless their at a board meeting? it's not like it's a safety hazard to have your shirt untucked, when was the last time you heard of somebody getting injured on a golf course by a loose flapping shirt? or is it a distraction for other golfers when the wind picks up? do they mistake you for the flag on the 9th? ok ok.. I'll stop now!! But come on, move with the times Golf world..
All in all we both really enjoyed it. Arhhh you're wondering what the underwater part in the title has to do with this right? Well we also went for our introduction to Scuba diving and have signed up for the PADI course.. Our first lecture is this coming Wednesday, for me it's been a long time coming. I went on a try dive with Mark Dew about 7 years ago at some random school on the outskirts of Bristol, I may have sucked the tank dry in about 5 minutes, but I wanted to get qualified from that day, but we never got round to it.
Andrea, one of the Italian crew, has been playing now for a couple of years and is getting good, He and his lovely girlfriend Ruta, from 'bent over the front of a cop car' fame, play on a regular basis and they offered to take Cris and I out for a round. So off we went to Emirates golf course, host of the internationally renowned, Desert Classic Tournament, for a hit around.
We started off on the driving range, clubbing balls (pardon the pun) with little finesse and once we were in the swing of things (oops there's another), we progressed onto the Wadi course. It was a fun way to spend a couple of hours, ok we weren't great at it but we enjoyed it and it was our first time.
The only thing that did frustrate me more that my inability to find the hole, was the dress code, no t-shirts, collared shirts only, oh but not a fully buttoned collared shirt, god forbid you have more that 3 buttons! What are they afraid of? littering the course with pinged shirt buttons? And it must be tucked in, who these days tucks a shirt in unless their at a board meeting? it's not like it's a safety hazard to have your shirt untucked, when was the last time you heard of somebody getting injured on a golf course by a loose flapping shirt? or is it a distraction for other golfers when the wind picks up? do they mistake you for the flag on the 9th? ok ok.. I'll stop now!! But come on, move with the times Golf world..
All in all we both really enjoyed it. Arhhh you're wondering what the underwater part in the title has to do with this right? Well we also went for our introduction to Scuba diving and have signed up for the PADI course.. Our first lecture is this coming Wednesday, for me it's been a long time coming. I went on a try dive with Mark Dew about 7 years ago at some random school on the outskirts of Bristol, I may have sucked the tank dry in about 5 minutes, but I wanted to get qualified from that day, but we never got round to it.
Saturday, June 09, 2007
Location Mos Eisley, UAE
Matt: A long time ago in a galaxy far far away...
well, yesterday and about 20 minutes drive actually!....Having heard about a recluse outside of Dubai that is fast becoming a popular hang out for those wishing to escape the 7 stars of average Dubai, Cris and I decided to go check out the Jahzir Resort and Spa this weekend.
Having been given directions, by a fan and now member, Fiona, we arrived at the front gates of this haven some 30k outside of Dubai along the coast towards Abu Dhabi. After a rather confusing conversation with the female security guard whose English wasn't the best, but then our Sinhalease is worse, we managed to convince her we were guests of a Member and only had to pay 50aed (£7) for our 75aed entry ticket, we were met with a facade of strange 70's SciFi looking chalets, all facing the beach. If it wasn't for the palm trees and golf carts around the facilities it would have been akin to walking into Mos Eisley from Lucas' 77 Film Star wars: A new hope - minus a few moisture vaporators..
Once we were parked, we hit the beach, a half a kilometre stretch of white sand with a still bay of water defended by large sea breaks at either end. A barasti stands at one end of the beach serving drinks and snack and provisioning for the array of water sports on offer. There's a volley ball court, a small beach football area, a floating iceberg to climb (yes I got to the top), a collection of power boats and jet skis bobbing in the wake and a handful of people spread along the sand - it was very peaceful. We picked our spot and enjoyed the sun and sea. There is even a chilled pool and pool bar for when the water of the sea just won't refresh you in the summer.
We ate lunch at the pool bar, where there was the expected selection of bar meals, the food was decidedly average, but edible and not too expensive. Apparently you are free to take your own food and even a Bar-b-Que and you do feel like you are far from the bubble of Dubai and her traffic. A nice little retreat.
well, yesterday and about 20 minutes drive actually!....Having heard about a recluse outside of Dubai that is fast becoming a popular hang out for those wishing to escape the 7 stars of average Dubai, Cris and I decided to go check out the Jahzir Resort and Spa this weekend.
Having been given directions, by a fan and now member, Fiona, we arrived at the front gates of this haven some 30k outside of Dubai along the coast towards Abu Dhabi. After a rather confusing conversation with the female security guard whose English wasn't the best, but then our Sinhalease is worse, we managed to convince her we were guests of a Member and only had to pay 50aed (£7) for our 75aed entry ticket, we were met with a facade of strange 70's SciFi looking chalets, all facing the beach. If it wasn't for the palm trees and golf carts around the facilities it would have been akin to walking into Mos Eisley from Lucas' 77 Film Star wars: A new hope - minus a few moisture vaporators..
Once we were parked, we hit the beach, a half a kilometre stretch of white sand with a still bay of water defended by large sea breaks at either end. A barasti stands at one end of the beach serving drinks and snack and provisioning for the array of water sports on offer. There's a volley ball court, a small beach football area, a floating iceberg to climb (yes I got to the top), a collection of power boats and jet skis bobbing in the wake and a handful of people spread along the sand - it was very peaceful. We picked our spot and enjoyed the sun and sea. There is even a chilled pool and pool bar for when the water of the sea just won't refresh you in the summer.
We ate lunch at the pool bar, where there was the expected selection of bar meals, the food was decidedly average, but edible and not too expensive. Apparently you are free to take your own food and even a Bar-b-Que and you do feel like you are far from the bubble of Dubai and her traffic. A nice little retreat.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Living it up as you're going down
Matt: Aerosmith continue the second leg of thier world tour tonight, here in Dubai and Steve and the boys invited me along.
Well I say invited me, they put tickets up for sale and I bought one, but I consider this a personal invite!! Let the music lead the way... see you on the other side!
Well I say invited me, they put tickets up for sale and I bought one, but I consider this a personal invite!! Let the music lead the way... see you on the other side!
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