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 blue

Of 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.

Been a while

Matt: I'm rubbish, I know.. It's been a long time since I last updated. There has been a lot going on (just to make a change). We had a great diving trip last weekend, although one of the days was a little bit rough on the boat (green). I borrowed Fiona's new underwater Camera to test out, as sadly she had to fly to the UK. Got some great shots though. The visibility was great on day one. We saw turtles and sharks as well as the usual plethora of aquatic life.


Take a little look!
Work wise, I took a trip to Qatar to have a meeting with a potential client, which was nice, especially with afternoon tea in the Ritz! Doha, Qatar is like a sleepy, more chilled, less westernised version of Dubai. I imagine it's how Dubai was 15-20 years ago, it's up and coming though and give it a few more years and it will also be a business hub and tourist destination!

Thursday saw the start of Ramadan, a Muslim observance, so in true Ex-Pat style we had a pool party. Aimee hosted a rather splendid party with lots of fun, food and frolics in the pool. Thanks Aimathon! Then Saturday we headed to Dreamlands water park.. but that's a story for another time :)

Keep an eye out for more news from the middle-east.. could be exciting things happening here soon! out!!

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...

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.