A little Whinge

Today was one of the few really bad days of my life where things just didn't seem to go right.

I got up at 7am! (Usually I'm already at work by then). I had a 9am meeting at Sh. Zayed Road, and had to swing by the office to get my stuff. Went into the office and made my cup of coffee. Water was not hot. Great. So I had cold coffee, with undissolved sugar. The milk was late. So evaporated milk it had to be.

Happily sipping my coffee, I didn't catch the time. It was 845am! My meeting was at 9am. On ordinary non-peak times, I could get there in 5 mins. But... there had to be an accident under the trade centre round about.

Nevermind. I got there in 20 mins. BUT... parking is a nightmare at that hour... I circled for another 10 mins, and decided to park in Satwa and walk! The walk from Satwa to SZR was 15 minutes. In the 40 degree heat and sand storm day, that is not funny at all. Wind was blowing the warm air and a million dust particles all over and on me... so not funny.

By that time, it was 930am. I got to SZR and asked for the Al Attar tower. It was the wrong tower!! I was at the residences block. Great!! Frantic and panic! I rang everyone I could think off. Jordan, Val, Matt, Heath, Elizabeth etc.... no one picked up at first. But thankfully these days, people do return missed calls. Only then I found out that Al Attar towers is on the other side of Sh Zayed Road!! If you don't know dubai, to get from one side of SZR to the other, takes ages. It's not a matter of turning right or doing a U-turn. You have got to get to the interchange, or the round about (where the accident happened) to get across.

I did get across in the end. It was 945am. I'm 45 mins late. Then it took another 15 mins to try find a park. In that process, I nearly ran over 2 indian dudes, and had a little fight with an arab guy. But I still didn't know which tower... because there are just so many Al Attar towers!!! what the.....

Hopping mad, i deicided to ring Val to let me into her carpark (she lives close by to my meeting venue). After parking my car... speaking to Matt to confirm venue... I had a return call from the other consultant. Apparently my meeting was the next day!!!

It was a long morning.... to end the day off.... I had a parking ticket outside the office (i forgot the meters), AND.... I got hit by a little green fruit that fell off the tree where I parked! What are the chances???? There are NOT that many trees in Dubai...

That's my whinge for the day.

To HK or Not?

I'm sitting here deciding if I should go to Hong Kong in July or not!!!

Hot weather - better than dubai though... and summer shopping (meaning i'll spend more money)...

Cheryl!! I can't make up my mind!!! I know you are reading this! (I'm definitely goin to Singapore though). Jun - what say you???

Crap + a whole load of bullshit = AustinWilliams

Today I read an article on the Age news paper which totally made me jump. Click here for a link to the article.

It's not because my work revolves around sustainability, but it's because it just doesn't make much sense at all to not be green. Look, rising sea levels, record temperature levels... do we have to wait till the earth gets flooded beyond recognition before we realise "oh... damn. that was global warming".

A copy and paste of a few lines from the news reads:
" THE millions of dollars spent to make Melbourne more sustainable have all been a waste of money. Home owners changing shower heads, installing power-saving light globes and solar panels are wasting their time. Worse, they have inhibited creativity and the potential attractiveness and comfort of their homes and offices.

This will be the argument British author and architect Austin Williams will make when he delivers a speech at a State Government-sponsored forum in Melbourne on Tuesday.
Williams will tell the Alfred Deakin lecture at Federation Square on Tuesday that "sustainability is one of the most pernicious ideologies of our times". He's likely to receive a cool reception.
Williams will argue at the lecture, titled "Planning Cities of the Future", that sustainability is a dirty word, anathema to architecture and vibrant cities.

"To me sustainability is the first thing we have to get rid of before we can clearly have a vision of what the future could possibly be," he tells The Age. "

The statement came from the director of future cities project. Website to future cities is linked here. He will run out of a job if this world does not turn to sustainability.

What a jerk.

Cost of Living...

Standard of living are goin up and up and up.

The biggest hit - Rent. Dubai govt issued a decree that rental rates shall not increase in the 1st year of lease, and a maximum of 5% only in the second year.

AND... I got hit with an increase. Is it worth fighting with the landlords? I'll probably be booted out, and having to find another place, pack and vacate in the middle of 50 degree summer... I think I'll just pay the increment. Plus, I'll never be able to find anything like this.. They're all snapped up!

Next, Salik was introduced last July. They think it's the solution to reducing traffic along Sheikh Zayed Road and at the Garhoud Bridge. Wrong. Bottle necks happening everywhere! All a ploy to tax people for using SZR. AND... this September, another 2 more salik gantries on SZR! It's pretty much a 16Dhs (AUD$4.50) a day to travel to work, or anywhere down the other end of Dubai! Pretty much all the by-pass is gone!

And the worst I heard... within the next 2 to 5 years... income tax! What a rumour. Fingers crossed. If so... i think we're all outta here!

Taking it one step at a time....