Son of Etisalat

Wow what a hectic week, the imminent arrival of Ramadan has meant that all parties and events are being rushed through, couple that with Gitex and it has been a mad social week. Really need to be out there house hunting but have struggled to get moving due to over indulgence.
Good news for Etisalat this week with the news that they are not going to face competition on price or to be honest anything else by the look of it
This really pretty much highlights what is wrong with so much of the UAE, I really can't see why they have bothered setting up this other sham company, all it will do is increase their costs since they will have to run two HQs and workforces, since there is no competition and they are both owned by the same people why bother, oh I know it's so they can say its not a monopoly.
They must really think we are stupid. Meanwhile Etisalat gets to export their own form of product over the region in countries not normally known for their open markets, presumably bank rolled by the poor UAE customers with nowhere else to go, the hypocrisy is mind numbing

IT friends in town

mmm Gitex - hype, sport and taxi horror.

Because of his job title, the Weasel is frequently mistaken for someone that :
a. Has control of huge IT budgets (he doesn't)
b. Has the faintest clue what most of the salesmen are rabbiting about
c. Gives a shit about anything but the free booze he is pouring down his neck at a prestigious rate in the fear of being unmasked.

I mean does anyone in Dubai really believe the fraudulent survey that I completed in a successful attempt to get invited to one of these bashes years ago? It seems they do as I still appear high on many of the invite lists - though the merge of Compaq did remove one particularity rich seam, and this year Sony are so not on my Christmas card list.
My old friends ITP are behind a lot of this I think, flogging off their mail lists but franky it only saves me having to try and blag my way in under my own steam.
The sad thing is of course that most parties are not worth the effort but still the sport of blagging demands that a cursory attendance is mandatory, complete with a regional sales director (compulsory) conversation that guarantees the invite next year, no business is ever done of course (see points above).
Pitiful really but at least I do get to catch up with some old friends from London tonight and until the weather cools a little there really isn't much else to do.
Attendance (probably with hangover) at show tomorrow.

Bar review ll

Seeking fresh watering holes the Weasel and faithful sidekick descended on The Double Decker Wednesday. A little tough to find at the moment it is under the Murooj Hotel near defense roundabout on ground level, around to the left as you look at the hotel, when the road is finished access will doubtless improve. Look for the old style red telephone box at the door, this is dying for a little Soho decoration but we shall leave that jape for another day.
Now starting life named after a dodgy 1970s children's BBC program is not a promising start, but first impressions are favorable. Big place fitted out as someone's idea of a London boozer but it's as authentic as anywhere is in Dubai, at least it works as good design to do what a pub is supposed to do (serve beer) .
Comfy chairs and sofas on the upstairs deck with the promise of music later after Ramadan. I can see this place really taking off as a post work Weasel den.
Staff are friendly and seem to be drawn from other Rotana properties so are experienced to boot.
Sport is promised music was good and frankly the only downside is the food which requires some serious attention, compared to the excellent pies at the Dubliners the DD offering was pitiful, fix this and I reckon this place is set to be a real pub, its 3am closing time will eat into the Jimmy Dix and Rock bottom crowd, should be interesting.

An audience with Midge Ure

Now I am one of the most skeptical people when it comes to old time rockers coming through Dubai, we have been skinned so many times mainly because the whole city is so starved for entertainment that that we will fork out for any old crap
BUT
I have to say that Midge Ure at the Wafi rooftop tonight was great, a little warm( hot and humid) but still good. Jeeze the guy is a major comedian as well, lots of fun, well done Wafi, this is a great venue for this type of intimate concert.

Eighties pop group fallen on hard times?

According to the marvellous Khaleej times it appears that eighties synth and rock group the Gang of Four may have fallen on hard times, and naturally when times are desperate they have resorted to fleecing the gullible citizens of Al Ain, I love the sound effects comment, the Gang of Four are apparently supposed to be on the road this year but I guess that may have to wait for a couple of months.
I mean really, how bloody stupid are these people who fall for this crap, some dodgy geezer muttering in the corner, a bit of incense and these suckers blithly hand over thousands of dollars, to be honest someone that terminally stupid practically deserves to be ripped.

AL AIN — Police have busted a gang of four who preyed on gullible persons by claiming to double their money using supernatural powers. A sum of $8,100 collected from the victims was recovered from them. A court has remanded them to two months in jail to be followed by deportation.
An official requesting anonymity told Khaleej Times that the gang comprised two Sudanese and two Omani nationals. "The planner and the gang's head is Rabi'y Sideeg Nour, 49-year old Sudanese," he said.
On a tip-off that these swindlers operated from house number 10 located in Al Jimi area at Al Ain City, a police detective and an undercover agent checked out the den. The place was raided and gang members were nabbed there.
Investigations revealed that Rabi'y used to call the victims into a room where incense sticks were burnt to create an eerie atmosphere and pretend that he contacts demons, jinns and other souls. Another associate slipped into a hideout from where he uttered weird sounds and words to give an impression that spirits were speaking.
The official appealed to locals and expatriates to beware of such quacks who exploited the naive in the garb of giving them a religious experience.

Don't mention Afghanistan, I did once but I think I got away with it

Priceless little ditty from the Khaleej times today, they are desperate not to mention Afghanistan throughout the article (why? it's bleeding obvious where they are talking about) but then right at the end when they were in the clear, they drop the name, hilarious.

ABU DHABI — The United Nations (UN) has warned that Gulf states ran the risk of becoming a drug hub — transit point or final destination — because a neighbouring Asian country currently accounts for 75 per cent of the world's total opium produce.

An official of the Interior Ministry said a statistical report released recently by the UN disclosed this alarming fact, that the Gulf countries were at high risk of becoming the hub for drug trafficking despite the strenuous efforts of the governments of the member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council to foil attempts to smuggle drugs into their countries from that Asian country.

The official said last month authorities in Kuwait arrested an Asian drug trafficker who was trying to smuggle into the country 33kg of pure cocaine, which he had brought from Afghanistan via Pakistan, adding that Kuwait was fast becoming one of the favoured destinations of drug-smugglers to peddle their shipments of narcotic drugs. The smuggler had cleverly concealed the heroin in a hand-woven carpet by making holes in it to smuggle the drug into the country but couldn't escape the eagle eyes of the Kuwaiti authorities.

Bar review 1

Desert Weasels, in their natural environment are drawn regularly to watering holes, where they can be observed frolicking with others of their kind.
Unlike the natural environment in Dubai which is fast vanishing, we are currently enjoying a bit of a boom in Weasel habitat, not only that but the slightly cooler weather brings with it the prospect of supping outdoors.
Last night was the newly opened upstairs deck of Bussola at Mina Seyahi, this is a great venue for chilling out, with comfy seats and fantastic views, watch the sunset then boogie into the night or join the Weasel at the bar. A different vibe from Barasti, a bit classier and less kid infested, quality spot I will be returning.
Plus points - great views comfy seats, decent pizza reasonable bar service
Negs not many really though the view towards the land side is horrific at the moment and there is the odd interruption from pile drivers and other heavy building, could get a bit dusty in the right wind as well I reckon.

Party credit

Now I'm not always a huge fan of ITP but have to congratulate them on kicking off the party season Wednesday night with the Campaign bash.
As a shameless ligger who will happily attend the opening of an envelope, the Weasel is easily impressed and to be honest any free booze party always starts with a major advantage, but this was well done and a good time was had by all.

Landlords II

Well we have reviewed our options re the eviction notice and to be honest there aren't many.
A stiff letter to the landlord has at least given us till End Nov to move and fantastically produced an offer of compensation for the breaking of the contract, the best i could hope for in the circumstances.
Obviously this is better than nothing and allows us to get somewhere new by Chrimbo, we will miss this place which is lovely, but hey that appears to be the price most long term expats in Dubai are going to have to get used to paying.
So to house hunting and the endless rounds of crooks masquerading as agents as well as the far more reliable mates telegraph that has always come through so far.
So if anyone knows of a big 2 or 3 bed place going post it in comments, unusal and old is all good anywhere South of Defence roundabout. Long shot I know and to be honest am almost resigned to the Springs or similar, just no idea what to do with a full 3 bed house full of furniture.
Buggers, I'm off for a beer too bloody depressing to think about.
Cheers
DW

Well done England

That's it really, well done a great summer of sport, Australia tough as ever will doubtless go away, lick their wounds, then come back and destroy us, better make the best of it while it lasts.

Ban and white

Am I the only one who has been totally confused by all this "will they or won't they , ban my baby" nonsense.
ok first there were to be no bans, now this I thought was a pretty far reaching and forward thinking step, wow, this would really change the market and might even allow people to crawl out of the inflation induced poverty many are heading into.
It was of course a step much too far and several days of clarification left all totally bemused as to the actual intention. Today though the Gnews carried an article stating that actually nothing had changed in reality, there is no ban but also of course there is no transfer or new visa without ex employers say for 6 months.
Back to square one then, I do feel that this ban or lack of visa have only one effect, that is to keep people in jobs they do not want to do, surely even economics 101 says this cannot lead to higher productivity. A country full of badly treated, underpaid workers who cannot leave their jobs is not a recipe for world success, it leads inevitably to quality and reliability issues at all stages of production eventually costing companies money and reputation, not saving it.
DW

Suck up campaign

Some extraordinary biased journalism from Campaign this week extolling Media City in no less than 3 articles and mentioning the forthcoming hotel opening in every one, a couple of interviews claiming that Media City is totally responsible for all media in the region and saying that the recent massive rises in rents and charges are a good thing since they will put the "cowboy magazines" out of business.
Now a more skeptical man would perhaps question their motives here, the hotel and outlet plugging is a time honored journalist's ploy to be able to run up a decent bar tab without having to pay, or worse, risking being thrown out on their ears, fair enough I guess.
But the rest of the sycophantic copy could surely have more to do with their own rent rise (or possibly lack of ..) perhaps? And of course a lack of competition for their parent publishing group ITP as the smaller players are pushed out by rent extortion wouldn't do them much harm either.
Cynical moi?
DW

Pugh Pugh Barley Mcgrew

Rather a spectacular little blaze at the oasis centre up the road ended with the entire building being gutted, it's funny how according to the Gulf news or any of the papers the fire brigade are always on scene in a few minutes but seem to spectacularly fail to control these big fires.
Now you could draw a couple of conclusions here, either they are really crap or perhaps the few minutes might be a slight exaggeration, who knows.
I've seen a couple of fires here and in both cases the response was very slow though that could have been caused by the rubber neckers blocking the roads, the brigade seem to have quite a bit of kit and once they got there it was bit chaotic but eventually the fire was out, training and a better call out system might work, perhaps the new 999 system will help.
The worry is that the population here is growing fast and the centers of population are moving, a big fire in the Marina area could really stretch the civil defense and could get very nasty especially if the roads got backed up with sightseers.

Driving without looking

Frankly I'm speechless, 7days today carries the tale of a woman who has twice reversed out of her garage into a ditch, now I know it is a pisser when the municipality start digging outside your place, last year I had to park at the end of our road for 5 months while they painstakingly laid bricks in the road outside, but please, once I can understand - twice??
Look there are these plastic and glass things right beside you, funnily enough you can see backwards with them, great eh?
Come to think of it very few people in Dubai have any idea what mirrors are for, if they can even see them through the megablack tint, so perhaps it isn't that surprising after all.
DW

SKaTerZ

So the Dubai plod are donning in-line skates to catch crims, am I the only one that sees flaws in this brilliant strategy?
Have you ever bladed up stairs, across grass or much more likely (in Dubai) through sand.........?
The back streets in Dubai are a maze of rough pavements, carts and barrows, open drains and people....surrounded by sand, the fleeing offenders need only make it to the nearest patch of sand in order to stroll off into the sunset, while plod frantically removes his blades then follows in his socks. I wish them luck.
DW

Early warning?

Bloomberg this week published an interesting article wondering whether the boom in Dubai is overstretching itself.
The article has many factual errors, (Sheikh Mo as ruler, Emirates flying to Tokyo etc) but to be honest I agree wholeheartedly with the sentiment. The cost of living is quoted as rising by 10% but that is an overall figure, I believe that the reality is higher still than that, with the possibility of sales tax on the way this city could be pricing itself out of the market.
One predictions is of falling incomes from rental property, now that I do want to see.
DW

Nakheel appeal directly to 80% of UAE population

Nakheel are rapidly becoming my favorite company, not because I want to buy one of their palm ghettos but purely for the entertainment value.

Today's Gulf news carries the story of the impending launch of their latest fantastically named project, Tiffany Towers
All fine and well but did they not perhaps catch the smirks at the press conference when the BIG announcement was made? Were there any questions relating to volumes and symmetry of design?
No idea who came up with the name but I salute him (and I bet it was a him) anyway.
There are two very obvious reasons not to name this project Tiffany Towers
A simple google search would have sufficed (try it) but they have clearly decided to go ahead and launch the project without bothering, or perhaps they're secretly planning to invite the young lady in question to open the building?
Hilarious, I almost want to live there, imagine giving out your address, "yeah 55d, Tiffany Towers mate".....too funny.
DW

New Orleans

Wow, never has the old adage that we are only 48hrs from anarchy been more succinctly demonstrated. Crazy stuff and completely bizarre that the most powerful country on earth is shown to have such feet of clay. Hopefully they are now getting things moving to get immediate aid on but I doubt they have a clue what to do in the long term for all those folks with no shelter or jobs etc.
In some ways I have to think that the Tsunami showed places like Indonesia were almost better equipped to cope with the destruction of all the modern technology. If you have everything removed from a low base you don't have far to fall, but the West even in the poorest areas is a society used to getting what it needs on tap and has lost the ability to live without it.

Gas prices

Huge fuss about the rise in gas prices, now it isn't a huge amount and it's still super cheap compared to Europe or even the US but the papers and radio are full of people howling about the increase. The only people I feel for are the taxi drivers who this will really hurt.
Some of the gas stations stuck the price increase on first thing in the morning instead of midnight when it was supposed to go up. This has resulted in forecourt fights and meant the cops were called to several incidents.
Geez guys C'mon its a 1.5 dhs rise to leave your fuel at 1 pound a gallon, that's less than 1/5 of what people in the UK pay, maybe, God forbid, you might even buy a slightly smaller car?

Na thought not.