It's All About Me!

G'day

Well, I had the best birthday ever, despite having to work on 12 April 07.

I was having lunch in our staff lounge at Al Ain Women's College with a number of colleagues when Christina, Meredith and Tory unexpectedly entered with a cake, biscuits, slice (Christina's special), and custard tart.

We had a nice little feast and everyone wished me happy birthday as I blew out six candles. Then, when I got home at 4:30 pm, this lovely, folding bar was waiting for me. It looks much better than it does in the photo. It's hardwood engraved and with embedded brass pieces. It folds up into a neat cabinet. The top has unfolding segments at each end to make the bar top longer, and both doors open out. I've only opened the right door showing the wine rack so you can see the engraving on the left door.

It was made in Pakistan and is a truly lovely piece of work. It will look lovely in our house at home next to my wine rack which is about the same colour.

Maybe one day, you will be able to lean on the bar top with me and have a drink.

Cheers.

Robin

Chris Meets Big Brute in Thailand

Wow! When Christina told me she had found a "Big brute in Thailand" my imagination went wild. Then she came home with this and other shots of her and Meredith with this big brute. (Take a look at the size of the paws!).

The two girls and Tory had a wonderful time at Phuket and Bangkok as would be expected and managed to damage their credit cards as well as get in a lot of swimming, sight seeing and shopping.

Meredith and Tory have been with us almost a week and it was lovely to see them. I was envious of Chris flying off to Bangkok, but when Tory and Meredith arrived, it was all worth the wait. All three have nice tanned skin, but Tory takes the prize as his skin is lovely tan and blemish free (no freckles like some of us). And the blue eyes (which he inherited from me (skite, skite)), look nice among the tan. Lucky guy!

We still have another three weeks together and plan to make the most of it. Summer is approaching here, although the evenings and mornings still have a little coolness to make it nice and pleasant, but before long it will be 50 degrees Celsius and time to go on our overseas jaunt to Europe to see how the other white people live.

I'll report more later towards the end of the holiday.

Every best wish

Robin

for Christina, Meredith, Tory and Robin

Christina Heads to Thailand

G'day

Christina flew to Bangkok yesterday and will have met Meredith and Tory this morning for a short holiday at Bangkok and Phuket before flying into Abu Dhabi where the latter will holiday with us for a few weeks.

Meredith and Tory spent a couple of days at Perth enroute to visit Tory's "other" grandmother.

Summer is approaching and the weather at present is absolutely great here. Our complex now has a pool and a fully functioning gymnasium which are free to use if you provide copies of your photos, passport, rental agreement etc etc. Nothing is straightforward here. Interestingly, for a place with an almost unheard of crime rate, everyone is suspicious and businesses don't trust anyone. I'm not sure whether the crime rate is low because of the stringent processes and procedures to prevent it, or whether it's just low.

To a large extent I think the crime rate is low because 90% of the population is expatriate, courts mete out tough justice and if you are an expat part of a sentence is deportation. Workers are on such a good wicket here they can't afford to get the flick.

As an example of punishments, a British guy 30 felt an Emirati women's bum with his hand at the airport recently and his penalty was 3 months detention and a 3,000 AED fine (A bit over $1,000 dollars AUD). Can you imagine what the penalty would be in Australia ... $75 and a 3 month good behaviour bond.

Our visitors will be able to suck in the nice weather and use the pool while I'm at work earning a Dirham or two. However, I expect the summer heat to arrive quickly now and by May, days with 50 degree heat will be normal.

Christina has been doing some voluntary work at the Al Ain Women's College helping the English staff and seems to be enjoying it. Apart from a craft group, committee membership on the Emirates Natural History Group, the rest of her time is spent sewing this or that and most recently, planning our mid-year trip to several of the European countries.

Other than that, we both appear to be in good health and are still enjoying our stay here.

Hope this finds you and yours well too.

Best wishes

Robin
for Robin and Christina

PS: My latest website is at http://www.web-names.ws