Hmmm, How Long has it Been?

Well let us see, August, September and October oops . Three months and not a peep, well we do have a small excuse going by the name of Oscar.
So what has been happening I hear you say, not a lot I reply!
The summer was hot and after a couple of anxious months the insurance company graciously coughed up the cash on both cars. (Being a man means I naturally talk about cars first), as was previously pointed out I have bought a little jeep which has had some modifications over the last couple of months to get it the way I want it.
Bigger wheels, better suspension, soft top to name a few and perfect for those off road adventures.

Becky got herself a 2006 Ford Exploder (Sorry, Explorer) in her favorite colour, Red, which to both our surprise is an absolutely fantastic car. The only change was that I ‘pimped’ her ride with a 7” touch screen dash mounted dvd player for the added in car entertainment experience. Boys and their toys!! Next job is some air jacker suspension so she can bunny hop the car ‘round the Hood, Man!! Just kidding
Becky has recovered well and has started up tennis again, aerobics and pilates classes were endured but boy did she feel the pain. Along with Oscar and her busy social calendar there is barely any time for shopping!
Much to all the expat mum’s relief the new wing of Muscat City Centre finally opened with shops like the White Company, Zara, Gap etc etc etc, and a full size Boarders book shop!!! This is certainly going to change the face of shopping in Oman and whilst it is nice to finally have some choice, I do wonder whether the change is really a good thing. Shopping here has never been a joy, but hey…… its……well…..Oman!
I have heard rumors of a Mall of the Emirates style shopping centre (Massive) coming soon, and with all the developments such as Blue City, Yitti and the wave the face of Oman will be unrecognizable to when I arrived two short years ago.
Time marches on I guess and rather than bemoaning what has been lost I am intent on enjoying what we have for as long as we have it.
As such, Jacob and I have taken up the gauntlet and gone off exploring all that Oman has to offer. The first test of this was a trip with friend to the small village of Yasab, it was more about the journey than the place itself as I am sure you will agree


Spot the Car Competition

Then whilst my mum was over for a sort visit Jacob and I took here for a trip to Wadi Diyqah which was a real experience. There was only one heart stopping moment when I turned the wheel and the jeep carried on going straight, I don’t think my mum appreciated the view at that point but fortunately the brakes worked.


Jacob has taken up Rugby with varying degrees of commitment but especially enjoys charging down the bag.

During Ramadan my working day finished at 4pm so I was really lucky to be able to take him and watch him play for four weeks, being at work all week you miss so much.
It is really good for him after being cooped up over the summer to get out and burn off some energy. He is also looking far leaner and meaner as the year progresses.
Once Ramadan was in full swing, we decided to have a party to say thank you to all the friends that had helped us recover from Gonu. We arranged with the Curry House in Ruwi to provide outside catering and then raided the drinks cabinet. The evening was loosely billed as a cocktail evening, which was fine as long as gin and vodka were your thing, but fortunately beer and wine were also available. Keeping in tune with the evenings food I mixed up a cocktail by the name of a Madras which I found on the Gin & Vodka Association website (I would never had guessed there was such an organization). 1 1/4 oz vodka, 2 oz orange juice, 2 oz cranberry juice ……yummy.
Everyone had a lovely time and the best bit was no washing up!

So the next event was the Rugby World Cup, whilst we missed the first round due to lack of interest and poor performance from the England team, we were invited to an antipodean household to watch Australia thrash England in a humiliating fashion. Ho Hum we won, sorry about that. Our hosts had the good grace to invite us back for the finals where South Africa played a great game and were rewarded with a much deserved win, Congratulations Springboks.
Oscar Photo
Eid was a welcome break, with the weekend and four days off work. Three were spent with the family, whilst the other three were off with Jacob exploring again.
Friends had invited us to join then camping at Bar Al Hackman, near the island of Masirah, a five hour drive from Muscat. Pretty tough but Jacob and I shared the driving (Joking), however the last part of the journey was the best bit. According to our directions you had to leave the road just outside Hijj where three trees were growing and head South. So for 45km Jacob and I drove through nothing with only the GPS to guide us. Fortunately I had plotted a path using Google Earth as a reference, but even so it was very unnerving to be the only car and nothing in sight what ever way you looked.

Oh and the directions were wrong, as you should be heading South West and not south.
We had a lovely time camping and swimming in the sea and the nights were gloriously clear though not very late. The real pleasure was staring up at the night sky and seeing with the utmost clarity the Milky Way in all its glory.
So as a farewell for now, I leave you with the fact that Jacob is doing well at school (Reception Year at the British School Muscat), Oscar is now rolling over on to his tummy and Becky and I are off to the races tonight (The Melbourne Cup at the Grand Hyaat).
James