Oman Oman Oman

Unrest in Oman

2011-02-28T09:50:00.002+04:00

Ok, This is just a quick post for family and friends, to assure them that we are safe and well.
Here is a status of the situation as provided by International SOS, who are tasked with keeping us safe in an emergency, (medical and security)

Two killed, several injured as police break up pro-reform demonstration in Sohar (Revised 14.28 GMT)

At least two people on 27 February were killed and at least ten others were injured after the police fired rubber bullets at protesters in the northern city of Sohar (Al Batinah region). The incident occurred after around 1,000 demonstrators, who had assembled for the second consecutive day at the city's main square to demand political reforms, became unruly and threw stones at security personnel, while some attacked a shopping complex and attempted to storm a police station. The security forces also used batons and tear gas to quell the unrest and troops have been deployed to secure the protest site. Reports also indicate that roadblocks have been set up on a main thoroughfare linking the city with the capital Muscat, though it is unclear whether these are being manned by demonstrators or the authorities. In addition, rallies have also taken place in the southern town of Salalah (Dhofar province), where pro-reform protesters have remained encamped near the office of the provincial governor since 25 February.

Comment and Analysis

Protests are traditionally rare in Oman, where levels of discontent and anti-government sentiment have until recently been low. However, several hundred people recently rallied to demand higher wages in Muscat, and the latest developments in Sohar and Salalah underline how rising unemployment and inflation, coupled with the recent wave of protests and unrest across the region, have the potential to inspire further bouts of unrest in urban areas the coming days. While the numbers of demonstrators have so far been relatively small, recent events indicate that the security forces will not hestitate to employ tough measures to quell disturbances. In Muscat, protests are likely to occur at or in the vicinity of important government buildings in the district of ministries (Medinat Qaboos), or in the Ruwi business district.

Such gatherings are likely to remain focused on demands for economic and political reforms rather than regime change; however, the killing and injuring of demonstrators could serve to harden attitudes among some protesters, especially if the authorities refuse to offer concessions. Nevertheless, most gatherings should remain relatively small and peaceful; any unrest is likely to be swiftly contained and widespread disturbances are not anticipated. Heightened security and associated traffic restrictions in the vicinities of such gatherings can cause localised traffic disruption, especially in the event that protesters or the authorities establish roadblocks on key thoroughfares.

An estimated 300 protesters on 18 February rallied peacefully in Muscat in response to rising prices and to demand improved pay. The police did not intervene in the rally, which took place in Ruwi and lasted about an hour. Earlier, several people on 17 January gathered in Medinat Qaboos in connection with the same issues. Head of state Sultan Qaboos bin Said al-Bu Saidi on 26 February reshuffled his cabinet and announced some limited reforms, including improved stipends for university students; the moves followed a salary increase for public sector workers earlier in the month. However, the demonstrators in Sohar have called for the sacking of corrupt ministers and for the 84-member Shura council, which provides only advice to the monarch, to be granted legislative powers.

Travel Advice

* Avoid all demonstrations as a routine security precaution.
* Anticipate disruption to overland journeys in Sohar and between the city and Muscat, and allow extra time to complete journeys.
* Monitor local media and our website for further updates on the situation.

Just to let you know that we are all happy and well and there is no reason to worry.
James

On The Lam

2010-06-12T08:02:00.002+04:00

The Evil Dr Rabbito has gone AWOL.

He may be living it large in Dubai or made a break for freedom at the border, we don't know for sure.

Our scouts are out trying to track him down, but if you see this bunny do NOT attempt to approach him, just let us or the authorities know.

And whatever you do..........................don't call him cute!

Mind Your Language

2010-05-29T10:28:00.001+04:00

Sorry about the lack of posts recently, I have and continue to be stupidly busy. Once I gain a little breathing space I will knock out several posts bringing everyone up to date on the comings and goings of family life in Muscat.
In the mean time I would like to take this opportunity for a shameless plug for my Arabic Language Teacher, Said Al Busaidi, who persevered with my attempts at butchering his language and has given me a solid foundation in spoken Arabic for which I will be forever grateful.
Said is planning to run another course, details below, and I can heartily recommend it to anyone wishing to learn to talk to Omanis in their native tounge.

ARE YOU INTERESTED IN IMPROVING YOUR ARABIC LANGUAGE SKILLS?

There is an Arabic Basic (Spoken) Course run this summer for 2 hours a week. (Every Sunday)

The Course commences once the minimum number of students has been achieved.
(Each Group has 8 - 14 x students)

Date (TBC): (June – July 2010)

- Time: 1630 - 1830
- Fee: Only 100 OMR per student
- Duration: 12 WEEKS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Previous Students Quotes:
- "Plenty of practice and getting more confident in practicing Arabic outside … Lovely instructor, taught us in a friendly and fun way – kept it light hearted."

- "The course is pitched at the right level, we have a good workbook … and a great teacher. He makes the lessons enjoyable."

- "I came to the lessons knowing no Arabic whereas now I feel I have learnt the basics which would mean I could speak basic Arabic with some more practice."

- "There has been a complete change in my comprehension giving me the competence to continue with developing my language skills."

- "Basic skills for greetings etc. Now much better; some better understanding of the language as well. Good Start. Now need more practice."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FOR MORE DETAILS AND COURSE LOADING, PLEASE CONTACT:

- SULEIMAN:
Email: abu_rudayna@hotmail.com
Mobile: 00968 92170574
- Said:
Email: saidali29@hotmail.com
Mobile: 92370833

Fashion

2010-05-09T23:01:00.003+04:00

I have today stumbled across this blog. I absolutely adore it. It has crystalised for me some thoughts that I have been having for a while with regard to fashion.

I have for some time now been reading quite a few "fashion" blogs, the main one of which is The Women's Room. This regular activity has helped me come to the conclusion that I hate mainstream High Street fashion. I cannot abide looking the same as every other Tom, Dick and Harriet roaming the streets. If I do buy High Street fashion - as I must here in Oman - I try my very best to wear it in an unusual way, or with an interesting accessory that somehow gives it a lift and makes it different.

I love how the older ladies and gentleman on Advanced Style, are just that Advanced Stylists. I would love to have their unique abilities - to mix and match styles in such an eccelectic way. Most of all this blog makes me yearn to go to New York and meet all these fabulous people who have had amazing lives and through it all have remained stylish and most of all unique. I love that they are unafraid to be themselves, some of them at over 90 years old and still look wonderful.

I lament the fact that the height of style here is Marks and Spencers, or maybe even Zara. Don't get me wrong the High Street shops do some good stuff, but it's just all the same - it bores me stupid - I want unusual, unique, unrepeatable clothes that express who I am, not who the designer at Zara is. Sadly - Oman is not the place to yearn for such things, there are no second hand boutiques here, no independant sellers - apart from the lovely Totem, who do some great stuff if you are 20 years old.

Now shopping on line - mmmm good idea, apart from the fact that I need to feel the fabric, see the style on me and fall in love with a piece. I have recently been looking for a dress for a wedding that we are going to in the Summer. I thought I had found the ideal one, ordered it and well - lets gloss over that and just say that it wasn't the dress for me. So comes to an end my idea of buying something unusual online. So I trawl, Monsoon, Boden and Coast websites - some nice bits but nothing that says "I am the dress that is destined for you" I long for a Horrockes Dress in an outrageous print (I hear they used to do them in a lobster print, just fabulous), unfortunately they aren't exactly easy to get hold of and I am not sure that I could squeeze my ample waist into one even if I could get hold of one.

So my question is, what does one do, when one is stranded in a clothing wasteland with nothing to support you but Marks and Spencer ? Should I risk Etsy, or will it just be another disappointment when nothing fits and I can't send it back - should I try to learn to make clothes ? the thought makes me shudder - smocking at school has left me scarred for life !!!

Just some thoughts.

Becky x

Getting Down and Dirty in the Garden

2010-04-11T16:31:00.002+04:00

A couple of years back, whilst working for a different company in Muscat, Jacob spent a couple of hours with me in the office. It couldn’t have been that exciting for him and he amused himself hunting for errant paper clips and elastic bands, but he loved it none the less and has reminisced about it on numerous occasions since then.
I’m not sure where the whole bringing your children to work tradition has come from, I think it is big in the States with formal days set aside, but I’m not so sure about the UK and Europe.
My father was self employed and mainly worked from home, but occasionally he would have jobs to do at an old Victorian(?) factory in London and, occasionally I got to go with him (before the days of health and safety).
I have vivid memories of the place throughout my childhood, all happy, although the last, after it had been shut down was tempered with sadness, the end of an era.

Well Jacob had been asking to come with me to work for a while now, but being site based there were obvious safety restrictions. I broached the idea of a family day with the company, and we received the green light.
So the much anticipated day arrived with our respective families turning up and being ushered into the visitors centre. A quick visit to daddy’s desk, just to check for itinerant paper clips and elastic bands before an introduction to the Oman Botanic Garden from Sarah, the head of education for the Garden.

From there we had a walk around of the Nursery facilities, where the 1200 species of native plants of Oman are being cultivated for the Garden. Oscar, was of course into everything and frequently disappeared off into the undergrowth. Most of my time was therefore spent corralling him and making sure he didn’t kill any plants or hurt himself whilst swing off parts of the greenhouses.
Due to a slight confusion over a loo break we discovered the site tour bus had left without us, so we jumped into our 4wd and headed into the garden for a private and exclusive tour with commentary supplied by little old me.

Oscar was of course besotted with all the excavators, dump trucks and payloaders, whilst Jacob wanted to know what exactly was being built where and, what it would be used for.
He certainly enjoyed himself and is in Sarah’s good books for wanting to bring his classmates for a visit.

So a big thank you goes out to all involved for hopefully making it a day to remember, hopefully Jacob’s childhood memories will be just as good as mine.

But what’s all this about a Botanic Garden??? I have no idea how many people know of its existence or the scale of the project. It is not as if it is a secret but when I first heard about it, I thought “a garden, big deal”, it wasn’t until I travelled around the project that I realized how big a deal it really is.

The OBG is a project of his Majesty, Sultan Qaboos, as a showcase for the diverse Omani flora, of which there are one thousand two hundred species, and eighty of which are found no where else in the world!
The site is four hundred and twenty hectares in size and we are busy recreating the different environments found in Oman, from the heights of Jebal Akdar to the deserts of the empty quarter and the lush greenery of Dhofar.
Some of these environments such as the Dhofar region will be housed in Biomes, buildings that allow us to recreate seasons throughout the year that are ideal for the regional plants. Imagine being able to see the effects of the Kareef in Muscat!

One snippet of useless information is that the site, near Al Khoud, was the first place in the whole of the Arabian Peninsula where dinosaur bones were discovered!

Currently construction is underway on the visitors centre, research centre, educational facilities and heritage village. The heritage village will be a showcase for traditional Omani arts and crafts showing how plants have been an important part of Omani life and how they have influenced the world.

We have a couple of years left before the Garden is finished, but you can keep up to date with the news letter. Recently the OBG team have been out planting the first of the habitats, the Northern Gravel Desert, and different groups, such as the Womens Guild of Oman, and American Womens Group etc, have visits to see how the work is progressing.
When it is finally finished, it will be a very special place in a very special country.

One last thing, I should point out how the OBG has changed my life……

Yes, I finally did some gardening at home. You really didn’t need to see that did you.

Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head

2010-04-11T14:40:00.001+04:00

Seem like we might be in for stormy weather!

Must mean there's an Irish woman arriving.
Looking forward to seeing you Jo!!

iPad Killer

2010-04-10T13:03:00.006+04:00

WARNING!!! THE FOLLOWING POST IS OF A TOTALLY GEEKISH NATURE AND SHOULD NOT BE READ BY PEOPLE OF A TECHNOPHOBIC DISPOSITION.

Those of you that know me will have by now understood that I am a bit of a techie, quite happy to take things apart, understand how they work and fix them if they are broken.
Well I have always had an interest in the replacement of paper printed media since I got the chance to play around with e-ink some eight or nine years ago. So I was happy to see that the inventors had been turning it into a commercial product, the latest offering being under the guise of the Que from Plastic Logic.

Pretty darn good, sunlight readable, very low power consumption, ultra portable and capable of storing thousands of documents. My only criticism is that even after all this time, the promise of a colour version has still not materialized. IMHO a colour e-reader (preferably but not necessarily, capable of video support) could be the catalyst for society to move away from printed media in the same way (Dare I say it) that the printing press brought literature to the masses.
A sad day in many ways, but an exciting one none the less.

So when Apple announced that it was launching the iPad, I thought, “Could this be it????”
Sadly the answer was a resounding “No!”
For all it’s bells and whistle, the apps, the cool functions and the hype, it had a flaw, a fundamental one at that……,the power hungry, sunlight Unreadable and eye straining lcd screen.

Thanks, but no thanks Apple, I’ll stick with the Macbook Air and printed books (Which I absolutely and always will Love).

But all this flurry of activity with tablet computers and e-readers left me wondering, “Who would solve the big problem by finding a replacement for the LCD screen for mobile devices (The iPad isn’t alone, just try using Google Nexus One in the sunlight (Sorry for your loss Sythe) or any other smart phone for that matter).

Well it might be here sooner rather than later, thanks to some Dutch guys and a company called Liquavista, who have taken a century old principle called electro wetting and reinvented it for the digital generation.
Essentially, it involves coloured oils that react to a small electrical charge, set out in individual pixels very much like the existing lcd screen technology. More importantly though, (Drum roll please!) it harnesses rather than fights sunlight. External light passes through the oil and is then reflected back at the person reading the screen (in low light it utilizes a traditional backlight), the brighter the sunlight, the more vivid the screen becomes. Voila!
And if that wasn’t enough, a key benefit over competing technologies such as mirasol, is that because it is so similar to lcd in manufacture, existing lcd factories would only need to be adapted (instead of being built from scratch) in order to start manufacturing the displays!

Could this be the perfect sunlight readable display for our mobile gadgets? Liquavista hope to have them in devices and on sale by mid 2011, and are already working with Liquid Plastic to produce a colour e-reader.

I just wonder how long it will take the likes of Apple (or one of their competitors) to finally dump the lcd screen and have an iPad worthy of the Apple name.

For all of you nay sayers out there, just take a look at what Sports Illustrated dreamt up for the iPad and tell me, can your book or magazine do this????

Learning to Fly

2010-04-05T12:47:00.005+04:00

Not a lot to report this week. Biscuit has a sore leg, Oscar’s swimming has come on leaps and bounds and Becky had the boys to herself for most of the weekend whilst I was off camping and driving through another part of the Wahiba Desert. Bit of a long trip this time as you can see from the map.

I thought I would share this little video I made of one member of our camping party, though I should point out that the flight wasn’t intentional. Enjoy :o)

Leaving It All Behind

2010-03-31T10:05:00.004+04:00

Becky went for a girl’s trip to Dubai, shopping at the weekend. Twenty three Rials each way with Fly Dubai (But hey, Oman Air will be undercutting that to the staggeringly low price of RO 22!)
I’ll leave Becky to tell you how well it went, but suffice to say that she won’t need any exercise classes for a week or two.

I on the other hand had the boys to myself, and the weekend began with a trip to the ABA Food Fair.
The Food Fair started back in 1995 as part of the UN Day Celebrations and it has been one of the highlights on the school’s calendar every year since. All the food, service and decorations are donated by volunteers, a great deal of the work is done by parents (I helped in my own little way by eating as much as I could), and many staff members get involved as well.
It was great fun, very noisy and exceedingly busy. Food from forty nations was available to taste, covering pretty much all of the planet from as far afield as Fiji, New Zealand, a large proportion of South America, a fair few African nations, European and of course the good old Sultanate of Oman.
I was impressed that Jacob willingly tried a real variety of food, starting with sushi and then some Venezuelan dishes of which I have no idea of their names. Everyone was doing their bit to fly the flag for their respective nations and it was a very colourful spectacle, a special mention goes out to the ladies of Nigeria who were without doubt the most colourful of the evening.
I don’t know why I should be surprised, but I was astounded by the variety and diversity of the nationalities residing in Muscat. I guess we all live in our own little worlds to some extent.
Well done to everyone for all the hard work and delicious food, I can’t wait for next year and in the mean time I will have to do some culinary research to track down the tastiest dishes out there.

It was on Friday that we went up to the pool early for a swim. It started quietly, but after a while there were plenty of other children for Jacob to play with, allowing me to keep a beady eye on Oscar.
Over the winter we rarely went swimming, but for the last month or so, as the temperatures have risen, we have been going more regularly. It was therefore with some surprise that Oscar announced he couldn’t swim. Given his exploits in Bali last summer I have struggled to understand why he hs lost confidence.
Resigned to a morning in the shallow end, I joined Oscar in a game with his Power Ranger action figures. There is only so much Power Ranger role playing a grown man can take and I quickly struck on the idea of the figures doing dive bombs off the side. Would you believe it, that canny little Red Power Ranger got talking to Oscar, and soon enough he too was doing dive bombs off the side! It was a small step, but with a little more persuasion from Red, Oscar was swimming again!!!

Three Cheers for Oscar and Three Cheers for the Power Rangers!!!

Something for the weekend, Sir?

2010-03-31T07:55:00.004+04:00

Now I'll appologise straight off for the poor photo quality, but but it was hastily taken with a camera phone.
Oman Oil seem to have a Ying and Yang thing going with men's aftershave at the moment......

I'd love to see the marketing for these products, it must be hilarious. I'm thinking maybe something with a 70's theme, big hair, big flares and bad taste!

Wahiba Challenged (or how to loose yourself in a great big sand box)

2010-03-13T10:20:00.012+04:00

This must be the year of living dangerously, what with a return to diving, dog ownership, learning Arabic and Becky’s knitting, I thought that the Wahiba challenge sounded like a good idea.
Now I have done a fair few desert camps in my time with dune bashing thrown in as you know, but that’s hardly a challenge.
So when a friend asked if I would like to join him and a few others on a trip through the Wahiba, I thought ‘Why Not??’. I then went and asked Becky for permission. (I should make it clear at this point, that this was not the Wahiba Challenge, merely a weekend away experiencing serious desert driving with seasoned desert drivers).

So the day quickly arrived and I packed up my Jeep and set off to work, knowing that I had forgotten something (This time it was my Crocs). That afternoon I would jump ship early and meet up with my friend Simon before heading down to the Al Areesh desert camp for our first night.
Arriving just after nightfall, we met up with two other members of our party before having some dinner, and a chat before crawling away to our beds for an early night.

So the next morning the rest of the group arrived, a motley crew comprising seven Jeeps and nine people harking from Indonesia, the Netherland, Italy and England. We ‘aired down’ our tyres, put up our sand flags and discussed (with a little trepidation on my part) our journey.
For those of you that don’t know, taking the air out of your tyres is crucial to driving on the sand and as little as 2psi can be the difference between moving or getting completely bogged down. On average we took the pressure down to 9psi and went through the process again once the tyres had warmed up, on the down side at low pressure you run the risk of having the tyre come off the rim.
The other important bit of kit is the sand flag, in my case a red head scarf on the end of a long fishing rod. Before you start taking the mickey, the idea behind them is to see whether there is a car on the other side of the dune, before you come over the top and land on top of it.

We quickly moved into the dunes playing follow the leader, cutting our teeth on the odd steep incline and slowly building up confidence. It was then our fearless leader decided that there had been enough pussy footing around and promptly launched himself up an impressively high dune, power sliding sideways to the top.
I remember the words ‘No #$%#^*&* Way??’ left my mouth followed shortly afterwards with ‘He doesn’t expect us to follow, does he?’
Sure enough one by one we followed, but try as I might I just couldn’t reach the top, despite helpful hints from my companions. It was then that one of our party took a more direct approach, simply blasting straight up at full throttle until he reached the top and following his lead I found myself, to my great relief, sitting on top of the dune, no longer playing tail end charlie.

It was also with great relief that I was not the first or the second person to get stuck, being the new kid on the block I had no desire to upset the others, but sure enough my time came sooner rather that later, and again, and again and again……but hey, that’s all part of the fun.
A small note of caution when placing your cool box in the car, DON’T position it with the lid facing forward. After going over the top of one dune, my cool box opened and proceeded to deposit melted ice water over me and the passenger seat, squelch!

We stopped for lunch short of our intended site due to a squeaky drive shaft. No such thing as a service centre in the desert, it was a case of repairs on the hoof and in no time at all, a badly damaged U joint had been replaced with a new one, it’s amazing what you can find at the bottom of a handbag (or a glove box in this instance). Speak to a Jeep owner and you’ll hear of the joys of parts breaking and how easy it is to fix them, simply because they are so basic. It is not for nothing that a common motto of Jeep owners is “It’s a Jeep thing, you wouldn’t understand”.

For me there were two notable incidents to the afternoon and fortunately for me the first one came before the other and not vica versa.

It’s not all that clear from the photo, but I breached (went over the top) of the dune slightly faster than I had intended. Coupled with a slightly steeper than normal back side, the front wheels of my Jeep dug in deep, whilst the rear wheels did their level best to overtake (Over the top!!).
It was at this point that there was severe clenching of certain parts of my anatomy and I repeatedly chanted “Please Don’t Flip Over!” whilst simultaneously and somewhat pointlessly using my body weight to force the car back down on to four wheels. Suffice to say that someone up there was looking out for me at that particular point in time.

The second event of the afternoon revolved around something (I know not what) I had eaten earlier. Stomach cramps and numerous pit stops later, it was with the utmost relief when we stopped , set up camp and for me, went straight to bed.
Everyone else had dinner (No curry for me ) and chatted around the camp fire. However, I’m sure you’ll agree that the order of the afternoons incidents was the best outcome for everyone, most especially me.

The next morning we slowly emerged from our cocoons and prepared ourselves and our vehicles for the rest of the journey. I was still somewhat crook, so my much anticipated fry up was replaced with a banana and a cup of tea.
We drove off experiencing more of the wide expanse of nothingness that is the desert before finally reaching our intended target, a sand mountain.
Now, being a gormless newbie, I was blindly playing follow the leader and only casually noting that we were not making the same headway as the previous day and, that the dunes were tightly packed and only seemed to be going in one direction, UP!
It wasn’t until we reached the top that our fearless leader remarked with surprise (his) to the two newcomers (myself included) with the now infamous words “Not a lot of first timers would have attempted that climb, that was quite brave of you”
Brave my arse, I was just following you!!!! (I don’t remember if anyone was wearing an ‘I’m with Stupid’ T shirt)

I will say that the view and experience was well worth it.

In the two days we had travelled one hundred and twenty five kilometers from the Al Areesh camp at the beginning of the Wahiba to Falaj Al Mashayek, close to Sur.

During our journey I had practiced my Arabic on some poor unsuspecting Bedouins, learnt how to repair a drive shaft, as well as remount a tyre that had come off its rim, and most importantly how to really drive in the sand. Not bad, Hey??

Now, how can I persaud Becky to let me go again…………

********** Update **********
********* 28/03/10 *********

Here is the video of the trip kindly filmed and edited by Danielle

And I have a pass for this coming weekend, should be hot!!!

Dragon Blocked Again

2010-03-13T08:26:00.006+04:00

Ho Hum,
I suppose it is not so much what was said/shown, but who it is about this time

Suffice to say that if you are in Oman and see the above message, go to google and search for the site of interest

Now just after the description can you see the address? and after that the word "Cached"
Yep you got it, click on "Cached"

That is the end of this Public Service Announcement

In an aside to Surburban, shit happens. It is not pleasant or fair and you are going to have to deal with it for a long time to come through no fault of your own.

To everyone else:

Swimming pools are dangerous places and if you have children it is your responsibility to make sure your children are safe, every second of every minuet that they are in or around the water, no one elses.
That being said, maybe the Government would think about imposing professional lifeguards at public pools? At the very least there should be a designated First Aid person.
If you want to read more I suggest you check out the link to Other Oman on the right.

My heartfelt condolences to everyone directly or indirectly involved.

Rednecks in Muscat

2010-03-06T09:44:00.002+04:00

I drove to work this morning, much the same as any other working day.
Thirty minutes at mostly highway speeds.
Parked up, went inside, went out on site and then came back.
It was then I noticed my front bumper, well I noticed what was on my front bumper, you can see if you look carefully……..

Yes, Oscar had left his toy rifle on my bumper and it had made it all the way to work, I’m happy the ROP didn’t spot it, or I might have had some explaining to do ;o)

Speaking of Oscar and the Jeep, I know that it is just a big boy’s Tonka toy and Oscar treats it that way too. However, I was hunting for my keys the other day and Jacob mentioned that Oscar had been messing around with them. I looked under the sofa, lifted cushions, and all the other places I could think of without joy (Asking a two and a half year old doesn’t work).
Finally I gave up and went to the jeep and found then in the ignition………………………………That boy is going to be trouble, I just know it!!!!

Tomorrow I plan on strapping a dead Elk to my jeep’s bonnet to see if anyone notices.

Law samaHt

2010-03-02T16:24:00.006+04:00

I am ashamed to say that it has taken this long for me to seek professional help, but as they say, admitting you have a problem is the first step on the road to recovery.

I have known for a long time that this is what I wanted, but trying to do it on my own has always ended in failure (and sometimes mild embarrassment).
Ok, maybe not complete failure, I have picked up the odd pointer on the way, but it is not what you’d call a resounding success.

I don’t want to blame others for my failings but, when ever I have tried to demonstrate my progress, people have looked at me as though I have a pair of antlers on my head (or something equally bizarre), or else given me a sympathetic, pitying smile. Hardly encouraging I think you’d agree.

So as a group we are spending two hours each week talking at or to each other and generally helping our fellow attendees when they slip, whilst doing our best not to laugh.

Last night was the sixth session in a twelve week programme and I think I’m making good progress, but only time will tell.

So I will be eternally grateful to Said, under whose patient guidance, I butcher his language and ear drums in the hope that someday soon I’ll be talking Arabic like a native (ok, maybe not like a native but maybe well enough not to cause offence).

Maa assalaama

Oscar the Ant

2010-03-02T15:39:00.005+04:00

I came downstairs the other day and realised my son had been reading Kafka.

In years to come he'll regret this I'm sure. ;o)

Service with a Smile

2010-03-02T12:27:00.010+04:00

Apologies for the interruption, normal services shall resume shortly.
This post is one I have been meaning to write for some time, but had not got around to it for one reason (excuse) or another and, is dedicated to Suburban, because she asked so nicely.

Has anyone been to Al Ain Airshow? I have,.................twice.
Originally I thought it would be pretty cool to take the boys to the Dubai Air Show extravaganza, but then I found out it was trade only – How stupid is that???
Well, last year without knowing anything about it, I took Jacob (Oscar was too small) and was pleasantly surprised. It wasn’t big or glitzy by any stretch of the imagination, there was precious little on the ground to keep you interested (kind of reminded me of the farmer’s market in my home town), but the pilots put on some wonderful displays and there was a decent play area available for when the children got bored or restless.
Well, one year had past and Oscar, being a confirmed petrol head and wannabee fly boy, was in need of his first real fix, so I decided to take the boys up to Al Ain for the day. We were joined by one of Jacob’s friends (Will) and his father for a decidedly boy’s day out and by eight o’clock we were on our way.
It takes about two and a half hours from Muscat to reach the border at Buraymi, nothing interesting to report with the boys plugged in to their respective gadgets and the normal antics of taxi drivers and driving instructors raising the occasional eyebrow, that is until we reached the border crossing.
For the first time ever, we were directed to park up and go inside the building, I have been so used to breezing through without getting out of the car I was taken somewhat by surprise. The Royal Omani Police were as gracious, warm and friendly as ever, and other than pointing out that their computers said Jacob was Irish (I checked, he's not), there was nothing to report and we were soon on our way.
We quickly crossed no-mans land and pulled up at the appropriate UAE border post window (Insert metaphorical screeching of brakes), when we were asked to park up and go into a second building. Here we had a retina scan and were then directed to go back to the first building to get our passports stamped with an entry visa.
On arrival at the first building we were informed that he couldn’t stamp our passports (???) and we needed to proceed to a third building.
On arrival at the third building the guard told us to go back to the first building.
On arrival at the first building we waited for ten minutes until one of the guards decided that he would rather not have three bored boys anywhere near him and took me back to the third building. Here, he kicked the guy out from behind his computer and did the whole immigration thingameejigg himself.
Having now got appropriately stamped passports, we bundled ourselves back into the car and headed off to the customs building…….but that’s another story.
So FINALLY, we arrived at Al Ain airport just in time to see the first display of model aircraft. Now, before you ask I’m not talking about the little things that you get from LuLu’s or Toys’R’Us , but really BIG boys toys (The sort of thing that would ensure you had a really bad day if it hit you).
I remember the previous year walking in from a distance and seeing these aircraft perform all manner of aerobatic tricks, knowing that something was not quite right, but not knowing quite what. It wasn’t until I saw concord fly past in a slow nose up maneuver that I relised I was watching models…………….Doh!
So we had a walk around and the good new is that the air show is maturing. There is still the farmer’s market feel, but way more to see than the previous year.
There was a Ferrari F1 car on display with Etihad, a Citroen rally car, a UAE F16 Falcon, Apache Helicopter and a Dassault Mirage, oh and a certain Oscar who was beside himself with excitement.

The fire fighting services had a display but was unfortunately unmanned (Fireman Sam would have gone down a storm) and a Bedu tent complete with falcons for the children to get up close and personal with.

The real winner though, were the three (real) cockpits brought over by a couple from Yorkshire in which visitors and more importantly boys could sit. I’m sure Oscar would have spent the whole day there given half a chance.

There was a English Electric Lightning, a Harrier Jump Jet and a Hawker Hunter to choose from and at one point, whilst I was helping Jacob and his friend Will clamber in and out of the Lightning, Oscar took himself off, circumvented the security, climbed the ladder and managed to get himself half way into the Hunter before I or anyone else had spotted him.

The show itself was great fun with jets, single prop aerobatic planes, pylon racers, bi planes and parachutists all doing their bit to thrill the crowds. Many Ooo’s and Aah’s ensued, culminating with a wide eyed WOW!!!! When a Buccaneer proceeded to do a bombing and strafing run on the airfield (Courtesy of some discreetly placed pyrotechnics, shsss!......don’t tell the children!

Soon enough it was time to head home, and with the boys all in commemorative T-shirts we drove back to the UAE border.
On arrival at the first building our passports were withheld and we were asked to park up. We duly did so and collected our passports and returned to the third building. On completing five sets of exit forms, I proceeded to hand over our passports at the very desk that our entry had be recorded five hours earlier.
Everything went swimmingly until they got to the last passport, mine.

Guard: Where have you been?
Me: Al Ain Air Show
Guard: No, since 2009
Me: ????? and ? eh, Oman
Me: I came for the air show with my children, my entry was approved at this very desk five hours ago.
Me: I live in Oman and my children can’t drive yet!
Guard: The computer says you didn’t leave the UAE in 2009, do you speak Arabic?
Me: Yes I did and no I don’t

At this point a kindly Omani gentleman decided to intervene on my behalf and listen to the conversation between the Guard and his colleague.
I am convinced that the question as to my knowledge of Arabic was for no ones benefit, but solely to allow the guards to verbally abuse me without my knowledge, for in the words of my new found Omani friend, “They are not saying very nice things about you.”, the look on his face told me so much more.
I can honestly say, with my hand on my heart that the UAE border guards come second only to the USA for being miserable SoB’s. A great first impression for visitors to your country, way to go guys!
Word of advice, if you are planning to bad mouth a person in the belief that they won’t understand you, make sure there are no translators on hand. Better still STFU (excuse the profanity) and then no one gets upset.

The only other comment to be made about the day is the arrival of a strategically placed service station on the Muscat side of Sohar.
I think it is a shell petrol station, which is only important in identifying the location from a distance. Attached to it is a building with a Khimji’s Mart at one end and a pizzeria on the other. On entering the building, one finds themselves in a quadrangle of eateries, with a couple of enclosed play areas for the children.
Given that we usually pass this way early evening (ie. the boys tea time), it makes for the perfect opportunity to stretch ones legs and feed the family before embarking on the final leg of the journey home. Well done to whoever thought of building it!!

Oh, and one other thing whilst I am on the subject of service stations, am I the only one that compares Muscat service station convenience stores to the Cold War??
What is it with the Al Maha ‘Souk’???
On one side we have Oman Oil and Shell convenience stores, well lit, clean and well stocked shelves (everything you would expect of a ‘convenience’ store), whilst on the other we have the Al Maha Souk with untidy, grubby, ‘new’ inconvenience stores, shelves predominately empty and, the goods available appealing to the desperate only.
I half expect to see a bread queue of ancient eastern European women patiently waiting outside.

Come on guys, why are you even bothering?

I'm Demotivated :o)

2010-02-10T13:27:00.005+04:00

Today I have received a couple of those motivational posters via email that bring a smile to your face, must be in the same group as Muscat Mutterings!
But there are companies and people out there that do an important service and take the business of motivating the rest of us very seriously.
My personal favorite are these guys

Smile, it's almost the weekend................for some of us al least

Taking the Mickey?

2010-01-31T08:03:00.004+04:00

Given that Oman Air had a really calamatous training exercise last November(see Muscat Mutterings and Muscat Confidential), do you thihk that the person in charge of advertising at Muscat City Centre was having a laugh, or are they really that blind?

The Evil Dr. Rabbito

2010-01-12T16:51:00.012+04:00

So in the last few weeks we have seen some pretty unusual rain. Not that it is blue or yellow with pink dots or anything, just that there has been so much of it.

The first downpour was a couple of weeks before Christmas and lasted for four days. Fortunately we had prior warning, (I saw some clouds coming) and had time to put the roof up on the car.
So I set off for work the next day expecting trouble on the roads but it seemed that a lot of people chose to stay home instead. It wasn’t until I turned off to Sultan Qaboos University that I saw a flowing wadi. As per usual, cars were backed up on either side with people assessing the conditions and watching carefully those who chose to drive through the flowing waters. I myself watched and waited for a good ten minutes before deciding it was safe enough to cross. I stuck the jeep into 4Low and with a little trepidation eased the jeep into the water.
Everything was going swimmingly until I bumped into a couple of rock about half way across and the jeep came to a complete standstill. Arghhh!! Poo Pants etc. WHAT HAD HAPPENED???? Fortunately panic didn’t set in, I didn’t open the door and let the water in and I didn’t stall the engine. After the initial shock, I realized that I had somehow slipped out of 4Low and try as I might couldn’t get it back, switching to 4Hi I was able to carry on again, ffffeeeeeewwwweee! So I carried on with the journey through the water, heart pumping somewhat faster, face considerably redder but somewhat relieved none the less.
Wadi watching appears to be a national pastime in Oman, so I hope that my performance was well received amongst the copious amounts of spectators that morning and that they weren’t too disappointed by my recovery???

It may all seem amusing in hindsight, but driving through fast flowing water is not to be treated lightly; a friend of a friend lost his life trying to save an Omani family whose saloon car had got stuck in a fast flowing wadi on the very same day. It can be genuinely frightening to see the power of the water in motion, but underneath the surface, large rocks are on the move that will pummel anything in their path.

The rain provided us with another opportunity in that we got to test out the ‘new’ old house. Previously in our ‘old’ new house the rain would allow us the opportunity to host the unexpected attraction of an indoor waterfall, all the way from the third to the ground floor (Everyone should experience this at least once in their life). Conversely, the ‘new’ old house was pretty much watertight, with only one minor leak at the door to the roof, thereby denying us the pleasure of an impromptu water feature, what bliss!
Becky told me of a friend’s house on a newly completed section of the Wave, whose back wall was one complete water feature, not what you would expect from a brand new house built by the No.1 contractor in the country.
Our ‘new’ old house may be a little tired around the edges but I bet it will age better than the new ones.
Recently, someone at work tried the “But this is Oman, what do you expect??” excuse on me to try and excuse bad workmanship, I was not a very happy bunny prior to this, so after the steam had stopped coming out of my ears, I politely explained that they would have to re-do the work (and continue to re-do it) until such time as they did it properly. Early indications are promising!

As the official holiday for his Majesty’s Birthday had been moved to coincide with the Islamic calendars’ New Year, I think the celebratory street lighting had stayed up a little longer and closer to Christmas. Just so that no one got confused why they were up in the first place, the workmen got them down a week or so before Christmas day. Still, it did help to get one in to a more festive mood, I think I have grown so accustomed to LuLu’s all year light round show that I no longer notice it.

There was a fair amount of talk on different blogs on whether or not it was appropriate for Muslims to wish Christians ‘a merry Christmas’, it is not something I had ever thought about before and I was really surprised by some of the comments. I recommend you have a read of this post and comments on Dofari Gucci’s Blog.

Well, this Christmas our goose was cooked thank to Al Fair’s (Not so fair?) pricing. Last year we had friends over and so we organized a large goose for the princely sum of RO 45 or there abouts. This year with just the two of us and the two boys, a small goose was the order of the day, or so we thought.
However, at just under RO 13 per kilo and a minimum weight of 5 kilos, meant a minimum price tag of RO 65, which is equivalent to One Hundred and Four Pounds Sterling!!!! A little too rich for my taste, I am afraid.
So it was CarreFour that eventually supplied us with a far more reasonably priced duck for our Christmas family lunch.

Christmas morning began with the boys sleeping in a little, which was an unexpected surprise, and when they did wake (Oscar was full of Christmas Cheer, NOT!) there was some confusion as to why Santa had left an extra stocking by the tree. Even more confusing was that it was filled with dog treats and dog toys. However, common sense soon prevailed and it was decided that there had been a North Pole admin error and that it was probably meant for our friend’s dog ‘Harley’, although I suspect Jacob felt a little crestfallen.
The traditional breakfast of scrambled eggs, smoked salmon and a small glass of bubbly, was forgone this year for bacon sarnies, brown sauce and big mugs of tea, yummy :o)
Being suitably sated, the serious business of present opening began, with young Oscar doing extremely well on the aircraft front, much to his delight. Needless to say that both of the boys did extremely well on the present front, with gifts from family and friends, near and far. It was at the very end that Jacob picked up a festively decorated bag and began to remove copious amounts of tissue paper from within. Deeper and deeper he delved until with a puzzled (but extremely short lived) look on his face he pulled out a little red dog collar. This look rapidly evolved into an enormous grin and he continued to pull out more tissue paper until he found a photo of a little brown chocolate labrador with a message asking if the puppy (called Biscuit) could come to live with us.
It wasn’t long before the realization that Jacob’s longest standing wish had finally come true and boy, what a moment that was!

Christmas lunch was a success with both of the boys surprising us by tucking in to their food with gusto, and as per usual there were plenty of left-overs to facilitate several days worth of bubble and squeak. Becky had clearly stated her intention not to cook for the next three days and we were not disappointed.

Thankfully, despite Omantel’s best efforts we were able to share our celebrations with our families back home, via the wonders of modern technology and some free software, and introduce them all to Biscuit.

So despite the miles apart we had a very Merry Christmas and we hope you did too.

And finally to the name of this post, the Evil Dr. Rabbito.
I don’t quite remember when or how it happened, but it has everything to do with bedtime cuddly toys. Jacob had the traditional bear (who has the surprisingly deep and meaningful moniker of “Bear”), whilst Oscar has a long eared rabbit, the result of a lost argument in the Kingston branch of John Lewis department store a couple of years back.
Now at some point in the intervening years, the rabbit gained first, the name of “Rabbit” which then evolved into “Dr. Rabbito” and finally reached the ultimate title of “The Evil Dr. Rabbito”.
He appears to have a quasi East European accent, ostensibly due to my enjoyment of Phineas and Ferb, with megalomaniacal tendencies and a desire for a good nights sleep before hatching yet another diabolic plan to take over the world.

I’m not sure if it is appropriate to have a warm fuzzy feeling as my two and a half year old son apologizes to this rabbit for not going to sleep and, agreeing to demands for hugs and no further interruptions with a sleepy “OK Dr. Rabbito, I’m Sorry”, what do you think??

Happy New Year!

2009-12-16T16:56:00.002+04:00

To all our readers on the occasion of the Holy Prophet's Hijra Anniversary and the new Hijri year 1431 A.H. we wish you a very HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!
For those of use in Oman and the middle east in general, make the most of the three day weekend and, for those of you back home I guess you'll have to wait a little longer for your holidays to arrive!
As it is Jacob's birthday on Saturday we will be celebrating the new year with a party, seven years old already, can you adam and eve it????

The Holiday's Are Coming

2009-12-04T18:17:00.004+04:00

Well actually - technically they have just finished - but what I mean is the Christmas holidays are coming !!!

We have just had the most wonderful week off. We have been cycling, swimming, playing football and generally being outside as much as we possibly can. The weather is just beautiful. A bit cloudy, a bit sunny, cool in the morning, warm in the afternoon and just lovely in the evening. The boys have had a fabulous time and frankly I'd be happy if we had another week off. Sadly it is back to school tomorrow and I know life is going to be mad between now and Christmas. We've got lots of Christmas stuff to do as well as Jacob's Birthday, so busy, busy, busy. We are planning on going camping for New Year so that will be a lovely break.

I have an early picture of the boys Christmas present - it is a surprise so shhhhhhh don't tell them.

They are going to go mad when they find out what they are getting - Jacob has been nagging me for a dog for three years now ! We decided that the time had come to let him have one. So little Biscuit will be joining our family on Christmas morning. I can't wait to see their faces when they realise we are getting a puppy, it's going to be a kodak moment for sure !

So preparations for Christmas are afoot - we have spent the last couple of afternoons' decorating the house. We have put up two Christmas trees, lots of Christmassy ornaments and candles, baubles and parephanalia - but somehow it just doesn't seem Christmassy to me. I just think if you have grown up in the UK where Christmas is supposed to be on the chilly side - a warm Christmas just doesn't feel like Christmas no matter how hard you try. Add to that the fact that there is virtually zero Christmas decoration here and well as you can imagine it's difficult to get in the Christmas spirit. Still every year we try and we do a pretty good job I think - it just means that you have to go to virtually every Christmas event going - tiring, but worth it !

So here is a piccie of the boys getting in the Christmas mood after we had decorated the tree yesterday afternoon.

Well it's upstairs for the boys for a nice bath before bed and then school in the morning. Night night x

Busy Day

2009-11-25T16:03:00.004+04:00

So today was the last day of school before the lovely Eid holidays. I can tell you - we all need this holiday really badly - life has been so busy recently and it's going to get worse as we head into the run up to Christmas I know so a week to take some time to relax all together is going to be wonderful. We are planning to do very little, other than go to the beach, go cycling, play in our new and lovely garden and generally just have a bit of time for chilling - I can't wait. I told Jacob he looked knackered today and he said "I am so tired" now this is so unusual for him, usually he would say "no, I'm not tired at all, can I stay up late tonight ?" even if he had bags down to his knees so for him to admit defeat is serious ! Oscar - well he is a duracell bunny and will just keep going no matter what. James and I are certainly worn out James hasn't made it past 9 o'clock the last two nights before giving in and going to bed and I'm not much better.

Anyway, today being the last day before the holiday, school decided to make sure that it was action packed for us !! So this morning I went to the beach in the company of sixy odd six and seven year olds for plenty of sandcastle builing. I have to say they had a fabulous time, many many sandcastles were built and much fun was had - they really really enjoyed it and surprisingly, so did I !!! So here is Jacob on the beach building his sandcastles.

After this it was a quick dash from Qurum beach back to Azaiba to collect Oscar from nursery, take him home have a quick lunch and then back to school for an exhibition that Grade 1 were putting on to show the houses that they had all built for their Dream House project. They were amazing. All of them, I can't believe that children of their age produced such fabulous stuff, the thought that had gone it to it all was awesome. Jacob had made a crab house with search light antenae - the idea being that you can search out intruders with your lights and then pick them up and throw them in the bin with you very long pincers !!! do you think he's a bit security concious ?!!! It was great fun anyway and they were all so proud of themselves. Here is Jacob with his finished creation !

So happy holidays to those that have them and see you soon.

National Day, YAAAY!

2009-11-18T08:22:00.003+04:00

Congratulations to his Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said al Said and the people of Oman on the occassion of the 39th National Day, and thank you for having us here another year!

Teething Troubles

2009-11-09T11:01:00.005+04:00

Well what a busy time October has been, now I have a chance to say thank you to everyone that helped us out in the month!

It all began with our friend Jo’s arrival in town in order to help us celebrate our 40ths.
Jo is a regular reader of the blog (So she says), but is far too busy or important ;o) to comment. Shame on you Jo, go to the back of the class!

Jo joined Becky and me on the hunt for a new house and was there when we finally found it. She was also present when I lost it with an agent due to that company’s complete incompetency and personal attitude, in Jo’s words ‘I have never seen James so angry’ I can’t say I have either!
Putting that aside, I would like to say the first big ‘THANK YOU’ to Nicole at Cluttons for listening to us, understanding our requirements and most importantly, remembering us at the crucial moment, a job well done, brilliant.

And with all of that my Parents arrived just in time for the ‘Partay’.
We had arranged for Andy Pyzer of Hi FM repute to DJ for us and the guys at the Dolphin Village to provide the venue and the food. There were the usual moments beforehand, ‘If a tree falls down in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?’, in our case it was, ‘If you hold a party and invite lots of people, will anyone come?’.
Whilst I’m on a philosophical mind set, did anyone see that someone is actually planning on conducting the Schrödinger’s cat experiment?? COOL!!
Fortunately for us a lot of people did turn up (Or I would have been eating left-overs for a month), and we spent the night talking, eating and dancing.
Andy did a great job with the music considering the immense pressure he had been placed under, Becky had warned him of dire consequences if he were to play music of a certain era or anything else not of her liking.
The guys in the kitchen served up some absoloutly delicious food, plenty of curry, so I was happy (Should have had a doggy bag at the end of it), and the guys in the club kept the drinks flowing. So a big ‘Thank You’ goes out to Andy and the guys of the Dolphin Village for making the party such a great success!
Oh, and a last ‘thank you’ for the party has to go to the lovely lady who got up and danced with me at the end of the evening, I have no idea who you are, but I do hope you enjoyed yourself, photos anyone?

The following week my parents took off down to Salalah for a couple of days. Reports came back that they had a lovely time with a couple of trips out to see the tail end of the Khareef and walks along deserted beaches. The Crown Plaza was completely deserted!
For those of you that don’t know, the Khareef is the wet season in the South of Oman, when everything is lush and green. I must say that one of my favorite photos is on the header of Dhofari Gucci’s blog.
I suppose most people think of the Middle East as one big sand box, but Oman is nothing like that, it is just so diverse and I really love that about it (More on this in another post me thinks). It is also very small in some ways, one of these experienced whilst out shopping on my parents return from their trip. We happened to be in a certain shop frequented solely by expats when we bumped into our friend Bernie, at which my mother instantly remembered having bumped into her on the deserted beach in Salalah. Small world, and even smaller when we pointed out that they had previously sat beside each other (and subsequently both forgotten) a year ago at a friend's party in Al Azaiber! I am glad to see that I am not the only one who has trouble remembering people names and faces.

So back in Muscat my father was starting to get itchy fingers, not one to sit around idly, a job was in order. We had a new house to prepare before we moved, and the garden had a dead and very prickly hedge that had to come out.
We set to work with shovels and forks and, after much sweat and a little blood, we had removed a quarter of it.
The following day, already feeling the effects of our previous day’s exploits there was little enthusiasm for more of the same and so we struck upon the idea of employing the jeep to do the hard work. It was still hard work, but oh so much more rewarding!

The benefits of this impromptu makeover was a far larger garden and additional street parking at the front of the house. So with just a few roots left to get rid of, we are planning to grass the dirt areas and have a real garden for the first time since leaving England.
By the end of the weekend, what with all the jobs inside the house as well, my parents were exhausted. A day of rest around the pool at the Dolphin village was called for before their inevitable flight back to Blighty.
A big ‘Thank You’ to my mum and dad for all your hard work and we really loved having you over, you’ll need to come back next year to reap the rewards of your labours.

A funny thing happened on the way to the forum, (Boom Boom)when I received a call from Al Hamry Post Office……

PO – “Are you James Michelle Smith, Old Company Name, PO Box XXX, PC XXX?
Me – “Actually it’s Michael, and I changed companies and PO Box over a year ago”
PO – “??????”

Realizing I had just inadvertently confused the issue, I quickly backtracked…..

Me – “Yes”
PO – “We have package from Hong Kong. We are closed, come next week”

Now this had my brain racing, I had changed jobs and addresses quite some time back and some time prior to that a parcel from Hong Kong had indeed gone missing.
At the time I had been fortunate in being able to ask the help of the Post Master General of Oman Post and, with the help of his staff they had tracked the package back to a forwarding warehouse in Singapore.
It was in Singapore that it went astray, I was assured that it had not been stolen, simply mislaid (Probably picked up with other parcels and shipped to America or other unknown destination) and some time in the future it would show up.
I can’t say I shared this optimism and I guess I wrote off any chance of seeing my parcel delivered.
Imagine my surprise when I got to the post office in Ruwi to find it really was my long lost package, arriving in Oman a full two years and two months after it was sent!
The guys at the post office couldn’t believe it and I had to show them the post mark to back up my story. This elicited much laughter and comments that it must have tralled via donkey mail.
I would like to point out to everyone that in general, if you have lost something in the post, it is more than likely that it is NOT Oman Post’s fault, but more likely that of the people in between. As Oman is not a major postal hub parcels and letters are often dropped off at forwarding points around the globe waiting for enough post to justify a full flight to Oman.
One very sound piece of advice is to have your telephone number written below your postal address and then you too may get an unexpected telephone call from a post office somewhere in Oman.

A milestone in our family history was reached shortly before we moved house.

Jacob lost his first tooth!!! This issue had been bothering him for some time as everyone in his class at school, other than him, had already lost at least one. His other concern was whether the tooth fairy would get lost as we were just about to move.
Fortunately the lady came through and Jacob woke the next day to find ten, crisp one hundred baisa notes nestled under his pillow, Phew!!!

So the day of the move was upon us and at nine am, six men and a truck arrived to shift all our worldly possessions to six streets away. My best laid plans flew out the window as I struggled to keep up and just when it looked like it would all go horribly wrong, our friends turned up to lend a hand.
In the space of a day we had dismantled all our furniture, packaged our belongings, ran it around the corner, reassembled and mostly unpacked it all. No mean feat, but we couldn’t have done it without everyone’s help.
So a big ‘Thank You’ goes out to Gael and Andrew, Olivia and Chris and especially Martin and Andrea who kept us going ‘till the bitter end and even went and collected the ‘thank you’ dinner I had promised them!

Becky and I spent the next two days putting the house in order and discovering all the little problems associated with a ‘new’ old house. Our new landlord ‘Saif’ showed his colours early on by brining guys around to fix the problems as soon as we had identified them, even mucking in and fitting manhole covers himself!
Oscar gave us one small hiccup, when he surreptitiously turned off a hither to unknown valve, thereby cutting off our water.
Becky called the water company out, “Sorry, not our problem mate!”, so she organised a water tanker which pumped water up to the tanks on the roof, still nothing. And so I left work early to attempt to solve the problem.
After much head scratching, (deap in thought that is, not head lice) I found the valve and switched the water back on.
I also, thanks to Oscar’s shenanigans, discovered a blocked pipe that had prevented us from making use of the tankered water, Well done Oscar!

Finally, I would like to say that Jo had a lovely time with us, but as she never comments, I couldn’t really say! ;o)

Bearing it all

2009-10-27T11:08:00.000+04:00

This week I’ve gone topless.
It’s so liberating running around Muscat with no top on. The weather is beautiful, the temperature just right, the sun is shining and not a cloud is to be seen in the sky. Occasionally you get the odd look from people in the street, but it is worth it.
The only down side are the midges first thing in the morning.
Hopefully I won’t have to put my top back on until April next year (unless it rains of course)!

This is the perfect time for a soft top on your car……….Huh? what did you think I was talking about??????

Hot pursuit

2009-10-21T09:10:00.004+04:00

Just a short one today.
Driving in the vicinity of The Wave this morning on my way to work, I spotted Muscat’s finest in a brand new blue and white Dodge Charger!

Quite a change from the boring old fords; were the police lying in wait to pounce upon some wide boy avoiding the traffice jams by using the hard shoulder as his own personal lane? or simply waiting for Dunkin’ Donuts to open up in the Al Bahja complex?? We may never know….

But if the Royal Oman Police are considering changing their fleet of vehicles, maybe they should wait for Ford’s purpose built police car (Codenamed E7) to be launched.

A little note to Sythe, sorry we didn’t manage to continue with our conversation last night, you went to answer the door and I went to bed, those are the results of incompatible time zones I guess. Still I’d be interested to hear who thinks I’ve left Oman. We will be offline for a short while soon, as we are moving house this weekend and I have yet to deal with Omantel, but don't worry, we haven't left town.

Oh, and if you happen to be looking for Dunkin Donuts in Markus Al Bahja, I'm not sure there is one yet, I was only trying to 'enforce' an old stereotype, so don't shoot me ;-)

Googletastic

2009-10-19T10:17:00.004+04:00

There's a story in our family about the exploits of my Great Aunt Helen (My Grandfather's Sister in Law) and as my parents have been visiting for the last two weeks it came up in conversation one night.

The story was this: Helen and Bill were flying out of Sydney Australia by flying boat, when one of the planes floats fell off. The captain, wanting to avoid a disaster asked for volunteers to climb out inside the opposite wing in order to counter balance the aircraft. The first people out into the wing were the co-pilot, Helen and Bill at which point an argument ensued. It would appear that volunteers were expected to be men only and Helen was politely asked to return to the cabin with the other ladies, Helen refused in her own particular way and stayed put much to the consternation of the flight crew.
Well they made it back safely, went on their trip to Hobart and, upon their return to Sydney, Helen to her great embarrasement, was met with a ceremony where the Captain of the stricken flying boat presented her with the aircraft's log book.

Given that this was all we knew, which in itself may have been embellished over time and countless tellings, I decided to do a quick search on google and typed in "helen smith flying boat sydney".
You can imagine our surprise when at the top of the results was this article from the Melborne news paper "The Age" dated March 8th 1955.

The internet is a wonderous invention and hats off to the guys and girls at Google for allowing us all to make the most of it.

Here Be Dragons

2009-10-04T15:44:00.013+04:00

So it has been a pretty quiet Ramadan for the family this year. Once Becky and the boy’s had returned from Bali, the focus was on finding a new house and general day to day chores before the arrival of Eid.
Ramadan is a tricky time to get anything done, the Omani’s fast from sun up to sun down and as a result have very little energy, even though everyone works reduced hours! One unusual result of one month worth of fasting is that a lot of people put on weight.
Mostly this is attributed to eating a lot of sweets, carbohydrates etc., binge eating and completely screwed up body-clocks.
So if we have any Omani readers, who have put on a few pounds over the holy month, have a look at the following link to see how not to put on the weight next year….maybe!

After almost four (mostly happy) years in the same house, we have decided to move, predominately due to two small boys and a distinct lack of outside space. As the boys have grown it has become obvious that they need to be playing outside far more. However, with a garden table and chairs, trampoline, paddling pool and climbing frame there is not enough room to swing a cat (and I have tried on a couple of occasions).
So we, ahem! Becky mainly, have been scouring Muscat for a house with a garden (or paved area) of a not too significant size for the right price. This is no easy task, as the general rule of construction is to fill your plot of land to the brim, leaving only just enough room to park your car on it’s side!

Given the Ramadan go slow issues, it has been a somewhat frustrating experience. As we have had to give three months notice to the current landlord, we have had to place ourselves in the unenviable position of being potentially homeless….eeek!
Fingers crossed that we can find ourselves a good home and just as importantly a good landlord in the time allotted. And a big ‘Shukran’ (Thank You) to Ali and Zuanna for being such good landlords.

Speaking of troubles during Ramadan, I had to re-register Becky’s car with the Royal Oman Police (ROP) which is a bit like paying road tax in the UK only cheaper. In years gone by, this has been a trial at the best of times, let alone throwing Ramadan into the mix. Now that I work in Al Khoud, it was easier for me to go to the new ROP offices at Seeb, opposite the airport, than brave the traditional bun fight at death valley road.
Wow!!!! What a pleasant experience, the police officers were efficient, informative an good humored, and not a hint of a bundle or queue jump to be seen. I was in and out within twenty minutes, a personal best and if I am not mistaken a new world record!!! The only downside was having to pay Becky’s two speeding tickets.

Their website is quite useful for keeping track of your tickets, especially when you want to point out where and when the offence was committed.....possibly leading to questions from your spouse such as "Just what were you doing at 3am in Ruwi???"

So what is going on with the schools and swine flu? Jacob went back to the ABA at the end of August, but Oscar’s nursery only managed to open for a week before being ordered to shut by the government. They will be lucky to open in November and it is rumoured that some schools may stay shut until the new year!!!
Not trying to criticise, but what is better, send children into a learning environment where continued monitoring of their health is easily achieved, or giving them an extended holiday so that they can mix with everyone and their dog at shopping malls, cinemas, playgrounds etc. or even better, go back abroad, with absolutely no way of controlling the situation?
Whilst the ABA have reported a few cases, one of them in Jacob’s class, the situations has been contained and the school has kept all the parents informed. Unfortunately, Oscar has been bored out of his mind and cannot understand why he can’t go to school each morning like his big brother. And then you have the schools and nursery’s who are not able to operate, therefore not charge fees, and as a result not pay their staff! Not such a fun holiday after all, is it?

It has been during this time that Oscar has become fixated with planes, along with cars, motorbikes and anything else mechanical. He recently drove Becky mad, asking to see clips of airplanes on the computer, after I showed her a video of the big Russian transport planes that have been taking off out of Muscat recently. That and requests for trips out to Seeb airport to watch passenger jets taking off, he knows what he likes that boy.
On trips in the car, we will have running commentaries of “look, mummy car!” and “mummy, car!” for long periods as well as the occasional “Digger, Wow!”. Given the quantity of cars and diggers in Muscat, this can get rather old hat very quickly.

Since the weather has cooled Jacob has got out his bicycle, and Oscar has been desperately trying to pick it up and ride off into the sunset. As a result we have had to get him a bike of his own and now he only has to work out how to pedal. Being responsible parents, the use of a cycle helmet has been well and truly instilled into his subconscious and he will not go near the bike unless it is properly buckled up.

The ‘boys’ went out for our first cycling trip the other weekend in order to test the weather. Oscar was none too pleased at having to be a passenger on daddy’s bike, rather than ride his own, but we could have been out all weekend if we had let him have his way.
Jacob had a slight spill, no damage done other than his pride and was soon away again without a backwards glance. The outing showed how much he had grown, as his knees are up around his ears whilst pedaling. Note to self, must raise his saddle, I’ll have to do it on the quiet or he might have a melt down akin to the time that I adjusted his stabilizers!

Another first for Oscar was a trip to the cinema at Shatti, we kept quiet that he was below the minimum age of three and bought tickets to see ‘Slightly Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs’, which was a great laugh for children and adults alike.
Oscar was totally engrossed ensconced in his seat with a beaker of apple juice and quietly munching his way though a packet of M&M’s. I had control of the popcorn, and it was quiet amusing to watch him raise his head with mouth open and eyes firmly fixed on the movie, all the while emitting a low ‘ahhh’ indicating another mouthful of popcorn was required. Occasionally, I would delay acquiescing to his ‘requests’ purely to see the indignant look he would give me as a result of having to take his eyes off the movie….priceless!

So with the arrival of Eid the government and therefore the company, gave me four days off and some serious family time.
Normally, Muscat is mobbed by visitors from the other Gulf States, mainly Abu Dhabi and Dubai, but this year it was noticeably quiet, presumably as a result of press reports that Muscat was a hot bed of swine flu cases.
We had several trips to the pool, a trip to the cinema and a day diving for me.
I went off with our friend Andrew for a dive on the wreck just south of Bandar Koran, and for me it was special as I reached my 100th logged dive. It has taken long enough, but there you go, I finally made it, next job is to finish my dive leader training.
We descended down to the deck of the ship and switching on our torches, I led Andrew into the inky blackness of the ship’s hold. I love it, the only way you know that you are actually moving is to shine your torch on the side of the hull. A little over half way, depending on visibility and you can see the faint glow of the exit ahead. Even though he had done it before, in his own words Andrew was ‘freaked out’ by the experience, a better torch is definitely on his Christmas list.

As ever, I played around with the camera trying different setting etc and I especially enjoyed being circled by an inquisitive young turtle on the second dive.

Our last day’s holiday was spent driving up Jebel Shams to the highest point of Oman.
Given that we have lived here for four years, it is a pretty poor show to admit that this was the first time we have gone to this ‘must see’ part of Oman. I believe that the canyon is the second largest in the world (Not sure what it is second to, as the Grand Canyon in the US is not technically a canyon, whereas King’s Canyon in Australia is).
It is a three hour drive from Muscat to the top, with some suitable spectacular sights on the way.

Whilst I agree that the road was steep in places, I would question whether the incline on sign was a little exaggerated!
To keep Oscar occupied and engrossed in the journey we told him (and continually reminded him) that we were heading to Dragon Mountain (Dora the Explorer), which he really enjoyed. Looking down into the canyon he would animatedly point out the location of the dragon's cave! Far down below us we could see a group of hikers making their way up the side of the canyon on foot, rather them than me, and I offer you the chance to play ‘Where’s Wally’ in the photo below.

A short lunch near the village at the top, a chat with the locals and a small attempt at helping them with their cottage industry and then it was time to head home. A really good way to finish off the hols, must try harder to explore the rest of Oman.

Congratulations You've Won????

2009-09-13T08:48:00.003+04:00

MARKETPLACE MIDDLE EAST UNDER DIFC/ DUBAI INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL CENTER YOUR GATEWAY TO GROWTH AND MTN MIDDLE EAST NETWORK
IN COLLABORATION WITH INTERNATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATION UNION
PO Box 702101, Dubai Media City - United Arab Emirates

DUBAI INTERNATIONAL AND MTN MIDDLE EAST NETWORK ECONOMIC FORUM FOUDATION LOTTERY PROGRAM PROMOTION OFFICIAL PRIZE NOTIFICATION
We are pleased to inform you of the result of the just concluded annual final draws of the DIFC/ DUBAI INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL CENTER AND THE MTN MIDDLE EAST NETWORK ECONOMIC FORUM FOUDATIOND MIDDLE EAST NETWORK In Collaboration With INTERNATIONAL TELECOMMUUICATION UNION LOTTERY PROGRAM PROMOTION.

Your email was among the 20 Lucky winners who won $950, 000.00(Nine Hundred and fifty Thousand United State Dollars) each on the MARKETPLACE MIDDLE EAST UNDER DIFC/ WORLD ISLAMIC ECONOMIC FORUM FOUDATION PROMO dated as stated above.
This is from the total price of $20 million United State Dollars shared among the 20 lucky winners.
You are therefore approved for a lump payment of $950, 000.00 (Nine Hundred and Fifty Thousand United State Dollars)
However the results were released today and your email attached to ticket number ( MM001A12-543E343CN ,and Deposit Reference no: FSLWA-6545-ES92R) and ballot serial number (080-17) was among the winners.
The online draws were conducted by a random selection of email addresses from an exclusive list of 290,600 E-mail addresses of individuals and corporate bodies picked by an advanced automated random computer(TOPAZ and ITU) search from the internet. Henceforth,no tickets were sold but all email addresses were assigned to different ticket numbers for representation and privacy.
This Lottery is approved by the WORLD ISLAMIC ECONOMIC FORUM FOUDATION AND DUBAI INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL CENTER Game Board and also Licensed by the International Association of Game Regulators (IAGR).
This lottery is logistic and strategic way to promote our market expansion worldwide thus, we intend to sensitize thepublic.

As indicated by the computerized selection machine,your lucky winning number falls within our Asia booklet representative office in HONG KONG/CHINA as showed in the coupon.
In other to claim your $950,000.00 prize,which has been deposited in a nominated SECURITY FINANCE FIRM with your email address that won you the prize,you will have to fill the form below and send it to the manager of THE SECURITY FINANCE FIRM IN ASIA for verification and then you will be inform on how your outstanding winning prize of the total amount of $950, 000.00 will transfer to you.

NAME:.......................
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Please you are advised to complete the form and send it immediately to manager of the finance security firm through email for prompt collection of your
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OFFSHORE COMMISSIONS & ACCESS STORAGES
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MR. FREEMAN GOE
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Telephone: +86 13544246807

For security reasons,you are to keep all the lotto information confidential especially your ticket number and ballot number.
This is part of our precautionary measure to avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse of this program. *Staff of MARKETPLACE MIDDLE EAST UNDER DIFC/ISLAMIC ECONOMIC FORUM FOUDATION Lottery Company are not to partake in this Lottery.

Accept our hearty congratulations once again!

Yours faithfully,
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The odd thing is that the DIFC actually exists, maybe I should email them? I can't think that they'll be too happy have their name taken in vain.
You have to wonder who on earth believes these scams, I feel sorry for those people desperate enough to give it a try. I guess we all have seen these lottery scams before, normally sent to friends and family from some trustworth Nigerian politician/businessman(NOT). However, this is the first time I have seen a middle east focus, although invoking the name of Islam cannot be good for business.

I'll think we will pass on this one, how about you?

Life Apart

2009-09-06T11:29:00.012+04:00

So returning back to the heat and humidity of Muscat was a predictable shock, roll on winter.
I had two weeks of normalcy before Ramadan arrived and just under three weeks before the family returned.
Going back to work was not a struggle as the three weeks in Bali had had a definite revitalizing effect on me and, although I had intended to sort out all the little odd jobs around the house, my jet lag was murder. It seemed ages before I stopped waking up at stupid o’clock and wanting to go to bed before it was dark. Predictably the evenings were a complete washout, so I was determined to be active at the weekend.
My first opportunity came thanks to a diving buddy at work, at trip to the Daymaniyats in the hope of seeing a whale shark that had been hanging around. Unfortunately, on the day the weather took a turn for the worse and we were forced to take a rather pedestrian alternative in the opposite direction. Oh well, at least I got to play with my new underwater camera.

A big Thank You to those family members who contributed to my 40th Birthday present, making the purchase of this camera possible. I think you’ll agree that the difference in quality is amazing.
So fired up after a day of diving, I decided to spend the second day of my weekend tidying up and doing odd jobs around the house. An early start meant beating the heat and I had all the outside jobs finished before 9am. I then retreated inside and thought it best to give my workshop a tidy up. I had put all the tools away, swept up and organised every thing on the workbench before tackling an adjustment bolt on the pillar drill. Well, the bolt was tight and when it came loose, my arm came around in a perfect arc at which point I punched the side of the drill housing. Ouch!
I had neatly split my right index finger from knuckle to knuckle down to the bone, which meant a swift trip to Muscat Private Hospital.
The medical staff, spurred from their boredom by the sight of blood, rushed into action and, shortly afterwards I had the unforgettable experience of having a syringe full of iodine injected directly into the cut (without warning). A few choice words later and the doctor arrived and promptly anesthetised the wound (before the iodine might have been better!). Fortunately, I hadn’t damaged the tendons, but I could see that for myself, so six stitches later I was heading home with the instruction that I was to keep the finger dry for at least a week. No more diving for me then, grrrrrrrr #$@*&#$!!!

I am showing the photo again in the vain hope of a little sympathy from more people than just my wife!!!!!!!!!!
Becky, on the other hand (excuse the pun), was feeling the strain of being a single parent in Bali. Being woken each morning at six am by a demanding two year old was taking its toll and, then some thoughtful neighbour decided to open up a night club (8pm – 4am) next door and play REALLY LOUD MUSIC all night.
After three consecutive nights of little or no sleep, it was decided that enough was enough. A new home for the final week had been sourced via a friend of a friend, which turned out to be a little slice of heaven.
The villas had only just been completed and were not officially ready for business, so the stay was to be a ‘shake down cruise’ for the staff.

When you are getting it for a fraction of the official cost, the odd teething trouble is nothing to write home about.
It would appear to be fortunate happenstance that the new villa came with LCD TV’s, satellite and DVD players as, ‘Shock/Horror’ our new MacBook DVD drive (for the new laptops) had mysteriously stopped working trapping a disc inside!!!
Jump forward in time a week and a half, the boys are in bed, asleep and Becky and I relaxing on the sofa at home. I picked up the ‘busted’ drive and plugged it in to my laptop, a couple of ‘whirrs’ then nothing. I scratched my head and tried a couple of ideas, still nothing, the stuck disc would not eject or play. Thinking outside the box and off the wall, I picked up a spare dvd and slid it into the players slot. Imagine my surprise when the player not only picked up the disc but began playing it too!
So the reason that Becky couldn’t play or eject the disc in Bali, was because there wasn’t one in the machine to begin with. Is there something about turning forty that makes technology become automatically incomprehensible???

So the family has now returned home, happy and as brown as berries and a really big surprise is Oscar’s swimming. Only two years and two months old and he is swimming without arm bands. He has also very definite opinions as to what is and, what is not acceptable for him and boy can he pout and scowl!!!!

And since everything (well almost everything) is closed for Ramadan, swimming is our major weekend past time, so Oscar will get in a lot of practice in the coming weeks!

Bali Baby, Yeah!

2009-08-21T19:47:00.020+04:00

So how was the holiday? Well I would have to say, pretty darn good and I certainly didn’t miss the good old Omani summer heat.

We flew out from Muscat in the evening with Etihad, first to Abu Dhabi and then on to Jakarta overnight.
There is an awful lot of good things to say about traveling business (Pearl) class with children, the first being a lounge with free G&T’s. For the short hop north it was your common garden variety big seat, plenty of space, personal service with a smile and your down before you noticed you were up.

It was when we reached Abu Dhabi that the comfort really kicked in, a plush lounge, all the food and drink you desire, spa centre and even, a supervised children’s play room! not that Jacob and Oscar stayed in it for very long.
But it was the next bit that I enjoyed the most…….BEDS!!!
Your own little cubby hole including miniature cinema screen, big soft blanket and pillow, fancy wash-bag and as many nightcaps as one may need, it’s oh so nice to be pampered.

On arrival in Jakarta, it seemed that nothing had changed since we lived there thirteen years ago, was it really that long ago?? The were nostalgic reminiscings as we looked out towards the lush green fields and forests. After a short stop over and a connecting flight, we finally arrived in Denpasar, Bali and a twenty minute taxi ride deposited us all at our little garden villa.

Villa Prana is a set of three villas dotted around a beautiful and well established garden with a communal swimming pool. Capable of housing five families, we and our friends now occupied 3/5ths for the next six weeks. Each villa is basic, with either one or two bedrooms, ensuite semi open air bathrooms (very nice), and an outside dining/lounge area and kitchen.

We began our stay will some serious chillin’ , a trip to the beach, splash in the pool eat, drink and be merry.

For my paltry three week stay, I had a pass for three days diving (courtesy of she who must be obeyed), so with the end of my first week looming, Chris and myself took ourselves off to the East coast of the island for a dive on the USS Liberty. Our other dive buddy, Andrew, proved to be a non runner due to a very icky ear infection.

The lovely Marie from Atlantis Diving sorted us out, with a pick up from the villa, kitted out and transported two and a half hours to Tulamben.
We had a short walk along the shoreline, our air cylinders carried on the heads of some local ladies whose business is carrying kit for lazy divers, before kitting up, walking into the sea and descending on the wreck.

The Liberty was hit by a torpedo from a Japanese submarine during WWII, laden with rubber and rail parts the shipped was fortunately dragged to shallow waters where the cargo was salvaged. This is one of the most popular dive sites in Bali and whilst there is an abundance of wildlife to see, there is also an awful lot of divers and as the wreck is relatively shallow, there are also a lot of newly qualified divers. If you want a quiet dive then I would suggest staying at one of the motels that back on to the wreck and then get up early before the crowds arrive on their day trips. All said, it is a really lovely dive and well worth the journey.
Now that the older boys had had their fun, it was time for the wee nippers to get theirs, unfortunately Becky was feeling ill and a little grumpy, so I took the boys off to Waterbom with the others for some serious play time. I think the success of the afternoon may be easily measured at bed time.

Suffice to say that the boys went out like a light and slept in late the next day.

But what about the ladies I hear you say, when do they get to do their things? The minute we landed, I reply (just a slight exaggeration), Becky, Gayle and Olivia have been out on numerous shopping trips, as well as the odd trip to the local Spa, so everyone has been catered for.

But Bali isn’t just about shopping and having fun, there’s culture too. We organized a couple of minivans to take us on a little tour, with the first stop being the Temple at Tanalot, supposedly a must see, I didn’t really get it (Temple on a rock in the sea that you can’t visit, hmmmm), but hey, been there done it, got the T shirt.

Next stop was the Elephant Safari Park, where I was mildly alarmed by the entrance fee (swiftly admonished by Becky, rightly so). The park has been running since 2000 as a sanctuary and has visitors from Tony Blair to Brad Pitt, can’t say I saw any celebs but the management probably forgot to mention that I was coming.

With very little prompting both Jacob and Oscar were eagerly feeding and petting the elephants, we had to keep a beady eye on Oscar as he wanted to get in amongst them.

After a spot of lunch the opportunity to ride the elephants arrived, and whilst some people may not like it ‘morally’, we wanted the boys to experience this as possibly a once in a life time event. At first Jacob made up all the excuses he could imagine not to get on, but we would not be swayed. A little odd really, he did get on, as did Oscar, they enjoyed every minute of it (I think Oscar would have stayed on all day), and the whole time we swayed back and forth (Boom Boom!). This time we really did get the T shirts!

After leaving the park, we traveled through the town of Ubud in search of the reptile and bird park. It was late in the afternoon and everyone was tired, so it was thought a quick run around to see the Komodo dragon would be enough.

How wrong we were, it proved to be just what we needed to reinvigorate ourselves, as you can see Becky became quite attached to a monitor lizard, Jacob a blue tongue skink and Oscar was particularly fond of a tortoise. The bird park was enthusiastically explored by all the boys and everyone left with a smile on their face despite the fact that the komodo dragons had all been asleep.

And the days rolled on with yet more time lazing by the pool, on the beach or having a bit of retail therapy. Ubud appears to be the cultural hub of Bali so it was inevitable that we would return. Our next big trip was to see the monkeys and temples at Desa Pekraman Padangtegal.

We bought bananas from the sellers just outside and warily followed the path into the jungle. The place had a real Indiana Jones feel to it, a great atmosphere and lots and lots of monkeys.

They can get pretty rambunctious if you tease them or look them in the eye, so best not to and just give them what they want.

The temples or shrines were small but spectacular, a real sense of a bygone era , I don’t think that the boys noticed the statues of daemons eating small children otherwise we would have had a few disturbed nights.

We stopped for lunch at a lovely restaurant with delicioso (Oscar is a confirmed Dora Fan) food that backed on to vibrant paddy fields called the Three Monkeys, before heading into Ubud to wander amoungst the arts and crafts shops. The town is well worth a look see, but very, very touristy.

So it was time to say goodbye to Chris, Olivia and family, who were off to explore Lombok and say hello to a couple of Australian families who were taking their place.

Jacob, Becky, Hamish and Gayle returned to Ubud one evening for a little more culture in the form of Ketchak dancing. The boys were entranced by it all and came back bursting to tell me about what they had seen. Jacob had been let loose with the camera which allowed him to get really expressive with his descriptions of
Given that he is only six, sorry six and a half, he took some pretty impressive photos, maybe a future career path in the offing?

As the end of my holiday was rapidly approaching another trip to the beach was in order, neither Becky or I are particularly fond of the sand, somewhat ironic given where we live, but that was no excuse to stay away.

The boys were enjoying themselves (Oscar eating sand etc.) Becky was relaxing, but I was twiddling my thumbs. I had been playing around with the idea of learning to surf, a few people had mentioned it but no one had done anything about it, so I took the plunge and Gayle agreed to join me. After fifteen minutes of tuition on the beach we headed in to the surf to learn how to body board, much to both our surprise it was no long before we managed to stand up and actually surf!!!

As the above evidence proves, I now have the right to wear the official apparel of a surfer. So there! This is definitely something I could get into, although Becky is not so happy about two sea centric hobbies.

Speaking of which, the following day Andrew, finally infection and cold free and myself went off with the Atlantis dive team for a trip to Nusa Penida.

The first dive, down to a very chilly thirty four meters was to see Mula Mula, or sun fish, which are not only enormous but also very ugly. Strangely enough they are also found in Oman, up at the Musandam peninsula.

The second dive has been on my must see list for a very long time, Mantas.

Like with a lot of eagerly awaited events, you can easily be disappointed, as was the case during the first twenty minutes. The next twenty minutes were a great improvement and really enjoyable, but still falling short of the experience I had been hoping for. It was cold and I considered heading back to the surface with the divers who had used up their allotted air, but for some reason I chose to stay and I am really glad I did.
As the last three of our party hung unmoving in the murky water, I thought to myself, ‘Wow, those two Mantas are big!’ followed shortly after with ‘No, they’re not big, THAT’S BIG!!!!!’.

So I finally had my wish and had a very memorable dive, big grins all round.

So our final day together was spent by the pool and the following morning Andrew and I bade a sad farewell to our respective broods before heading off to the airport.

The joys of business class manifested it self as soon as we stepped on board,

And with a glass of champagne and perfectly attentive Etihad cabin crew, the sun set on a perfect holiday.

Ouch!!!!!

2009-08-19T14:22:00.003+04:00

Silly sod, that's what you get for tidying up. From now on I vow to live with the mess I make.

The holidays are coming, the holidays are coming!!!

2009-07-26T10:40:00.011+04:00

So as I lie back, chillin' beside the pool at our little private villa in Bali I thought I should update you all on the events of the last couple of months.
June went past with very little to talk about, other than a rise in temperatures and humidity and general day to day living. Oscar suffered the indignity of two biting episodes at nursery, the first on the face from a little girl which is still slightly visible a month later. I reckon that she fancies him, so we could class it as an over enthusiastic love bite!
Jacob received a very good school report for the year and as a reward was presented with his very first iPod, oh how times have changed!

But the really big event happened during the closing days of the month with a secondary private affair on the first day of the following month. I refer of course to Oscar's second birthday, in the finest traditions of the British Royal Family we had the public birthday in advance of the private family affair.
Due to unforeseen circumstances, the date of the party had to be changed at the last moment which then coincided with a days diving.
The water was warm enough that I discarded the wet suit and went down in a t shirt and shorts for the second dive. As ever there was an abundance of wildlife to be seen including disturbing a large ray at the beginning of the first dive, numerous snake eels, and a very relaxed turtle.

After two very enjoyable dives with Andrew and Chris at Plug Point and Cave Site, I returned home in time for the party but somewhat too late to assist with the preparations. Needless to say, I was in a certain person's bad books for sometime to come (My Bad).
So a load of children, arrived at our house to play, run around and scream, eat bad but oh so good food and generally wear themselves out in the space of two hours. All topped off with an ice cream birthday cake with Oscar's favorite theme, Dinosaurs.

As every parent believes their children to be superheroes, the best thing since sliced bread etc.. I would like to offer irrefutable evidence that this is really the case with Oscar and will back it up with photographic proof.

As can be seen, Oscar is none too happy at having his secret identity revealed in such a public forum, but hey, if you court the attentions of the paparazzi you have too live with their intrusions no matter what time of day it is.
So the school holidays arrived, and Becky and the boys went off to visit the Sultan's Armed Forces Museum with some friends. Much to my surprise the museum is open on Thursday Afternoons and Fridays as well! This is in complete contrast to the likes of the Children's Museum or the Natural History Museum which as government institutions are only open in the working week and up to Thursday lunch time (About as useful as the proverbial parp in a spacesuit).
The Museum has both inside and outside exhibits and according to Becky is very interesting, well laid out and is staffed by super friendly people, needless to say the boys were in seventh heaven running around, taking photographs and touching everything in sight.

A few days later and we celebrated Oscar's official birthday on the first of July, lots of prezzies in the morning before I headed off to work and a second cake in the afternoon.

Having an older brother has certainly speeded up Oscar's development, he is desperate to catch up to Jacob, shows interest in all things that Jacob does including his toys and is chatting away thirteen to the dozen. His vocabulary, surprises us both and seems to expand on a daily basis our current favorites include, “Oi Watch it”, “Mummy, chocolate milk lets go” “Bless you Daddy” (When I sneeze) and “Where's the Bakugan?” (A Japanese toy/game currently in favour with Jacob and therefore Oscar).
On and aside, Becky and her chums in search of the perfect breakfast and in the traditions of Ladies that Lunch popped down to the Shangri-La for a summer fare thee well coffee morning. In her own words, the food was rubbish, the sausages were not cooked properly, the bacon tasted of fish and the atmosphere was that of a staff canteen, certainly not worth the undisclosed amounts (I assume more rather than less) of hard earned cash that that they charged.
Oh, and the other snippet of news is that Becky and I decided upon our fortieth Birthday presents, bought shipped and delivered from America to our hands (All be it One month early) at considerably less cost than purchasing in Oman.
We are now the very happy owners of two state of the art Macbook Air laptops. Big Grins all round.
So it was time to head off on our hols, details of which I will bore you with another day.

Catching Up

2009-05-24T09:41:00.009+04:00

So April and May have been and almost gone without a peep from us on the blogging front…ooops.
In may ways it has been a time of lowering blood pressure and the stress of the first quarter of the year and getting on with life in general.
At the beginning of April we had the welcome distraction of a two week visit from my sister and her family. Whilst a lot of relaxing by the pool was on the cards, there was also the obligatory big trip. Temperatures had decidedly risen of late and, whilst desert trips and camping at the beach were considered, it was pretty apparent that even a veteran of the summer heat would be melting.
It was Becky however, that had come up with a cunning plan (considerably better looking than Baldric, I might add), a road trip to Dubai!! Not only would my sister’s family get to see this much talked about part of the Middle East, but also have the opportunity to meet up with a old friend, Julie, who had relocated there about a year ago. There would also be the chance for a little bit of shopping as well as fun for all at Wild Wadi and Ski Dubai, and also the chance to see how the global downturn had effected the place.
The trip in two cars was around four and a half hours, a great way to see the enormous differences in landscape between Oman and the United Arab Emirates. The children were brilliant on such a long journey, although it must be said that they were plugged in to dvd players and gameboys for most of it.
It is not often realised that even though you have passed through the border post between the two countries, the road still dips in and out of Oman. It was at the final UAE army checkpoint that Oscar charmed the soldiers to such an extent that they wanted to get him out of the car for a play!

After such a prolonged journey it was only fair that our first port of call would be Wild Wadi.

Much fun was had by all and even Oscar had a go shooting the rapids in a big rubber ring, I can’t say that he was impressed by his parent’s judgement skills by the end of the ride.

As the evening arrived we packed ourselves back into the cars for the short trip to our accommodation. After a little mix up, (regarding who was following who) and a few cross words, the GPS told me that we had reached our destination……. One slight problem, no Star Metro apartment block to be seen!
Tired and ratty is not a good mood to be in whilst navigating Dubai, but eventually, thanks to a very nice convenience store employee, we had a guide to take us to the front door of our rented apartment. It later transpired that the hotels website map was completely wrong!!!
This did not bode well, and it was definitely not the end to our problems. We had booked a three bedroom apartment with www.booking.com only to be shown two adjoining single bed apartments. It should be noted that it singularly impossible to argue with hotel staff when there are clearly only two bedrooms, yet they maintain there are in actual fact three (you are just too stupid to visualise the third).
The solution was for me to go into ballistic mode with a complete overdrive bad cop/good cop routine, with my brother in law Mark taking up the appeasing role.
Eventually the staff were bullied into action, wheeling in two additional beds and turning one living room into the mythical third bedroom.
Julie came up trumps, with delicious take away pizzas and a bottle of blue sapphire gin, cans of tonic and a bag of ice, soothing not only the angry stomachs but also the exhausted brains.
A good night was eventually had by all and the following days were a mixture of shopping, sledging (the snow variety) and a trip to the Über new, extravagant and expensive Atlantis Hotel. Just a quick hop up on the soap box, no matter what the marketing department might say, they are not helping the environment by incarcerating wild dolphins.

“The £950 million Atlantis hotel, which officially opens on Thursday, has been built by Sol Kerzner, a South African hotelier, on the Palm Jumeirah island in Dubai.
It boasts that its dolphin facility – Dolphin Bay – will be the first rescue and rehabilitation centre for injured or stranded dolphins in Dubai.
But the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS) has claimed that 24 bottlenose dolphins, used to stock the pools, were bought from a dealer in the Solomon Islands.
The WDCS claim that the dolphins, which had originally come from the waters surrounding the Solomon Islands, will now be used to entertain guests, who will be able to pay to swim with them. A 90-minute "shallow water interaction" experience with the dolphins costs visitors from around £75.
The row follows an order issued last month by the government of the United Arab Emirates to free a 13ft whale shark from a huge tank in the lobby of the 1,539-room hotel, after an international outcry.
Environmentalists claimed that the owners of the Atlantis hotel had disregarded international permit laws after capturing the shark in shallow waters off the Gulf coast in August and then used it as a display for hotel guests."

I was surprised by Dubai, not so much by the reduction in cars and people which must be said was a welcome relief, but the way business was carrying on regardless. Unlike Muscat, there didn’t appear to be any major sales, or price reductions, and the shops, restaurants and hotels seemed unbothered by the downturn in business.
In all honesty, the more I go to Dubai, the less I like it, and with Ikea announcing their immanent arrival in Muscat, I find there are fewer reasons to go. Now, if they would only build a Wild Wadi here, we would never need to go to Dubai again!
All said and done, it was good for my sisters family to see Julie as well as experience Dubai and we all had a lovely time just getting away from ‘it’ all.
Back in Muscat and after three and a half years of being resident here, we finally made it to the Grand Mosque, and it was well worth it.

The main prayer hall in particular is stunning with inlaid mosaic, gold and marble, as well as a chandelier that could have come out of Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Flashbacks to Rodney, Del and granddad from Only Fools and Horses gave you a shiver down the spine.

The remainder of the holiday was taken up with trips to the pool with panic tanning for the adults and copious amounts of splashing around for the children (There was also great fun for all on the diving board – although I’m not allowed to show anyone). A quick trip to the Souk, a session with henna for the ladies and a couple of nights out and in the blink of an eye the two weeks were over.

For those of you who remember The Life of Brian, I would just like to say, “He’s not the Messiah, he’s just a very naughty boy!”
Farewell to the Evans for another year!

So I went back to work and the boys went back to school, but it was not long before Jacob and Oscar were off again.
It was Jacob that started it with a fever and a cough, a trip to the doctor followed and a throat infection identified with a course of steroids prescribed. Oscar’s turn next with an on again off again fever, laryngitis and a course of antibiotics. Back to Jacob again, raging fever and a sinus infection. Then just as Jacob had finished with his medication, he picked up a stomach virus(As a result, we suspect, from a trip to McD’s, as a treat after his medically induced incarceration). The poor mite had a raging fever and couldn’t keep down a glass of water. A good portion of Friday was spent at Muscat Private Hospital. As it was the weekend, I was on duty, which was a good thing given that they decided to take a blood test. Jacob has the same phobia of needles as Becky, but with the right coaching and jokes, he pulled through with only the smallest amount of tears. As a reward he got a Power Rangers communicator and some Battle Brawlers for being such a brave boy.
Our one noteable night out (excluding a lovely dinner at a friend’s house) was at the Crown Plaza for the Craic Attack comedy night. As with all comedy, it is an acquired taste, Becky enjoyed herself immensely where as I found the second act more to my liking. The two points of interest was firstly the cost of beer (RO15 or £25 for six small bottles of Budwieser, criminal!) and that Becky got to meet and talk at some length with Nabil al Busaidi

“Nabil al Busaidi has become the first Omani to walk to the North Magnetic Pole. He wrote history when he reached the North Pole on April 29 at 7.45am Canadian time.

Nabil planted the Omani flag on top of the world with the following words: “My name is Nabil al Busaidi, I am the son of Riadh and Salma al Busaidi and I am calling from the North Pole.

“I am the first Omani and the first GCC national to walk to the North Magnetic Pole. I want the sultanate to be proud of my achievement, so today my name is not Nabil, it is Shabab Oman.” The Oman North Pole Expedition team also won the entire Polar Race competing against four other strong teams. It was a close race, especially between Team Oman and its nearest rival. What made the marginal difference was sleep – or lack of sleep.

The rival team stopped to get a few hours’ sleep, but Nabil and the Oman North Pole Expedition team kept going for 27 hours straight, only taking short breaks for food.

The lack of sleep resulted in Nabil and his two teammates, JP and Claire, hallucinating and literally falling asleep while walking, but they reached their ultimate goal and came in as number one.

On his journey from Resolute Bay to the North Pole, Nabil walked over 650km, carrying 50kg of equipment with no support from skidoo, dogs or sledges. The weather conditions have been harsh, with temperatures down to -81°C and winds of up to 100km/h. Nabil fought polar bears, frostbite, large rubble fields and thin ice on his way. There were times when he was uncertain if he would make it back alive. But he conquered every challenge and is now writing history as the first Arab to walk to the North Magnetic Pole.”

Darren Short tried to take over the conversation but was suitably ignored!
So with that final note I would like to say congratulations to Nabil and bid you all adieu until next time.

Erase and Rewind

2009-03-29T14:21:00.005+04:00

So what has been happening?
Well, for almost all of the last two months (since the company handed me my notice) our lives have been on hold and our emotions in turmoil. Now at the eleventh hour, the company withdraw the notice and I am employed again!!!
At first I had mixed feelings, but after a few days contemplation I feel happy with our lot and ready to tackle my work with gusto.
Back at the house, we have had the builders in, due to a major leak that flooded our housemaid’s room. To be honest it was perfect timing, now knowing that we are staying, it has taken us away from being self absorbed and focused our attention on another persons problems.
So Jenny came to tell me that there was an inch of water on the floor of her room and when I went to investigate it was obvious that there had been a long term problem that she had kept quiet about. Grrrr…. I can only fix a problem if I know about it, so speak up, it’s so frustrating!!!!
So, we called our landlord Ali, who is a very nice chap, and soon after the builders came around to fix the problems! Yes, more than one I’m afraid.
This involved gutting Jacob’s bathroom, fixing a hole in the roof slab, replacing a valve to the water tank and completely renovating Jenny’s room.
Like most builders here, they are cutting corners and playing silly buggers, as a result Becky, Jenny and myself are running a tag team for project management. On several occasions I have had to do an irate rant in order to get them doing their work properly. My favourite episode so far was when Becky rang me to say they had reinstalled the bath back to front. All works were stopped until I got home to drag the foreman over the coals. Imagine, a plug up yer bum at one end or a tap in the back at the other, quite frankly I am surprised they didn’t try and install it as a shower cubicle!
As a result, the promised six day programme has now entered its third week, Becky is frustrated as we have guests arriving soon and the house is in turmoil, Jenny just wants her room back, and I would just be happy if they bothered to turn up.
The weekend turned into one long list of jobs, partly because of the builders but also due to prior inactivity on my part. With the immanent arrival of my sisters family in early April, I had a list of jobs around the house and the fitting out of Jenny’s replacement furniture.
Over the two years that Jenny has been with us, we have come to realise that she is a chronic hoarder, I mean she keeps absolutely everything. Therefore with the remodelling of her room, we were resolved to provide as much storage space as possible and, so I organised some carpenters from a friendly contractor to spend their Friday building Jenny some seriously strong fitted shelving units.
Along with my jobs around the house, the last day of my weekend stretched into the night and concluded with varnishing by torch light.
Unfortunately, I expect next weekend to be just as busy.
Speaking of keeping yourself busy, by chance I read an article in the local free rag (the Week) about Aikido in Muscat and recognised one of the people. Actually, recognising people in the paper is like a local sport in a place as small as Muscat and, it is normally a surprise when you cannot identify at least one person.
A couple of phone calls later and I had committed myself to attend my first lesson.

So for the foreseeable future, I will be spending two evenings a week falling over on a regular basis. Oh, and if you were wondering that is not me in the photo, although I suspect if it were, I would be the person in mid air, but no where near as graceful as shown.

Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell

2009-03-14T15:05:00.002+04:00

I’m not feeling well today.
With the change in the weather comes the colds, flu, aches & pains and of course my personal ailment, a sinus infection.
This is a tricky one to spot early as I normally think I have a headache. However, if I don’t it’ll trickle down into my lungs and give me a cough that will last and last and last. The best treatment I have found is unfortunately the least palatable (working on the old adage that medicine must taste bad for it to do you any good), Rhinomer is a sterile salt water solution that shoots up your nose, brings tears to your eyes and makes you gag. Whilst this could never be classed as a pleasant experience, it really does work and with no nasty medication to boot. So within a couple of days I should be as right as rain which beats having a hacking cough for the next month.
Unfortunately, it is that time of year in Muscat, Becky is convinced that Jacob has been coming down with something for the last fortnight and Oscar definitely has a cold. As I said, the trick is catching these things early, because if you let them take hold a trip to the doctors will invariably ensue and they will prescribe the Smarties of the medical world…..anti-biotics.
Oscar is trouble at the moment, but I think the underlying reason is his cold. Two weeks ago we moved him from his cot into a proper bed. You should have seen his face, happy as Larry and proud as punch to be considered a big boy like his brother. Then, a couple of nights ago he decided that it would be ok to repeatedly get out of bed and refuse to sleep!
So last night, after multiple warnings, he was returned to his cot. Well, you can imagine what he thought of that! Tough love, we will see if there is a repeat of these shenanigans tonight.
Jacob, Oscar and myself went out for our usual Friday cycle to the British Embassy and back and, whilst it didn’t seem any hotter, it was noticeably harder with Jacob lagging behind for a large proportion of it. I guess we will have one or two more outings before the bikes are packed away for the summer.

Oscar is in such a hurry to grow up and last week he started school! Becky had carefully checked out the available nurseries, as we didn’t want a repeat of Jacob’s nursery days, paying for a stimulating environment and finding him stuck in a room with a TV, broken toys and disinterested supervision.
Abu Adnams in MQ and Little Gems in Al Azaiber made it on to a short list (Of Two!) with LG offering a place immediately.
So, off he went with lunch box in hand (Becky’s hand really) for his first day of school, was he fazed by such a monumental event? Of course not, he’s a big boy now.

Talking Bluntly

2009-03-05T15:16:00.005+04:00

Ok, so it has been a couple of weeks since I last wrote, but I think I could be forgiven due to the previous events on the job front. Even though I expected it, when the notice came it really knocked the wind from my sails.
Hunting for a new job in a depressed market is no fun, we have been though some major highs and lows and back again, with only a dim light at the end of the tunnel. But on the whole I am very positive about our prospects. As I have searched the feedback has been positive, if a little reserved, but definitely positive non the less. So touch wood, cross every available appendage and hopefully we will have some good news soon. Hedging my bets, I have put a couple of lines on the Euro lottery for this weekend.
We have to say a sad farewell to our neighbours, Winnie and Ramone today as Schlumberger (a big US oil company) has made him redundant. This is something I can’t get my head around, the oil is still there, it still needs to come out of the ground and be sold, so is this another example of corporate greed?
So on to brighter topics, last weekend we went and saw James Blunt in Concert at the Intercontinental Hotel gardens. It doesn’t matter if you love or hate his music, it is important to support the few concerts we have in Muscat, I for one enjoyed myself immensely.

As Muscat is a relatively small community, it is very hard to attract big acts to play here and as a result we are lucky to have two a year. However, if we all support them (whether we like them or not) by buying tickets and going for a ‘fun’ night out, then it will become more commercially viable and maybe, just maybe an act that you really want to see will come to town!
Becky and I arrived a little before eight and as with everyone else, we were subjected to an hour of Darren Short from Hi FM ‘working’ the crowd. Most of us did our best to ignore him.
James Blunt finally put us out of our misery and arrived on stage at nine and was surprisingly witty about his melancholic music. So rather than the caustic comments of lemmings jumping off cliffs, we had FUN!!!!

One person who sadly didn’t enjoy himself was our friend Andrew, recently having had an operation (technically known as Giveanecktome I believe), he is on a liquid diet and not the fun sort I’m afraid. However, on the positive side, he is loosing weight (admittedly much needed) and could soon be referred to as Buff (Wife terminology), though not be me I hasten to add. So chin up Andrew as it is all in a good cause.
Harking back to Hi FM and old Derwood, sorry Darren, why oh why did he have to style himself as a carbon copy of Dr Fox?

Surely one is more than enough for the planet, two of then just adds insult to injury! Becky is particually upset with him as he has hijacked the band Bare Naked Ladies as his ‘latest’ find….the cheek of it!!!
I personally gave up listening to the radio soon after arriving here. Fike on the mike was always fun to hear on Radio Sultanate of Oman but I was normally working at that time. My commute to work coincided with the Business Bulletin, which was always an unbelievably painful assault to the ears.
One show I do listen to is Andy Pyzer’s Friday broadcast, ‘The Retro Show’, don’t be put off by the spammy photo or the lame name.

Andy has put a great show together (if 70’s/80’s music is your thing). Unfortunately, no sorry I mean fortunately his normal witty repartee is toned down for public consumption.
If however, you like your dialogue a tad more colourful then I suggest a Monday night at Dukes Bar in the Crown Plaza, Andy’s Pub Quiz could be referred to as a mild introduction to Tourettes Syndrome, not for the easily offended.

Oh, and finally……..Oscar has had a proper haircut at long last, doesn’t he look grown up?

Ding! Ding! All Change Please!

2009-02-14T14:18:00.007+04:00

Well it has been a busy couple of weeks in the Smith household and we are making the most of the winter weather. Last weekend we were invited to join friends at Sifa beach for a BBQ.
It was our first trip down there in a very long time and our first time on the new Qantab to Yitti road. We packed light, piled into the car and drove down through Ruwi to the Oman Dive Centre roundabout to join the new road. As we passed through Ruwi, I had wistful memories of the steep climb out, but it was time to move on and the new road proved to be smooth, straight and fast. Yitti arrived in the blink of an eye, although a good sense of direction is useful as they haven’t got around to installing signposts yet, maybe next year, in sh’allah.
The road beyond to Sifa remains unchanged, with it’s mountainous curves and spectacular views and I will be interested to see what changes the Municipality will make when the Muriya development becomes a reality.
So we arrived a short while later, parked up on the beach and joined our friends for a swim in beautifully clear, if a little chilly, waters. Yes, that’s right, NO RED TIDE!!!!!

To begin with Sifa was very quiet, but as the day progressed the beach became more and more crowded, I guess as a result of the new road.
When I say crowded, it is all relative, I don’t mean that we were tripping over one another and, if I had whacked a tennis ball as hard as possible with a bat, I would have struggled to hit another group of people. All the same, it was crowded by Sifa standards.

The boys had a whale of a time, in the sea on boogie boards, playing in the sand and knocking a ball around. The only downer was when Jacob got stung by a jellyfish. Fortunately a quick bit of first aid and he was as right as rain. Bloody typical though, months of red tide and with the first sight of clear seas, along come the jelly fish!

On the way home we stopped the car to take a photo of a dhow I had spotted on the way in. Jacob went off to explore whilst I snapped away and came back after a short while with a rock for ‘show and tell’ at school the following day.
Now that we have a decent camera I am determined to rediscover my photography and I would like your opinion as to which version you prefer. Jacob took a copy of the first photo to school in order to expand on his show and tell repertoire.

The bad news for last week, was that I have received notice from my new employers. Typically, only six months after leaving a perfectly secure position with my last company, I find myself job hunting through no fault of my own. So after a week of major highs and lows, I have been buoyed by the prospective opportunities in the market, as they say, keep your fingers crossed and watch this space.

Thursday afternoon we had to get the boys out of the house and Jacob was desperate to ride his bike, so we took a trip down to Shatti and a promenade along the sea front.
Earlier in the day, Becky and I had been out for our regular Thursday morning ‘adults only’ time and experienced a large dust storm enveloping Muscat. Whilst not the experience of Hollywood movies, it was an unusual sight to have such bad visibility with the dust blocking out the normal mountainous sights around the city.

Whilst it was forecast to last for a couple of days, it had fortunately abated somewhat by the afternoon and people were out and about enjoying the cool winter weather. After our walk, we sat outside at Darcy’s Kitchen where Jacob and Oscar had their dinner, before heading home to bed for the boys and off to a friend’s birthday for us grown ups.

The following day, Becky went off in the morning with Oscar for a neighbours baby’s birthday party. I drew the short straw (erhem!!) and took Jacob back to Shatti for another Bike ride. We cycled all the way from Costa Coffee to the British embassy and back over a period of an hour and twenty minutes. That’s a total of eight kilometers which I think is pretty amazing for a six year old that has only just learnt to ride a bike!

If you are into your cycling in a big way, then there is a new shop in town. MIG in Al Khuwair has big names (with some big prices), but is an oasis in the cycling desert of Muscat. Whilst it is only a small shop tucked down the side of an office furniture shop, it stocks high quality equipment including decent cycle helmets. Just take a trip out from the Turkish Mosque near the Radisson, along Street 49 towards Bausher and look out for the Dawood office furniture shop on the right hand side.

So the weekend ended with a trip over to the rugby club to watch Muscat Magpies face off against Dubai in Australian Rules Football. We didn’t get to see the end of the match due to two tired boys but Muscat were receiving a pretty painful mauling at the hands of a considerably younger Dubai team. There is a rematch in Dubai next month for the final, lets hope Muscat fares better then.

As for us, early night all round I think.

Wheely Good Fun

2009-01-31T11:23:00.009+04:00

There have been lots of little snippets of info that I have been saving up for the last couple of weeks which I have not thought about writing about till now, mainly coz my mind has been elsewhere. So excuse me if this ‘Breaking News’ is not that new.

It’s rained! ………Several times now….. and the roof of the jeep has been up and down like the proverbial pair of knickers.
What is it about the rain? Well this is the first true downpour since Gonu, One and a Half Years!!!!! When you live in a hot, dry climate these rainstorms are the equivalent to a sunny day in England, so sorely missed when they don’t arrive.

So as the dark clouds loomed, an expectant shiver of excitement ran through the population and children went out in welly boots, hats, coats and brollies to splash around in the puddles.
As the skies clear, it is the time to look to the mountains. The rains have washed them clean of the accumulated dust and, the colours of the rock stands out so vibrantly that it is a joy to see and always brings a smile to my face.
Now that the new Qantab/Yitti road is complete, my favourite road out of the back end Ruwi is no longer in use, in fact I have been told that it has been closed off (I hope not). This is one of those roads that after the rain, the views and colours of the mountains can really take your breath away. I like it so much that Becky bought me a painting of the view for Christmas a few years back, that way I get to see it every time I come down the stairs!
As a result of the rains, we hopefully have seen the end of the Red Tide. From what I have heard, the phenomenon is believed to have arrived in the ballast tanks of ships from Korea. Whilst, our own red tide occurred and dispersed annually over the period of a few days, this one proved to be far more hardy (lasting a couple of months). The ministries had been monitoring it and calling in experts, doing tests etc. but appeared to be unable to fix the problem and had to let it take its natural course. We hope that Oman has seen the end of it, as it will have major consequences to the tourist industry if it proves to be an annual event.

So, after one and a half years Oscar finally got a haircut. What is it with mothers and their children’s hair?

I had been threatening to take my clippers to his hair for some time now, so Becky eventually succumbed to the inevitable before more drastic action was taken by me. Surprisingly, Becky said it wasn’t as short as she would have liked it.

Our big task this winter has been to get Jacob cycling without stabilisers and at times this has seemed like a mountain of a job to climb. Whilst the promise of a new bike has been Jacob’s incentive, it never really seemed to capture his imagination. We always knew he would be able to do it, what child can’t?, but Jacob always portrayed a negative side no matter what amount of cajoling, encouragement and out and out bullying we heaped upon him.
Due to our busy Christmas and New Years schedule, we hadn’t got any practice in for several weeks, so a quick trip to Ghubra Lake park was organised. Jacob surprised us both by cycling from the get go with very little assistance. We had set his goal at two laps of the circular flower bed near the entrance, and whilst one lap was rapidly covered the second seemed too much with cries of “I can’t do it”, so close and yet so far.
The following weekend we returned to the park, steeling ourselves for a repeat of the previous weekend. Jacob, surprised not only us but also himself, by immediately covering the required two laps but also many more! That afternoon (Friday to us, the equivalent of Sunday in the UK) we took on the formidable task of finding a new bike in Ruwi, surprisingly (and thankfully) all of the shops we open and many bikes were perused and scrutinized, but eventually we finished up with the perfect one from ToysRUs in Markaz Al Baja.
Fast forward to the following weekend, another trip to the park with a new bike and a new Jacob.
‘How about trying to start off yourself, Jacob?’….
‘I can’t do that!’ ….
‘Yes you can, just put the pedal here and push off’ …..
‘Oh…..I CAN DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!’

Within minutes of our arrival Jacob was off cycling all over the park, stopping and starting as though he had been doing it all his life, and a grin stretching from one ear all the way to the other.
So this weekend we went down to the sea side at the British embassy, Jacob on his bike, Becky and I taking turns on mine and Oscar on his tricycle (All with cycle helmets) and we rode all the way to Shatti and back.

So much fun was had that we have decided to get Becky a bike so that at least for the next couple of months we can go out cycling as a family each weekend until it gets too hot.

Just one final note for the post, we had a bit of excitement at the office a couple of weeks ago, starting with a loud bang and the lights going out. After exiting the building (which to no surprise, failed to have any working emergency lights) I walked around to see this little bonfire.

It would appear that one of the oil filled transformers at our neighbouring Wadi Adai substation blew up (and fortunately for us the wind was in the opposite direction).

The fire brigade arrived and eventually got it under control, but put on a good show for the next hour. I would have got home earlier than usual, but unfortunately was stuck in traffic as the police had closed the highway to let the victorious Oman football team drive around Muscat in their coach. Ho hum.

Theorectically Speaking

2009-01-24T16:49:00.002+04:00

1 minute, 13 seconds

Balls

2009-01-18T10:07:00.003+04:00

Oh there is so much I could be talking about today, but the most important is that Oman beat Saudi Arabia in the finals of the 19th Gulf Cup (Football). Those that know me, realise I have little interest in football, but living in a country that genuinely loves the game, you can’t help but get swept up in some of the euphoria.
We had been around to friends to watch the semi final last week, Becky was hoping to inspire Jacob a little by watching sport on TV, unfortunately neither Jacob or his friend Hamish showed the slightest interest and it was left to the adults to watch, shout and discuss tactics as if they were life long experts.
Lo and Behold Oman beat Bahrain 1:0 with a single goal in the ninth minute and whilst looking somewhat tired in the second half, managed to hold on to the end. That night, everyone was out celebrating in the streets to the sounds of car horns and cheers from happy Omani supporters.
As I mentioned football is taken seriously here with a national hero being Ali Al Habsi the goalkeeper who plays in the English Premiership for Bolton Wanderers.
Supporters dress up their cars in all manner of ways from custom graphic, to paint or electrical tape, with a plethora of flags adorned from any possible location.

Speaking with a friend who came back from a recent trip to Dubai, even the Royal Omani Police got into the spirit of things by ordering the removal of any such adornments from the Emirates cars crossing into Oman, no love lost there!

So last night we hosted the final at our house with chicken salad, baked potatos and plenty of refreshments, Oman Vs the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) kicked off at six in the evening. Tickets to all of the tournament matches were free, but it meant queuing from midday to get a seat.
The game was tense, with Oman seeming to have the upper hand. Chances were missed by both sides and Al Habsi certainly earned his hero status throughout both halves and extra time.
So it was left to a penalty shoot out, both nations held their breath as each player took his mark and shot at goal. One, Two, Three, Four, surely someone would miss? Five penalties apiece!!!
And then to sudden death…………….The KSA player took his mark, aimed, kicked and…………..missed, didn’t even get close! It was left to Oman defender Mohammed Al-Noobi to step up and fire his side to victory for the very first time in a Gulf Cup tornament!

Celebrations went on into the early hours of the morning, and the following day was announced as a National Holiday.

Congratulation Oman, you deserve it.

Happy New Year!!! When was that exactly? Part II

2009-01-14T16:17:00.009+04:00

So with two exhausted boys we were guaranteed a good nights sleep to emerge bright and shinny on Boxing day.
With a view to having Jacob cycling properly as soon as possible, I had received a bike of my own for Christmas. I say 'of my own', but in reality I am sharing it with Oscar.

It was with a little trepidation that I strapped Oscar into his seat (He wasn't so sure either) and set off down the road to Ghubra Lake park. I hadn't been on a bike in over three and a half years and was not that confident about the quality of other peoples driving, but forewarned is forearmed and the only iffy point was going around the Chedi roundabout. Still, I wouldn't want to do it on a busy day.
Becky drove with Jacob in the Jeep to meet us at the park and we had a wander and a play in the warm winter sun.

Oscar had the screaming add dabs whilst be placed in his cycle seat for the journey back but was happy as Larry whilst riding back.
The one thing I learned from this.................... I have muscles that I had forgotten they existed!

Determined that none of our delicious Christmas food would go to waste, we decided that bubble and squeak would be the order of the day. For those of you not aware of this tradition, it is made from left overs and comprises potato, mashed and vegetables, all fried in a very hot pan with only a little oil and seared or burnt to add extra crispiness.
Becky, although I find it hard to believe, claimed that she had never quite go it right so I gladly volunteered to take the reigns on this culinary excursion. The result, served with some cold goose and lashings of HP Sauce were so delicious that we had it for the next three days.

After only one day back at work I had the rest of the year off to prepare for our New Years camping trip to Bar Al Hickman. Becky, however, was less than enthusiastic at the prospect of several nights under canvas and engaged me in several 'conversations' on how she should have objected to the idea when I first suggested it.
Still, it was all arranged with our friends and therefore too late to back out, so full steam ahead.
As Gayle and Andrew had friend over from Scotland, we spent the first night at Wahiba Sands, Jacob and I went off with the others to do the dune driving (this time as passengers as our own 4x4 was loaded to the gunnel's), and it I got to chat with a German lady on holiday (for one year!) with her three daughters. They had very a very positive impression of Oman and it's people and I was glad to be able to expand on that.

The following day we set off at around 10:30am and drove for several hours until turning right at the three trees.

The GPS proved invaluable yet again and the only hiccup was when I tried to find a short cut to the beach.

Lesson learned, we followed the track a little further before finally finding the beach and drove along it until we found the perfect camping spot. Tents and shades were erected with military precision and timing before setting up a BBQ and camp fire, just in time for sundowners, perfection!

Much to both Becky and my surprise, she loved every minute of our trip. There were beautiful nights under the stars with campfires, cold foggy mornings (much to our surprise) and warm sunny days with the occasions dip in a cold clear sea, what a beautiful place to celebrate a new year.

Happy New Year!!! When was that exactly? Part 1

2009-01-14T12:32:00.018+04:00

OK so I have been a little remiss with the blogging of late but with all the Christmas and New years we are only just recovering from being busy, busy, busy.
So let us start with a round up of activities in December.....
The second Eid (Eid al Adha) occurred at the beginning of December this year and as a result school holidays began early and lasted for almost a whole month, as such Becky planned plenty of activities to keep the boys busy.
Becky took Jacob to the British School Muscat for a rendition of West Side Story, which he enjoyed up to a point, knife point that is, and had to leave as he found it too scary (Never mind Ben 10 with Aliens bent on the destruction of Earth). The real notable point was with a lady in the audience who kept on scowling at, and shushing Jacob when he quietly asked his mummy a pertinent question. I'm sorry but what did you think you were watching? The Royal Shakespeare Company? If she hadn't made such an issue of it everyone could have enjoyed themselves much more, including her.

We also had the Spirit of Christmas fair at the ABA, a lot of effort goes into this every year and it was a great evening with things like carol singing, Christmas craft activities such as origami Christmas trees and cloves stuck in oranges and of course the ubiquitous photo op with Santa.

This was Oscar's first really aware meeting with the big man and he was none too sure about it, Jacob had to hold him down to prevent a speedy exit before the photo could be taken. Still it was more successful that Jacob's first time which ended in floods of tears! The only thing missing was the cold weather, there is something to be said for seeing carol singers with big coats, woolly hats and scarves, but you can't have everything I guess

Jacob's sixth birthday arrived on the nineteenth and whilst he had already had his party, we went down to Qurum Park for a play with some of his friends. This was followed up with a lunch a McD's and a Ben 10 birthday cake baked by Becky. Much fun was had by all.

The last pre-Christmas event was a children's party at the Dolphin complex (or village as they now like to call it). Fortunately, Oscar was having a nap at home for half of it, so Becky took Jacob up there first and I followed on with Oscar later. Imagine the horror on my arrival at seeing hoards of screaming children running around having fun.
Well, it wasn't so bad and both Jacob and Oscar had fun. I spent most of the time chasing after the beast and thwarting his plans to get in the swimming pool. Oscar, it appear has turned into a real water baby (Toddler really) getting wet at the drop of a hat and, he will have an absolute paddy if you try to stop him, quite a funny sight in itself.

As per usual Oscar was not interested in posing for the desired crazy Christmas hat photo, so this is our best hit and run attempt.

Christmas was at last upon us and after some in-depth analysis from Jacob as to where we should put up his stocking (He didn't think his bedroom was a good idea, as Santa might wake him, which in turn might jeopardize his present quota), Becky and I retired to the living room for some Pizza Express pizzas and the task of wrapping the presents.
Becky had thought it would be nice to do this together on the night before Christmas and I understand and agree with that sentiment. However, she failed to take in to account the scale of the task ahead of us and that warm fuzzy feeling was wearing somewhat thin at 1:30am!!

So the boys weren't too bad and only woke up at 6am (yawn), Jacobs excitement was palpable at opening his stocking, whereas Oscar was somewhat bemused and more interested in his brothers toys than his own.

On finding chocolate Oscar took after his mother and devoured as much as possible in as short of time as possible, he was none too happy when we cut off his supply!!

After a family breakfast of smoked salmon and scrambled eggs, we made our way to the Christmas tree and opened our presents. Both boys were really good at taking their time and appreciating each and every gift. We had two outstanding winners on the gift front as far as Jacob was concerned, Lego Batman for the Wii and real Lego StarWars toys, but the overall winner for both Jacob and Oscar had to be the Plasma Car

Since this discovery, walking has been 'so last year' and the plasma car has been the preferred choice of transport for going everywhere on the ground floor.
After present giving it was full steam ahead for lunch preparation, we had invited friends to join us for lunch and we had chosen to have roast goose with all the trimmings. The goose was cooked to perfection along with roast spuds, red cabbage, chestnut stuffing and of course homemade Christmas pudding and whipped double cream washed down with a few glasses of good wine.
What an absolutely beautiful meal and so much the better to have shared it with friends. Wishing you all a belated Merry Christmas from Oman.

More to come in Part II

Linux Rocks!

2009-01-14T10:24:00.001+04:00

I'm going to be a little geeky here, which Becky will groan about, but the reason I haven't updated the blog earlier this week was partly down to computer problems. Our home laptop decided throw a windows wobbly and I decided that it was high time to give Linux another try. So I downloaded the latest version of Ubuntu – Intrepid Ibex, burnt an installation cd, stuck it in the drive and hoped for the best.
Now the laptop is a HP Pavilion 2521ee which came with Vista, (yuck!!!) so I had previously wiped that rubbish off and installed XP. HP being the caring company that they are made it nigh on impossible to achieve this simple goal, actively discouraging it so it took a fair amount of effort to sort it out first time around. As a result I wasn't expecting much from the Linux install as previous experiments had failed.
Imagine my surprise when everything worked first time...................

Linux Rocks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Windows SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If anyone is thinking of ditching Windows I strongly recommend the Ubuntu version of Linux, and the really good part of it all is that it is FREE including stacks of applications such as Open Office.

James

PS. I have just had windows reinstalled on my works computer as it had picked up a virus, something Linux users don't need to worry about :-)

Aren’t You a Little Short for a Storm Trooper?

2008-12-07T16:54:00.005+04:00

Well second Eid is upon us and it is time to reflect on the past couple of turbulent weeks.
Speaking of turbulence my hope for a Eid dive trip has been cancelled due to the ongoing presence of a red tide. Red What?
"Red tide" is a common name for a phenomenon known as an algal bloom, an event in which marine algae accumulate rapidly in the water column, or "bloom". These algae, form dense, visible patches near the water's surface. Some red tides are associated with the production of natural toxins, depletion of dissolved oxygen or other harmful impacts, and are generally described as harmful algal blooms.
The impact all along the coast of Oman has been enormous with dead sea life washed up and an all pervasive stench, and whilst it is generally thought to be a natural occurrence, no one as yet has manage to explain why it has lasted so many weeks this year. I can’t say that I agree with the idea of eating fish as reported on in the Oman Daily Observer

So the main talk around town is the global credit crisis, those that thought the middle east was immune were sadly mistaken as Dubai developments have all but ceased operations as their cash flow has dried up overnight. Even though Dubai appears affluent, the emirate has little of its own wedge, the real money is next door in Abu Dhabi. As a result, the ruling family of AD has been buying up huge chunks of its neighbour’s real estate, essentially bailing out Dubai. And the resultant effect of all of this, is the loss of many peoples savings and investments and a lot of unemployed expatriates. Oman has also seen some retrenchment, though nowhere near that of Dubai and everyone is hunkering down hoping to weather the storm. Hopefully, the first quarter of next year we will see things calming down.

So what’s with the title for this post???? Well given that Eid and end of term have pretty much coincided, we had to hold Jacob’s birthday party a little early this year to ensure that his school friends were available.
Jacob is a big fan of all things Star Wars especially Lego Star Wars and this year the party piñata was the Death Star. Jacob and I had made it the weekend prior, and due to our building prowess I hastily weakened it with a razor blade just before the planned assault. Much to my relief, everyone got to have a bash and some substantial damage was done in the process, even Oscar joined in.

The final catastrophic damage was of my own making, although my targeting skills clearly need work with my first two tries completely missing the mark, much to my chagrin.
We had loosely planned to do party games, but true to form and based on our previous experience, none were actually required. The children were far to happy running around playing with toys and just generally enjoying themselves to be bothered with adults trying to organize and boss them around.

We reached the end of the party and suddenly realized that we had forgotten to bring out the birthday cake!!!! All exits were blocked and cake was produced, dissected and eaten before anyone was allowed to leave. Disaster averted.

So it won’t be long before Christmas is upon us. We put the tree(s) up the day after Jacob’s party but it just didn’t feel right. However, with the coming of a week off work I am definitely feeling more in the holiday spirit.

Where is everybody????

2008-11-23T16:53:00.004+04:00

I got an odd phone call the other week from my mother.
“Hi James, how are you? Are you up to anything this weekend?”
This was not general chit chat, but a leading question which kind of threw me. So I said nothing planned and double checked with Becky before asking “Why???”
“Oh, we thought we might pop over to see you all for a few days……”

This would not normally be a strange statement for parents to make, but when they live nearly six thousand kilometers away it makes you stop and think.
So this conversation was on the Sunday night and the following Tuesday night I met them in the arrivals hall of Seeb international airport, all I might add thanks to airmiles points!
Wow, what a lovely and unexpected surprise, we hadn’t seen them since last Christmas and our boys have been growing up fast.
No big trips were on the cards, as they were here to wind down from the stresses of life in the UK and problems with a house conversion, but at least they were able to spend quality time with Jacob and Oscar.

One trip out was for adults only….dinner at the Edge. This is a beautifully placed ‘restaurant’ at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Qurum, not really a restaurant but rather a small collection of tables and chairs perched on the edge of the cliff. The menu is limited, maybe simple, delicious none the less and the ambience and views are second to none. Sitting there at night you are treated to the uninterrupted view of the coast and city all the way from Qurum to Seeb, spectacular!!

We all went out to the park one morning so that Jacob could show “NuNu” and “Grumps” how well he was getting on with learning to ride his bicycle. He was so excited prior to getting on the bike that it came as a shock when he had a complete meltdown, with floods of tears, declaring he couldn’t do it!!!! Both Becky and myself pushed him hard, out of frustration, and he did actually achieve what he originally set out to do, with the promise of an ice-cream at the end of it.
The following day all was made clear, when we found out that he had an ear infection, oops! Queue two guilty parents!!!
So with Jacob on a weeks course of anti-biotics, Oscar with a temperature and a cold and, me recovering from a sinus infection, my parents had walked into an epidemic!

This is the time of year for being ill, it must have something to do with the temperature change, but as soon as you switch off the AC’s the nasty bugs seem to strike. So with all of us being ill at one time or other over the last few weeks we managed to miss the Melbourne Cup and several other social invites that had us feeling we were all alone. We even managed to miss the National(Renaisance)Day fireworks at Bausher Stadium, given that we normally feel the effects inside the house, it was with some surprise when we realised they had somehow completely passed us by!

To remedy this we had friends over for dinner last weekend and a trip to Qurum park the following day, but this coming weekend is the Dubai Rugby 7’s, and with a lot of our friends going to that I think it might be another lonely weekend.

Spot the Difference

2008-11-09T11:49:00.004+04:00

So a post almost totally dedicated to Oscar.
He is sixteen months old now and a real handful. It must be something about having an older brother that drives him to do things so early in life. He is such a happy boy and loves to dance when music is playing. His walking (forwards/backwards/spinning around and around) is so controlled it is just amazing to watch, and he loves to talk, well jabber at least. He will have full blown conversations with anyone who will listen, unfortunately even though his words are well defined, no one has a clue what he is saying. I would love to know what he is going on about because he talks with so much enthusiasm.

So why is he a menace? Well he can comprehend what you are telling him, but he chooses to ignore you. He has taken up the hobby of emptying the kitchen cupboards, fortunately we have restricted it to the one full of Tupperware, but he goes in guns blazing, throwing pots and tubs over his shoulders with aplomb.
The coffee table is another regular target, where he has decided that every thing on it belongs on the floor with the exception of himself. No matter how many times you tell him not to climb up, he will still try it on. His other foible, is that he doesn’t like anyone using laptops in his presence, regularly closing down the screens whilst you are attempting to type, so that most of the time you just have to give up what you were doing.
One thing he has shown a similarity in taste with Jacob is reading. He has already taken to choosing a book and sitting down on the sofa in Jacob’s room to leaf though it

Going back to an earlier post, where I mentioned that Jacob was on the mend, I should have kept my big mouth shut. He actually ended up having the whole week off school due to a stomach bug, the poor little sole couldn’t keep anything down and it was coming out both ends, so a trip to the Doctors at Muscat Private Hospital was organized. Dr Suri is just what you want in a pediatrician, calm, friendly and able to put the child immediately at ease. Jacob was reassured that no needles were necessary and only some yucky medicine required. As suspected the bug is doing the rounds in Muscat, and the biggest problem is to keep the children hydrated.
Unfortunately, Dr Suri will be put to the test at the end of this week when Jacob has his MMR booster and Oscar gets his first MMR. Becky is dreading it and I expect a lot of tears…..roll on Wednesday.

Jacob

2008-11-08T18:17:00.005+04:00

So I was doing a little thing over on my knitting blog - where you had to answer all sorts of silly questions, plug the answers into Flickr and then make a mosaic out of them and then I thought that Jacob might like to do one as well.

So here are the questions with Jacob's answers and then the mosaic that he made - it was good fun !!!

1. What is your first name? - Jacob
2. What is your favorite food? - cucumber
3. What high school did you attend? - American British Academy
4. What is your favorite color? - red
5. Who is your celebrity crush? - Ben 10
6. Favorite drink? - Mango juice
7. Dream vacation? - England
8. Favorite dessert? - Home made muffins
9. What do you want to be when you grow up? - A Spaceman
10. What do you love most in life? - My baby brother
11. One word to describe you. - Happy
12. Your Flickr name. (I did this one and I put Jake)

Have a go if you get a chance it's a laugh.

Becky xxx

If The World Could Vote

2008-11-03T17:03:00.004+04:00

Some people that have known me for some time will remember when I read the Economist religiously (Most likely with some dispair ;) ).Well I am afraid to say that after some time I am now back at it.
So I would like to share this with you all as an interesting aside....
The Economist ran a poll, to let the world vote on the US elections and this, with one day left, is what the world said (Or at least the readers of the Economist worldwide said)

In a couple of days we should find out if America listened....

Oh and another thing, I have this wonderful thing called Google Analytics that tells me all manner of interesting things about who, when and where is visiting the blog, nothing sinister, just interesting. The other fun thing is Feedjit (The map with red dots on the right) click on it and you see where our readers are from. Given that I know you are reading........WHY AREN'T ANY OF YOU COMMENTING??????????????????????

ps. if anyone on Antartica wants to read the blog it would realy make my day :)

Ghosts and Goblins and Ghouls…Oh My!!!

2008-11-03T13:36:00.007+04:00

Well, it has been a busy week or so, socially in the Smith household but not that much of interest to report on.
Halloween was the main event for the boys with a certain Star Wars feel to the day…..

I had taken Jacob to a birthday party earlier in the day, which was fancy dress, and very noisy, (what is it with little girls and screaming?). Plenty of party games ensued, which haven’t changed since before I was Jacob’s age, but the big hit was the trampoline. Being the working father of the household, I see the fact that most parties are held during the week as a perk of the job and, the once in a blue moon attendance as a small price to pay.
Trampolines are common place in Oman, it is just one of those things that get the children out of the house during the cooler winter months and tires them out. Just the day before I spent an hour or so sweating away whilst putting Jacob’s one back together.
We take our one down for the summer in order to minimise the damage caused but the sun, which literally destroys plastic products. The padding to the upright poles and the spring protection lasted less than a year and a half before disintegrating in my hands as I dismantled the trampoline last May. It is quite shocking to see how quickly so much damage can be done by the intense sunlight here.

After the party we went over to the Dolphin Centre to meet up with Becky and Oscar for a Halloween parade and an evening of ‘Trick or Treat’.

This is one of our most fun ‘holidays’ in the West, it has lost its religious significance for most people and we celebrate it simply because it is enjoyable to do so.

Falling on the 31st October, Halloween is only the herald of the holiday that medieval Christian Europeans were intended to celebrate, All Saints' Day, on the 1st November.
The story behind the term itself, which is short for "the eve before All Hallows' Day," refers to the fact that saints of Christianity were "hallowed" individuals. It is thought that the Church decided All Saints' Day should fall on the 1st November (in A.D. 834) to make it coincide with its precursor, a Celtic festival of the harvest. By "overwriting" the pagan origins of Halloween, perhaps the ‘new’ Christian religion could steal some thunder from the lingering Celtic influence in Europe. But if this was the Church's intention, the strategy backfired to some degree as people had much more interest in honouring dead ancestors than in honouring dead Christian saints.
Whilst ‘Trick or Treating’ was not prevalent during my childhood in the UK, everyone looked forward to scary stories and maybe a Halloween party to go to with the chance to dress up.
This year, the school did not have its annual Halloween fair as, I believe, some people had previously complained that they were celebrating a ‘pagan’ ritual. This annoys me somewhat and, whilst I believe everyone is entitled to their opinion, they should be comfortable enough in their beliefs, not to feel threatened by it.
Given that our current image of Father Christmas was painted by Haddon Sundblom for Coca Cola’s advertising in the 1930’s and Santa has his origins in pagan rituals, will these same people object to Christmas festivities? PuurLeaseee………..

Since the weekend Becky has had to deal with Men’s flu….It started with Oscar having a cough and a fever, to Jacob having a stomach bug with a night of vomit and diarrhoea, to me suffering from dizziness and aches and pains. Fortunately, all of us are on the mend now, but a little more sympathy wouldn’t go amiss.

Oh, and if anyone is interested in some prime real estate in London, I suggest you take a look at the following link ;)
The Telegraph online

Drains, Bicycles and Balls

2008-10-25T15:14:00.010+04:00

So what have Sino Hydro got against the residents of Muscat? Or am I being too personal and yes they are totally incompetent…. The later is what I believe to be true.
For those of you not residing here, I will provide you with a little background information.
Sino Hydro are a Chinese civil engineering contractor employed on the Muscat waste water project (Mains sewers for all of us, good idea yeah?). This has been going on for some time now, and has been a roller coaster of a contract (read between the lines, a complete and unmitigated balls up) why no one questioned how a contractor could do the job for $78,000,000 less (yes that is seventy eight million!!!!) than the nearest competition is beyond me. And lo and behold ….they can’t.
So the residents of Muscat are being subjected to the roads being dug up, back filled, dug up, backfilled, dug up and forgotten about.

Whilst our road is relatively unscathed, with trenches at the beginning, end and just outside our house, the rest of the area resembles a war zone, I KID YOU NOT!!!
I am at least thankful that we have 4wd cars, because the lack of proper road surface will wreak havoc on the average saloon and demolish the sports cars out there. Just returning to the trench outside our house, this would make a very effective speed hump, if only people could see it. Suffice to say, if you speed past our house you run the very real risk of separating your wheels and axels (or what remains of them) from the rest of your car. On the other hand when a truck passes over it the whole house vibrates.

So, if you’ve been reading the blog of late you would have seen that the temperature is beginning to drop, true to form I removed the sides and back of the jeep’s soft top and the very next day the temperature went up…. Darn it!!
Fortunately, I had left the top up because someone said it was going to rain at the weekend (Thur/Fri). Unfortunately no such luck on the rain front, but at least the temperature rise seems to be short lived. You know, I’m we haven’t had a decent downfall since Gonu.
Still, now that it is getting cooler we are getting out more and, this weekend we had decided to get Jacob riding his bike without stabilizers. Given that he had the screaming ad dabs after I raised them a couple of centimeters last April, we were under no illusions as to how difficult a task this would be. So Friday morning we set of with picnic and bicycle (sans stabilizers/training wheels) in hand to Qurum park, only to be chased out by the park warden as no bikes or ball games are allowed in the park. This is somewhat reminiscent of the UK, as the local councils there couldn’t understand why children would want to play in a park, with all that grass…let alone have fun and exercise.
Fortunately, I had a back up plan and a short while later we had located a quiet flat grassy area where Oscar could run around safely with a ball and Jacob could learn to ride his bike. After a little cajoling, plenty of reassurance and some failed renegotiation of terms on Jacob’s part, we set off on two wheels

There is a lot to be said for instilling confidence before attempting the task at hand and, I had made sure that Jacob felt safe in the knowledge that I wouldn’t let him fall. But it was still with great surprise that after an hour of running, bent double, with one hand gripping the bike seat, I let go…. just for short periods. At first Jacob couldn’t believe he was riding by himself, but each time we tried the louder his laughing got.

Hopefully, after a few more excursion he’ll be able to ride without me and then he’ll reap his reward, a new bike, there’s nothing like a good incentive is there?

To finish off a good weekend, the family trotted off to the rugby club to watch a game of Australian Rules Football. Whilst I will readily agree that my knowledge of the game is not the best (In fact I know nothing about it) we still had a lovely time and I got to experiment with the new camera.Oscar got down and dirty, maybe a star in the making?

The club has had numerous trials and tribulations over the last eighteen months, of which I won’t go in to. However, when a game is on, no matter what sport, there is a real community feel to it and it is a pleasure to see people enjoying themselves. Some of the ladies had organized refreshments and sausage sandwiches and the temptation was just too much, both Jacob and I succumbed but Becky was steadfast (Well done!).

At the end of the match, Muscat v Abu Dhabi, the local boys reigned supreme, at least I think they did, but I could be wrong, haven’t got a clue to be honest but it did look fun, but hard work, I should really stop now shouldn’t I? We done all of you!

On the downside to Oman, we are all subject to the whims and directives of the Government, tourists included.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travelnews/3252364/Oman-holiday-plans-wrecked-by-Sultan.html
I am sorry for all those people planning on holidaying here over Christmas, as the hotels will be given over to the conference. And for those expats living here, well if you were planning on taking a boat trip down the coast, good luck. I don’t think the ROP will take too kindly to any water traffic trying to get past the Al Bustan Palace Hotel,
and since the Marina and Yacht Club are right next door you might find it difficult to drive down there!

Winter’s on its Way…..Whoopeee!!!!!

2008-10-18T15:49:00.007+04:00

Now most of us in the Northern Hemisphere look upon the passing of Summer and the coming of winter with dread. In Oman, closer to the equator, the opposite is true, the cooler weather means we get to go out so much more and as a result we stumbled upon this little gem (Oi!!! Not so much of the little thank you very much)

As part of Muscat Municipality's initiative to improve play facilities for children in Oman, Assarain Concrete Products (ACP) commissioned mega state-of-the-art, high quality HAGS play equipment at Qurum Natural Park and Al Sahwa Park.
Given that play facilities were pretty much non existent (or poorly designed for the environment which we live in) this is a monumental leap forward for Oman. I would like to say a really big THANK YOU to whoever it was that made this happen.
It is sad to think that such facilities would not be available in the UK, if a local council saw fit to spend money in the first place, it would be vandalized within days, occupied by underage smokers/drinkers/drug addicts, and at the first wiff of a potential accident subject to spurious law suits due to the no win no fee vultures in the legal profession.
Fortunately, we in Oman hopefully live in gentler times and I pray that this country does not suffer a similar fate as that of the UK.
It was wonderful to be out in the open air and see the boys play, and they had a whale of a time exhausting all their energies just having fun.
Oscar is doing his best to catch up with Jacob and appears to have no fear……

If you look carefully, you’ll realize that our friend Chris is not supporting Oscar at all, he was actually pulling himself up on the bar!!! Not bad for a fifteen month old toddler.

Considering that, just over a year ago the park was totally destroyed by Cyclone Gonu, a lot of hard work has been put into rebuilding it. Now all we need is an indoor version for those hot summer months……any offers???

Services, or Lack Of….

2008-10-18T15:11:00.000+04:00

Omantel (Telephone)
Well it has been an interesting week for Oman’s bloggers, as Omantel somehow managed to block our ability to login (within Oman). Normally you would hear conspiracy theories about censorship and freedom of speech. However, it appears to be the general consensus of opinion that Omantel are too incompetent to have done it deliberately. Moreover, it is more likely that they hadn’t notice they had blocked the login and, even more likely that they haven’t noticed it is now unblocked!!!
For all our gripes about how useless they are, occasionally they surprise you. A couple of weeks ago we were left with internet but no land line, if I had thought about it a little more, I would have realized that it was a broken connection within the house but, since Omantel have such a sterling record I chose to jump to the conclusion that they had mucked it up. I called (on my mobile) to log a fault, the following day an engineer was dispatched and he quickly diagnosed and repaired the fault, AT NO COST TO ME. Show me a BT engineering call out where the bill payer wasn’t charged!!!!
However, true to form, the engineer’s repair broke within a couple of days but, at least this time I didn’t jump to any conclusion and carried out the repair myself the way it should be done (PROPERLY).

Water
So sometime, during the not so long ago past, the engineer’s carrying out maintenance on our local desalination plant managed to break it (quite badly I believe). Maybe I am being a tad harsh as the official line was that the breakdown coincided with maintenance work, who knows? So a lot of Muscat has suffered from a shortage of water with varying degrees of severity.
Planned maintenance/repairs were announced in the press and our local area was scheduled for Sunday. So I was somewhat taken aback when Becky called on Monday lunch time to tell me we had no water. I made a few ‘helpful’ suggestions and recommended flagging down a water truck and getting them to refill our tank, which then resulted in a heated exchange of words.
So off I went to track down some ‘intelligence’ on the repairs, which consisted of continuous and repetitive calls to the water authority until such time as they had had enough and picked up the phone. “Tuesday 10am” was the swift response which was duly conveyed to my lovely and now somewhat calmed wife. It would appear that the announcement of a lack of water was from our maid Jenny, who had heard it on the grapevine and not the case that our pipes had run dry. As such, by the time I had got home from work we still had half a tank of water and the mains water was back on.
Others were not so lucky, for instance our friend in Al Azaiber were without water for three days and to add insult to injury, charged fifty Omani Rials (75 Pounds Sterling) for one water truck, some ten times what it should have cost!!
This extortion and profiteering by some (and I stress some) of Muscat’s water tanker drivers is nothing new. During Gonu we had a similar situation but a well placed photo of the driver’s license plate and, the promise of a call to the Royal Omani Police sent him scurrying back under the rock he had crawled from.

You Are Not Alone

2008-10-13T13:12:00.003+04:00

Just read this on another Blog and thought I'd share

http://www.muscati.com/2008/07/defies-logic.html

It gives me a warm fuzzy feeling to know that beaureacratic idiosincracies are yours for the taking no matter which country you originate from.

We’re busy doing nothing working the whole day through, trying to find lots of things not to do…..

2008-10-13T11:02:00.007+04:00

Before you start reading I have been playing around with links to google maps so click on the links to see the places I have been writing about.

It’s been a weird few weeks and I don’t know what started it but of late we have been exceedingly pro active. Maybe it’s a result of the change in work and school, but it has begun and long may it last.
A ‘life laundry’ was the first exercise, going through the house and getting rid of the junk that somehow we all seem to accumulate. This has now been completed, with the exception of the kitchen and laundry room and, boy does it feel good.
We have gathered together all the baby bits and bobs that are no longer required and have taken photos ready for Becky to do an advert for the Al Fair notice board. However, as this has been on the cards for some weeks, I suspect that I will need to sort that one out.

The notice boards are a great source for those wanting to buy and sell and always attract a lot of attention. However, you have to pick your words carefully or you will have a lot of unwanted callers.
When I advertised that I was selling the hard top to my jeep, all I got was phone calls asking how much I wanted to sell the Jeep for. I unfortunately had a bit of a paddy down the phone to an English caller, as he had no excuse for misreading the notice! Given that the photo only showed the hardtop I was flabbergasted (Good word that!) that so many people could not understand what the advert was for. A friend had exactly the same experience with a set of fender flares, so I know I am not alone.
If you want a new housemaid, second hand car, or the entire contents of a departing expatriates house look no further than the Al fair notice boards, particularly good ones at MQ and Al Sarooj, also an alternative one at the Sultan Centre.
There is another source still in it’s fledgling days and that is http://www.omanbay.com/ , I occasionally have a quick look and can’t say if it actually works, but hats off to whoever set this up I hope it works out for them.

So on with the jobs… Becky has planted a couple of trees, one for out by the cars and the other was to be in the ground out by the front of the house. However, I pointed out that the septic tank was there i.e. there is only concrete under the paving, so it has been planted in a very big and heavy pot instead.

We now have a couple of sun loungers and an umbrella on the first floor balcony so that guests, not that we have had that many of late, can relax in their own space.
Jacob has started earning pocket money, with jobs such as making his bed every morning and tidying up his playroom at the end of the day. Money is a great motivator especially when Ben 10 toys are available at the local department store.

Jacob joined in with the clearing out of the old in his own special way, by smashing a table lamp whilst pummeling me with a cushion during a play fight. He was mortified!!! Given that he is rapidly approaching six years old he has broken surprisingly little however I feel the reverse will be true of young Oscar. This accidental damage gave Becky the excuse of buying new lamps for the livingroom. A hunt round Muscat did not inspire either of us (especially when ID Design have prices in excess of RO150 per lamp, and their not even nice) So it was with some surprise that I returned home from work the other night to find that Gael had come to the rescue with a set of lamps from her new interiors shop called Gekco just off Way 3205 in North Ghubra. (It shares the ground floor of Medan Suites Hotel building with the restaurant Thai Basil).
Gael has hopefully tapped into a niche in the market offering Indonesian and modern furniture and interior bits in a town sorely lacking such up to now. Now before you start questioning my sanity, yes I am a man and as such I in no way advocate the purchase of interior bits, instead a table and chairs, bed and packing case to sit on whilst watching the tv is more than enough for any household, Grrrr and other manly noises just to prove my credentials.

Enough with fluffy cushions and back to more important issues… Tyres (or tires for our American readers). We went off to the desert with friends this weekend to stay at a desert camp and went down to Wahiba in two cars, Becky and Oscar in the Explorer and Jacob and I in the Jeep. This wasn’t due to an argument, but down to me wanting to do a lot of dune driving, (the opposite being true of Becky), and Becky not wanting to be crammed in to a small jeep for the couple of hours drive to the camp. We had a lovely time at the camp, Oscar made it his purpose in life to eat as much sand as possible, and the following day we re-inflated the car tyres and headed back to Muscat. After about forty minutes of driving we stopped at a petrol station to fill up and I went to put some more air in the Explorers tyres as the warning light was still on. I was somewhat confused as the more air I put in the less pressure showed on the gauge, Oh… a puncture. Another forty minutes followed as I changed the wheel in 38 degree heat, although it must be said quite a lot of that was spent trying to get the jack out of the car! As the rest of the tyres were nearing the end, we chose to change them all so that turned out to be a rather expensive end to a lovely weekend.

Ramadan a Ding Dong Round Three

2008-10-08T11:56:00.006+04:00

So what with all the upheaval of changing jobs, we decided to make life even more difficult by changing schools.
Actually, this decision was taken some time ago as we were unhappy with the British School and chose to place Jacob on the waiting list for the ABA.
To make things clear from the outset I should explain that the British School is an excellent school with fantastic teachers. Jacob was very happy there but found the regimented structure somewhat challenging and as a result his confidence was knocked. Aside from this we were unhappy with the administration of the school, and as such voted with our feet.
Becky had popped up to the ABA to deliver some necessary paperwork, talk about serendipity, two people had just dropped out that morning and Jacob had a place waiting for him!! Instead of ten more days of school holiday, term would start in two days, fortunately this sudden reduction of holiday passed by unnoticed.
So with some trepidation Becky took Jacob to his first day of school expecting a complete meltdown, only to find that Jacob took it all in his stride and made new friends at the drop of a hat.

So one month on and do we feel that we made the right choice? Emphatically YES! Within the first couple of weeks, Jacob had stopped asking the traditional question of “Is it a school day, I don’t want to go” and returned to being an inquisitive little boy absolutely bursting with questions.
We both went to see his first assembly in the auditorium (a fantastic facility that would put some theatres to shame) and thoroughly enjoyed watching all those children performing their songs for the parents.

An added bonus is that some of Jacob’s friends have since joined him at the ABA, so he is one happy bunny.
This year Ramadan came and went with reduced working hours, closed shops and restaurants, crazy driving and dinner parties for entertainment. With so much upheaval it kind of past me by. I left Oman on the 6th September as my visa was cancelled by my old company and I had to apply for a new one. Fortunately Becky and the boys were able to remain due to good will on the part of my former employer.
So off to Dubai I went, which for a lot of people would be a treat, but I can’t stand the place. The taxi driver from the airport refused to follow my directions to the hotel, hence I arrived at the wrong one. In the early hours of the morning, I was not in the mood to be diplomatic and it was with much apologizing that the driver finally delivered me to the right hotel (the only tip he was going to get was “be good to your mother”).
So with an early breakfast, and little sleep I spent a day trawling the Mall of the Emirates, Festival City and Dragon Mall (The home of ‘Made in China’). That evening I was able to break fast with a supersize McD at the airport whilst waiting for my flight home.
In no time at all Eid had arrived and Becky could see the end of having me under her feet for most of the day. I had a days diving planned with our friends Chris and Andrew, whilst Becky was to go for a short trip to Dubai with Jacob and Andrew’s Wife Gael and their son Hamish.
For our days diving we met up at the Marina with Tor Peebles our Dive Master for the day from Oman Charter and headed off to the Lima One wreck south of Bandar Khoran.

Donated to the Oman by the Royal Navy, the Al-Munassir (Lima One) was the first of its kind to be sunk to create artificial reef in Omani waters. The Wreck is easily accessible. From the upper deck there are two vertical lift shafts down to the lower deck where most of the rooms to port and starboard are open. The bridge including the wheel house, ops room and communications room can be explored, and explore it we did!!

Unfortunately the visibility was 3m at best, but because of the abundant marine life in Oman waters the Al-Munassir is already fantastic artificial reef and it was great to work our way through all its nooks and crannies teasing out its new residents secrets.

For those of you on the look out for a good dive outfit, I can recommend Tor and his company, a real pleasure to dive with.
The Dubai trip was ostensibly for Jacob and Hamish to go to Wild Wadi, but of course I was in no doubt that an extensive exploration of Mall of the Emirates was on the cards.
Maybe I will leave this for Becky to blog about but suffice to say the boys had a blast at both Wild Wadi and Ski Dubai!!!
James

Ding! Ding! All Change Please

2008-10-07T13:51:00.004+04:00

So back off holiday and back to work, but all is not happy in the Smith household.....
My contract was up for renewal and, whilst I felt confident that it would be renewed, I was less happy with the direction my career appeared to be heading in. Throw in to the pot an offer from another company and I had big decisions to make. So within the week I had had my contract review, accepted a post with a new company and quit my job with the old company. It was with mixed feelings that I left the old company, as they introduced me to Oman, but who knows, maybe I will return somewhere down the line.
Shortly before Ramadan, Becky reached the ripe old age of thirty nine, and left me at thirty eight years old (Oh OK I was only 38 for another six days!).
Becky's present was in the form of Jewelry made by the infamous Mr Sadiqi, a name that makes Muscat wives hearts glow and husbands tremble. For those uninitiated husbands out there, pray that your wives never discover his workshop.
I on the other hand had benefited from a case of Becky's camera frustration whilst on holiday. Those of you with small children will know how difficult it is to take photos with a digital camera due to the lag between pushing the button and the camera recording the image. Sam and Bruce had the benefit of a true Digital Nikon SLR and the difference in quality of our pictures was like Night and Day.
Thus I was allowed to hunt down the camera of my choice, which turned out to be a Canon EOS 40D
Now you may be thinking that this is just typical of a man, and oh so boring, but there is a reason specific to Oman and not just with cameras. That is Monopolies rule, especially in the retail industry. Thus I went to the importer of Canon products (as well as the importer of Nikon) and found that the price was considerably higher than Carefour or Emax were selling that same products for. I did ask for an explanation knowing full well I wouldn't get an ineligible one, but I seem to take perverse pleasure in banging my head against brick walls.
In the end I made a considerable saving buying from Amazon.com in the United States, even with having to pay for shipping and duty.
It is wise to remember that when shopping in Oman, the cheapest product is not always the cheapest product, so check your prices carefully. Thus endeth the lesson.

We’re All Going On A Summer Holiday, No More Working For A Week Or Two….

2008-10-07T12:29:00.011+04:00

After three years, Becky finally decided enough was enough and that we should go on a proper family holiday. Suggestions of camping somewhere wet and windy were immediately dispatched and the hunt was on for a suitable location.
At first Spain was touted, but a distinct lack of flights put pay to that idea, France followed but was not enthusiastically received and it was decided that Italy would be too expensive. As time was running out we made an executive decision and decided on Northern Cyprus, maybe because we knew absolutely nothing about the place.
Our friends the Kahls were to fly out to join us from the UK, and we would spend two weeks in our own little villa (rented) doing as little as humanly possible.
Due to flight connections we stayed in Dubai for a day, treating Jacob and Oscar to a day at Wild Wadi water park. Jacob had been so disappointed last time that he was too small for the rides, we just had to get him back there. The Tunnel of Doom was a particular hit, with Jacob noting that “Mummy screamed like a girl”.
Oscar proved to be his own attraction with a lot of locals having their picture taken with him.
This is one of those things that can be disconcerting to those people straight out of the UK, were paranoia is the order of the day, but in the Middle East there is an innocence that I hope never disappears. It is the norm for complete strangers to introduce themselves to your children and have a photograph taken especially if the child is blond and blue eyed. Whilst I do not advocate any lack of parental judgment, it is something you get used to (but are constantly bemused by) and in some ways appreciate.
That night was spent at the Meridien hotel which was a lovely way to start the hols had it not been for the fact that Oscar didn’t sleep and I suffered from a bout of projectile vomiting. So the following days' journey to Cyprus was less than pleasant for me and somewhat tiring for Becky.
Soon enough though, the Smiths and the Kahls were firmly ensconced in our villa going about the business of doing as little as possible.

The girls had a day out at an expensive spa for some serious R&R and I got to go diving. Whilst not ranking anywhere near the best dives I have had, I live by the motto “A bad days diving is better than a good day at work.”

We didn’t take that many trips out, preferring instead to enjoy the quiet relaxed village life, Oscar and I taking early morning constitutionals to the bakers. In fact the baker attempted to engage Oscar in some form of dialogue for the whole two weeks however, Oscar steadfastly refused and would only offer a suspicious glare at best!

One trip we did make was to the village of Bellapais made famous by the author Lawrence Durrell in his book ‘Bitter Lemons of Cyprus’. There stands the ancient abbey in a tranquil setting with a stunning view of the island below. We spent the early evening relaxing on the balcony of the Tree of Idleness restaurant, enjoying good food, great company and beautiful surroundings.

As ever, the holiday was too short and we were left with a hollow feeling in saying goodbye to our friends and heading back to home and life in Oman.
Oscar and Jacob coped really well with the journey home, which for Jacob was really amazing as he didn’t sleep for the whole 24Hrs!!!!!!!!! The only contentious point was when we opened our front door and wouldn’t let him watch TV at five in the morning (we are such disciplinarians!!!) Jacob went into complete meltdown but was fast asleep before his head hit the pillow.

One Year On

2008-10-07T11:53:00.008+04:00

On the run up to the first anniversary of Gonu a certain expectant hush fell over Muscat and the rumour mill went into overdrive. We went from claims of Son of Gonu to a new Ice Age and even Tsunamis, at one point some mystical Indian Yogi chipped in to say we were all doomed, somewhat akin to Private Frazer of Dad’s Army

It is amazing to think how many normally sane people actually listened to such tripe and it certainly didn’t help when an online local business news site actually published an article making reference to warnings from an international society (which in reality was completely fictitious).
So the day came and went and nothing happened…………….who would have Adam and Eved it.
Another anniversary soon followed and one of far greater importance, Oscar’s First Birthday….

OOOOOHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhh………..hasn’t he grown.

A little family gathering was the order of the day with Oscar being introduced to chocolate cake for the very first time

I’m not altogether sure, but I think he might have liked it…

You're In The Army Now

2008-10-07T11:17:00.008+04:00

So 2008 began with a cold and windy snap, but no rain to talk of. Weekends were easy with walks along the beach kicking a ball around and generally trying to work off the excess’ of Christmas.

As far as events on the Social Calendar, we went to the Anzac Ball and the Thin Red Line, company is everything and we had a ‘ball’ at both, but my favorite had to be the ‘Line’. Given that this is a military night out, it is not something that you can just buy tickets to, but fortunately for us we were invited by our friends Olivia and Chris.

Security was tight with soldiers at checkpoints all around the Hotel, but everyone was dressed to the nines for the event and it is somewhat unusual to feel under-dressed when in Black Tie. After the initial gathering and greetings were exchanged we were ‘piped’ to dinner in the hotel’s ballroom. There followed a lovely meal, with great conversation and to top it off we were entertained with the Omani military drummers who could teach the Blue Man Group a few tricks. An absolutely stunning display and a fantastic end to the evening.

At Easter our friends, the Ridley’s, came to visit for the first time. Jacob was beside himself to see Patrick and Liam again and within minutes it seemed that they had never been apart. Unfortunately, being an accountant and Easter being the end of the UK financial year, John could only afford to take a week off, but we fitted in the obligatory trip to the desert. This time I chose to stay with Oscar whilst Becky went on the camel ride as my body had latent memories of the last trip.

The boys tried their hands at snow boarding down the dunes and I had a mild heart failure from having to climb up the dunes so many times.

During the dune driving our guide, Ahmed, took a spell at the wheel of my Jeep, Jo was the first passenger and I’m not sure whether she stopped screaming the whole time. John took his place in the second round and Becky flatly refused (I think she may have threatened Ahmed with physical violence at one point) Finally, it was my turn and I was somewhat alarmed that we headed off in ac completely different direction, I should have remembered that it was Ahmed’s main aim in life to ensure he scared the bejesus out of you, Becky knew better than to watch!

The rest of the time was spent around the pool, with trips to the shops (John’s wallet taking a bashing due to the low cost of gold and precious stones in Oman) and trips to Magic Planet and the bowling alley for the boys.

The time to return home came around all to swiftly, but it was lovely to see them and hopefully it won’t be their only visit.

Annus Horiblus ish

2008-10-06T17:57:00.005+04:00

So goodbye 2007 and roll on 2008. For all you back in the cold at New Years, we went camping at Sifa beach with friends for a beautiful New Years eve. Oscar had a very successful night under canvas and even Becky enjoyed her camping experience. What a year 2007 was, to recap....
James in Hospital with suspected hepatitis
James in Hospital to have Gal Bladder removed
Gonu, down two cars and the ground floor of the house
Becky in Hospital with emergency cesarean
Oscar arrives YEEEEEEEEHAAAAAA
Lost third car to flooding.
Goodbye 2007 and thanks for the memories

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas

2008-10-06T17:18:00.008+04:00

Casting my mind back to last December, we decided to return back to Blighty for two weeks over the Christmas period. This gave us the opportunity to introduce Oscar to family and friends, get him Christened and celebrate Christmas the way it should be... with our nearest and dearest. Our packing somewhat exceeded the airlines luggage allowance, but no one batted an eyelid so off we went to Abu Dabi and then on to London Heathrow on Etihad (througherly reccomended airline). The boys were excellent and coped really well with the journey, although we were all taken aback at the temperature (or lack of) when we arrived. Thick frost in the middle of the day, the temperature had plummeted overnight and the car struggled with warming us all up.
With only two weeks to fit so much in and see so many people we felt a little like refugees, but it was good for me to see home after nearly two and a half years abroad.
Added to this was my mother's Christmas treat for the grandchildren, a trip to Lap Land to see Father Christmas! An early start to Gatwick Airport and a flight into the Artic Circle ensued, shortly after our arrival at midday the sun set and it was night. as you can see Jacob was a dab hand on the skidoo, as well as husky mushing and reindeer driving and, too top it off they got to spend some quality time with Santa. What an experience!!!

Back in the UK, Oscar was the main topic of conversation, and we had a lovely Christening at St Mary's church in West Malling, where we were married and Jacob Christened all by Canon Brian Stevenson!

Christmas day was with my family at Scott House, and my mother had insisted (rightly so) that we spend it in the Ballroom (for those that don't know it is an upstairs sitting room with an open log fire and the name stems from an old family joke) as it would be the last year that this would be possible (Due to a conversion of the house in to two apartments).

So the last thirty seven years of Christmas day in that room were completed with Oscar's first, somewhat fitting I think.
The time flew past, what with Jacob's fifth birthday and then Christmas and then on Boxing day (which we had spent with Becky's family) it was suggested that we go for a walk along the river bank in Richmond. A beautiful crisp winters day with a sit down for a cup of tea before returning to the cars. Unfortunately, the day was not destined to end well as someone further up the river opened up the flood gates and left our cars knee deep in water. I still look back at my father's car being lifted on to the back of a tow truck, water cascading from within, with a sickening and sinking feeling. I still cannot believe that we lost three cars to flooding in one year!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The following day we were back to the airport leaving our families to deal with the mess, how guilty did I feel.
Whilst it was lovely to see our families and friends over such a special time of year and a wrench to tear ourselves away, we left in shock at the cost of living and relieved that we had the opportunity to live the life we do.

James

Change of Management

2008-10-06T16:52:00.003+04:00

Ok, since my lovely wife is obviously so busy it is down to me to continue with this blog, coz what else is there for me to do (It's not like I have to work!!!!!).
So over the coming days I will do my best to remember and review the last year :0 (Soooo sorry) and keep you appraised of the comings and goings in the Smith household here in Oman.
With this in mind I am sure that Becky will not sit idly by and allow me free reign without the odd comment or two and maybe even the odd post. So bear with me and I will try not to dominate the conversation with male orientated subject matter (Although I draw the line at knitting).
James

P.s. who said men don't listen????

Hello

2008-07-04T19:59:00.001+04:00

just testing.

Hmmm, How Long has it Been?

2007-11-06T16:13:00.005+04:00

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

MIA; NOT ON YOUR NELLY!!!!

2007-07-24T18:56:00.000+04:00

James’ Mum and Dad arrived at the end of March for a 10 day visit, just before James went into surgery to have his gall bladder removed. This happened on April Fools Day and, other than having a cup of tea first thing in the morning because he forgot that he was going into surgery, the whole thing passed off thankfully without mishap. James woke from his drug induced stupor late that afternoon, with a bottle full of gall stones and a video of the proceedings to show for the day. The whole thing had been filmed via a camera inserted through his belly button and he is desperate to show off the dvd to anyone willing – so far there have been minimal takers – bah humbug.

James was released the following day and had to spend a few days in bed and then the rest of the week recovering – men and their illness – it’s never a pretty sight ! Shortly after his return home – Kate, Mark, Ella and Seb arrived for a two week holiday which was quiet and uneventful as neither of us were in any fit state to do any major activities. Still trips to the pool, the souk and the beach were had and even a spell dolphin watching on the glass bottom boat, which proved to be a very successful day out indeed, even though it was quite an expensive activity.

The rest of April passed very uneventfully as doing an impression of a beached whale proved to be quite difficult in the increasing summer heat. Swollen ankles are just so attractive. April was followed by May of which we have no recollection which is probably due to events in early June.

As with many small multi racial communities rumours often get out of hand in Muscat and, are then often dismissed as pure fiction – so it was at the beginning of June. A cyclone named Gonu was rumoured to be heading towards Oman – oh yes, thought I as I sat playing Mexican train ridiculing those who were over reacting, evacuating their homes and generally panicking – how much worse than a typhoon could it really be if it even got this far – how mad to go and collect your children early from school and insist that your husband come home from work – sadly not so. James had set off merrily to Sur that morning to check on his site – gradually the rumours got worse – Ras Al Hadd had been hit and it was heading up the coast. I called James to suggest he come home – he reassured me that all would be well and then five minutes later called back to say he was indeed heading home as he had been reliably informed that Sur was being hammered and all the hospitals in Muscat were on disaster watch. He turned the car around and got home mid afternoon, whereupon we had a lovely time watching tv and drinking tea whilst marvelling over what a fuss people could make about a drop of rain – they should try living in England after all !

The next day all seemed normal, but a little wet and windy, with very little damage to be seen – Cyclone – what Cyclone ! James set off to work as normal. Gradually as the day progressed the weather got a little worse as did the rumours – the ODC had been hit badly and it was only a matter of hours until it was upon us, etc etc. After giving James a little bit of grief about going in to work, he reappeared at the front door, to say that the weather was worsening. We spent the rest of the day mopping up the rain from all our lovely leaky windows, which as everyone in Muscat knows is a fundamental part of living here. And still we wondered – Cyclone, what Cyclone ?!

And then the hour came. James was upstairs at about 6.00pm looking out of the window and then he saw it – the water came gushing like a huge torrent from between two houses further down our road and then to add to that – the water started gushing into the road from behind the house opposite. It rose and, it rose and, it rose and it just did not stop – so we started moving our possessions upstairs. I was minimal use given the size of my stomach, but managed a couple of cushions and some pictures – Jacob brought a few of his toys upstairs but just did not grasp the urgency of the situation. James and Jenny did an absolutely amazing job managing to bring anything of value upstairs with the waters rising around them and in darkness, no power, no ac, no lights, no nothing, just the sound of gushing water pouring into the house. At one point Jenny got stuck in the kitchen and James just could not open the door to get her out, but luckily the water evened out and he managed to get the door open. We decamped upstairs, where Jenny sat on the landing and prayed and James sat in the spare room drinking wine! We waited and waited to see how high the water would get – friends were texting us the numbers of the emergency services in case the water go so high that we needed a boat to get us out and indeed it was looking that way for a while. Then at about 10 O’clock – the water started to recede and we could all breathe a sigh of relief. The water had got up to about a metre high inside the house and even higher than that outside, up to about two meters in places. I had managed not to go into labour, Jacob had managed to stay calm, once he saw that his toys had been rescued and James and Jenny had managed not to get drowned – it all seemed like such a major achievement – we were still alive and that was definitely what we had to be grateful for. Jenny and James had managed to salvage some food from the fridge whilst it had been floating on its back and Jacob chose that night to have a major surge in appetite and eat us out of house and peanut butter! We managed to get a little sleep that night altogether in the spare room, with no ac or fans – but honestly much of the time was spent on the balcony watching the water just to make sure that it was still heading in the right direction. By morning the road was kind of passable in a 4wd and several sets of friends turned up to get us out of there. Jacob and I ended up going to stay with our friends Andy and Mandy who live literally two minutes away, but had not had the water inside the house due to a back gate that proved to be an invaluable exit route for the rising waters, lucky them.

The whole area resembled a war zone, destroyed cars, rubble, furniture littered the street and so began the clean up operation.

Jenny and James spent the day squeegying liquid mud from inside the house before it started to dry, but without power or water the whole day was unbearable. The two cars had been lost – James’ Hummer had been flooded up over the dashboard as had my Durrango which had also sunk into a massive hole that had opened up outside our living room window. The Hummer had been knocked into by a Mercedes from down the road as it floated on by and round the corner never to be seen again. It was all really quite unbelievable. People said we must be devastated by everything but really, we weren’t, we were just so grateful to be alive and that was enough. We ended up loosing very little indeed, some bookcases from Jacob’s play room and our tv cabinet. The dining room table needs a new top and the antique chest in there needs some attention, but nothing like as bad as it could have been – oh and we had to get a new washing machine, but James managed to save all of our fridges, which was a bit of a shame as I had already earmarked a lovely shiny new fridge that would have been fabulous – ho hum !

With a lot of help from friends, a water truck or two and some assistance from work acquaintances the house was liveable after just over a week. James had had to stay overnight at the house every night of that dreadful week as there was just so many reports of looting going on, we could not risk surviving Gonu only to loose everything to thieves – but with no ac, no water, no power it was an awful thing to have to do and it certainly took it’s toll on him – by the end of the week he looked just dreadful. Fortunately after that first week he went back to work for a well earned rest! So with the house in a right old state – all the floors on the ground floor collapsed and you could not get in the front door, not only because it had swollen up and could not be opened, but also because the front steps had totally gone and the ground between the front gate and the front door had disappeared, we needed to get things sorted quickly – we had a baby on they way and we needed a house we could bring him home to. Our landlady was absolutely stellar. She got the insurance people around straight away even though they had been badly hit themselves. They assessed the situation and work started within a week, with a 10 day deadline for completion – and they did it – unfortunately the baby couldn’t wait quite that long – but that is another story ! They relaid and retiled the whole of the ground floor – which was a nightmare as we had to have all the doors and windows open downstairs, with no ac’s on and they were basically mixing concrete in the middle of the living room – it was worth it – the work was done so quickly and looks really great. The downstairs was repainted in just about a day and a new front door is now up and running with lovely new steps outside – so we are just about back to normal – a few little issues still to sort out, but pretty much all is well again. Ah apart from the CAR ISSUE !

Mmmm the CAR ISSUE. Long story short – both cars should have been insured – same policy, same insurance company – same old same old – lesson learnt: READ YOUR POLICY. The Hummer was covered – the Durrango apparently not – wrangling ensues and we have now managed to get satisfactory resolution on both cars – it’s taken a while and the loan of a car from a very generous friend – who is also in insurance!! We hope to buy a car in the next week or so for me – James has already got a nice little Jeep Wrangler to see him right – I’m hoping to get a Ford Explorer – watch this space.

So Mum and Dad arrived for a visit on 29 June – Dad was due to stay a week and Mum two – I was hoping and praying that the baby would decide to put in an appearance whilst they were here – I needn’t have worried. I had been having contractions on a regular basis for a week or so – nothing to worry about – nothing too serious, but they were there – all my friends were desperate for the baby to arrive whilst they were still here – only so that they could call him some ridiculous name like Hurricane or Gonu – I assure you ! The wee one was to disappoint. I woke up at 5.00am on the morning on 01 July with some contractions going on – nothing worse than I’d had before so I went back to sleep. James went off to work with a warning that I was having some contractions and I’d call him if they got any worse. They didn’t seem to get much worse, but they didn’t go away either. Mum gave me a nice foot massage and I just pottered about taking it easy. I decided that going to the hospital would be a waste of time as the contractions were not getting any worse and they would just send me home again and I would have dragged James away from work for no good reason. No I’d just ride it out at home until the contractions got worse and really started doing something – MISTAKE ! About 11.00am Mum decided to have a shower so I thought I’d go and have a nice lay down on her bed – the ac is nice and cool in there. I laid down and thought – ah there we go – the contractions are going away now – I knew it. Mum had her shower and suddenly I had two really large contractions and my waters broke at 11.45 – oh lordy I knew about the contractions then I can tell you. We called James and told him to get home pronto, which he did, a few misunderstandings not withstanding – well, trying to talk on the phone whilst having contractions is not easy you know. Anyway he got to the house and between him and Mum they managed to drag me past the builders and into the car – where the pain became almost unbearable. James did a Starsky and Hutch drive to the hospital – driving between two lanes of traffic with his hand on the horn and a screaming wife and almost screaming mother in law in the back of the car! Well done James! We got there and went to the emergency dept, where they all thought I was a first time Mum who was making a big old fuss about nothing – they brought out a wheelchair which I tried to sit on – twice – to no avail – that was not happening – then they brought out a bed for me which was so high I couldn’t get up on it, so they had to go and find a stool – what a farce. Anyway we got to the labour ward and once they prised my hands from the bed the consultant examined me, her face fell as she told us that the baby’s leg was already out. She examined me further, which felt like she was trying to push him back in! Whereupon she proclaimed that there was no way the baby was coming out like that and I was whisked off for an emergency c section. Oscar Theodore Smith was born nine minutes later at 12.49pm, weighing in at 9lb and 52cm long – very healthy indeed. The Doctor did a little light liposuction, a mini tummy tuck and then closed me up – you don’t get that on the NHS – if only you could tell !

So I stayed in hospital for 4 nights as per the c section package – private room – private bathroom – cleaners in twice a day – room service and nurses that offer to take the baby away whenever you want so that you can sleep ! Pembury Hospital it certainly wasn’t – Jacob’s birth at that dreadful place seems like the dark ages in comparison – the sooner they knock it down the better. Mum and Dad were happy to look after Jacob and, he had a fab time – going swimming, doing experiments and all sorts of lovely activities. He was so fabulous with little Oscar – desperate to come and see him and give him lots of hugs and kisses it really was lovely to see – so far, this has continued in the real world – we’ll see how long it lasts – I think he’s going to be a wonderful older brother – he loves Oscar – or Strudel as he insists on calling him. Apparently when my Dad told Jacob that the baby had been born and was called Oscar – he burst into tears and said “but I wanted to call him Strudel”!

So we are home, I am still recovering from the C section (Oh how women complain about their illness’ ;) ) – I feel so much better than I did, but it’s hard not to overdo it and not being able to drive is just plain frustrating – but it’s not for ever. James is currently having two weeks off work and it’s lovely to all be together as a family. I’m looking forward to all my friends coming back from their hols so I can show off my new bundle and frankly have some female conversation ! I can’t wait to get back to Starbucks – oh how I miss you so.

Just to finish up – some good friends of ours and Jacob’s recently left Oman to relocate back to the UK – Julie, Michael, Will and Francesca – we will miss you lots – hope you have a lovely time in the UK and we really hope to see you at Christmas. Lots and lots of love.

Oh just thought – we had better change the name of this blog now – we are no longer the Oman three – we are the Oman four !!!

Of Ultrasounds and MRI’s…

2007-03-19T09:13:00.000+04:00

Well stories from February and March, where do I begin?......I suppose the first event was the arrival of our friends from the UK. Sam and Bruce and their two children came over for a two week holiday and by all accounts had a lovely time. True to my word I took them both out to the sand dunes in the Hummer for an introduction to dune driving, resulting in ear to ear grins and high blood pressure. Sam proved to be a natural, (only getting stuck once) and gave a constant running commentary of whoa wohoa whooooa.

The main trip was back to Wahiba for a night in the desert camp, which was just as lovely as the first trip. This family run business http://www.nomadicdesertcamp.com/start.htm is very relaxed, friendly and always accommodating. Camel rides ensued, as did the obligatory climb to the top of the nearest dune for sunset and a bit of sand boarding for those more adventurous. As we left the camp the following day for a spot of desert dune driving Bruce was at the wheel of the Durango following me in the Hummer. As the rear end of my car pointed skywards and disappeared from sight for the first time I could hear the conversation going on in the car behind as if I was really there… “They don’t expect me to follow do they????” This is self made roller coasting at its best, hearts in mouths everyone was wide eyed and laughing their heads off as we went up and over dune after dune.

Muscat souk has really come on in the last year, and has smartened it self up somewhat, in order to appeal to the cruise ship tourists now arriving. It is best to avoid when a ship is in town, not just for the crowds but also the prices. Haggling is far harder on the days.

Jewelry and nicnacks abound and calls from pashmina sellers at every corner, there is always something of interest, though not necessarily the old world charm that some might expect.

We spent an easy day down at the Marina, beside the pool soaking up the sun and recovering from our previous exploits, when shortly after lunch I doubled up in pain and had to be driven home by Becky unable to function and feeling very, very ill.

The following day I had recovered but Becky wasn’t feeling up to much after an exerting few days so we left her at home and went off to Seefa for a windy day at the beach. Unfortunately, most of us were more tired than we realized and the sea cold so the day was foreshortened but at the very least our guests saw some of the mountainous beauty that is Oman.

The next day I was back at work, well for a couple of hours at least. I was feeling a little under the weather and not looking too pink either (Distinctive shade of yellow) so took my self off to see the doctor. A blood test followed, and shortly after the results came in, I was hospitalized with suspected hepatitis. A week in hospital, lots more blood tests, an ultrasound scan, a MRI and several visits from a specialist and I was none the wiser. Finally, after all the tests came back it was confirmed that there was no hepatitis and I had gall stones, one of which had blocked my innards and caused an awful lot of pain and turned me yellow! The upshot is that I will have my gall bladder removed at Muscat Private Hospital on the first of April, no April fools I’m afraid.

The down side of this was that I missed Becky’s twenty week scan….can you guess what it is yet????

Fortunately everything is good and the baby actively participated in the scan.

Before Becky reached the twenty six week watershed on flying, she took her self of to Dubai for a whistle stop baby shopping spree with her friends. A slight panic was caused by airport staff demanding a medical certificate stating when the baby was due. The hospital faxed one through in time for Becky to make the flight, but an interesting lesson for all those mums to be.

After a couple of weeks recovery, I felt well enough to socialise, Becky was going a little stir crazy and suggested that we should really go to a friend’s fancy dress cum Karaoke party, the theme… pop stars. But what to go as? We only had a couple of days in which to find a character, source the costume and get to the party. The make or break components proved to be a pair of long white socks and a long black wig….

Luckily Becky found me a wig and I found her long white socks.

So Britney and Ozzy did get to go to the Ball after all, although Britney drove because Ozzy couldn’t see where he was going. A star studded cast were present, from Ziggy Stardust and Sandy (Grease), Abba and Jim Morrison to Britney, Christina, Elvis and Sid Vicious. Plenty of dancing, bad singing and a lot of catching up ensured a good night out for all.

Yesterday we had flash floods which had caught everyone by surprise as nothing had been forecast and it is relatively late in the year for rain. Becky battled through the rain for an hour and a half to get Jacob to school only to find the school closed when she arrived. Unfortunately she slipped in the car park whilst carrying Jacob, grazing her knees and stubbing her toe. Jacob’s umbrella flew off never to be seen again which upset him greatly.

The Journey home proved eventful as Becky had forgotten to fill the car up with fuel, get credit for her phone and was stuck on the highway with the water rising and traffic not moving. Whilst trying to carefully drive through deep water some idiot in a black 4wd charged past and promptly stalled in the middle of the wadi (serves him right) However the bow wave he created forced water up the exhaust of Becky’s car causing it to stall just as she left the water! Becky very calmly controlled the situation and managed to restart the car and get to a petrol station.

Now with the car full of fuel, Jacob and Becky full of chocolate and the phone empty of credit (Shell do sell phone cards you know). They set off to find the driest way home, many roads were completely flooded with water over the bonnets of abandoned cars but, eventually the arrived home some four hours after the had left.

P.S. A replacement umbrella has now been ordered and will hopefully arrive soon.

And the Rain, Rain Rain Came Down , Down , Down ……..

2007-02-06T09:53:00.000+04:00

Well the last two months have flown by and we are well into 2007, Happy New Year everyone.
December was the beginning of a very busy social season in Muscat. Ours began with the Saint Andrews Ball of the Caledonian Society. A lovely night under the stars in the gardens of the Intercontinental Hotel with the men in black tie and the ladies in evening gowns. The company was enjoyable, the food was lovely, the dancing pretty much non stop and, the same could be said of the supply of wine to our glasses. Even the Royal Omani Air force Pipers turned up and paraded around in their tartan dress uniforms regaling us with a selection of memorable tunes. A very late night was achieved by both Becky and myself, although there is a 30 minute period in the early hours that I appear to have completely lost.
We chose not to attend the ‘premier’ even,t namely the British Embassy’s Crystal Ball, opting for a smaller event at the Dolphin Centre which was organised by a couple of friends, just a bit of fun and a reason to put our glad rags on one more time before Christmas.
So winter was finally upon us and the temperature had plummeted to a chilly 22 degrees, out came the jumpers and thermals and we stared longingly at the pool wishing for the day that it would be warm enough to use again. And just before Christmas we had a spot of rain!
When I say spot, I mean a large spot…

This is our 4wd driving down the road on the way home. The Pizza Hut in Qurm was waist deep in water as was most of the Qurm shopping area. An awful lot of damage was caused in a very short space of time.
So Christmas day was a family and friends affair and Jacob was a very lucky boy with all the pressies that Santa brought him. Given that his birthday was the week before, December proved top be a very lucrative month for this young man. His big successes have been a trampoline and copious amounts of play mobile……one very happy chappy.
New years was spent at a friends house with a quiz that took us through to the early hours, great fun and games with Jacob sleeping over with his best friend Taine.
So 2007, a new year and a quiet month recovering from the excesses of the previous month. Becky has now had a couple of scans and the results are that Mother and Baby are doing fine (Although morning sickness is draging on).
We eventually got to ask our questions at the British Embassy Quiz Night, a little controversy in the opening round, but I think everyone had a good time and didn’t find it too difficult. My personal favourite question was “what is Archibutriaphobia the fear of”…………………..It is the fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth……HONEST!!!
Christmas cards are still arriving, I would like to say a big thank you to the unknown member of one postal service who decided that Oman was in Jamaica (I’m not joking!) and some day soon Jacob might see the last of his Christmas presents arrive…….

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow.

2006-11-27T11:06:00.000+04:00

Well what a busy month November has been, the time has flown by and Christmas is almost upon us.Jacob spent Halloween as Harry Potter and had a wonderful evening at the Dolphin Center with his friends, playing games and trick or treating
We began the month with Jacob’s first ever camping trip. With Ramadan behinds us and a few days off work for Eid. We picked up a tent, loaded up the 4x4 and set off to the beach with friends. Arriving in the late afternoon, we parked the cars on the sand and set about putting up our new tents, and after much head scratching finally had somewhere to sleep before the sun totally disappeared. So a BBQ, champagne, G&T, and the odd glass of vino topped off a stunning night under the stars, with not a drop of light pollution to be seen. The following morning found James relaxing in the sea (on purpose) floating on his back, watching the sun rise over the distant horizon and listening to the gentle lapping of the waves against the shore.
On packing up the cars later that morning, we managed to bog down both of them in the sand, because we failed to deflate our tires prior to attempting to moving off. Much, digging, pushing and towing ensued before we were finally both free and on our way back home. Red faces all round, still at least we weren’t the only ones!
The following weekend was a much awaited ‘long’ weekend in Dubai. After arranging road passes for the family we packed up the Durango and headed West, on reflection it might have been worth buying a map prior to our departure. Even so, heading west proved to be right and we didn’t get lost once during the four and a half hour road trip. How on earth did we keep Jacob occupied for so long a journey? Fortunately James had remembered that we had a 6” LCD screen knocking about the house, as one does, and with the help of some cables, a soldering iron, an ipod and some general know how, Jacob had his own in flight movie system! We converted a load of his dvds so that they could be stored and played back on the ipod, so all he had to do was request his next movie. It was funny to listen to Jacob interacting with Little Einstein’s, headphones on, unaware of his own vocal volume.
As we left Oman with its’ rugged mountains we headed into the UAE and the landscape change to sand dunes, first orange, then tan and finally pale cream. Dubai loomed out of the afternoon haze after an hours drive, a maze of skyscrapers, tower cranes and construction. There is something like a quarter of the worlds tower cranes in use in Dubai, and to see the skyline you can certainly believe it.
We found our friends house without too much trouble, and after a short respite headed out for our first port of call, a place so secret that Jacob had no idea what was to befall him!
Ski Dubai!!! This is the first (and only) indoor ski resort in the Middle East and has skiing, snowboarding and tobogganing, or just playing in the snow ( http://www.skidxb.com/ ). We kitted up and walked into temperatures of minus two degrees, what a wonderful feeling!!!! We played in the snow caverns, had snowball fights and slid down slopes on a toboggan, all of us had a whale of a time.
So to top that, the following day all the boys went off to Wild Wadi water park (http://www.wildwadi.com/), whilst Becky and Nicole went to the Mall of the Emirates for some retail therapy. At first Jacob was a little unsure of what to make of it all, but after a couple of rides and a progression of small slides, he was calling the shots and going on higher and higher slides and more adventurous rides.
That night we headed over to the rugby club for bonfire night, it was not quite the fifth of November, but close enough. For those of you not of an English persuasion, this is the time we celebrate the attempted blowing up of Parliament back in 1605, odd I know but we are English (see http://www.saburchill.com/history/events/004.html for more info).
Jacob loved the bonfire experience and the fireworks that followed some time later, before we all retired to our beds weary from a very long and busy day.
Our last full day in Dubai was spent at the shops stocking up on the necessaries and a trip to IKEA which filled the car close to bursting and then, the following morning it was time to head back to Muscat. After a fond farewell to our friends we headed off in search of a petrol station. It is odd that a nation founded on oil should be so devoid of petrol stations!!!!!!!!!!!! After forty minutes of searching and running on vapors we stumbled upon one purely by chance, be still my beating heart. It was with palpable relief that we headed off with a full tank and the traffic of Dubai behind us.
Later in the month Oman had National Day, which celebrates the building of a modern state, and as part of this the British school required the children to dress according to different nations traditional costumes. Jacob’s year had the honour to celebrate the Omani nation, which meant a traditional dishdasha and the embroidered kummar hat, whilst I’m sure Jacob would have loved a khanjar (ceremonial knife) to finish off the ensemble, I don’t think the school would have been too impressed.
Becky then attended the school assembly where Jacob and the rest of his year paraded on the stage and sang “I’d like to teach the world to sing”.
After a busy first half on the month we have taken it a bit easy, as next week is December, and that means not only will Christmas be upon us but also Jacob’s birthday, two black tie “Do’s” and New Years!!!!!! Busy, Busy, Busy…………….
P.S. if anyone was wondering, our team of six won the quiz night on our very first outing. For our penance we will have to set the questions for the next quiz.

Ramadan a ding dong

2006-10-17T08:57:00.002+04:00

This is the first Ramadan in quite some time for us as a family, and you soon forget the difficulties that the faithful face when trying to fast in hot conditions. For those of you that don’t know, Ramadan is a time of fasting, from sunrise to sunset no food or liquid is to pass your lips. Ok, so you get to eat and dink as much as you like as soon as the sun sets each evening, easy peasy I hear you say, but then add 35 to 40 degree heat and then you’ve got a problem.
Before I carry on, I should add that as non muslims we are not required to fast, but we mustn’t eat (even chewing gum) or drink or smoke (Not that we do) in public.
So how do the muslims cope with this? The working day starts late at around 9am and finishes at 1pm, and in between time as little energy is spent as possible. At around 5:30pm the sun goes down and everyone rushes home to break-fast, and that’s when the day begins! Shops open at 7:30pm and stay open to 11 or 12 pm, and whole families become night dwellers.
Foe those of us that do not participate, the best time to be out is when everyone else isn’t. The roads are quiet, on the run to work and school at 7am, a joy to be out on the road. At the working day finishes at 4pm, I have more time to myself than I know what to do with.
On the downside, a lot of the restaurants close and use this time for staff holidays, so eating out is not so easy, but there are far more invites to go to peoples houses for dinner so all in all a very social time. The school contacts have been invaluable for making new friends in what is a very small community and the diversity of this community has led to very interesting social events. Tonight we are off to the British Embassy’s quiz night!

There is already a noticeable drop in temperature, with a slight rise in humidity, and this is most apparent at the pool. Jacob has spent an inordinate amount of time in the water and his swimming is greatly improved. Come December we will have to switch to a pool with heating as it is too cold without. Our alternative is to spend a lot more time at the beach. It seems so long ago that we were last there, I am really looking forward to getting back to our weekends at the beach and maybe this year we will camp out overnight. Can’t wait!
Next week spells the end to Ramadan for another 11 months (It moves closer by one month every year due to the muslim calendar) and so begins Eide when we all get a holiday! Won’t know how much of a holiday until a day or so before but I’m hoping for five days (Inc the weekend). Oh happy days

School Daze

2006-09-10T18:14:00.000+04:00

Well Becky had her Birthday on the 23rd August and six days later along came mine. Unfortunately I had returned to work the day before, but I think I have reached that time when I’m not that bothered. Thanks to generous birthday donations from my family back in England I had managed to purchase a new BCD (a diving jacket that holds the air cylinder and provides buoyancy in the water) for myself, which was hand delivered courtesy of my lovely wife and Gulf Air baggage staff. Becky had arranged a little extra from Jacob on the day, so imagine my surprise when the present I unwrapped did not contain the coffee percolator as shown on the box, but another ipod. So we are now officially a two ipod family, how decadent ;o)

I had up ‘til recently not understood how this little bit of gadgetry could be of any possible use to me, until I discovered the car adapter. Now, instead of searching for the next cd to stick in the stereo, I can choose any of over six thousand songs whilst driving with a quick flick of a finger. Given that I have trouble choosing what to eat in a restaurant when I have more than five options, this choice and sheer quantity of music creates a whole new cunundrum for my brain to overload on. It was fortunate that I started converting and cataloging our compact discs to computer for Becky’s benefit, before I understood the scale of the task before me, otherwise I don’t think I would have got around to doing it.

So the solution is that I let the ipod randomly choose the music, and I rediscover music that was long ago forgotten (Maybe some are best forgotten). Oh, and if you were wondering I did get a percolator too, a traditional stove top type, thank you Jacob :o)

Jacob has now officially started at the British School Muscat and has had a whale of a time so far. He was however, a bit upset when he found out he couldn’t go at the weekends! As you can see, he looks as bright and shiny as a new penny in his white monogrammed T shirt and navy shorts. Please remember that this is the “BEFORE” photograph.

Becky is now getting up a six in the morning, and Jacob at six thirty with no grumbling. It is really nice since we get to have breakfast together, the first regular time we have as a family. Prior to this work had always dictated an early start, and those who stayed home were not convinced that early mornings could be of any benefit whatsoever. Now we get to talk in the mornings, say our goodbyes and all leave the house by seven.

The first day of school went well, although Jacob wasn’t sure about the pink turtle above his coat peg (But it’s PINK mummy). And subsequent days have elicited as much information as you would expect from a surly teenager (Blood out of a stone is something my mother will remember well, like father like son). Becky is determined this will not be the case and so a strict regime of cross examination, polygraph tests, and the obligatory table lamp and 500 watt bulb is being mobilized.

Now for the “AFTER” photograph:

Given the evidence before you, it is safe to assume Jacob did something whilst at school!

So the next bit of news is that the United Arab Emirates has switched to a five day week with a Friday/Saturday weekend as of the 1st September 2006. So???????

Oman is still ummming and aaaahhhhing and there are rumors abound that we will or wont follow suit. Personally I’m not that bothered when the weekend is (Currently Thursday/Friday) although being in line with the rest of the Arab world would have benefits. What has really got me jumping for joy is that my company has jumped the gun and put us on a five day week, so I finally get a proper weekend to spend with my family :o)

So given that I had my first whole two days this past weekend, I had a day diving with the new BCD (Bow and scrape, kiss Becky’s feet, many thanks, grateful whimpering etc.). An early start of six thirty insured that I was out of the door, down to the marina and out on the water by eight. A short trip of forty minutes down to Bandar Khoran and we were kitted up and in the water by nine. During the journey, we took a short respite to watch a pod of dolphins swim by with a couple of brief leaps out of the water to get a real good look at us. Well, even though the water was as flat as a mill pond, it was a cold 22 degrees (Hey that’s cold for Oman!) and the visibility was less than great. I did however get to grips with the new kit and took my first underwater photos, which weren’t too bad.

That evening Jacob, Becky and myself went round to a friend house to meet their two pedigree chocolate Labradors, one of which is expecting pups. Jacob giggled and screamed his way through a couple of very happy hours. And before anyone asks, NO WE ARE NOT GETTING ANOTHER DOG!

Well September is rolling on and soon it will be Ramadan which will mean working days that are one hour shorter, odd shop opening times, closed restaurants and no alcohol!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is however, a time for dinner parties and BBQ’s and the chance to socialize in a friendlier, personal environment, which leads to making new friends and new opportunities.

Didn't We Have A Lovely Day The Day We Went to Tiwi !

2006-08-26T19:47:00.000+04:00

Well - I finally managed to drag myself up off of my sick bed for a day trip out and it was a doozy I can tell you. We haven't had a day as lovely as that for a long time. So what did you do I hear you all asking dear readers ?!

Well, we left home at about 10.00am this morning, very civilized don't you think and we drove down towards Quriyat which is where James' road project begins and goes to lots for work and I have never been. It is about 50 mins from Muscat on a very pleasant mostly single carriageway tarmac road - no probs at all. From there we headed towards Tiwi, which is a fairly well reknowned Wadi in these here parts. This road is unmade - that it is very lumpy rock, loose dirt, mud and sand - a very interesting combination ! We drove on these "roads" for about half an hour being shaken to pieces and then we made it onto another tarmac road - phew. We then decided it was time for lunch so we stopped at a beach for some marathon stone throwing and a bit of lunch and it was lovely - look !

From there we drove on a bit for maybe 20 minutes or so - partly on real road an partly on hilly gravel ! We were looking for a sink hole, but unfortunately we never found it - still no mind. We made it to the wadi at Tiwi not really knowing what to expect and it was absolutely stunning - I have to say the last wadi we visited was rather underwhelming, so I wasn't expecting too much from this one, but it was beautiful - lots of lovely pools of water, little waterfalls, greenery and birdlife - gorgeous. Best of all, you can drive down the side of it and get out of the car for walking when it suits you - with most wadi's you drive to the mouth and then scramble across the rocks from there no good for littlies - but this one was perfect for families - just wonderful.

We had read in a book we have about a beach called "white beach" and had been looking for it on the way to Tiwi, but sadly had been unable to spot it - we decided to try again on the way back and lo and behold we found it and I'm so glad we did, it was fabulous - we went for a lovley swim and played in the sand a bit, the perfect antidote to a dusty drive.

Then it was back to Muscat for a evening of well deserved rest and relaxation - so be prepared all ye who visit - you will be subjected to a visit to Tiwi - be prepared to be juddered !

It was my Birthday on Wednesday and we had a very nice day indeed - unfortunately I was still feeling rather poorly so we didn't do that much, but James and Jacob brought me a cup of tea and presents in bed and Jacob bought me a very noisy musical card - we were all happy ! James had proposed to purchase me a piece of jewllery for my birthday, but at the last minute we both decided that an ipod would be much better ! So here my lovelies in all its fabulous glory is my 60GB video Ipod with a Bose speaker/docking station. I also have a nifty gadet in the car so that I can listen to the ipod via my radio - it's really great - sadly James has already had his Birthday present so he is going to have to wait until Christmas to get himself one - everybody say ahhhhhhh. Still I might let him borrow mine every now and then if he's good !

Thank you James and Jacob for a lovely Birthday - I had a fabby day and I loved my presies.

Lastly I just had to leave you with this picture of Jacob - he's such a cool dude these days it's scary. Ta ta all.

Wowzer Wowzer - lookey here

2006-08-22T14:19:00.000+04:00

Well it was like this - a few days ago we happened to be a in a little diving shop we know and whilst James was looking for some strangely named piece of vital plastic equipment I noticed that they had a camera housing for underwater photography at a bargain price. So anyway we had a look and it turns out that the bargain price included the camera as well - not only that but as soon as we expressed an interest in it the shop owner dropped the price by 30OR - so anyway - we've now got an underwater camera and it's fab.

So then the other day whilst I was laying languishing on the sofa - oh yes - I've got yet another throat infection - James took Jacob to the pool and they had some fun with the camera. They took some really great photos and I thought I'd try to share a few of them with you.

Aren't they great - so you can expect multitudonous photos of fish from now on ! Nah - we won't bore you to tears with too much of that !

So this sore throat has been a real bummer I have to say. I went to see the Dr and she gave me a prescription for anti-biotics but suggest that I tried to manage it without - which I have been doing, very painfully - I think it is getting better but it has been a long hard road. It's a real shame that James has had two weeks off and I have been poorly for most of it - on the plus side he has been able to spend lots of time with Jacob and they have been having some fun - they've been swimming quite a bit, driving over the sand dunes - which Jacob loved and preparing for my Birthday which is tomorrow ! Jacob is not very good at keeping a secret so I have had to shut my ears a couple of times - still he can spill all the beans tomorrow and he can't wait. We are off to the Sultan centre this afternoon to get some seed trays so that I can plant the seeds that I got in the UK - I'm going to try and grow basil, rosemary and lavender - we shall see how it goes. I'm dying to get our garden looking nice - it's such a prison yard at the moment I need to get on with it - just got to kick this blasted sore throat first.

We are off out to dinner at Kargeens tomorrow night, which I'm looking forward to and we are also going to try and go and see Pirates of the Caribean 2 one evening and we are going to try and do a day trip to Tiwi, which is a lovely Wadi and should be a great day out. We had hoped to do a bit more exploring these two weeks, but that has had to be knocked on the head since I have been barely able to get out of bed. Poor James - I seem to have been nothing but sick this year !

Ta ta all

Home Again Home Again Jiggidy Jig

2006-08-14T00:01:00.000+04:00

Well here we are back in Oman and safe and sound. The trip was just fine - not half as bad as I had anticipated apart from rather robust turbulence over Budapest - but still we are here and all is well. Looking forward to getting everything sorted and back to normal - big sigh and time for bed !

Night Night

While the Cats Away

2006-07-05T06:05:00.000+04:00

Well this is going to be a very wordy blog as Becky has the camera. Jacob and Becky flew back to England last Friday to spend six weeks in England with family and friends avoiding the worst of Oman’s summer heat. By all accounts, Jacob was a good boy and enjoyed the flight, which was a big change to the vomit fest that he experienced on the way out to Oman. Becky and I packed her violent magenta suitcases the day before without too much fuss and Jacob found that he had a Spiderman wheeled suitcase as hand luggage, boy was he happy! Seeb airport in Oman is a bit of an oddity in that you have to go through security to get to the check in desks, so there is no time for protracted tearful good byes, as soon as you walk in to the terminal building you say your bit and off goes the traveller!
As they were arriving in the UK (late compared to Oman) I had time to check with BAA Heathrow website that their plane had arrived safely and then I was off to bed.
It’s a bit odd being the only person in a large dark house, the only thing missing are large dust sheets over the furniture!
Muscat has really quietened down, all the mums and children have disappeared for the summer and there is a lot less traffic on the road, it feels like a completely different place. The day before they left, Jacob and I spent the morning at the pool and we were the only two people all morning.
When I say Oman is hot in the summer, it is HOT. In England you turn off the central heating, here you turn on the AC and turn off the hot water. Why? well the sun heats the cold water tank so that it comes out really hot and the only way to get semi cool water is to let it cool down in the hot water cylinder!
I went over to the Hyatt for dinner and football on the Saturday (England v Portugal) enough said. Since then it has been solitary nights in front of the TV, hope to catch up on a few films, but don’t seem to be many that I want to see available at the video store. I can however recommend Kiss Kiss Bang Bang with Val Kilmer and Robert Downey Jnr. Very funny.
So now is the make or break point, do I have six weeks of vegging or do I get up and about. I have loads of jobs I need to get on with so a positive attitude is essential. I tried to expand our wireless network last night but the access point was kaput. I sorted that out today and aim to have it up and running tonight, easier said than done. Jobs such as sorting out the spare room really excite me, not.
I will however have ample opportunity for diving, this Friday I have to do a rescue exercise and a theory test and then my sports diver qualification is finalised, taken long enough. Still, at least this is between dives, and I get to dive Fahal Island for pleasure. The water has been unseasonably cold (at depth) this year between 22 and 24 degrees, so I am going to be a whimp and put on a 3mm wetsuit and stay toasty warm. If I am millionaire lucky I might just see a whale shark, but I’m not holding my breath (diving pun intended). I have decided to become a Nitrox diver, which means my diving air will contain more oxygen than normal air. Sounds dodgy but it isn’t as it reduces the amount of nitrogen absorbed by the body reducing the risk of the Bends, among other things. I’ll need to fit in a days training to make this possible, oh where oh where will I find the time?
For all those of you who intend to visit us in the near future, I have found a nice little off road sand dune track near the house, where if you ask nicely I might let you take the Hummer for a spin, but not a roll. Now that I have had it for six months I’m not so precious about it, but it is still the best car I have ever owned.
Well I hope you all enjoy Becky and Jacob’s company and that sooner rather than later you will visit us in Oman.
James

Tailortastic and Other Tales

2006-06-16T08:53:00.000+04:00

Hello again - what a gap hey ! We've been busy, busy, busy and having some much deserved fun so I'm afraid blogging suffered for a time there, but here we are ready and able to update you all on what we have been doing.

Our first tale starts on a Thursday afternoon, when James, Jacob and I joined a group of our friends at the Shangri-la hotel for a weekend of fun and frolics. It was fabulous. The children all played together in the little pool, we had numerous trips down the "crazy river" which should really be the lazy river - but who is going to argue with three toddlers about semantics ! All the maids came down for the evening and we had an absolutely delicious meal with plenty of beverages and a great deal of fun. The next day was spent mainly round the pool - we never even made it onto the beach to check out the watersports as we were having so much fun in the pool because this was the weekend that Jacob learned to swim - yippeeeee. We've been trying to persuade him for ages that he can do it, but no he wasn't having any of it - so, this weekend there was a little girl swimming in the pool, who was no more than 18 months old - Jacob thought - if she can do it so can I and off he went. Since then we haven't been able to stop him and it's taking some persuading to get him to come up for air ! As a reward for this great achievement he received a brand new pair of speedo goggles, which have reflective lenses, just like his daddy's glasses, and he's mad about them. I'm so glad that he has started to swim, it's lovely to be able to take him in the pool and just let him go - he's not a great swimmer yet, but it won't be long until he's joining the Olympic team I'm sure !

Our second tale - involves a rather noisey event - we went to see Status Quo ! What a laugh - we had such a fab time, it was amazing. Neither James or I had been to a concert in years and it was such fun to just let our hair down - well I've got hair to let down James' is obviously metaphorical ! I got to meet the band before the concert began which was hysterical - who knew that they were so old and frail - I even managed to get their autogrpahs ! Look look

We went with a group of friends who had an absolute rip roaring time - well actually they didn't move from the edge of the crowd and refused to dance all night !!! I ask you - what is the point of going to a concert and refusing to dance ? I could have recorded it for you girls and given you a cd of it afterwards - saved you a bit of money !!! Well here they are - "enjoying themselves"

To be fair - it was exceptionally hot and I think I lost about 10 litres of sweat that night - I know James did - we looked wrecked when we got home - I think Selina must have wondered what on earth we had been doing - we went out looking quite respectable !! Anyway it was a great laugh and I really really enjoyed it.

We have also found a new and fabulous tailor - James has been persuaded to have a white short sleeved shirt made - so much more sensible that long sleeves in this weather and it only cost 8OR including fabric (about £12) - it was a direct copy of a shirt he already has, but with short sleeves instead of long and he is going to get several more made now. I have had lots of things made all for ridiculously low prices and all of course make me look gorgeous ! There are a wonderful selection of fabrics here in Ruwi - which is an Indian area, so lots of gorgeous sari fabrics as well as lovely liberty print cottons and loads of linen. I just need to find something I can have copied thos liberty prints - I love them.

Right - I'm not going to witter on any more in case I don't get finished a then don't post this ! I'll love you and leave you and those of you in the UK Jacob and I will see you soon !! Yeah - how exciting - apart from the plane part of course - but I can't walk so it will have to do !

Ta ta

Hollywood or Bust

2006-05-03T17:54:00.000+04:00

For all of you that would like to know what our new home is like we have cobbled together a short video for your pleasure. Just click on the link below and enjoy or more likely fall asleep.
video

Some Sad News

2006-05-02T15:01:00.000+04:00

I am sorry to have to tell you all that on Saturday I went for a pre natal check up and found out that we were expecting twins. Very sadly there were no heartbeats to be found - something had gone terribly wrong. I have been in hospital and been sorted out - just the emotional side to deal with now - which is greatly helped by having my lovely little Jacob around.

Just wanted to let you all know.