Leaving It All Behind

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?

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)

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

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

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

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

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

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)

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?

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

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!

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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.