Taken for a ride in a Ford Capri

Gulfnews: Al Ain taxi drivers take passengers for a ride

By Aftab Kazmi, Bureau Chief


"Al Ain: Passengers accused Al Ain taxi drivers of over-charging for trips to Buraimi, Oman, and said the authorities should take action to end the exploitation."

Yes, the storys late. I was a little busy that day and didn't read the Guff News.

By the way, did anyone see Eastenders last night? Please explain how Alfie and Kat are going to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a Ford Capri

Christmas in the HnJ

No, we didn't have dinner at Al Ain's hottest nightspot.

I know many people have their Christmas grub in one of Al Ain's four hotels but not us. Nothing against their cooking but I spend enough money in there during the rest of the year.

However, we did go there for a drink and listened to their Christmas CD on repeat mode three times. You'd think they'd have more than one Christmas CD and I began to feel sorry for the poor bar staff who must be counting the hours by the number of times Nat King Cole's 'Chestnuts Roasting' goes round.

Hope you all had a wonderful day whatever you did, wherever you went.

Happy Christmas...It's not the same...

It doesn't matter how you try to dress it up, Christmas in a Muslim country is not the same. I understand how Muslims feel in the UK when they celebrate Eid. OK, you can make your home as festive as possible but as soon as you step outside it's just another day

However, we will do our best to celebrate today despite the blinding sunshine and lack of snow.

Happy Christmas !

The Wasta Sauce Bottle

Has anyone been rubbing it and if so have you seen an increase in your wasta powers?
(see RH of this blog, down a bit)

Barefoot wanderin' at 2.30 AM

Al Ain is full of taxis. Sometimes you can be waiting for one on the side of the road and three will come hurtling towards you all hoping to be there first. You wince as an accident almost unfolds before your eyes. The 'losers' drive away looking grim while the 'winner' pulls up beside you looking smug.

Not at 2.30 am on a Thursday morning. You're happy to pay double fare if there were any taxis to hail. The road is dead except for the odd Emirati lad driving around in Dad's Beemer(that low bass of the exhaust). You start to walk home, your feet hurt, you remove your shoes and carry on.

A taxi passes. It's full of westerners on their way back from Luce's.

Suddenly the Beemer pulls up beside you. You're another 20 minutes from home but then again this could be Al Ain's very own Jack The Ripper. Ah, sod it. You're not alone and he seems OK.

Three minutes later you're home. A nice ma'salaama and a few shukrans and he drives away.

Fall asleep feeling happy about living in Al Ain as you hear the Beemer drive round the block once more...

Oh no it isn't!

"What isn't?" you ask.

This year's Al Ain pantomime.

It used to be the event of the season. Yes, we have the carol concerts and the tree lighting but the panto was the fairy on top of the tree. Each year a bunch of Al Ain's finest thesps would start rehearsing in October and be ready to hit the boards come mid-December. Last years show was the best ever, a lavish performance of Cinderella complete with panto horse. One of Al Ain's many film makers even produced a DVD of it.















BUT this year no panto.

The director has left the country and nobody has picked up the 'baton'. The children of Al Ain will now have to travel to Dubai for their festive entertainment. Or watch last year's DVD....

Back soon!

I'll be away from a computer til Wednesday at least so I'll leave you with this wonderful Al Ain scene to enjoy while I'm gone. Answers on a postcard or on a comments section as to what is in the guy's tub on his head. 

The next train leaves for Al Ain.....?

Gulfnews: Emirates Railways gradually moving on the right track:
By Saifur Rahman and Kokila Jacob, Staff Reporters


"Dubai: Emirates Railways, the country's future national rail network, will be part of a GCC-wide rail network currently under study, officials say.

It will be more than 700 km-long and will link Abu Dhabi with Dubai, Sharjah, Ras Al Khaimah and Fujairah in the east with Ruwais and Ghowaifat in the west."


Why oh why didn't they include Al Ain in this? It wouldn't be to difficult to build a track down to here from Dubai and another up to Abu Dhabi linking it all together. You could have high speed trains running on this stretch and it would cut the journey time in half. Also, it would be a feasable commute for those of us Alainites who want to work in Dubai but can't stomach the 3 hour daily commute on the E66.

On top of this it would reduce traffic on the highway, leaving more space for the crawling pick up trucks. Less traffic, less accidents. As for privacy you could have 'women and children only' carriages.

maybe one day...

The 'Cresta Run', Jebel Hafeet

 

Anyone have problems getting Secret Dubai this morning?

Al Ainywood

Yes, you read right.

Al Ain is the film-making capital of the UAE if the number of film-makers to 'normal people' ratio is to be believed.

You might find it difficult to get your hands on an organic onion in this fair city but if you want someone to video your event they'll be lining up at your door.

I know of three film projects in the making at the moment and two that have already been made and are ready for 'distribution'. There is even an 'Al Ain Movie' which makes use of all the wonderful landscape we have round here.

One problem. Most of these film-makers have day jobs and are worried about losing them if their bosses get wind of their David Lean aspirations.

You see, thats Al Ain for you. A creative hot pot full of frustrated english teachers.

Love is colour blind

Once again, thanks to most of you for being so patient with my comments cock-up. You were all very polite despite posting and posting and not seeing your post appear while I was ranting and ranting at you all. One anonymous poster did start to get frustrated and blamed the lack of posts on the colour of my blog:

Anonymous said...
i think i know why you have no blogs.. bcoz you blog is borin, useless and an ugly colour, and no doubt u wont publish this because of user moderation

Silly old taxi

Didn't realise I'd clicked 'moderate comments'. Found you all just now and published you. It was Christmas come early. Sorry for ranting :-(

Miserable gits the lot of yer! What do you want me to do? Beg?

Blah, I'll carry on blogging and if you wanna post a comment then all the better for me but I'm going to carry on bringing you the delights of Al Ain so much so that you'll wanna move there and spend the rest of your life listening to Jason B sing 'The Green Green Grass of Home' in the Horse and Jockey pub.

C'mon, don't be shy

Who's going to write my first comment? :-)

I feel like this right now

Khaleej Times Online: "“Until half a decade back, the saving grace of working in Gulf countries was a fat bank balance at the end of your tenure here. People held that financial security in the form of some hundred thousands stacked away as savings compensated for what you endure here, with loved ones back home. But now keeping apart a few dirhams is a distant dream for many as it is a hand to mouth existence for many middle class families and individuals,” noted long timers in the UAE like Abdul Latif and Ramachandran Nair. And they do it at a price; failing mental and physical fitness."

Anyone else feel as if it's really not worth being out here anymore?

Nightlife in Al Ain Part 1

A few years ago when I first arrived in Al Ain I was already primed in the city's nightspots. I mean, it really doesn't take long to know them all. It was comforting to know that there was a real English pub waiting there for us and we made it our priority to visit it as soon as we could.

Now for those who have never visited a UAE 'pub', the vast majority of them are in hotels with the exception of the Irish Village in Dubai of course.

First impressions of Al Ain 'pub' were:

Dark with velvet seating and dark wood fittings.....good
Dartboard....yes
Glasses hanging above bar.....all there

but

No resident dog and most importantly where's the guvnor? You know, the landlord or landlady?

We did meet the guvnor, a west country boy who sounds a bit like Gareth off The Office (sorry). One night he'd be calling out the quiz questions to know-all academics from HCT and UAEU, the next he would be trying to get people up to sing Karaoke and ending up singing a lot of the numbers himself. One time he even organised a Scalextrics race, setting up a track that took over half the room.

Then one day he left to pastures new and brighter lights: Dubai. Things started to slide...

The poor hotel management tried as hard as they could to bring in the punters but the place was never the same. Where did all the people go?

Then one day he was back. The hotel were so thrilled his face was all over the place and lo and behold the suppers came back in their droves. There ends the tale.

For more information about Al Ain's currently most slammin' night spot you can join their Yahoo group here

All your maid wants for Christmas is at Carrefour

Now do you get her a yellow one, a red one or a green one?