Today is the first day of Eid the Arab holidays, the first day of the weekend and also the first day after I finished a month long training course. As usual though, this makes no difference and so far I have already gone out to the airport, missed my flight, got my job cancelled and run out across the airfield to retrieve my bag from the plane I was supposed to be on - and it is only 8.45am. Another of those small moments that leave me thinking simultaneously "bugger, why did I not get an office job?" and also "how bizarre is this - glad I don't have a boring job!"
Ive been very lazy at keeping this up to date (nothing interesting has happened!) since my last post but I have been back to "school" to learn about the fancy new-generation tools Slb is now running. The course lasted a month and although I was still based in Abu Dhabi it was virtually a holiday with a group of like minded, up for everything bunch of folk. Out of the 19 people on the course 14 of us made it to Dubai for a night out and even more when we were in Abu Dhabi but we all survived and avoided getting arrested for the atrocious dance moves and general chaotic becaviour that occurs when field engineers are released into the real world. (Special mention goes to Borgarr and Dmitry for entertainment value!)
Also during this time my parents came for a visit. I think there conclusion on the U.A.E was that it is nice as long as you don't actually have to live here. Taking my parents around was pretty funny for me, as usual I put maximum lack of effort into any kind of planning and so ended up driving to Dubai in my flat mates unlicensed, un-insured Saudi car with me at the helm. Although I assured my parents several time that everything was totally legit they remained deeply suspicious but to their credit never mentioned anything although I saw several meaningful looks pass between them! My dastardly plan really fell apart when I tried to buy the equivalent to the Dubai road tax disk (The UAE - tax free my arse!) and was asked for my vehicle registration details. After a brief argument I escaped by driving off across some bit of wasteland and back onto the highway with both my parents cowering in the footwells.
Ive been very lazy at keeping this up to date (nothing interesting has happened!) since my last post but I have been back to "school" to learn about the fancy new-generation tools Slb is now running. The course lasted a month and although I was still based in Abu Dhabi it was virtually a holiday with a group of like minded, up for everything bunch of folk. Out of the 19 people on the course 14 of us made it to Dubai for a night out and even more when we were in Abu Dhabi but we all survived and avoided getting arrested for the atrocious dance moves and general chaotic becaviour that occurs when field engineers are released into the real world. (Special mention goes to Borgarr and Dmitry for entertainment value!)
Also during this time my parents came for a visit. I think there conclusion on the U.A.E was that it is nice as long as you don't actually have to live here. Taking my parents around was pretty funny for me, as usual I put maximum lack of effort into any kind of planning and so ended up driving to Dubai in my flat mates unlicensed, un-insured Saudi car with me at the helm. Although I assured my parents several time that everything was totally legit they remained deeply suspicious but to their credit never mentioned anything although I saw several meaningful looks pass between them! My dastardly plan really fell apart when I tried to buy the equivalent to the Dubai road tax disk (The UAE - tax free my arse!) and was asked for my vehicle registration details. After a brief argument I escaped by driving off across some bit of wasteland and back onto the highway with both my parents cowering in the footwells.
