Chris Saul's Blog

Thursday September 06, 2007

Coming unstitched

I seem to be having a minor run of bad luck at the moment.

My Internet connection has broken twice in two weeks, leaving us without a connection for two days each time. Thankfully a kindly neighbour's connection is available to us.

My eGate card came up as 'cancelled' when leaving for Oman yesterday. On return I went through the machine without any problems though. Please let that be a one off glitch.

Mrs Saul's car broke down yesterday. I suspect it was just a dead battery, but we'll see.

Our property company recommended I visit the telco providing our TV, phone and internet in the new flat as soon as possible to arrange for a connection. The clerk laughed at me and told me that we wouldn't be wired up until January - we are moving in on Sept 30. A few terse calls to the property company and I was informed we'd be connected in mid-October, along with an apology that noone could be bothered to tell us that things wouldn't be ready when the flat was handed over. I am waiting for written confirmation...

We're doing the snagging on the new apartment today, so let's hope that no major faults are uncovered there...

DIFC Wow

I had my second meeting at the Dubai International Financial Centre today.

DIFC was just some sand behind my apartment building when I arrived here in 2002. It's now a half finished development of shiny financial type buildings.

When describing Dubai it's easy to fall into lazy superlatives, but I really was stunned by what I saw. The interiors of the main 'Gate' building are incredible - very high quality, very stylish and apparently very well put together.

I felt rather like I was back in the City in London, surrounded as I was by Europeans in smart suits rushing here and there. To round off the authentic feel, there were even two Essex girls smoking Silk Cut outside the main entrance.