Chris Saul's Blog

Sunday March 29, 2009

Softening

The value of our apartment appears to have gone down a fair bit. I should probably say that its price has 'softened', to use newspaper economics-speak.

In September or October, the list price was probably around 4.3 million Dhs. Based on the spam email I'm getting, it looks to have gone down to around 2.5 million Dhs.

We have no intention of selling at the moment, so these prices are interesting, but all fairly academic for now. I think that current pricing is actually quite fair - it's above what we paid for the place (thank goodness) and represents good value in the current climate. Sort out the soundproofing issues I have burbled on about in this blog and you have a some lovely apartments.

The area is definitely shaping up, as well. Now that the Dubai Mall has opened, we have a state of the art shopping mall within walking distance. Being able to walk anywhere is pretty rare in Dubai, so having so many restaurants, cafes and shops so close is proving to be a real boon. The originally named Dubai Fountain is in its early testing phase and looks fantastic. There's definitely a bit of a buzz around the place.

Most of these restaurants are proving to be way out of our price range, sadly. None of them is a place that we'd consider going to for anything but an extremely special occasion - even then, there are other options a short drive away that represent far better value. Still, it's nice to know they are there - a bit of glamour never goes amiss. This weekend everywhere was packed, so there are still people in Dubai willing to pay $32/21GBP for a main course for lunch or $12/8GBP for a mojito. I am not. Nor, I expect, will many tourists, particularly British visitors, whose Pounds are now worth so much less. It'll be interesting to see if these places drop their prices over the coming months. I think that they will have to.

Hopefully the area will also introduce some kind of loyalty card that'll bring prices down, or we'll have to stick with popping in to look at menus every now and then, followed by staring at each other in astonishment at the eye-watering amounts being charged and walking straight out. I am also crossing my fingers that a good, cheap, Indian place will open up nearby - we need the Old Town outlet of Chicken Tikka Inn (Dubai's Finest Grill Since 1972)!

Earth Hour

Dubai participated in Earth Hour yesterday.

Lights around our development were duly turned off for an hour. All very admirable.

The lights around our building's external corridors were on all day again today, as per usual. There appear to be no plans to install motion sensitive lighting or install timers in the utility areas, where bulbs burn brightly and pointlessly in empty rooms 365 days a year. Unless, that is, I have needed to access the rubbish chute and turned the lights off when leaving, as is my wont.

I think it's a shame that a bit more thought wasn't put into saving energy in our particular buildings. Considering they are brand new, it seems something of an oversight to have so many lights left on all the time, but there you go.

Rain in Dubai

It's been raining in Dubai today.

On the negative side, I am expecting some wet patches to appear on my ceiling.

On the positive side, when I call the contractor over to investigate the leaks, at least he won't be able to pretend that the patches are 'dust', which is what happened when the lady above us washed her balcony (which is our roof) with several gallons of water.

Sana'a

I had a good trip to Yemen last week, both in terms of the work that got done as well as personal enjoyment.

Due to various home computer related issues, I haven't been able to sort my photos out yet.

That said, I know that I won't have a better picture of someone chewing qat than this one, courtesy of Wikipedia.

I also don't have a picture of the man selling plastic doormats at a road junction. He was in full local dress, including dagger and AK47, plastic bag of Qat and cigarette in hand. Sometimes you just don't have your camera to hand when you need it!