Chris Saul's Blog

Monday June 22, 2009

Surrounded

It's a fact of life for most areas of Dubai that if you have a nice view from your balcony or front window, something will be built nearby to alter it in some way after not too long.

We've been lucky in the 'Old Town' for a while now - everything you see around you was built by the same developer and it all fits together well. Naturally, that wasn't going to last much longer.

We've now got towers coming up that we can see from the living room and bedroom, or when walking up to the front door of the apartment block. Each of these new buildings will probably look striking on its own, but as often seems to be the case here, won't really match with the general surroundings.

One tower in particular seems to be going up right next to a newly completed Emaar built block, so close to its neighbour that you'll be able to lean over from one balcony to the next to borrow a cup of sugar.

We'll have to wait to see the finished articles, but it does feel like the open vista from our apartment windows, as well as the open feel of the area, is being encroached upon. I also wonder how the roads are going to manage even more people in such a small space.

It's a shame really - there are lots of good buildings that look fine in themselves, but which don't match what's next door, or nicely designed developments that have 'third party' buildings popping up amongst them, rather like shiny weeds in an otherwise well planned garden. I presume that there's when planning permission is granted, the aesthetics of an area aren't really taken into account.

Driving in Dubai

Unusually for a Dubai blog, it's been a while since I last had a whinge about driving standards here, bar a quick moan the other week.

I believe that standards here have definitely improved compared to when I first arrived in 2002, but there is obviously still a long way to go.

My personal, layman's opinion, is that simply putting up speed cameras is not enough - active traffic patrols need to play an important role. Yes, speed kills, but most of the bad driving I see is usually under the speed limit.

Despite the fact that things could definitely improve further, I was surprised to see the UAE's roads being listed as worse than the other Gulf countries. I would have thought that Saudi would have gained that dubious honour.

It would also be interesting to see some statistics about who is involved in, or causing, accidents here. That would probably go a long way to working out which section of the public to educate and 'encourage' to drive better.*

* Yes, Mr Nissan Sunny driver who randomly pulled into the middle lane of the Sheikh Zayed Rd this afternoon and then pootled along at 80Kmph, forcing me to swerve into another lane, I'm talking to you!**

** And I'm talking to you too, pickup truck driver who forced his way in front of me near Safa Park junction this morning, nearly hitting me, when all you had to do was slow down a little and pull in behind me!***

*** I'm not forgetting you either, Mr Lexus 570 driver, who sat behind me on the way to Dubai Internet City, flashing his lights at me to get out of the way, even though there were hundreds of cars in front of me and the lane on the right was full of cars, leaving me nowhere to move even if I wanted to!