Monday 31 August 2015

How much does it cost to live in Dubai?

This is a question I get asked a lot. There is an expectation that expats around the world are living the life of riley with over inflated salaries and benefits.

There are two types of expats, those on a local contract and those being paid from their country of origin. For those on local contracts, especially in Dubai, they pay no tax on their salaries, but they are also not allowed to make investments in their home country and pensions aren't available in the UAE. My hubby is on a local contract and makes his pension payments to the company in the UK, but as he isn't employed in the UK he has to make the company contribution also. For others they have to deal with the fluctuating exchange rates, transfer fees and the delay in their salary reaching them.

Salaries may be higher than the UK, but for my husband his salary is based on 30 years service to his employers, stems from him having a degree and just being damned good at his job. There are also housing benefits and a car allowance plus 1 return flight for him, myself and the teen to the UK, but when you're paying school fees, which is the only option in both Dubai and in South Africa where we lived previously, or in our case boarding school fees, it doesn't actually stretch that far, we also pay a mortgage in the UK and although the house is rented out, it is often empty. Don't forget the exchange rate and the cost of transferring the money. We also make more than one trip a year to the UK and the teen comes out 3-4 times a year. We can only afford to buy and run 1 vehicle as we don't do credit cards and loans, never have and never will. Throw into the mix I haven't worked for the past 5 years, we are more than 1 salary down every year.

Being on a local contract has more benefits, mainly being there is no need to keep converting the currencies to work out how much things are going to cost. Although we do have to do that when we travel to the UK as we have no income over there.

It is an automatic response to want to convert and especially coming from South Africa we were in for an initial shock as for the first month we were spending Rand and not Dirhams.

Basically there is no way we can compare our income in South Africa to our income in Dubai. Everything is just 3 times as expensive here as it is over there. When we visited the UK we found it to be twice as expensive as South Africa especially as we were still spending the Rand.

Waitrose is everywhere over here and like the UK very expensive. I picked up a lettuce for AED25/£4.50. it was just an ordinary lettuce. I've now found that if I shop at Carrefour I can buy lettuce for AED10/£1.77

A Starbucks coffee is AED17/£3 a full tank of fuel for a BMW 5 Series was AED100/£17 fuel has increased by 25% since we arrived.

A taxi fare from Dubai Mall to home, through the city, at any time of the day or night is AED35/£6

The train or bus from the mall is AED10.50/£1.95. A pint of beer or glass of wine is AED55/£9. An average meal out is AED400/£70. A Big Mac will cost you AED12/£2.10. Cigarettes cost AED20/£3.40 a packet.

We pay AED17,500/£3,100 per month to rent our villa, there is little difference between living out in the suburbs or in an apartment in the Marina. Rent is also payable a year in advance and we are responsible for all utilities and municipality fees.

We have to pay road tolls, a fee to register the cat and dog. Oh don't forget the Medical Aid, it's not provided free by my husbands employers although they do contribute towards it. The Doctors charge AED100/£17 for a consolation which is not refundable and most practitioners take payment after each treatment and theres a slow and painful process to go through to claim your money back.

It is very difficult to make comparisons when you're paid on a local contract, you spend money differently when you live as an expat. We have relatively low electricity and water bills in the winter, yet the costs are huge in the summer with the air con running all day, around AED2,800/£500

Of course there are plenty of bargains to be found and many offers and deals available especially in the summer when there are less tourists and with the outside attractions, such as 2 for 1 deals with water parks and meals out.
Knock off designer gear is available throughout Satwa and Kamara, but that is off little interest to us. In the Creek and surrounding areas you can find the souks which are wonderful to visit if you want to buy kitchen items, material and have a dress made, a variety of souvenir shops, do your food and clothes shopping, visit the markets for fresh fruit and vegetables at more than half the price but with it being so hot in the summer, we haven't been down those places since the middle of June.
There are the equivalent Pound Stores such as Daiso found in the local and larger malls the AED7 stores, where you can buy stationery, party goods, make ups, cleaning chemicals and equipment, toys.

It just takes some time to find these places, through exploring or word of mouth, it takes time to get used to the new currency and it's actual value, the spending power of the Dirham.

The main thing to remember in Dubai and South Africa is that prices are pretty much standardised when it comes to global products that are manufactured locally and under licence. A bottle of Coke for example is AED9 regardless of wherever you buy it, unlike the UK where the price varies depending on location. i.e service station, cinema, garage, corner shop or supermarket where prices fluctuate greatly.

i'm not complaining about the cost or standard of living in Dubai, I'm merely answering some questions that are put to me on a regular basis.

Sunday 30 August 2015

Week 35 - My Sunday Photo

60 kms out of Dubai to the Middle of Nowhere at 6.30am on a Friday morning. We saw a oryx in the distance and there were camel footprints in the sand, but other than that, nothing to be seen and nothing to be heard.

As far as I can see in front of me is only sand and sky, behind me are artificial man made lakes, to my right a cycle track leading to the cycle centre with toilets and cafe approximately 20kms away.


Saturday 29 August 2015

Week 35 - Project 365

The weeks started off with tea and home made biscuits with a friend and reassembling lego figures on her lounge floor. We needed more bottled water and on the way to the store I discovered a new coffee shop, granted it's another Starbucks but it has the most amazing view which I used for this weeks My Sunday Photo.

We spent the afternoon watching the Grand Prix, Athletics and Football and had a 'pot (something I made and put in the freezer) luck' dinner, which turned out to be beef stroganoff. We also booked hubbies flight to join me in the UK in 2 weeks, which will only be the 2nd time in 5 years we've visited the UK together. Just need to book car hire and hotels for the first few days, as hubby has a meeting and can't join me till 2 days later. I'm going to visit child no 3 and catch up with some friends in Manchester, Leeds and York.

Day 235 #onedailypositive #lighting #fmsphotoaday #MultiColoured #snaphappybritmums #project365 Dubai Ice Rink nice and cool in the summer



On Monday I went to the expat lady coffee morning, there was only 3 of us, as many are still away escaping the heat of the summer in Dubai. I had a stroll round the shops, collected hubby from the train station and with the teen we sat down and watched a movie together. I spent the afternoon sewing and making scarves and bags that my sister and BIL will sell for me to raise funds for my visit to South Africa in October.

I also started a new blog this week. Boarding School Parents. I was criticised last week by a stranger who said 'what's the point of having kids if you're going to give them away' a bit harsh, especially as she doesn't know me or our situation. I've been joining in with several linkys this year and while I enjoy them and have built a great network, it hasn't left space for my thoughts and my blog is a mish mash of travel, family life, animals, gardening, life as expats, raising teenagers. It's all such a mess at the moment, that I'm going to also move my expat posts to another new blog 'Looking at the world through tinted glass' We have another 3-5 years in Dubai, 4 years previously in South Africa and potentially another foreign posting, we will at some point have to return to the UK and I'm sure by the time we return after so long away that it too will take some adapting to and be strange with it's own set of problems. I also wrote about how my plans for the future have been affected from living as an expat, that all I can do right now is dream.

Day 236 #onedailypositive #OnMyDesk #fmsphotoaday #bricks #snaphappybritmums #project365 as an #expat we move a lot, in our 4th home in 5 years, not including long stays in hotels also. We don't exactly travel light, but we travel well and we are extremely organized. Despite no kids at home anymore we have 7 crates of Lego that's been lugged from the UK to South Africa and now in Dubai. Every time we move we end up finding bits of Lego that have escaped the boxes.



Tuesday was spent clearing up last nights mess from the sewing, there was a months worth of washing to do from the teen who returns to the UK tomorrow, I wrote up the 2nd post for Boarding School Parents on 'back to school' and my blog post for Animal Tales about home made dog toys, annual jabs and stray cats. I sorted out photos on my phone and laptop and in the afternoon hubby came home from work early so we popped out to Starbucks. I then watched a movie with the teen and in the evening we went to Dubai Marina to the teens favourite restaurant for his 'last night, going home' dinner.

Day 237 ‪#‎onedailypositive‬ ‪#‎TwoThings‬ ‪#‎fmsphotoaday‬ ‪#‎abstract‬ ‪#‎snaphappybritmums‬ ‪#‎project365‬ packing mine and sons suitcases, he's returning to the UK tomorrow and I'm following in 2 weeks. I currently have half of my luggage allowance in Christmas gifts and although I can accommodate the weight, the volume is proving difficult. Son is near his weight allowance due to bringing his computer over for the holidays but has volume. So the two things are 2 cases and the abstract is, it does not seem possible, but we'll do it.



Wednesday morning was spent finishing the packing of the teens case. He bought an entire computer out with him, which had to be dismantled and carefully bubble wrapped and packed. He kept taking my stuff out of his case, but I got it all back in. We love flying with Emirates as they have a generous 30kg luggage allowance and both this flight for the teen and my flight next month were booked with air miles that hubby and I have accumulated over the years. In fact I don't think we've paid for the last 3 flights for the teen.

The goodbyes at the airport weren't so hard this time we're seeing him again in 2 weeks, it'll be the leaving the UK that will be difficult as we won't see him again till December. I know we have Skype, face time and whatsapp, but it really isn't the same.

I've been fairly active in a couple of forums recently where I've been slated for being a Boarding School Parent. I don't like the assumptions that have been made about us being lucky and our son being privileged. We've worked hard for where we are today, no one dropped a bag of money at our door and said 'it's a bottomless bag' I don't really care much what opinion you actually form of us, all I care about is you get your facts straight before judging.

Day 238 ‪#‎onedailypositive‬ ‪#‎charming ‪#‎fmsphotoaday‬ #window‪ #‎snaphappybritmums‬ ‪#‎project365‬ Taking a break from the housework, in my own private space, where I blog, surf the internet, read and  look out the window waiting for winter when I can sit outside.



Thursday we had an appointment at the bank and went for coffee afterwards and paid some bills, hubby went off to work and I set about tackling the teens bedroom and restoring my sewing stuff back to it's rightful place. It took me the best part of the day to complete and apart from an odd sock I found there is no sign he was here at all (insert sad face) Todays Time Traveller post was a camping trip in a township in Mamelodi, in South Africa to take part with an arts project with the teen.


Day 239 ‪#‎onedailypositive‬ ‪#‎communicate ‪#‎fmsphotoaday‬ #tiles #‎snaphappybritmums‬ ‪#‎project365‬ 
The main reason for our trip to the UK next month is to see the children, we're trying to get all 7 of us together for the first time since 2007. We're very much looking forward to spending time with our eldest, as she is profoundly disabled and we struggle with her on our own, we will be able to do many more things with her this visit. One of our biggest problem when out and about is her sight, she views lines on the ground as vertical drops and comes to a sudden halt, it takes a lot of coaxing to get her to walk, so we tend to take her wheel chair out with us, so she can push it and not see the lines. The other issue is the weather as it's a battle to get a coat on her and she will not keep the hood up if it's raining so we tend to visit malls and supermarkets, it's harder work then with the tiled floors.
When she wants to communicate with us she does something different from what she was doing. Stops eating, cries, sits down, laughs or lashes out. It is then a process of elimination to work out if she needs her nappy changed or whether she is in pain.


Friday was an early start with a trip to the lakes in the desert with Bob, I've seen on social media that people with dogs are starting to be asked to move on from the lakes. Currently dogs are banned from all the beaches, it would be a shame if we can't take Bob to the lakes. The main reason they are banned is because people don't pick up after their dog and I spend most Fridays collecting piles of dog poo and plastic bottles left over by visitors. Even when I walk Bob in the evenings there is dog mess everywhere. The afternoon and evening was spent at The Irish Village for HopFest 2015. I've been sorting through old photos looking for inspiration for #HDYGG?, this weeks post is about choosing shrubs and climbers for the garden in autumn,

Day 240 ‪#‎onedailypositive‬ ‪#‎DailyLife ‪#‎fmsphotoaday‬ #smile #‎snaphappybritmums‬ ‪#‎project365‬ It was 36c outside and 65% humidity but needs must and the beer garden it was.



Saturday was a day at home, with a lie in followed by a full English breakfast, as we're going away shortly, we've decided to use up the contents of the cupboards, fridge and freezer so haven't done any food shopping this week. Cabin fever kicked in just before the football and the realisation there were no snacks in the house, so a trip to the shop was needed and we had a coffee out.

Day 241 ‪#‎onedailypositive‬ ‪#‎handwriting ‪#‎fmsphotoaday‬ #freedom‪ #‎snaphappybritmums‬ ‪#‎project365‬  I love it when hubby comes home from work with a pile of letters. I keep 4 ring binders with every letter ever sent since we started our lives as expats. I also photo copy every letter I write to create a journal of our lives abroad that just one day may be of interest to future generations.



Friday 28 August 2015

Selecting climbers and shrubs to grow in the desert with #HDYGG?

I've been researching the types of shrubs and climbers that will grow in sand and tolerate drought conditions in the desert/garden in Dubai.

I've decided on the two climbers below, as I'm hoping the bougainvillaea cuttings will take.

Jasmine Fluminense - Arabian Jasmine

Drought tolerant and propagates well, is self seeding and fragrant.


Ipomoea Palmata - Railway Creeper

Drought tolerant and survives in poor soil. Propagates well from cuttings. Grows fast and will provide excellent coverage.


Now I've just got to find out if these plants are sold in Dubai and their cost.

Photo Credits Shutterstock

Seeds and cuttings update.

Only two cuttings took and I have one tomato seedling and one nasturtium that is growing well indoors.


Thursday 27 August 2015

24 hours camping in a township

Back in March 2013 I saw an invite for the Viva Foundation to take part in an Arts festival at The Alaskan Informal Settlement in Mamelodi, in Pretoria.

I took my youngest son with me, the tent, paint, food and a boot full of donations.

We were in the sun all day painting shacks, meeting the owners and generally having a lot of fun.

If you'd like to know more about the work Viva do or you want to volunteer please contact them:

You can follow Viva on Twitter as @viva_sa and like join their face book as The Viva Foundation of South Africa

Longdrops or toilets as we know them as. When a long drop is full, a new hole is dug using the soil to fill in the old one and the shack is repositioned over the new hole. be grateful there is no such thing as smelly vision.



The local fruit and veg shop, which now sadly has been closed down due to numerous break ins.






This is Betty's house, she makes items like shoes and decorations to sell every day on the side of the road to support her and her husband, teenage daughter and another daughter and her child. She provides the only income for the household.



We camped without electricity and running water, taking everything we needed for the weekend and sharing with the community.



We had access to one solar panel to charge phones as volunteers needed to contact us for directions after getting lost in the township.





This shack houses a family of 6, it is one room inside. The sleeping area is curtained off from the kitchen and living area. In here lives a husband and wife, a disabled daughter and 2 teenage sons. 


If you wish to make a donation to projects like this please click here to do so.

Tuesday 25 August 2015

Home made dog toys, annual jabs and stray kittens

Well last weeks homemade dog biscuits were a success and went down very well with the Friday morning group meet up at the lakes in the desert.

Bob has only recently learnt to fetch a ball, when we lived in South Africa Bob didn't socialise with other dogs on a regular basis, but he did have many more walks than he does now in Dubai, mainly due to the heat and the tarmac being too hot for his paws.

Bob was a rescue and had been badly treated, he was skin and bones when we first brought him home, but very trusting and loving. The first time we picked up a stick to throw for him, he yelped and ran, he'd obviously been hit. He loved chasing after a ball, but that was it, he never brought it back.

Bob had two favourite toys, a rope and a rugby ball, sadly when we relocated the gardener thought these were rubbish and threw them in the bin, I recovered the rope but Bob was a little lost without his ball, various attempts at replacing it haven't been successful.

We found a lovely group of people who meet up early on a Friday as the man made lakes 60 kms out in the desert, Bob has never been a fan of water, but with his desire to play with the other dogs he's learnt to embrace it, but not the deep bits and has discovered a passion for tennis balls and not only runs after it, but will bring it back and drop at the feet of anyone who asks him for it.


As he's not a fan of swimming he gets upset if his ball is out of his reach, but has two doggie friends who will retrieve the ball for him. Both Buddy and Del Boy (named due to only have 3 legs) will swim out and drop the ball back with Bob.



Poor Buddy had his own ball this week and kept fetching it and bringing it back to Bob, but Bob wasn't interested so Buddy just sat there looking a little confused.


Bob had to have his annual shots this week and protection against kennel cough ready for his 'Bobaday' next month, interesting fact that the kennel cough must be given between 2 -3 weeks prior to kennelling. He's not been very well, 24 hours after the injection I was giving Bob a bath and he yelped, I had no idea as to why. When I came to dry him with a towel, Bob actually snapped at me, biting my hand, thankfully the towel took the brunt of the bite, Bob then whimpered and slunk off. I coaxed him back inside, where he spent the rest of the day on his sofa bed, late afternoon he allowed me near him to have a look at the injection site, but snapped at me again. He's been eating and drinking normally and I've been reassured this is a natural response to annual shots and not a reaction, so I'm just leaving him be now and he's chosen to follow me around from room to room.

I made some dog pulls this week, they were easy and cheap to make and Bob has been having some fun with them after his weekend of feeling sorry for himself.


Tennis ball
Old T shirt
Scissors
Knitting needle


Make a small hole in top and bottom of ball


Cut t shirt into strips


Use knitting needle to push 3 stripes of material though the ball


Knot at one end


Plait the 3 lengths and knot at the end


Play



This project took 5 mins to make and cost AED 3/52p per ball

The stray kittens are getting friendlier. The white one is just like her mother, who we haven't seen for a few weeks, she hisses at me, when I go near, but this week she let me stroke her when I fed her. The grey one wasn't quite as brave and although she would eat when I was nearby, any movement from me and she was off. The black kitten refused to come any where near me.







I don't feed the kittens on a regular basis, this is the first time I've seen them in day light. I have to go out at night to collect our cat, armed with a torch and a tin of biscuits to coax her back in and only if the kittens are around do I leave them some food. The other evening I was watering the garden and filling up the water trays we leave out for the stray cats and birds, when I saw the kittens so went inside to fetch them some food. Our cat, Pushkins, gets on well with the kittens, as in she accepts them and sat by me just watching them eat, before following me back inside.


Monday 24 August 2015

Dreaming

I've blogged about how I've got to where I am today but I haven't blogged, thought much or even talked about how my life has changed so much that what I wanted to do, where I thought I'd be and what I thought I could've achieved, that I now need to rethink my entire future.

My husbands job dictates where we live, and it's open ended, there is no end date on the contract, all we do know is that at some point he will have to return to the UK, either to retire at 65 or earlier or to end his working days there. We could choose to move back to the UK any day we want, that is in our control, but with only 7 years left till he reaches 65 and a final salary pension with 31 years continuous service we'd be a little silly to make that decision unless of course there were bigger reasons, such as health of us, our children or families.

We have made sacrifices to live as expats and although we've both agreed and make joint decisions about everything, some things are harder to adapt to than others. For me giving up my career has been a huge sacrifice, bigger than I could've ever imagined, but when we became expats I had every intention of working until discovery a) I didn't meet the requirements to work in South Africa and b) upon our relocation to Dubai I discovered I need a Masters to teach here or have the right connections.

When we do return to the UK, it'll be hard for me to resume my career in Child Welfare as a) I'm already 44 b) I've already been unemployed for 5 years and c) regulations and laws change and my knowledge will be out of date.

Because we don't know when we will return to the UK, where we'll live, or whether hubby has retired or is still working and where our children will be living and working, there may be grandchildren by then, parents that need looking after, who knows?

So rather than plan anything I've decided I'm just going to have a dream, a base line for what I'd like to do, an idea of the type of place I'd like to live and not the where. I've decided to not worry about work or study until I return to the UK or the circumstance in which we return,

I would like to live in a rural location, keep chickens, have a veg garden with raised beds, be surrounded by open fields. Be no more than an hours drive from the beach and an hour to a large town.

I would like to live in a bungalow that we do up room my room to meet our requirements. You see like a lot of people I don't want to keep moving, I'd like my forever home now and that means no stairs, so I can choose to move when I want or am ready, not when our future health dictates that.

I'd like to own a camper van so I have somewhere to stay when I visit family and friends rather than sleeping on sofas, where I can take Bob with me. I can use the camper van for days out to the seaside, into the woods, where I can sit and drink tea while Bob runs freely and read my book and stay dry and warm. I'd like to get a dog passport and travel round Europe, either with hubby if he's retired or just Bob and myself if he's still working and travelling abroad.

I'd like to be able to plan for my future, for our future, but there are just too many variables of which none are currently in my control and it's getting harder to manage.

It's all a dream for the future, but it doesn't mean I have to stop living now. My career is on hold as is my relationship with my family and friends. My dreams are on hold also, but it doesn't mean I shouldn't have dreams or not be able to dream big.

Sunday 23 August 2015

Week 34 - My Sunday Photo


Drinking coffee with a view of the Burj Khalifa and the Dubai skyline in Starbucks. 
Can't wait now till winter when I can sit outside and enjoy the view rather than looking through a piece of tinted glass sat under the air conditioning. 

Saturday 22 August 2015

Week 34 - Project 365

I've gone into full charity mode this week, in preparation for my trip to South Africa in October and November this year. if you'd like to make a donation to the various projects I'm working on please click here. i'm raising funds for education and poverty in Pretoria and surrounding areas. there are several links in this post from camping in a township and managing your period without sanitary wear. 

The week started with taking hubby to the airport at 5am for his flight to Istanbul for week, he'll be back on Friday. I hate airport runs. I had a coffee while I waited for the sun to rise then headed off to the beach for a breakfast picnic, went back to bed for a few hours and then to Mercato Mall late afternoon for another coffee and some shopping to make home made dog treats for Bob. On my way home I went back to the beach to get todays photo prompt.

Day 228 #onedailypositive #shadow #fmsphotoaday #FromAbove #snaphappybritmums #project365 #50DaysOfSummer
Monday
A quick hoover and mop and off to Arabian Centre for expat coffee morning, followed by a trip out to Arjman to visit kennels and cattery for when hubby and I are in the UK next month. After getting a little lost, I called in at Dubai Mall to do some shopping and meet up with a St Albans tweeter and his family. After getting home at 8pm, I cooked dinner, walked the dog and watered the flowers, getting to bed around midnight. I'm supporting Dignity Dreams with their project to support young girls and help them stay in education with Reusable Sanitary Wear.

Day 229 #onedailypositive #inside #fmsphotoaday #borrowed #snaphappybritmums #project365 #50DaysOfSummer
Inside this room is a 16 yo teenager I've borrowed from boarding school in the UK for the summer holidays.



Tuesday
A day mostly spent at home today, the plan was to prepare paperwork for hubbies tax forms for the UK. I spent the day in bed, asleep. I woke at 9am had porridge for breakfast, back to bed, made bacon buttes at midday, back to bed and slept till 4pm. After cooking dinner I popped out to the beach to watch the sunset and get this photo for todays prompts. Called in at Starbucks for a latte and wrote some letters. Walked the dog, watered the plants and avoided the bedroom until I was ready to go to sleep. Todays blog post was about the healthy dog treats I baked on Sunday. i'm hoping they are a success on Friday at the lakes so I can take some orders and raise funds for South Africa.

Day 230 #onedailypositive #ALogo #fmsphotoaday #Silhouette #snaphappybritmums #project365 #50DaysOfSummer




Wednesday
I made a decision to get up, shower, dress and get ready for the day, rather than lounge around like yesterday. I went for a coffee and posted some letters. A little bit of sewing, blogging, reading and preparing the garden for autumn today. I went to the beach for a walk early evening and then walked the dog and watered the plants, an early night. it's a shame dogs are banned on the beach, I try to go down most evenings, but if I could take Bob I'm sure I'd be living down there every evening.

Day 231 #onedailypositive #hat #fmsphotoaday #Summer2015 #snaphappybritmums #project365 This is the last day of #50DaysOfSummer, I'm a little annoyed in not realising that this didn't replace July and Augusts photo prompts, so I'm a few short for the rest of the month, but I've been given 12 more by face book friends to take me up till September.




Thursday
It's GCSE results day for the 16 yo, the last of our 5 kids to go through this process. I'm afraid re sits are required alongside his A levels, we'll find out more when we go to the school next month. This changed all our plans for the day so I started packing for my trip to the UK. I'm really looking forward to having a holiday with hubby, it's been a long time since we went away together, today's post was a trip I took up to Kruger National Park last June to support Pastor Jonny with his fundraising for a school and an orphanage.

Day 232 #onedailypositive #surprise #fmsphotoaday #pink #snaphappybritmums #project365
I'll be back in the UK just in time for my 4 yo niece to start school.



Friday
Hubby arrived home around 3am from his week in Istanbul, I did wake but fell back asleep before setting off on my own with Bob to the lakes in the desert. I ended up at the airport anyway as hubby left his I pad on the plane (not for the first time) I had planned to get started on the Jobs in the garden getting ready for autumn, but it's been to hot and most of the day was spent sleeping to avoid the heat and still not feeling 100%.

Day 233 #onedailypositive #MIsFor #fmsphotoaday #blue #snaphappybritmums #project365
Memories for the 16 yo of our time living in South Africa, due to the new regulations on travelling with children we won't be taking him back for a visit until he is 18. We bought this in the supermarket in Dubai.



Saturday

Took hubby and Bob for a drive to Ajman to see the kennels and cattery in the morning. Spent the afternoon watching the football, chilling out and generally eating loads of crap.

Day 234 #onedailypositive #path #fmsphotoaday #cup #snaphappybritmums #project365.


I'm not looking forward to next week as the teen returns to the UK on Wednesday and I'll be back to an empty house, but it won't be for long as I'll be flying into Birmingham 12 days later.


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