Saturday 22 August 2020

Week 34 - One Daily Positive

I'm back in Dubai for the next 3 weeks. If you thought the UK heatwave was hot, you should try Dubai in summer, it was 37c when I landed at midnight. The humidex factor (opposite of the wind chill factor) added another 13c to the 'feels like' temperature.

It's good to be back after 5 months, so familiar, it's really weird having 2 homes, where you can just step from one to another. I only travelled with my handbag and laptop as I have everything here I need. I will be taking some more clothes and some personal belongings back to the UK with me though. I even just got back into the car and drove without a 2nd thought on the opposite side of the road. It's amazing how the brain just lets you do this. I did have a few issues with operating the washing machine and turning on the gas on the oven though.

The social distancing is really good here, but then there is much more space. Masks are mandatory and enforced, plus temperatures are taken entering the malls. I feel much more comfortable here with how they are handling the virus, compared to the UK, although another lock down and curfew is looking imminent as numbers of positive cases rise.

229 Sunday Last day of camping and a detour to Berkshire to collect my house sitter, she is an old friend of one of the women I am friends with in South Africa.

230 Monday Washed all the bedding and towels, showed the house sitter around the town on foot with Bob, had an early night. I'm only travelling with a handbag, laptop and travel cushion, I'll be coming back with 2 cases though as I don't know when I'll next be able to get out to Dubai. Will be nice to have the car when I get back as I normally have to catch a train or spend time collecting car hire.

231 Tuesday Off early to Heathrow for my flight to Dubai. With Emirates Silver status I get to board first, sadly the flight didn't stay empty.

You can read here about my flying experience, I had a panic attack when boarding and almost didn't fly.

232 Wednesday Day at home re familiarising myself with where things are, the garden has suffered terribly with the heat, mind you so am I and I find myself saying 'f**k it's hot' every time I step outside. We went to the local mall for a coffee and a to do a bit of shopping.

233 Thursday I ventured out to the Drs, hairdressers and a food shop. We had dinner, watched a movie and  had an early night.

234 Friday I slept solidly for 9 hours. We went out to Dubai Mall for a coffee and to do some shopping. The afternoon and evening was spent just chilling out under the air con.

235 Saturday Up at 6am to do 2 hours of gardening before it got too hot and sort the washing out from March, yes you heard me right. We visited Dragon Mart, a large Chinese Mall to purchase solar panel lights, some items for the kitchen. The afternoon and evening was spent on the sofa watching movies.

My to do list in the UK is to repaint the doors that Peter had to shorten and rehang after having new carpets fitted, finish painting the shed and restore my old dolls house.

Dubai's 'to do' list is for me to sell my car, close my bank account, tidy and sell the garden and sort through and organise packers to get some stuff shipped back to the UK.

On the blog this week:

My Sunday Photo - Camping with Bob

Flying to Dubai with Emirates



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32 comments:

  1. Missed seeing your Dubai pics! Must be nice to be back for a bit and certainly sounds more organised in regards to social distancing etc.

    Sorry to hear you had a panic attack.

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    1. Thank you, i should be ok on the way home now I know what to expect

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  2. Glad to hear you kicked straight back into Dubai living. Wow, it does sound hot. We have had temperatures getting up that way when on holiday, but we just spend all day in the pool to keep cool. I don't know how you cope with it in "real life" !

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    1. it's horrendous, lots of naps and everything gets done really slowly

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  3. glad you are getting to spend some time in your other home with your husband.
    Sounds unbearably warm, but guess your car has air con.
    washing still lying from March....ooppppssss but then if you were not there to deal with it it would have been annoying nobody

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    1. exactly re the washing, i also came back to a full basket of towels to do lol

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  4. I am glad you made it back to Dubai OK. I saw your tweets that the flight didn't go too well and I am off to read that blog post in a sec. It sounds like you're happy to be home.
    I bet you are really feeling the heat over there. I thought it was hot a couple of weeks ago in the UK but that is nothing compared to Dubai. x

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    1. the heatwave in the uk was manageable due to cool air, in Dubai it is a hot wind blowing

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  5. Lots to do. Bet it was nice to travel really light (at least one way). Glad the panic attack didn't stop you flying.

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    1. There's no way I would have got off that plane, I was too desperate to go

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  6. Glad you got back ok in the end. Looks like Bob was very chilled on your camping trip. Don't tell me it was still in the washing machine, I'm sure not!! #366

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  7. That is good you are getting to spend some time in your other home with your husband. It does sound so warm. Sounds like there is a lot to deal with. x

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    1. it's worse than warm lol and always lots to do when i travel back and forth

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  8. Glad that you were able to get to your second home, even if the flight sounds stressful. I'll read your post after commenting on here. The heat would definitely be a big No-No from me. Hope the washing from March wasn't too musty.

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    1. The whole needs a clean, but in my husbands defence he has been working flat out during covid

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  9. OMG that heat sounds unbearable to me, but glad to hear they have their social distancing measures sorted. I have no idea why us Brits want to rebel against them all the time

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    1. I've no idea either, they do complain here, but also just get on with it all

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  10. The panic attack sounds scary - off to read about that now. Don't think I want to ask about why the washing hadn't been done since March (I know you haven't been there).

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    1. The washing had been done, just not put away, so still on the clothes rail

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  11. That's looks like its very hot. Its quite strange having two homes. Yeah, I wondered if it would be weird driving on different sides of the road. You and Bob seem to be enjoying camping. So sorry you had a panic attack, I hope you feel much better. Loving your hair. Hi Burj Khalifa, nice to meet you again. I hope everything goes according to plan

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    1. We've had 2 homes for 12 of the 20 years we've been together, sort of get used to it eventually. The camping was really good and I'm hoping to go again the end of September if the weather stays clear

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  12. Glad you made it back to Dubai, sorry to hear the flight wasn't great will head over to read the post. Your comment about sorting the washing from March did make me chuckle. Hope you manage to get everything done on your to do list.

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    1. my end of the to do list is done, it just depends on how others do their job now

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  13. Oh Suzanne, that is such a lovely picture of you, you are glowing and so happy! Very glad to read you had got a decent night's sleep! So glad you managed to get out there with Peter and it is all coming back naturally. Glad to hear they seem to be more on it than we are in the UK, it really is such a sh't show at the moment! My town keeps getting threatened with a local full lockdown daily, I'm all for staying in and keeping away from everyone!
    Sorry to hear the start to your journey out to Dubai wasn't great, off to read now but glad you made it out there ok. Sim xx

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    1. Glad to be back in Dubai am planning to come back out in November for the winter

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  14. Sorry to hear that you had a panic attack when boarding your flight – I can imagine it must have felt quite claustrophobic with people around you after being distanced for so long. Glad you made it back to Dubai safely and are enjoying being home there. I can’t imagine having to cope with that level of heat though. #project366

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    1. The heat is a killer, you just accept you can't go out after a while,

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  15. I would NOT cope with that heat and humidity! Sorry that the flight was not smooth as hoped but at least you are there now and it sounds like Dubai is soooo much better at covid measures than the UK #project366

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    1. Dubai is defiently manages the virus better than the UK, the heat is getting too much for me now

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  16. I really don't think I could cope with the heat, our friends live in Dubai and always say the best time to visit is November - April. Good idea getting up at 6am to do the gardening before it gets unbearable. Poor you having a panic attack.

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    1. I'd love people to visit us here in the middle of June just to experience the heat for a day or two

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