2021 Week 4 - Back in the UK and fully vaccinated

I flew back in to the UK on Tuesday. The flight and arrival in Birmingham went really well, there was an incident in the lift at New Street where I stood my ground and refused to allow the lift doors to close until a couple got out as they were either unable to read or process why I wouldn't let them in until I told them to fuck off, firmly. It was lovely seeing the snow on the ground. I'll be able to leave the house on February 6th. Technically I can now as I have an exemption letter, which I may use to walk Bob in the early hours of the morning, but I've no real desire to go anywhere. 

I'm grateful I have the room to move boxes around and decide what I want to unpack and in which order. I've placed an Ikea order for some display cabinets and started my quest for another house sitter for March. I've also ordered another food delivery for next week and once I'm out of quarantine I'll use the click and collect service.

23 Saturday Child 4's birthday, he turned 26. WTAH? I can't be old enough for this? The cut was made at the golf today and I went out with the penultimate group, a couple of players had a bad round and yes, I knew about it. Only walked 17.500 steps today as opposed to almost 30,000 on Thursday. Had a bath, down to the bar for a drink then had room service dinner. I packed ready for check out in the morning.

The club house at Abu Dhabi.

24 Sunday Last day of the golf, I have a lovely 'golfers' tan. White feet, V neck shirt and short sleeves. Started the day with a PCR test to comply with the rules in the UAE for this event and ready for my flight on Tuesday.

Winner Tyrell Hatton and Caddy with 3rd placed Rory McIlroy. There was a pot of $8 million up for grabs.

25 Monday 2nd covid vaccination today, took around 2 hours. Rest of the day spent tidying and packing and just chilling out. When Peter finished work we popped to the local mall for dinner and had an early night.

26 Tuesday Up and out the house by 4am. The airport and flight was good, arrival in Birmingham was excellent with all the communication, checks and social distancing, caught a train home, had a minor confrontation with a couple until they got out of the lift. Met the house sitters on the drive at 3pm, they left straight away. Cat and dog were pleased to see me, house looks ok. In bed at 6pm.

My travel clothing.

27 Wednesday Woke at 3am, cleaned the kitchen cupboards, surfaces and walls/doors. The downstairs loo and hallway. I unpacked my suitcase, sorted out some bills, made a list of jobs that need doing. The food shop arrived and I unpacked a small chest of drawers so I could put a few things away. In the evening I just chilled out in the evening on the sofa in front of the TV.

I keep forgetting I'm owned by a cat and it just keeps appearing without warning.

28 Thursday Another early morning, drank tea, did some blogging and forced myself to stay in bed till 6am, then showered and got properly dressed for the day. Spent the day unpacking boxes, moving things, discovering broken items, cussing, sleeping, eating and repeat. 

Every box is labelled, glass or books and either kitchen or living room, nothing makes sense and stuff from the shed has ended up in the same box as stuff from the spare bedroom upstairs.

29 Friday A similar day to yesterday and progress is being made. Had a phone call from Public Health England, very friendly bubbly voice telling me to isolate and what to do if I have any symptoms. Would be more effective if they just said 'stay in or get fined'. 

These books were my dad's from his childhood, they were upside down in a box in the shed marked steel. Hopefully I've rescued them from the damp in time.

On the blog this week:

Further developments in Uptown Dubai and the Super Tall Tower with #MySundayPhoto

#PoCoLo Post Comment Love - a weekly linky I co host

My Winter COVID Vacation in Dubai

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Week 3 2021 One Daily Positive - The European Tour Bubble

The beginning of the week was medical appointments, followed by 4 nights in Abu Dhabi for the HSBC Championship Golf with the European Tour. I'm staying in Abu Dhabi only 45 minutes down the road as I have to move into the official bubble to comply with the Tour rules. So many rules to follow, but happy to do so. Not allowed out of the hotel other than to and from the golf course, all meals to be eaten outdoors or in your room and no socialising with more than one other but outdoors and at a distance of 2 meters. Exercise of 1 hour a day is permitted, but no access to the hotel pool, however I will be spending the 4 days walking around the golf course, so won't need my hour.

16 Saturday We ventured out on a 6 mile beach walk, ending up in KFC for lunch, then home to bed for me for the afternoon as my back was killing me. I didn't venture onto the rocks.

17 Sunday Follow up appointment after last weeks surgery, all good. Then a trip to the nail bar and hairdressers. In the late afternoon we went for a walk around the Marina.

Flamingoes at City Walk.

18 Monday Dropped Peter at work then off for a PCR test ready for the golf, collected Peter after lunch. Afternoon spent resting my back, then evening out at Bluewaters for dinner and to see the light show.

19 Tuesday Follow up appointment with the Doctor about my back. He decided to focus on my neck injury from 25 years ago saying that unless that is sorted I will continue to have a bad lower back due to poor posture. Yes, yes, I know this and NO I don't want more tests, they've been done many times, every Doctor offers to cure me, giving me false hope then at the end tells me the nerves are damaged and can't be repaired and once I learn to accept the chronic pain things will improve. Duh! I just need some physio and short term meds every now and then to get me back on track please. 

20 Wednesday Off to Abu Dhabi, PCR test at Golf club then checked into hotel. I have a 1 bed apartment for the week, very luxurious and not a bad place to be isolating for the next 12 hours. Ordered room service, will be able to eat outside on the terrace the rest of the week.

21 Thursday Early morning start due to the US TV audience at 5am, however it was foggy and the golf was delayed for 3 hours. I walked round the course twice almost 30,000 steps with the last golfers having to finish half way round due to poor light. Back to hotel around 6 .30pm, I had dinner, a bath and was in bed by 9pm.

Current Leader Tyrell Hatton -12 Par

22 Friday A lie in, breakfast and off to the course for 10am, another PCR test. One and half times round the course, 24,000 steps, back to the hotel at 6.30pm and after dinner and a bath, I was asleep by 8pm.

Sheikh Zayed Mosque, viewed from Breakfast terrace.

On the blog this week:

My Sunday Photo - The view from above of Dubai Water Canal.

I'm fed up of not knowing what I don't know until I don't know I need to know it.

Post Comment Love - a weekly linky.

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One Daily Positive - Week 3 After the rain and the Abu Dhabi Golf

We had 150mm of water fall per hour for 3 hours here in Dubai over the weekend, the worse weather in 24 years. No big deal I hear you say, but we have very little drainage, the area we live in Jebal Ali and Discovery Gardens was the worse hit and on Sunday roads were still closed while they pumped the water away and abandoned cars littered the roads.

12 Sunday Off to Ibn Battuta around midday, mum did the ironing and I did more washing and some tidying up. In the evening after dinner we watched The Prestige. Mum is moaning that the TV here is rubbish, we have films, sport or netflex, TBH we don't watch a lot of TV.

The new road system will be opened soon and some of the buildings are now occupied.

13 Monday We headed out to Dubai Mall for the day, coffee, lunch, some shopping and exploration. I sent mum and child 5 ahead of me to the car with the supermarket trolley, they got lost, were no where near where child 5 messaged me from to say 'help, come and get us' and they giggled all the way home when I called them idiots. My mum said I was the idiot for expecting them to find their own way back. I walked round the 1st floor before spotting them down below on the ground floor grrrrrrr. We had a BBQ in the evening, but ran out of gas so Peter had to finish cooking under the grill.

14 Tuesday Off to Dubai Marina for a walk round. In the afternoon we visited the outlet village.

Sunset over the desert/building site

15 Wednesday Mum and I went to Mall of the Emirates, child 5 was out when we got home. I spent the afternoon in bed, I'm exhausted.

I bought myself the feathered rucksack, it has a built in hood, handy for my move to the UK.

I'm working as a marshal at the golf in Abu Dhabi, it's an hours drive each way, the speed limit is 140km/p/h. Dubai is 120km/p/h and my car is from Dubai and is fitted with a regulator that beeps, none stop when I go over 120, so I have the radio on full blast to drown the noise out.

This is part of the European Tour and the Rolex Series. There is some serious prize money up for grabs US$7,000000.

It's been chilly in the mornings, but lovely and warm in the afternoon with a cool wind (not so good for the golfers) I've topped up my tan nicely, taken over 45,000 steps and also walked the dog twice a day. Met up with friends from previous golfing events and it's been nice to catch up with everyone. Quite a lot of the volunteers fly in for their annual holiday.

16 Thursday First day of the golf in Abu Dhabi. I'm a walking marshal, I walked round the course with on a Marquee Match with Matt Wallace, Victor Perez and Danny Willet who won The Masters in 2016 and The Open in 2019.  Danny's mum and Matt's girlfriend walked with us, 2 very nice women.

It's difficult to take photos when marshalling as you never know when a camera crew will turn up.

17 Friday Out walking today with Andy Sullivan, Jason Scrivener and Scott Jamieson. Peter brought Mum and child 5 up for the afternoon, they went off to visit the Mosque afterwards and I got home at 7pm.

My most difficult crowd control moment.

18 Saturday Another day at the golf this time with Romain Langasque, Mike Lorenzo-Vera and Ashley Chesters.

A well deserved break and a chance to actually watch some golfers play.

Last day tomorrow. 3 days off then it's time for the Omega Desert Classic back in Dubai.

On the blog this week:

We're getting our house ready for the relocation at the end of the month, pop over and have a look at how we got our family home back after 9 years

I'm co hosting Post Comment Love #PoCoLo with Stephanie @lifeat139a, you can link up any blog post written this week, do pop over and take a look and a bit of support would be lovely, thank you.

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One Daily Positive - Week 33 Melbourne to Dubai via Singapore and Abu Dhabi. Eid Al Adha Mubarak.

It's hot back in Dubai, the garden needs a lot of work doing to it and the balconies etc are covered in 2 inches of sand grrrrrrrrrrr.

We spent Tuesday and Wednesday night in Abu Dhabi as it's EID and a public holiday staying at the Park Hyatt on Saadiyat Island. We'd booked a suite with a sea view and balcony, we went for breakfast, they made the room, we returned from a swim and they'd tidied away the coffee cups, we came back from dinner and they'd refreshed the towels and emptied the bins. I'm not used to this level of attentiveness and was surprised that it wasn't as intrusive as previous experiences.

223 Sunday Had a leisurely morning, packed case, left apartment and returned the key before dropping the car at the airport and checking in for a 6pm flight to Singapore, before a 2 hour stop over and onto Dubai. I managed to get more sleep than usual. Getting off at Singapore we waited by the gate while they cleaned the plane and got back onto the same seat, I found a smoking room and a Starbucks.

Meet Thing 4, she was actually born last week, but keeping it quiet until everyone had been informed and Thing 1, 2 & 3 had time to meet their sister.

224 Monday Landed at 5am, taxi home, unpacked, showered and did some washing after a 2 hour power nap. Peter took Bob to boarding and I repacked swimsuits, sandals and dresses for a 2 night stay in Abu Dhabi. We arrived at the Park Hyatt at 1pm and headed straight to the beach and pool. We ate Vietnamese for dinner.

225 Tuesday A lie in and leisurely breakfast before spending the rest of the morning by the pool, back to our room for a couple of hours, then pool side again before showering and dinner in the Beach Cafe.

226 Wednesday I was up early and started my day with a swim in the sea, but at 36c in the water I gave up and went in the pool instead. We had breakfast and went back to the pool for the morning, before packing and checking out. Collected Bob from the kennels, we'd left Pushkins at home with food hidden around the house. We did a food shop then I caught up with my soaps and we watched a couple of episodes of the Good Wife before bed.

227 Thursday Up at 5am, seem to be back in my usual routine now. Walked Bob, watered the garden, swept the front and rearranged my car as Peter has been using it for the dog and boarding. Did the ironing, sorted through our wardrobes and rearranged/tidied up the toiletries. Showered and off to Ibn Battuta Mall for a coffee and to blog. I bought a couple of books to read. The place where I've been swopping books at the dog park hasn't had any new donations in since I started using it, other than what I drop off. Spent the afternoon at our local pool.

228 Friday Dog walk and garden swept, still needs a good hose and weeding, but slowly does it in this heat. We went out for breakfast at the Mall of the Emirates and onto the cinema to see Once upon a time in Hollywood. It's described as a comedy, but it's dark and violently graphic at the end. If you don't know the Sharon Tate murder or aren't aware of Roman Polanski's statutory rape case, then you'd miss a lot of references, but would still be able to watch the movie.

Made a chicken curry for dinner and bought new pepper and salt mills.

229 Saturday Dog walk, an hours gardening and an hour at the pool. Took ourselves out to Mirdiff City Centre for a walk and lunch and to buy Peter new socks. I spent the afternoon on paperwork and blog comments.

The domed nets are to stop the cat sitting on the table.

On the blog this week:
Phillip Island to Port Fairy. Australian Roadtrip.

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One Daily Positive - Week 23. Eid Mubarak

Although Peter and I travel a lot, we don't have holidays together very often. I've been to the UK twice this year and Peter joined me for a week, but we had jobs to do, bills to pay and family to visit. Last month I was in South Africa, and although I had some time with friends and took myself on a self drive safari, my purpose for being there was to do some charity work. Later this month I'm off to Dublin with a friend then on to Northern Ireland to visit child 4 and 4a and next month I travel to Australia to visit child 3.

Ramadan finished on Monday and Peter had the week off for Eid so we treated ourselves to a two night stay in a hotel in Abu Dhabi. Bob went in for boarding and we left the cat at home with a clean litter tray, fresh water and plenty of food hidden around the house. I spent Monday night refreshing social media waiting for Eid announcement so I know what I can do on Tuesday in regards to eating and drinking in public.

153 Sunday Off to the dentists for the stitches to be removed and a deep clean, needed my whole mouth numbing. The rest of day was spent in bed feeling sorry for myself. We popped out to the mall in the evening for a walk, food court dinner and a coffee.

A new building at the World Trade Centre.

154 Monday Dr's at 9.30am for routine bloods, then collected Bob and visited the dog park for a couple of hours, then home to do nothing and a BBQ for dinner. Packed for our trip away.

155 Tuesday Up at 5am and hanging around waiting for a suitable time to drop Bob at boarding and set off to Abu Dhabi. Spent the afternoon on the beach and the evening in one of the bars.

Very few tall buildings in Abu Dhabi, more a traditional City.

156 Wednesday Had a long lie in thanks to black out blinds followed by a leisurely breakfast, time on the beach and a pub lunch followed by a massage and pool side and the evening spent in the pub.

Tidal sea water but an inlet, one of the many islands that make up Abu Dhabi

157 Thursday Left Abu Dhabi at mid day after time on the beach. We collected Bob on the way home. Pushkins was pleased to see us. In the evening we watched TV and just chilled out.

The Last exit food stop or drive through only in this heat, located on the border between Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

158 Friday Coffee and food shop while Peter got the valve repaired on his tyre then off to brunch with friends at The Address Hotel in Dubai Marina, apart from that nothing else happened all day.

The hotel foyer.

159 Saturday A lazy day, too stuffed from yesterday to do much. Been thinking it's Saturday all week, I'm not used to Peter being off work. Spent 5+ hours wandering around Dubai Mall and only saw a small part of it.

The aquarium inside the mall.

On the blog this week:

Why I'm fed up of people telling me I should take vitamin supplements.

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How to be a spotter on the European Tour

The European Tour was in Abu Dhabi last week. I worked as a volunteer marshal. I had no idea what my role would involve, but I did have some experience from the Race to Dubai tournament back in November, where I worked as a travelling marshal in the Pro Am, escorting players around the course and managed the 1st tee.

In Abu Dhabi this week I took on a new role as a spotter as well as working as a crossing marshal and on the 16th and 18th tee.

A spotter's role is to move ahead of the players and estimate where the golfers ball may land, based on the average hitting distance and keeping a close eye on the tee marshal who indicates whether the ball has gone in a straight line or gone wide.

This means standing in the line of fire, in sight of the tee so the golfer can see where their ball has landed and marking the ball if it's gone out of play or in the water hazards. It's important to note where the ball hit the water and whether it bounced on the ground first and rolled in or not.

 Often the ball lands directly in the longer grass around the fairway and is difficult to find.

And if it lands in the undergrowth it can be impossible to find, in which case a referee is called for.

 
The group of golfers I walked round with spent a lot of time in the bunkers and the water hazards. I felt mean pointing to where their ball had landed, in bunkers, undergrowth, out of bounds and under cacti.

Play was slow on Wednesday and Thursday and instead of spotting I had to do 'listening' as the sun was low and I couldn't see the ball in the air, let alone know where it had landed and it was pot luck for one golfer that I guessed his ball had landed in the water.

I didn't actually see much golf being played, but I did see all the golfers either play through from the fairway or walk onto the tee. I was there to manage the crowd so had my back to the golfers during each shot.

I did meet some amazing people from around the world and met up with marshals who I recognised from Dubai.

Next up, the Omega Desert Classic this weekend, then I'm taking a break from the golf as it leaves the UAE until November. I may volunteer at the Nedbank Challenge in Sun City South Africa if I can time my travels. In the meantime I'm applying to the Rugby 7's and the Abu Dhabi grand prix as well as the special olympics and Expo 2020

One Daily Positive - Week 3. European Tour - Golf, Abu Dhabi

I started the week with flu like symptoms and wanted to spend the week in bed. It's been full on since September with 2 trips to the UK, 2 trips to South Africa, a long weekend in Cairo followed by my mum arriving for a month, she left last week.

I was told many years ago I had bone disease in my mouth, hence why I had loose teeth. I've finally got round to doing something about it after a post snapped before Christmas and I risk losing a front tooth. A plan with the dentist is in place. It involves the extraction of 5 teeth, a bone graft and 5 implants. It's not going to be cheap, coming in at £21,000 But with child 4 getting married in September and me existing on a liquid diet for over a month, it's got to be done.

13 Sunday Collected the pets tags from the vets for 2019, called in Starbucks for a coffee and an impromptu nail appointment, before spending 2 hours at the dentist. We had dinner, watched 2 movies, soaked in the bath and watched the football.

The hospital where the dentist was located was huge, the whole area is called Health Care City.

14 Monday I re registered the car last week, insurance and road worthy test, had the car serviced and new front brake pads and discs and the courier delivered my new registration card today. I cleaned the upstairs of the house and had to pop to the local mall to buy beige shorts for the golf on the weekend.

Soup and liquid diet for me till my teeth are fixed.

15 Tuesday We were shunted from behind on the way to the dog park, all ok, no damage just a bit shaken and annoyed. Had my hair cut, did some batch cooking and cleaned the downstairs of the house.

I've loved my bed this week.

16 Wednesday I was in Abu Dhabi at 7.30am ready for marshalling the HSBC Golf part of the European Tour. Pub Quiz and dinner out.

It's a beautiful course to walk.

17 Thursday I spent the day as a spotter, lurking in the bushes in the line of fire and letting the golfers know where their ball went, mostly in bunkers, water hazards and under a cacti.

Sunset in Abu Dhabi, spotting balls was tricky oin this light.

18 Friday The day was spent marshalling the 16th green, keeping the spectators behind the ropes and quiet. It's amazing how many people ignored me, thinking the rules don't apply to them.

The weather has been cold over the weekend but perfect for my nasturtium to flower.

19 Saturday Final day of the golf and it was spent transitioning players from the 13th green to the 14th tee in front of the 18th tee and keeping spectators back. Once the last pair came through I then marshalled the crowds on the 18th tee and followed the golfers down the fairway to the green to see Shane Lowry win, we had a party afterwards for all the volunteers, got home at 9pm, bath, foot pack on and into bed.

On the blog this week:

Why doing nothing is such hard work

An InLinkz Link-up

One daily Positive Week 3

This is my 4th year with Project 365, last year a lot of you got to know more about my family in the UK after my father died suddenly in July and I ended up spending almost 5 months over there. Quite a few new people I encountered through my blog were surprised to learn that I actually lived in Dubai and have done so for just over 3 years now. Prior to that we lived in South Africa with our two youngest children for 4 years.

I met my husband in 1999, we were married in 2002. We have 5 children between us who I will introduce at a later date and we have our family home in Worcestershire. I'm originally from South Wales, he is from Manchester.

We travelled abroad with my husband's job, leaving our 3 adult children in the UK. Our children are numbered as 1-5 with an 'a' added to indicate a partner. They are now aged 18-30.

I blog about my life as an expat, my travels and my experiences of parenting for the past 25 years and my adventures as a step mum. I'm a qualified teacher and have trained teaching assistants, customer services, retail and sex education in the UK and taught reception and nursery aged children in townships in South Africa to a private school in Dubai. I specialise in Child Protection and Special Needs with a focus on autism, although it's been many years since I've worked specifically in these fields.

Anyway onto week 3:

14 Sunday The first day of the working week here in Dubai, Doctors for me, a trip to the vets to re register the cat and dog with municipality and my car with the RTA, but first a coffee stop while I renewed my car insurance. Once the fence is complete I'll be able to take the cat out into the garden, she wore her new (small dog) harness all day without any hassle.

15 Monday Another airport run as Peter went back to Saudi, just for 1 night this time, the fence is almost complete. I visited Jumeriah Mosque with a friend, the fort in Deira and museum, lunch on the creek and walked on a glass floor 150ms in the air at the newly opened Dubai Frame and went round to see another friend in the evening. Bob spent the day at a spa.

16 Tuesday The RTA delivered my vehicle registration and I went to the Doctors at 10am, followed by a trip to Ibn Batutta Mall to buy a few bits for the garden, fingers crossed the fence will be finished tomorrow. No one came today to do the fence.

17 Wednesday Peter came home at 2am, the dog peed himself with excitement and confusion, then I broke a mug, the cat broke into the food cupboard, I didn't line up the milk with the cup in the coffee machine, I dropped the dirty cat litter tray, kicked the mop bucket over and ran out of printing ink so I went out for coffee, bought cake, made some dog beds for outside, blogged, watched TV, cooked dinner and had an early night.

18 Thursday Spent the day cleaning and did a food shop, coffee and cake was involved and I sneaked in a visit to the nail bar, an early dinner and early night and enjoyed time in the garden, just the plants to put in now and we're done.

19 Friday Peter had a colleague visiting so after dropping them in Dubai Marina I drank coffee while they made their way along the coast on the RTA ferry. Posted a load of letters for family and friends world wide. Came home to finish off the garden, but it was too dark to take photo's. I'd been looking forward to a long hot soak in the bath all day, but rather than a luxurious bubble bath, I just got a little cloud.

20 Saturday Spent the day at the golf in Abu Dhabi. This is something Peter and I like to do together, although when we get there I tend to sit at the 1st tee to watch the golfers tee off, then sit at the 9th green to watch them all putt, while Peter will follow a particular pairing for a while before we meet up at the 18th. Normally my dad follows at home on Sky in the UK when Peter and I attend sporting events, the last time was for the Rugby 7's in Hong Kong last April. I have a few freebies handed to me during the day which I usually saved and gave to my dad, no idea what I'll do with them now.

On the blog this week:

My Sunday Photo Reflections
PoCoLo and Best Boot Forward What I envy in other women and why?
Tweens Teens Beyond and Triumphant Tales Assisting a school leaver into work