Week 44 - One Daily Positive _ I'm done with this now

Back to not sleeping. When the migraine is in full swing I can sleep 10 hours straight through each night.

Really fed up with our shipping company in Dubai, basically told us what we wanted to hear and lied about the sailing date, they've not provided us with any insurance details which we paid for in September and they still haven't arranged, so we've had no cover since they packed everything up and the ship sailed on October 2nd. It's due to dock on Nov 7th but can't be collected and delivered until it clears customs, they're running 4-6 weeks behind due to covid and after 5 days we're charged storage fees around £350 per week. I can't return to Dubai until the container has been delivered. My house sitters arrive on Nov 9th so I'm going to Northern Ireland for a couple of weeks to stay with my son, then sort delivery and return to Dubai.

299 Sunday Walked Bob to the retail park for 8am for a coffee then realised I can't carry dog food home and the supermarket didn't open till 10am, so walked home and drove back down again later. Went to bed in the afternoon and slept on and off for 3-4 hours. Outside to do some gardening whilst it wasn't raining. Made some courgette soup for my dinner and finally got to grips with a pile of paperwork.

300 Monday Off to Moreton in the Marsh to meet Mary and her son. Took Bob to Batsford Arboretum, had a lovely time, especially as it didn't rain. Off then to drop child 1's Christmas presents to her as this will be my last trip to see her until February. I took her for a walk in her wheelchair but was a waste of time, she was facing away from me, I had to wear a mask and gloves outside, she was cold and it started to rain so we quickly returned. Then over to see child 5 and drop a food parcel with him, drove home in the dark with a horrendous migraine. Came home to these on the doorstep from peter for our 18th wedding anniversary.

301 Tuesday Slept for 10 hours. My Daughter in law and grandchild came up for the day, we had lunch then walked to the retail park for a coffee, they left after dinner.

302 Wednesday Took Bob for a walk and found a new coffee shop with outdoor seating, it was drizzling but was OK to sit outside in. Started mums Christmas shopping as per her list and budget, she's concerned the lock down in Wales may be extended. Finally hung the curtains, these flexible rails are horrible, unless you can get them flat, they just keep springing off the wall fittings.

303 Thursday House sitters came to visit in the afternoon. They'll be moving in here in a few weeks to look after Bob and Pushkins while I travel back to Dubai for the winter. We walked up the Malvern Hills and sat outside for coffee and cake. Carved a pumpkin in the evening.

304 Friday Down to the Forest of Dean to spend the day with one of my oldest friends after her father died on Wednesday. I helped her sort through all the paperwork, food cupboards and medications. Home to chips and wine and sadly our last Friday night of doing so for the foreseeable future. Photo from Wednesday.

305 Saturday Due to the imminent lock down I was out at 8.30am to beat the crowds and finish the last few bits of mums Christmas shopping, will give it all to my DIL on Sunday so she can drop it all off, hopefully before Christmas. Rest of the day spent doing nothing other than some tidying up, back to bed, am thoroughly fed up now.

Well my planning has gone tits up, we're back in lockdown, but you watch me get to Northern Ireland, just try and stop me, my house sitters should still be coming but I'll wait to hear from them next week, still no word from the UK side of the shipping company and the Dubai side have stopped replying to emails and whatsapp. It's just what happens, 3rd time and each time is a cock up, just have to wait until they decide to call/email. Migraine is back, no surprise there. I'm fed up, lonely, bored, frustrated, I could cry, I have cried.

On the blog this week:

The origins of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - Malvern Priory #MySundayPhoto

Visiting a relative in care during Covid

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One Daily Positive - Week 28 Friendships

Took my Covid test this week, made me gag and sneeze 20 times. It's for the Imperial College London looking at symptoms of the virus. Results came back on Wednesday, I didn't have Covid as of Sunday morning at 8am when I took the test.

Almost 10 years ago I started volunteering with a charity in South Africa that hands out around 100,000 Christmas boxes every year to vulnerable children. In Pretoria where we lived I was part of a team distributing up to 7000 boxes a year. it involved finding the facilities, registering them, collecting the name lists, age and clothing size of the children, finding donors, collecting, checking boxes, getting sponsorship for drop off venues, transport, storage units etc. Moving to Dubai after 4 years, I've continued to support the charity and other facilities, organisations I became involved with and go back twice a year (apart from 2016 when I was teaching) to source donations, pack boxes and distribute them. For the past 5 years also I've been uploading the names of all the children online for the donors to choose a child, sex and age to pack for.
In Dubai I've been unable to fund raise or share fundraising posts without registering the charity over there. I no longer advertise the name of the organisation, even when I'm in the UK due to a conflict of interest and this will be the last year I support them. From now on I'm involved with a charity called Kindness Like Confetti PTA. The same people, just supporting a variety of facilities year round rather than just once a year.

Child 1's care plan finally arrived, more issues. Both sets of parents addresses and phone numbers have been released to both parties. We will be raising a formal complaint. We also can't get an answer to why about 4 years ago the word 'autism' appeared as a formal diagnosis. We have no idea where it's come from and as her disability and care needs haven't changed, we would like to know who made this diagnosis and why we weren't informed at the time.

To do:
Postcards of Kindness
Name Lists
Mow the Lawn
Sort paperwork
Write up address book
Jigsaw
Tidy Craft Room

187 Sunday Lazy morning, jigsaw, put beef in slow cooker, some blog comments, then out up the hills to join a friend with their dog for a walk for 3 hours. Altered and hung the last curtain for the bedroom, nice and dark and should start sleeping better. Just need to remember to close the ensuite door or fit a black out blind in there. The trouble with a black out blind is I'd have to switch the light on and the fan is noisy. Late night gin call with my friend Kath, bed at midnight.

188 Monday A lazy day which didn't get going till midday, pottered around, started a new jigsaw, put a plant in, did some washing, wrote up name lists, walked the dog.

189 Tuesday Long walk to the other side of town to buy an engagement, 2 sympathy, 1 birthday and congrats you're pregnant cards. My next door neighbour owns the shop, it's out of the town and the social distancing works really well in there. I tidied up the craft room, finished altering and hanging new curtains.

190 Wednesday Drove to Witney for a coffee date with Galina, had a picnic in the car park and then meet up with Mary and her son for a walk around the farm park, Bob didn't like the animals and barked at a pig, then off to drop table and chairs with child 5 and last weeks washing and ironing.

191 Thursday Click and collect food shop and picked up milk for the week so I can check the dates. Took Bob for a long walk in the afternoon in the rain and visited a children's charity shop that's only open 2 days a week with funny opening hours, bought a few bits for when our grandchild can finally visit.

Gin and raspberries

192 Friday Washing on, green house built, more seeds planted, name lists finished and uploaded, jigsaw completed, post cards written. I took mum to the garden centre at B&Q, 5 minutes down the road, to give her a taste of how the shops are operating, social distancing, paying for items and not touching things just to have a look. Came back with a load of plants for the garden.

193 Saturday Off to Eastnor Castle with mum, friend, Kath, and her husband and twins. Numbers are limited and tickets have to be bought in advance. It's 3 years today since my father died. Kath and I have decided that today is a celebration of our friendship. Bob had a lovely long walk, we had a picnic and bought coffee and ice creams. In the afternoon I mowed the lawns and rearranged the sheds.

On the blog this week:

A visit to the Lavender Fields in the Cotswolds

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One Daily Positive Week 4. Abu Dhabi and Omega Desert Classic Golf

A very busy week and I've walked a total of 99,351 steps which is approximately 67kms/41miles and most of it round a golf course, 2 dog walks per day, 2 walks along the beach and malls and cleaning the house.

This is my second year marshalling at the golf events in the UAE, all part of the European Tour. The Race to Dubai, HSBC Championships and Omega Dubai Desert Classic. I've been static on a crossing or the 1st tee box and 18th green, worked with anti doping escorting players from the green to the anti doping facilities and this week I worked with the TV recording live sound of the players selecting clubs, discussing tatics and have been privy to numerous private conversations as well as quite a few rude jokes in an attempt to shock me. I've smiled a few times, but mainly kept a dead pan look on my face as I can't respond verbally to them whilst recording.

For 5-6 hours a day I'm wearing headphones that pick up every bit of conversation from the spectators, golfers, caddies, action on the other greens and tees. Have you ever watched 'What a woman wants?' with Mel Gibson, where he can hear everything women are thinking? Well it's like that, I hear words, can see people's mouths moving but find it difficult to place exactly where the sound is coming from, it's a sensory overload.

19 Sunday Last day of the golf. Took Peter to the airport in Dubai which is the opposite end of the city from where we live then back past our house to Abu Dhabi grrrrrrrrr. Mum took herself on a walk to the coffee shop then spent the afternoon pool side, she also did all the ironing. Lord knows what Child 5 did all day. I marshalled Tommy Fleetwood and Andy Sullivan and Mike Lorenzo-Vera. It was a televised match, but the other marshal and I already work within the protocols such as not walking up the fairway behind the players.

20 Monday Had a well deserved lie in, air conditioning serviced then off the other Outlet Village the other side of Dubai for the day. I went back out in the evening to Emirates Golf Club for the briefing for the Omega Desert Classic that starts on Thursday. I was violently ill during the night, no idea why.

21 Tuesday Mum and Child 5 got a taxi to Dubai Mall for the day, they went up the Burj Khalifa, they were instructed to get a taxi home as I spent the day, washing, sweeping and mopping the floors. I went to bed around 8pm and spent a couple of hours blogging, scheduling posts and tweets and commenting on blog posts.

22 Wednesday Off to Dubai Miracle Gardens in the morning then the Beach for a walk, coffee and ice cream.

23 Thursday Mum and I went out for a coffee and then she went off to the pool again for the day. I started my first day at the golf, lots of familiar faces from last week. It's rare for the golfers to remember the marshals, but the caddies and managers are starting to recognise me, I'm a professional stalker these days lol.

24 Friday More golf, an early start, walked the first 12 holes with a Signature group then was taken off the course and returned to the same group now carrying a 15lb battery pack strapped to my waist and a mic to record sound for the TV feed. Met Mum and child 5 down at Jumeriah Beach Residence (JBR), we had dinner out and stayed to watch the fireworks, getting home around the same time as Peter.

25 Saturday Peter in charge for the day as I was at the golf again. Another day with TV, after 16 holes I was collected and driven back to the 16th tee to walk down with Tommy Fleetwood for his last 3 holes. Home, bath, helped mum pack and an early night.

BTW I don't play golf

On the blog this week:

Relocating the cat and dog to the UK They started their life in South Africa, before moving to Dubai where they've been living for the past 5 years.

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Week 49 - One Daily Positive and Project 366

Week 2 of Mothers visit, after a very busy weekend she was more than happy to stay in for a few days and clean my glass cabinet, do the ironing and put up the christmas tree. Next week I'll have her doing the dusting and sewing some dog beds so we can get in the spare room ready for child 4 of 5 who arrives a week on Sunday.

i've felt a bit guilty about my mum being on her own all day, but although it's winter here in Dubai, it's still 28c and while we find it cool and are enjoying the outdoor life, my mother is struggling with the heat as after all it's still hotter than UK summers. We've been going out in the evenings straight from work for coffee, visiting local malls, the Miracle Gardens and Global Village.

I've been on count down till the end of term, getting all my paperwork up to date and my class ready for the new teacher who takes over in January as I've handed my notice in (more about that next week)

Sunday Day 339 Green

A spot of night gardening.

 Monday Day 340 #WIDN

Enjoying the cooler mornings, drinking tea and catching up with blogs before work.

 Tuesday Day 341 Blog

A visit to Miracle Gardens.

 Wednesday Day 342 Music

Global village.

 Thursday Day 343 Dreaming

Work's leaving do, ending up in Palazzo Versace for Ladies night.

Friday Day 344 Fire

Christmas in Dubai at the Souk Madinat Jumeriah.

Saturday Day 345 Create

Feeling extremely stressed at the moment and the state of the house isn't helping.

Week 48 - One Daily Positive and Project 366

A few days without visitors, for as from Wednesday we are full up till January 10th 2017.

Been waiting for my Mother to arrive to start Christmas and for the UAE National Day Celebrations to end to show her what Dubai offers over the Christmas period.

Having arrived on Wednesday morning and me being granted early leave from work, we visited the Creek and took an Abra over to the Gold Souk and took a walk along the Dubai Water Canal, before Mother admitted defeat and said 'STOP' I need to teach her a few Arabic words starting with 'Khalas' which means 'enough'

Thursday we went into the desert with Bob, popped into the Garden Centre and the Oasis Mall.

Friday to Mall of the Emirates and then Dubai Marina and The Beach at JBR for dinner and to watch the firework display.

Saturday was a trip to Dubai Mall for a quick run round to see the Burj Khalifa, the aquarium, some shopping and of course coffee and cake.

My mother says Dubai is noisy, looks like Gothom City and is bling on steroids. She is however loving every minute of her visit and is looking forward to both Peter and I being in work tomorrow so she can just rest and take time to gather her thoughts before her head explodes, we've only shown her a small fraction of what is yet to come.

Sunday Day 332 Abandoned places.

My sewing room where I've been attempting to make beds for rescued dogs, feel slightly better for dropping off a box of towels, 2 beds, a carrier and several blankets to Doggies Palace on behalf of DAWS. Mother will be sewing for me during the week while I'm working.

Monday Day 333 Outdoors

Afternoon tea on the way home from work with a friend, fantastic view of the Burj Khalifa from Fortnum and Mason, stayed until sunset to watch the fountains and LED display. Will be taking the mother here of course.

Tuesday Day 334 Mythical Creatures.

My troll collection from when I was a teenager.

Wednesday Day 335 Dark.

They don't do dark in Dubai. Waterfall off Sheik Zayed Road lit up in the colours of the UAE flag for National Day on the newly opened Dubai Water Canal.

Thursday Day 336 Art.

More lights, more colours from the UAE flag.

Friday Day 337 Lunchtime. 

A show to explain the 45th National Day for the UAE.

Saturday Day 338 Happy.

So enjoyed this morning and the cooler weather that the fog brought us, although it is slightly scary when you can't see the Burj Khalifa from anywhere, slight feeling of doom and Armageddon kicks in.

Week 47 - One Daily Positive and Project 366

......and relax.

School Inspection week over and they didn't come in my classroom.

The last 2 weeks at work have actually been stress free, I've been going in on time and leaving on time. I try to teach every week as if I was going to be inspected, lesson planning, observations up to date, learning journeys completed, trackers updated as I go and gap analysis updated and reviewed.

Only 3 more weeks till the end of term and I finish working at the school. Despite not feeling so stressed, I've decided that teaching 4 and 5 year olds really isn't my thing anyway. I'm fortunate that my visa is sponsored by my husband and financially I don't need to work. 

It will be nice to have weekends back, rather than spending it food shopping and cleaning the house and to spend time with visitors without relying on only 5 hours sleep and to be able to choose when I travel back to the UK, rather than just in the school holidays with inflated prices.

Day 325 Writing
I'm planning on doing some writing when I finishes work, I've 30,000 words towards a book, I've no idea if it's any good, but if I don't try I'll never know.

Day 326 Cold
Driving around the new canal area looking for a woman's house that I visited on foot a few weeks back, finally found it and the coffee's were still hot.

Day 327 I'm eating
Rack of Ribs with Peter and a friend at The Beach, JBR.

Day 328 Home
With a house full of visitors between now and January 10th there will be lots of meals out. Reem Al Bawadi, is our 2nd home at the moment.

Day 329 Oh Well
Getting ready for a rare night out with work, when I dropped a full can of coke on the floor, covering the bed, walls, floors and the cat and dog.

Day 330 Window
My view ALL day nursing a hangover. It's lovely to have the windows open now the weather has cooled, except that the house is now full of sand.

Day 331 My Favourite
Peter and I cleaned the house this morning, then I popped out to the Garden Centre for a coffee. peter headed out to the cinema in the afternoon and I awaited visitors.

Week 46 - One Daily Positive and Project 366

It's been a negative week. A week of feeling worthless, over worked, which resulted in vomiting and a migraine and catching up on a lot of sleep. I'm as ready as I'm going to be for school inspection next week, I've done everything I normally do, extras and then given just that one bit more. Despite planning having to be submitted by Tuesday (which I did) there were then emails yesterday and today with requests/orders to add in extras. I haven't.

Day 318 Window

Working long hours, all I see is sunrise and sunset these days

Day 319 Blue

Can't wait to leave work, I've never in my entire life felt so worthless, despite Governors inspection report stating I am a very good teacher.

Day 320 Reading

Today was looking better, out with friends for dinner at The Belgium Cafe.

Day 321 Crisp

I'm sure the people over at snaphappybritmums were thinking British Winter for the day's photo prompt, but here in Dubai winters aren't even cold by UK standards.

Day 322 Colours

The coffee was welcomed, but the biscuits had to wait for another day, migraine and vomiting so sent home from work early.

Day 323 Heart

I love taking Bob out into the desert, despite still feeling sick from yesterdays migraine, I didn't want to miss out.

Day 324 Photo

Still not feeling 100% but we have a visitor, a friend from South Africa, they're off to Jordan for a few days tomorrow. We spent the day at the 'Race to Dubai'

Week 45 - One Daily Positive and Project 366

A strange week, no one has really made an effort to persuade me to stay in my teaching post, which only confirms that I'm making the right decision to leave. I've been trying hard not to over work myself but I inherited a class when I started that wasn't up to date in regards to paperwork and I found it very stressful, so for my own peace of mind I want to make sure it's all in place. it's also KHDA inspection next week, think Ofsted, so there is still a lot of pressure, then it's National day and a 3 day week, then 2 full weeks till the end of term. I've left work on time every day this week, been swimming and stopped off at the garden centre and a mall for coffee. I put of thoughts of work from my mind, but I still have to do next week's lesson plans and at 4.30pm on a Saturday, with work in the morning I'm not getting much done, having spent today wandering around the Mall of Emirates.

Day 311 Something Red.

A weekend of R&R, shopping, global village for fireworks, the Souk Madinat for coffee with friends and relaxing at home.

Day 312 Fill The Frame

Day 313 8am. 

Well actually 5.30am and 12 hours later as I left for work and returned home.

Day 314 Money.

Grand Opening of the Dubai Water Canal.

Day 315 Wish. 

I left work on time and sat at the Souk Madinat for a coffee and to update student files.

Day 316 Time.

Spent the day with friends for Brunch.

Day 317 Where I'm Standing.

Visiting the Dubai Water Canal during the day light.