Word of the Week - Sun

It's been the most glorious week.

The sun has been shining.

BBQ's have been enjoyed.

Dresses have been worn.

Books have been read.

Pimm's has been drunk.

The flowers in the garden are out in bloom.

I'm sunburnt.

It's too hot to sleep.

There's little breeze.

I keep forgetting to water the plants.

My Achilles hurts from wearing sandals.

My head is thumping from too much sun.

But ...

I'm happy.

I love the outdoors.

Wearing a dress and sandals without having to fluff around with a jacket or remembering to carry an umbrella.

Leaving the table set up so it's ready for use, comfy and relaxing.

It reminds me of our lives abroad, a lifetime away now in South Africa and Dubai. 

Week 15 One Daily Positive - Back in Dubai

I've just about been keeping my head above water the last few weeks with more medical tests, arranging flights to Dubai and all the tests and paperwork involved and sorting out care for the animals and a few other issues that were really taking up too much of my time, energy and finances. I owe comments for the past 4 weeks and I'm working my way through them slowly, starting with all the people who link up with me and Steph @lifeat139a and I for Post Comment Love each week. 

I've been getting incredible pains in chest and shoulders and random shooting pains in my thigh and shin in left leg and I've had a severe reaction to the Phosphate intake also. I'm also itching head to toe after contact with water and I have the coldest hands known to man. Some of this was going on before the iron infusion, but has become worse and most of it before the phosphate intake. Can't get to see a Dr in the UK, the receptionist just puts things on my notes. I have an appointment next week to see my GP over here.

100 Saturday Morning of tidying around and off to visit friend and grandchild for garden visit in the same village and home to watch TV.

101 Sunday Up early and up British Camp to experience the snow, an afternoon of TV,  had an early bath, cooked dinner and sorted through some paperwork, did some packing and the neighbour came round to collect key for feeding cat while I'm away.

102 Monday Off early to Worcester for Covid testing, took a walk around the town then realised I'd gone into the City on the first day the shops re opened after lockdown, it wasn't as busy as I thought it would've been. Hoovered and mopped floors. Tidied up the garden after the snow again.

103 Tuesday Caught the train to Heathrow, stopped off at Paddington on route and decided to leave suitcase with left luggage and spent the day in London on foot. Walked to and through Hyde park, to Buckingham Palace, along the Mall, through Horse guard parade, to Westminster, up to Trafalgar Square, through Leicester Square, through Carnaby Street, along Oxford Road to Regent Street, past the BBC onto Baker Street and back to Paddington, collected suitcase and onto an empty T3 and Aerotel sleep pod for the night.

104 Wednesday Flew to Dubai mid afternoon, around 50 people on the flight. More shops etc open this time at the airport but still very quiet. An uneventful flight, slept most of the way. it won't be like this the next time I fly in June.

105 Thursday I spent the day in bed. Peter went into the office in the morning and he had the dentist in the afternoon. Evening spent in front of the TV.

106 Friday We headed out to Dubai Mall. It's Ramadan and it's being done very differently here than ever before. When we first came here in 2015, nothing was open during the day, over the following years, places opened but were only accessible for take outs and after 2pm, then they screened areas off and you could eat after 2pm, but there was NO consistency between stores and within Malls. Last year, Ramadan took place during a total lockdown and curfew, this year you wouldn't know it was Ramadan here at all, other than a few decorations, the Starbucks Ramadan cup. There are no screens, no curtained off areas, no signs telling you whether you can eat or drink or smoke or chew gum etc. I'm finding the covid regulations harder to deal with anyway, but at least I'm used to the inconsistencies of Dubai after 6 years.

On the blog this week: 

Post Comment Love - Back Home in Dubai

My Spring Garden

A random Walk over the Malvern Hills

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

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Just how instagramable is Greece?

We've just returned from a holiday in Greece, we picked Greece due to the flight time and availability for me from the UK and Peter from Dubai. Neither of us have been to the mainland before and Peter hasn't been to the islands for 35 years. 
I didn't really do much research other than accommodation and car hire, which was based on price as well as avoiding 'family fun' and 'great entertainment' We were meeting in Greece to have a break, a rest, chill out on the beach and read a couple of books, enjoy the food and local beer. We weren't there to party. As soon as I arrived at the airport and saw the number of tour guides and buses, I knew we'd booked the wrong place.

We're also not beach goers really and with our starting point being that we live in Dubai which for a lot of people is a dream holiday destination and we're slightly spoiled when it comes to beaches and resorts and from seeing the gorgeous images that pop up on google when you search 'holidays to Greece' and knowing a little about the architecture, the buildings and aware of the recent economical situation, I was very disappointed when we arrived. It took a while to get over children purchasing alcohol and tobacco and all the real fur for sale.

It's been a long time since we've had a self catering holiday, most of our travel since the kids have left home are in hotels or staying with friends. But had we had the kids with us, they'd have loved it there. 

I didn't take many photo's. The beach pictures showed sun beds 5 rows deep, crowded beaches and other people, other people trying to recreate the pictures they'd seen on Instagram all trying to capture a unique beach experience.

Look closely and you'll see in the centre of the photo a couple recreating the same photo hundreds of people take on the beach, the woman in the white bikini, then had hers taken with her boyfriend. 

So is Greece instagramable? Yes of course it is, you just have to look hard. We captured a sun set and a few other selfies, as well as pictures from the restaurant terrace and of course our food.

You can click on any of the links below if you're interested in seeing more of the construction projects and unusual buildings I've seen around the world, most of them are in Dubai and I'll be back there next week to see how much has changed in the 3+ months I've been in the UK.

Week 158 Dubai Bluewater Islands and Dubai Eye. Man made island a 210m high Big Wheel
Week 159 Dubai Dubai Marina - Reflections
Week 160 Dubai Dubai Frame. A window between the Old and New Dubai and a 150m high glass floor.

Week 161 Dubai Dubai Marina 3 years apart.

Week 162 Dubai Dubai Water Canal Bridge Construction and reconfiguration of roads

Week 163 Dubai New Metro Line for Expo 2020
Week 164 Arizona and Nevada Hoover Dam 2002 - 2010
Week 165 Dubai Dubai Opera House What a difference a year makes
Week 166 Dubai Unfinished buildings. The Pentominium
Week 167 Coventry Mixing the old and the new. Coventry Catherdral
Week 168 Dubai New Dubai Metro Station 
Week 169 Dubai The new extension of the Dubai Mall and Burj Khalifa 
Week 170 Dubai Hotel fire After the Address fire 
Week 171 Dubai Unusual designs The Opus Building
Week 172 Dubai District Cooling. Keeping the desert cool.
Week 173 Dubai Can I visit the Burj Al Arab
Week 174 Dubai The Almas Tower
Week 175 Dubai The Cayan Tower
Week 176 Toronto The CN Tower
Week 177 Nevada The Paris Hotel 
Week 178 Dubai Ibn Battuta Gate
Week 179 A Wedding
Week 180 Dubai The World's Tallest Tower
Week 181 Dubai and Wales Al Fahidi Fort and Chepstow Castle 
Week 182 Dubai New Metro Station in Al Furjan 
Week 183 Dubai Ski Dubai
Week 184 Another Wedding
Week 185 South Africa Life in a township
Week 186 Austria Ski Jump 
Week 187 Dubai Green Plant Bio Dome 
Week 188 Dubai Update on the Metro Station
Week 189 Dubai My view from the balcony changed in 8 months

One Daily Positive Week 34 A week in Greece

Well Greece hasn't been everything I'd thought it was cracked up to be, in terms of what I've seen of other peoples photos and from online, but we're staying on the beach on the mainland near Thessaloniki.

It's been a long time since we've had a self catering holiday, rather than staying in hotels and if I'm honest, it really isn't for me. I'm also not really a beach person and while there are some historic sites to visit, they're not really aimed at tourists.

231 Sunday Drove south for an hour and found a lovely exclusive beach restaurant where we had lunch than swam and snorkelled for the afternoon, spent the evening in a local bar watching the football and drinking beer.

232 Monday Visited the city of Thessaloniki, about an hours drive away, drank coffee, had lunch, explored some ancient sites and returned to the apartment to drink beer and read our books.

233 Tuesday Spent the morning on a packed beach, had lunch, showered and drove to another area about an hour away, had a walk, dinner and watched the sunset.

234 Wednesday Drove over to the beech on the opposite side of the coast only 15 mins away, much nicer over there, less people and more sun beds and shade available. Had a free dinner in the evening after the waitress threw a glass of red wine over Peter.

235 Thursday Back to the same beach as yesterday after a lie in and leisurely breakfast in the apartment. Had an afternoon nap then out for dinner, not impressed with my sea bass as I had to fillet it myself.

236 Friday I started the long journey home, an hour to the airport. I flew 2 hours ahead of Peter as I was returning to the UK and him to Dubai. My plane landed half an hour after the coach departed so I stayed in a hotel for the night.

237 Saturday Up early for breakfast, showered and repacked, blogged, drank coffee at the airport and arrived back in South Wales at 7pm.

On the blog this week:

Then and Now - How the view from the balcony has changed with the building of the new metro station.

How much should you give as a wedding gift? We will have had 3 weddings to attend by the end of this year.

The role of the Best Man's wife at a wedding - Tips to make you feel more included.

Speedy boarding with EasyJet - making the most of the hand luggage allowance.

My Sunday Photo - Week 130 O is for Outdoors

'Bring some of the sun with you Suzanne when you come to the UK please'

I was slightly disappointed to arrive at Birmingham Airport on Monday to a heat wave, I left Dubai to escape the summer, I did find it very hot this week, but it's a different kind of hot, one you can get a respite from when you stand in the shade, one that carries a cool breeze from time to time, one where cold water actually runs from the cold tap and one where the max temp of 32c that I experienced here in the UK is the minimum temp in Dubai right now.

I spent today in Stratford upon Avon. I had a picnic by the canal and a walk around the town. Something I can't do in the summer in Dubai. It's so nice to be able to be outdoors and actually enjoy it. I know a lot of people have found it too hot, but it's only been a week. I'm looking forward to the cooler weather forecast for the rest of this week, there was a bit of rain today and I was like a child in a sweet shop, it was exciting to actually have weather for a change rather than none stop oppressive heat and I intend to spend the rest of the UK summer outdoors as much as possible, come rain or shine.

Travel experiences 'then and now'

Ever since I was a baby I've travelled, from wherever we were living with my Father's job in the UK, Newport, Leicester, York, Ross-on Wye to see my grandparents in Brighton and South Wales, during the holidays as well as caravan holidays in the North East, South West or West Wales.

Our one and only foreign holiday was aged 15 for 2 weeks in the South of France and I had a day trip to Calais when I was around 13, with school.

All travel for us was by car, bags were filled, picnics were made, a few toys and books were selected for the journey and all lose items were thrown in the boot. Blankets and pillows were taken for comfort on the journey and we'd often end up with only 1 cassette tape for the trip and little radio coverage.

Fast forward to the 90's and I became a parent myself, holidays were camping at holiday sites near the beach, we travelled by car and the same method of packing took place. There was a special trip  to EuroDisney about 5 years after it opened, after saving hard, collecting the tokens in a newspaper and redeeming them for cheap flights.

Up until 2000 the only other trips I'd made were aged 17 to Amsterdam and with a friend to Dublin for a weekend. I'd also won a competition with a national newspaper and spent a week in Barcelona for the Olympic games.

As with all the trips, tickets, souvenirs were kept and scrap books were made, photo's were taken carefully and sent for developing arriving back 2 -3 weeks later.

My only other experience of travel was that of my Father, who travelled the world with his job between the mid 70's and early 90's. Everything he brought back was treasured and I had a collection of plane tickets, napkins, postcards, gifts mainly from South Africa, India and Egypt. I still have quite a few things from his travels.

All our holidays were out of term time, I never noticed a price difference, I didn't have the means to check out deals, it was either booked by calling a number in the newspaper, visiting a travel agent or obtaining a number for a camp site from a friend's recommendation.

Fast forward to the last 17 years and my travel has widened. Now living in Dubai and previously in South Africa, my approach to travel has changed. As the children got older we travelled to France and round Europe by car, and then further afield to Turkey, Tunisia and America. We thought nothing of getting in the car and driving to Manchester or London from the Midlands for a football match.

Peter's travels now take him further afield, although working in Europe is now a long haul flight away and while most of our holidays are now to the UK, in the past year, between us and together we've travelled to Europe, Canada, Jordan and Egypt.

The kids now come home for a fortnight, bring a mate or a girlfriend, family come to visit for holidays in far flung, foreign places.

In the past 10 years I've noticed  how many people now think that having a holiday is a basic human right, taking children out of school as it's the only time they can afford to go and feeling that unless you travel to a far flung, tropical location they're all missing out and getting into debt to do so.

What happened to the good old British Holiday, a week or two camping or in a caravan, by the sea?

Saying that, I'm flying to the UK for summer, we're off to Turkey in July, me flying in from the UK and Peter from Dubai. I'm also travelling to Belfast to visit one son and hopefully to Dublin, Munich and South Africa to visit friends.

The rest of my 'holiday' will be spent travelling around in a hire car, visiting family with everything chucked in the boot.

What a difference 3 weeks make with the heat in Dubai

Three weeks ago in Dubai we were having hot showers from the cold water tap, we didn't need to put the water heater on to do the washing up and we were having to fill plastic tubs with water and leaving them outside so they'd cool down in the shade to water the plants and wash the dog.

The water temps in the outside cold taps were reaching 46c. The air temps were reaching 50c.

Now for some reason the water is brown again, we drink bottled water anyway but washing up and showering in it, is a bit off putting.

The water pipes in the house provided us with 30 seconds of cold water as they're out of the sun, now the shower is cool for the whole duration and it won't be long before we need to heat the water again.

June, July and August were spent indoors, apart from a 3 week vacation to Canada during Ramadan, we spent little time outside, we took the dog to the lakes in the desert early on a Friday morning and he had a short walk around the block around 8pm. I did make a point of getting out the house everyday to escape from cabin fever, but I could only manage a very short walk to the bus stop before becoming drenched in sweat. We managed the odd day on the beach in the evenings, with the sea temps around 36c it was hardly refreshing and cooling.

I've finally been able to open the curtains in the house during the day and some natural sunlight is most welcome. The sun no longer streams in through the windows in the morning, which means the house is much cooler. 

It does however still hit the front of the house and if I go behind those closed curtains it's like getting in a sauna, you can see how the curtains are being sucked backwards by the extreme heat.

This weekend I managed to finish tidying the camping equipment in one of the out buildings, although I was very hot, I wasn't drenched with sweat within minutes and abandoning the sort out like I'd done 3 weeks earlier.

The air con temp has been turned up and during the early hours of the morning we've been switching it off as it's got a bit chilly. Our electricity bill has been around £500 a month for the past 3 months.

The average day time temps are now in the mid 30's instead of the mid 40's, although the humidity can catch us off guard every now and then making it feel hotter than the thermometer reads sometimes.

I'm off to South Africa in 3 weeks time and it will be summer down there, I've not had a winter since June/July 2014. I was in the UK April/May and again in September and had some lovely warm weather. I'm looking forward to the winter in Dubai which is similar to a UK summer, but with far less rain.

How to keep cool at home in Dubai?

Before we moved to Dubai we were informed that EVERYONE leaves Dubai for the summer.

Everyone? Seriously? Dubai doesn't shut down for summer, hubby doesn't have 3 months leave every year. We can't afford to rent someone in the UK for 3 months and maintain our villa that we rent in Dubai also. What about the cat and dog? Kennels would cost £3,600 for 3 months. So the other option is I leave Dubai for 3 months, seems a lot of expat spouses do that. But I'd still need somewhere to live and although staying with family and friends is good, I can't spend 3 months on sofas and living out of a suitcase in spare rooms.

I can understand why so many people leave though. Until I experienced the relentless heat I thought 'it can't be THAT bad' but it is, it's worse.

In the day it's an average of 42c, going as high as 50c early in June and not dropping below 33c at night. It's not cooler in the shade, the only place to get any respite is under the air conditioning. Humidity is high and the 'real feel' is up to 10c higher.

I'm still going out, I spend most days in the house on various projects, I tend to get up before sunset to water the garden, walk the dog, do the washing, cleaning etc and around midday I sleep for a couple of hours, before a second flurry of activity kicks in around 5pm, when I go to the beach, walk the dog, food shop and cook dinner.

I go out for coffee everyday, whether its a 5 minute walk over the road or a short trip on an air conditioned bus to an air conditioned mall.

When I'm indoors at home I do the following as it really makes a huge difference to the temperature inside the house.

Keep the curtains closed in the day time, it keeps the direct sunlight from damaging the wooden furniture and leather sofas and keeps the heat out of the room.

You can see how hot it is outside, this is condensation on the outside of the window

The drafts excludes are used to stop the cold escaping and the heat out, rather than the other way round

Keep containers of water outside, so they cool down during the day to be used to water the plants and wash the dog.

Water from the outside cold tap comes out the ground at 46c

Wear cotton and loose clothing, these are cheap and available to buy from the large supermarkets and the souks and perfect for wearing around the home

Keep doors closed during the day, if you're not using a room, If I'm at home alone I tend to only use the bedroom, dining room and kitchen during the day

Drink plenty of bottled water. I'm never more than a couple of feet from a bottle of water.

Make sure every window is covered. With floor to ceiling windows there's a lot of heat that can get into the house, these light weight panels are actually being sucked back towards the window by the heat from outside, imagine how hot the room would be without them

Hubby has been able to plan quite a few trips abroad with work, there are countries he needs to spend time in with his job, so it makes sense to be away during the hottest months. I spent 3 weeks in Canada in June/July which coincided with Ramadan. It's not just the heat that causes me a problem, but during Ramadan I am limited with my day light hour activities also, It is illegal for me to smoke, drink or eat in public during the day and most restaurants and cafes are closed during this period until Iftar when the fast is broken at sunset. It really limited my ability to cope with such high temperatures when I'm out, without being able to drink water.

Ramadan 2016 is earlier around 5th June till the 6th July, when it's not usually so hot and I will probably spend the month in the UK, although I'm yet to experience August in Dubai, so I'll wait till summer is over before I book any flights.

In the meantime I will just continue to live an indoors life at a slow pace, drink plenty of water, sleep during the hottest parts of the day, keep the cat and dog inside during daylight hours, read and hopefully try and make some headway with writing my book while I have the time.

11 handy uses for a Pashmina in Dubai

The Pashmina is one of my top 4 essentials for travel that I carry with me at all times in Dubai.

But what can you use it for? What is it's purpose other than a fashion item?

1. As a head covering, out of respect for the local culture. I had to remove my sleeved top for the henna tattoo.

2. As a blanket for the beach

3. A pillow

4. Taking the chill off when the sun goes down

5. A sarong

                   

6. To wrap up wet bathing suit after a trip to the beach

7. To protect the back of the car when the dog jumps in and out

8. To protect against the heat

9. To place on a park bench before sitting down if wearing light coloured clothing and also to stop you sticking to the seat and to keep the dirt and sweat off from the previous person who sat here.

 10. To add a splash of colour

11. To pack round bottles in the boot of the car