Dubai Metro Station

I started documenting the new metro line and station at Discovery Gardens back in November 2017. 

When this photo was taken in January, I had no idea where the station was going to be located, turns out it's right where the piece of yellow machinery is. 

I wrote a post back in June with photo's of the stations development which you can find here.

Peter has continued to take random photos for me while I'm in the UK, I suspect by the time I get back in October it will be complete, although the line isn't due to open until early 2019.

It doesn't look like much has been done over the past few months, but just take a look at the first picture and see how much they've done in 7 already.

17th June

24th June

30th July

5th August

10th August

You can see some of the other construction projects and interesting buildings I've visited around the world by clicking on the links below:

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 

One Daily Positive - Week 32

After a stressful week I was hoping this week was better, but it started with Peter receiving a notification that his card had been used for over a £1,000 at 3am on Sunday morning. I had to sort my mum's TV licence, it was £112.86 for the year up till her 75th birthday. The guy on the phone told me that price 3 times, then said as the card transaction went through 'that's all gone through £150' I'm now waiting for a refund by cheque.

I've also been battling with our daughters care home as to why they don't inform as to why they don't inform us of new management, changes in care and medical appointments. They know I'm in the UK each summer and have all our contact details. She's been put on new medication which seems to have made her very sleepy.

It's been week of twitter, instagram, blogging and real life friends.

I caught up with all my paperwork, booked coach and hotel for the airport before Greece next week and scheduled some blog posts.

217 Sunday Met twitter friends Rosie and Simon for coffee in Newport, did a food shop, had lunch and went to see Mama Mia with a friend I met in Uni 20 years ago. Spent the evening in on paperwork.

218 Monday Off to Ross to meet Instagram friend Alison @rubbishwife and had dinner at my mums.

219 Tuesday Met a twitter friend Pat for coffee, did very little else all day.

220 Wednesday Spent the morning in reading a book. Coffee with mum in the afternoon, visited the Things then dinner with Kath and the twins, locally. I met Kath the night my father died.

221 Thursday Drove to Gloucester in the morning to see child 1, food shopped, cleaned the flat and dinner with Andy and Vicki who got married last month.

222 Friday Woke to rain, glorious rain then remembered I had food shopping to do, on foot. The lovely Mary from Over 40 and a mum to one blogger and her son came to stay for the weekend.

223 Saturday After breakfast we drove through the Wye Valley to Chepstow, stopping at The Old Station in Tintern for coffee, then onto the Abbey and Chepstow Castle, driving home through the Forest of Dean and visiting the Kymin before getting back to Monmouth. The boy was still going strong after tea so we took a mammoth walk round Monmouth, through fields and to the castle, we were both broken.

Wedding Photo Swop #sp
I'm co hosting #PoCoLo in August
I feel displaced
My Sunday Photo - The Green Planet

Wedding Photo Swop in high resolution for printing.

We've attended two weddings this year already, our 3rd is in October and we have one more planned for September 2019.

The weddings so far have been that of our eldest son and best friends. It’s the turn of our niece in October and our 2^ndyoungest son next September.

With family and friends living around the world and not everyone being able to attend, it’s rare for us all to be together at any family event. When one family member is unable to attend we still want to make them feel part of the event, even if they can’t physically be there. 

So when I heard about Wedding Photo Swap I decided to take a look. It allows you to create your own personalised space in an app where guests can share the photo's they have taken on your wedding day. Once you have downloaded the app you can email your guests or send them the link with the invite. 

Although a professional photographer has been at both the weddings to date, they spend the time with the Bride in the morning as she gets ready and arrives at the church. With the app we would be able to upload the photos taken of our son when he arrived at the church and for the second wedding, the Groom stayed with my husband and I the night before, we would be able to take and share photos of him and his best man getting ready also.

With the official photographer leaving the venue after the cake has been cut and the first dance, it’s a lovely way to have un staged moments of evening only guests and friends and family snapping away catching those other ‘unseen’ moments that the Bride and Groom often miss.

Wedding Photo Swop allows guests to share their photos from your wedding with everyone else and they are saved in high resolution for you to download and print. 

What I particularly like is that photos can be shared for those who can’t attend allowing them to still be part of the day but not posted online until the Bride and Groom decide to share their pictures of their big day.

For the last two weddings we’ve attended we’ve shared the photos we took with the Bride and Groom via face book, but the quality is affected when it comes to the Bride and Groom wanting to print any photo’s out. With the app the photos are saved in high resolution. 

Photos can then either be downloaded or edited and printed directly from your phone and they can be uploaded as the day unfolds rather than sending 100’s of photos via face book in the following days, as I’ve been doing for the past two weddings.

I certainly will be passing this on to my niece for her wedding in October and my other son for his next year.

It would also be a good app to use at hen and stag parties and who knows? Christenings in the future.

This is a collaborative post.

Post Comment Love (#PoCoLo) 10-12 August

Welcome to Post Comment Love (#PoCoLo).  Same linky as usual for all all bloggers to link up their 

favourite post of the week.  Just in a different place. Morgan is on her holidays at Walt Disney World 

so I'm co-hosting in August to help Stephanie.  

Another week of friendship and being slightly out of my comfort zone. I feel displaced. My home is 

in Dubai with my husband, cat and dog. But I also spend 6 months of the year in South Wales 

with my mother and adult children and family. I spend most of the summer in the UK. Peter joins me

a for a week or two a couple of times. Most of the time I have car hire so I can visit child 1, 2, 2a and 5,

who live in Gloucestershire and I'll visit 4 &4a and they come here. Child 3 & 3a are based 

in Australia and currently travelling the world, I haven't seen them since July 2017.

This weekend I have my lovely friend Mary and her son staying with me. Mary is a fellow 

#project365 blogger. I've no idea how long I've known her online. Mary met my husband Peter and 

our eldest child earlier this year, it really does make a huge difference to be able to put a name to a face 

properly and for my husband to actually know who I'm talking about when I only have my online 

friends to talk to/about.

Blogger Showcase: This week is the turn of Chloe from Beautiful Bundle of Chaos 
Chloe blogs about fashion tips, trips and her gorgeous daughter Lola and some of the hilarious things they get up to. If you want to find out more about Chloe then pop over to Stephanie's post where you can find out what Chloe's idea of both a perfect night in and out is.

An InLinkz Link-up

I feel displaced.

My home is in Dubai with my husband, cat and dog. But I also spend 6 months of the year in South Wales with my mother and adult children and family. I spend most of the summer in the UK. Peter joins me a for a week or two a couple of times. Most of the time I have car hire so I can visit child 1, 2, 2a and 5, who live in Gloucestershire and I'll visit 4 &4a and they come here. Child 3 & 3a are based in Australia and currently travelling the world, I haven't seen them since July 2017.

I arrived the end of May, I'm not going back to Dubai till the end of October. I was here in February and March and will be back next March also. Peter joined me in June for child 2 & 2a's wedding then again in July for another wedding and we're meeting in Greece for a weeks holiday together next week. I've also got a trip to South Africa in September with a few days stop over in Dubai. I've also been to visit child 4 & 4a and spent a week in Germany with friends.

I'm lucky to be able to travel so freely, but the novelty does wear off and after 8 years with 'not allowed to work' written on my visa, I need a change. That change won't happen till 2022 when Peter retires and we return to live in the UK and I can go back to work. I'll be 51 by then, will I want to work? Will I be able to work?

I have a few friends in Dubai, but contact always cuts back when I'm not there. The UK and Dubai are so different. Despite the heat in the UK this summer, which I'm enjoying as I'm actually able to get out and about and enjoy it, it's 200 degrees hotter than the sun in Dubai and the lifestyle is based indoors for much of the year.

In South Wales where we have a flat, I know all the neighbours, they know my drink in the coffee shop and my drink in the local pub. I have friends here, my family are here, but it's only for a short period of time and by October, my life will change again as I rebuild friendships back over in Dubai and get back into a different routine where I pretty much only have my cat and dog for company.

I did work over in Dubai for a year, as a teacher, but it became impossible to dedicate the time needed for my family around the world. I also worked as a volunteer for 4 years in South Africa, hence the reason for my trip there in September. When my father died in 2017, I turned down another job due to needing to be here, for both myself, my mother and the family, I don't think it will be possible for me to work again until we relocate in 4 years time.

When I return to Dubai my contact with family and friends is greatly reduced as there is a total ban on voice over internet, so no Skype, FaceTime or WhatsApp calls. It distances me from my family and friends. 

I currently don't feel that I actually belong anywhere. I'm busy when I'm in the UK. I'm busy when I'm in Dubai, but these constant changes mean that as soon as a settle into one place, I'm making plans to head back to another.

The Green Planet, Dubai.

With the weather being so hot in the UK right now, I'm starting to think I'd have been better off staying in Dubai for the summer, as at least they have air conditioning everywhere. 

When the sun shines in the UK it means I can enjoy being outdoors, it's free to take a walk, sit in the park, have the windows open and enjoy the late summer evenings.

In Dubai, when summer comes it's a case of retreating indoors under the aircon. Going out involves a mad dash to a boiling hot car to get somewhere else that's indoors also.

One of the places I like to visit when I'm in Dubai is the Green Planet which is a bio-dome recreating a tropical forest with over 3,000 plants and animals. It's a great way of bringing the outdoors, indoors. The best of both worlds.

For 2018 I've been linking up posts about construction and unusual buildings I've visited around the world, but mainly in Dubai. If you're interested take a look at the below posts.

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 Cleaning the windows on the world's tallest building
Week 184 Dubai Ski Dubai
Week 185 Another Wedding
Week 186 South Africa Life in a township
Week 187 Austria Ski Jump 

One Daily Positive - Week 31

It's been a stressful and expensive start to this week. I've also not achieved my 'to do' list which is stressing me out.

First off I had a minor panic and major meltdown when I couldn't find the buildings insurance renewal email for the house we rent out in the UK. It had been sent to a different email address. Then I had to renew the contents insurance for the flat, my passport is almost full so I made an online application to do that on Tuesday. I finalised the accommodation and car hire for Greece in 2 weeks time and I still have to book transport and a hotel at Manchester airport.

The last few days I've been experiencing shooting pains in my left leg and side of my head, I often have this, I think it's the nerve damage at the base of my spine playing up again, I've also been a bit headachey and I don't think the heat is helping me much.

It's not been the most interesting week for photos either.

I'm co hosting #PoCoLo for August with Stephanie while Morgan is on holiday.

210 Sunday I'm sleeping over at my mums for the week as child 4 and 4a have exclusive use of the flat. Torrential rain when I walked to a friends to have a melt down at the thought of all the above. Out with Children 2, 2a, her parents and 4 & 4a for dinner in the local pub.

211 Monday Most of the day was spent drinking coffee and getting on top of all the calls I had to make and emails that needed sending as well out sorting out insurance for the flat. I spent some time with friends in the morning and popped in to see Thing 1, 2 and 3. At least there will be no questioning my identity, this is pretty much what I look like when I arrive at border control after a 7 hour flight.

212 Tuesday 4a flew home I took mum with me when I went to the passport office. On the way home we stopped for fuel and then the starting motor just died, I walked mum home then child 4 joined me for 3 hours while we waited for a tow.

213 Wednesday was spent in caffe nero sorting out contents insurance for the flat and replying to several hundred emails. I then cleaned the flat and rearranged the furniture to create more storage space for my fathers stamp collection, then 4 and I headed off to Cirencester to meet child 5 for dinner. I've now been relegated to the back seat and often get asked if I need to pee before we leave.

214 Thursday I had a new smart meter installed, then met a friend for lunch who gave me a very belated birthday girt, followed by spending the evening with another local friend and popping into the pub.

215 Friday I sorted through child 5 & 3 belongings they've left in the flat for storage and repacked. There are quite a few things they didn't want so child 4 helped me with rehoming. We called into see the 'Things' late afternoon. Passport came back today. Too hot and muggy, hoping for a storm soon.

216 Saturday Child 4 left early evening, with me going home and him working away I won't see him again till September 2019. I tidied and cleaned the bedroom and bathroom and did some washing. Off to the last night of the music festival later. It's T-Rex night.

On the blog this week is all about friendships. What makes a friend? Friendship is a mutual but not exclusive relationship. How much value do you put on your friends?

My Sunday Photo: Bergisel Olympic Ski Jump, Innsbruck, Austria.

Post Comment Love (#PoCoLo) 3-5 August

Welcome to Post Comment Love (#PoCoLo).  Same linky as usual for all all bloggers to link up their favourite post of the week.  Just in a different place.  Morgan is on her holidays at Walt Disney World so I'm co-hosting in August to help Stephanie.  

As I live in Dubai for most of the year, I'm told how lucky I am to have all that sunshine. However the reality is, it's too hot to be outdoors in it most of the year. So I'm loving this UK summer, although I will admit, I am finding it too hot sometimes.

Whilst I love to travel, I'm often out of my comfort zone and last week I was in Germany visiting friends. They lent me their car and I crossed the border to Austria relying on hope alone that I would have a signal, driving through the Alps, on my GPS. 

I joined in with the #PoCoLo linky a couple of years ago and it's been great to meet a variety of bloggers and connect with a wider audience.

Blogger Showcase. This week is the turn of Kylie at Simple Little Secrets.

Kylie blogs about the latest beauty, fashion and lifestyle, creating a new look whilst saving money. if you check out Kylie's Instagram account you'll see cute pictures of her daughter and see she has a passion for coffee. If you want to know more about Kylie or find out if she prefers cake or biscuits with her coffee you'll need to head over to Stephanie's post.

An InLinkz Link-up

What is a friend?

Friends are extremely important to me, even more so since we embarked on our expat journey in 2011, in the absence of family, friends have filled the void.

Everyone has different definitions of what makes a friend and categorises some as best, close or acquaintances. A friend is loyal, honest and someone you can trust, it is a mutual but not exclusive relationship.

Friends can also be toxic which I've learnt at great detriment to myself. I've had 3 particular friendships throughout my life lasting each for almost 15 years, face to face friends, friends who have looked after one another's children, both turned to each other when times have got hard and celebrated the good stuff, but I noticed changes. Where they'd become too honest about me and my family, but not been able to accept any defence from me. As a true friend, I've given them the benefit of the doubt, hung on to the possibility of the friendship recovering, then each time they've quite literally cut me out of their lives. On the last occasion an actual letter was written telling me I was no longer welcome at their house after listening to years of having my children put down. I dared to criticise one of their adult children in their 'own home' and that was it, our friendship became 'unbearable' I realised after I read the letter how controlling the friendship had been, only interested in what was going wrong in my life, it was negative and I felt free.

I've made friends easily throughout my life, I'm outgoing, talkative and social. Some people find that over powering and are wary of me, but those who take the time out to get to know me, make life long friends.

I don't have a best friend, different friends fill different roles and those roles change as we change, as our children leave home, we move around and have reduced contact.

I had groups of different friends during my school years. I'm still in touch occasionally with one friend from the age of 5, but that's only through facebook randomly, her daughter now 28 is an instagram friend, so we see what one another families are up to but with little interaction.

I've work friends, former neighbours, the kids school friends and football club parents that I keep in touch with, but other than when I visit the UK or they come out to Dubai, these friendships are reduced to letter writing and messages.

I have 2 old school friends who I have regular online contact with and visit when I'm in the UK. 3 friends who were made through when the children were in school, 2 in the UK and 1 in South Africa. I have 1 friend I met in Uni and like 2 sets of married friends of Peter, whom I've known for the past 19 years and we see one another a lot, we just don't message outside of my UK trips often.

The rest of my friends have been met online, some I've never met, some I've flown 1000's of miles to visit, some I just message, some I write to some just pop up for time to time. Out of those online friends, I have 3 I see weekly when I'm in Dubai, 4 that I visit in South Africa who became real world friends and quite a few in the UK that I randomly meet for coffee when I visit. I spent last week in Germany with friends I made online 7 years ago and we see one another at least once a year, since I moved to Dubai and them over to Germany.

I consider myself to be fortunate, I have lots of friends around the world, each and everyone of them is special to me in their own way. Some of my friends know one another, some are purely online only, some made the transition to the real world, some I've yet to meet. Some are friends through letter writing only.

Each and everyone of them is valuable to me. I notice their presence, I notice their absence. Last year when my father died, my friends in real life and online got me through it. During this time I realised a facebook friend had been absent online, we'd arranged to meet that summer but had to postpone. I messaged her daughter who informed me her mother had died earlier that evening. I'm never too busy or occupied to have time for friends, even if in some cases, it's too late to do anything.

This is my best friend, my husband Peter, he who knows everything there is to know about me. The rest of you just get snippets.

Bergisel Olympic Ski Jump, Innsbruck, Austria.

The current ski jump building was designed by Zaha Hadid and completed in 2002. Zaha is a British Iraqi architect and she also designed the Opus Building in Dubai, that I featured earlier this year. The tower stands at 47ms tall.

A couple of weeks I go I also showed you around the Ski Dome in Dubai If you think that was big, wait till you see this weeks My Sunday Photo.

The first ski jump was erected here in 1925 and in 1964 and 1976 it was the venue of the Winter Olympic games.

Skiers use the same elevator to reach the tower which is at a height of 250ms and is reached within 2 minutes. I opted to walk back to the bottom.

The inrun which is 98ms long, with an incline of 35 degrees has a plastic track, in summer the jump and slope is lubricated with water, in winter it is packed with 30cms of snow.

Jumping skis measure 3ms and within 4 seconds the jumper reaches speeds of 90km/h.

The longest jump at Innsbruck was recorded at 138ms  in 2015. The world record ski jump is 253.5ms recorded in 2017 in Vikersund, Norway.

The views from the tower are spectacular and if you look closely enough you'll see there's a cemetery right at the end of the landing zone.

 

If you're interested in seeing some of the other construction, building projects and life in other countries then click on the links below:

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 Cleaning the windows on the world's tallest building
Week 184 Dubai Ski Dubai
Week 185 Another Wedding
Week 186 South Africa Life in a township

Week 30 - One Daily Positive

I was in Germany for the week visiting friends we knew when we all lived in South Africa. Child 4 was also in Germany this week with work, but a 2 hour drive north from Munich. I'll see him on Saturday morning when I fly back into Manchester as he'll be collecting me with 4a when they drive down for the week.

Peter spent the weekend with friends in Istanbul and is now back working in Dubai.

I'm spending the days on my own while Dirk and Jacques are in work, the evenings are spent putting the world to rights. There's not much English spoken in this part of Germany, but I'm doing ok with ordering coffee, food and buying train tickets.

I also took a drive over the border to Innsbruck in Austria, although I'm used to driving on the right hand side of the road, I've never driven a manual left hand drive, in fact I rarely drive manuals these days so hill starts through the tiny villages in the Alps were a bit of a challenge.

203 Sunday I woke to torrential rain, it was lovely, we don't get rain like this in Dubai and I haven't seen any since I arrived in the UK the end of May. We spent the day at a medieval festival.

204 Monday I explored Wolfratshausen on foot and visited a fairyland theme park.

205 Tuesday A lie in and then off to Munich on the train. I love how the municipality puts chairs out for people to just sit and watch the world go by in the city centre.

206 Wednesday I drove to Austria and visited Innsbruck for the day. Check out My Sunday Photo tomorrow.

207 Thursday Peter announced he had some days off in August and booked himself a flight to Greece in 3 weeks time, I've of course booked a flight to join him from the UK and now looking for somewhere to stay. I visited Starnberg and the lakes today.

208 Friday Coffee, packed, finished reading my book and flew back to Manchester. I stayed in airport hotel.

209 Saturday Up early and collected by 4 and 4a for the week. Later tonight I'm going to Newport to a friends 50th birthday.

I've been using Google Maps to travel throughout Germany by car, train and on foot. I used their maps to drive to Austria. Yesterday I typed in my destination, it tried to take me through car parks and over fences. I clicked the bus symbol, caught the 288 and was at the hotel in under 4 mins. Why didn't the damn thing work when I got back?

On the blog this week:

I didn't realise how crap my life was until I switched on the TV in the UK and saw the adverts.

Should I seize the day more? Say sod it to the G&T and extra slice of cake? It's all about balance and starting point.

Did you know in 2018, people still walks miles to get fresh drinking water? Life in a township in South Africa

I only found out how crap my life was when I turned on British TV

I might have irritable bowel syndrome.

I really need to do something about my wrinkles.

I don't have enough healthy bacteria in my gut.

I'm at risk of e coli by not using the right cleaning chemicals.

Should I panic? Deep clean the house? Make a Doctors appointment? Have botox?

I don't watch a lot of TV other than box sets on Netflix and the British soaps, if I can find them on You tube. Therefore I rarely see TV adverts. But after 6 or so weeks in the UK, I've seen every advert going and apparently, my current lifestyle choices are crap.

A lot of people say how Social Media puts other people down, judges them and helps to inform our decisions on how we judge others also, but I'd say it's NOT Social Media, it's the TV.

TV is a major financial institution, your TV licence doesn't cover the cost of what you watch, even the BBC have adverts, you might not realise this, but the items they present on lifestyle choices are led by major companies, pushing their products, their ideas.

It's subliminal advertising. Adverts they tell you that you have a problem in order to sell you a product.

'Did you know the leading product only reduces your chance of xxxxxxx by 95%, our new and improved product can reduce those risks further up to 99.9%'

They're telling you that the risk of you developing/catching something is high. They scare you into buying their product, they lead you to believe that without their product you're putting yourself and your family at risk.

Ok, so skin care products aren't that risky when it comes to your health, but are you aware of how many times you get stopped in a store or in the street and told you look old, you have bad skin, your nails look terrible, your hair is lank? I know they don't use those actual words, but that's what they are implying.

This is what the cosmetic companies are saying to you 'you look like crap' buy our products and you too can look as beautiful as this.

It's all about the money and you're gullible enough to fall for it and then blame others on Social Media who have fallen for this.

This is a before and after photo of me from 18 months ago. On the left I was told to come bare faced, there was no lighting, just look at the camera. After I'd had my make over, lighting was introduced and I was encouraged to smile.

If I ever go missing, make sure the picture they use is the one on the left, as I only look like the person on the right in my profile pictures.

Should I seize the day more?

1. 
   

We've lost a lot of family members and friends over the past 12 months, I'm sure we'll lose many more over the coming years. I like to make the most of every opportunity, I love to travel and have the resources and support of my husband for me to do so. I love nothing more than taking up an invite to see people far and wide.

I think my life and that of my children is fairly adventurous. Two of our kids were in school in South Africa with us. Peter was asked if he wanted to move there and within 4 months of the question being asked we were 6000 miles away. Two of our kids joined the army and travelled the world. One of our kids announced last summer he was going to Australia with his girlfriend and within a month they were gone.

As a family we seize the day, we make the most of every opportunity we are given, but we weigh things up carefully, we write lists of pro's and con's, we always find more pro's and if things don't work out living abroad then we can always go back.

But yet I still get told I could seize the day more, but for every thing I choose to do there are consequences, some are harmless, some are life changing. 

When friends do a charity parachute jump or take part in a dangerous activity, my first thought is 'What if something goes wrong?' My husband wants to do a parachute jump, but I can't help but think of how I'd be affected if he broke a leg on landing such as sorting out the medical aid bills, having to drive him to work every day or worse still if he died if something went wrong. I like to weigh up the risks. Of course if my husband broke his leg I'd do the above for him, but I know I would feel resentful if he did out out of an activity that could've been avoided.

I know we are at risk of our lives being cut short at any given time, through the fault of others and by our own acts, but I don't want to be responsible for an accident that inconveniences others or even my life being cut short through a dangerous activity.

I will however eat that slice of cake, enjoy a pint of beer, eat fast food, but I will balance my diet healthily to ensure I'm around as long as possible. I'm aware of how my father died after developing type 2 diabetes and having a stroke. I've started to drink a bit too much, the odd G&T here and there does no harm, but the odd G&T is becoming 2 or 3 on 2 or 3 days a week.

I've spent beyond my limits and worried myself sick about how I'll manage till the next payday, but I've learnt from all that, I've learnt to think about the consequences, weigh things up properly. It doesn't make me a party pooper, I just know my own limitations.

I've flown down the zip wire, I've been caving in the days before I had kids and responsibilities. I've drunk too much on a night out, I've made decisions that could've ended badly.

I have of course seized the day when the risks have been lower and the finances higher. I've booked a last minute flight to visit family and friends, worn the heels that blister my toes, because I look fab in them, worn the dress without worrying what other people think about my mum tum (that's their problem, not mine) I've purchased THAT handbag, tested my fear of heights by walking on glass floors 350ms in the air and going up the World's tallest building.

I'm currently in Germany staying with friends, they're at work during the day, I'm exploring locally, I don't speak the language, not many speak English here, but I'm not letting that stop me.

I don't think I need to seize the day more, I just need to carry on living the life I choose. I think my life is full enough already.

What about you? 

Life in a township in South Africa.

I've spent the last 2 weeks uploading names on a data base of children living in poverty in South Africa who will receive Christmas gifts from a charity this year. I've been involved in this charity and others since 2011. I'm currently visiting friends in Germany who moved here in 2015, Dirk worked at a home for disabled adults and children and I've worked with him on a variety of projects.

Every week this year for My Sunday Photo I've been focusing on construction projects mainly in Dubai and around the world. Today I thought I'd share some of the photo's from the townships in Pretoria where I've worked as a volunteer. I'm back in South Africa in September for 3 weeks and I'll be revisiting some of the places below.

A township in South Pretoria

Rubbish dump

It's common for people in townships to tap into the street lighting and run cables to their shacks to power a light bulb

A pre school receiving Christmas gifts

People walk 4-8 kms a day to get fresh water every day

If you want to see more about the construction side you can click on the links below:

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 Cleaning the windows on the world's tallest building
Week 184 Dubai Ski Dubai
Week 185 Another Wedding