Skype

After having written to friends asking for their Skype addresses, have received a rather rude shock!

Skype is banned in UAE!! There go my plans of having my son video chat with his friends back home every weekend. Have been told international trunk dialling is quite expensive but since the Etisalat bill has still not hit, am blissfully ignorant!!

...and then there were only two.....

I have officially, lost my son to Dubai!

For a child who was really upset with us for uprooting him from his settled life with loads of friends, he has declared that he thinks Dubai is a cool place. I suspect ICC, cars, Ski Dubai and Segaworld (in that order J) have a lot to do with his change of heart, lol!

My cricket mad son is very excited cos he’s going to be attending a cricket camp at the ICC Cricket Academy. Father and son have been practicing and debating bowling actions. The only one who is ambivalent is the poor mother who has to ferry the child to and from Dubai Sports City, which currently to me, seems to be practically in the neighbouring Emirate! Not to mention cooling my heels there for 5 hours while he’s at the camp! Ah motherhood!

P.S. Mercifully, the Academy has Wi Fi, so I am reasonably occupied, but on the flip side no coffee shop! The ICC guys very sweetly got me a coffee, and refused to accept payment, but there is just this much that you can impinge on their kindness! Have to buy a flask tonight and carry at least some tea / coffee. The lack of lunch would probably do me good anyways!

P.P.S.  Awesome facilities at the Academy and my son is really enjoying the camp. Might enrol him for the regular coaching classes in October. Well that, at least, narrows down choices for the house. I refuse to trek halfway across the city for a 1 hour sessions, so house / villa will need to be close to Dubai Sports City.

Food for thought

After having seen so many houses / villas, one thing completely baffles me. Dubai is a dessert, where sea water, at great expense, is run through desalination plants and then pumped into homes.

Understandably, your DEWA bills for water are high especially if you happen to live in a villa. In that context, I am completely flummoxed so to why all bathrooms, ensuite or otherwise, are fitted with bathtubs instead of shower cubicles. A quick back-of-the-envelope calculation will tell you that a soak and then a bath in a bathtub consumes more water than a quick shower, so am left wondering why this preference for bathtubs? Have seen this not only in villas, but in most apartments as well. I wonder why?

 P.S. My bigger concern is my mom-in-law having to get in the bathtubs with her knee problem. Wonder if I can find ladders with 2-3 steps somewhere to make it easier for her?