Sunday, June 10, 2007

and you SHEIK it all about...

Above - Cottage Gardens in Moreton. The English country side has so many desirable places.

Above - Obligatory photo at the gates to Buckingham Palace.

Above - Hyde Park, London, Rose garden.


Above - Harrods - Before leaving for the UK, FS gave me a very clear instruction, "enjoy yourself, but make sure you get me something from Harrods". I couldn't understand why she was upset with the 'underwater seadoo' i got in the sports section?



Above - Bath, a truly beautiful place.

Above - Arlington Row, 15th Century homes, still lived in today. The doors are tiny, about 5 foot high only.

Above - Sheik 'Abdul Zach.

Above - Sheik Mohamed Ozzy, unlike the other boys who really only 'dress-up' in the Dish Dash, B2 loves it and wears it everywhere, all the time.

Sheik 'Bad Ass' Archie, don't tick this Sheik off.

Above - Sheik of all things cute.

Above - A meeting of the higher rulers in Al Ain, to discuss unfair bedtimes, reduced pocket money and excessive vegetables at dinner. They hope to pass a decree abolishing the above mentioned.

Above - 3 wise men????


Hello and welcome back to our little blog detailing some of our adventures and experiences. We are still without Internet at home so you need to persevere with nick (me) writing these little accounts for at least another week or two, plus, when we have access from home, we hope to keep the blogs a little more regular, plus the added advantage that you'll hear more about the family adventures and less of my dribble.
All well over here, we have had a few interesting weeks of late including a quick trip to the UK, Oman and the boys deciding to convert to Islam, (not really, they just enjoy wearing the Dish Dash).
Regarding the Arabic dress; B2 had been desperate to get himself some of the local traditional clothing since arriving. Of all of us, he has really taken to the language and loves responding in Arabic. FS took the boys down to get fitted for their 'dresses' (never thought I'd write that so comfortably), the man fitting them made sure they had the Al Ain / Oman styled cloth and head wear, as each tribe / region has it's own variation on the style. The head wear is important as it signifies age and standing in the community. For example, B1 got the black rope with 4 x tassels on the back, whilst B4 just got the little head warmer. Anyway, they all looked very cute and handsome, but B2 refuses to wear anything else now. As soon as he is back from school, he jumps straight into the dress and head wear, very funny. He has even objected to wearing his usual Havianna thongs and wants to get the trendy Arabian styled sandal to compliment his traditional wears.
I had to exit the country a couple of weeks back because my visit Visa had expired again, so i took the opportunity to head to the UK for a week. I was lucky to hook up with and old mate, Anthony Druitt and stay at his place in the countryside of England, a lovely little village called Corsham. Ant and his family have been living and working in the UK for a couple of years now and are doing really well. He also makes a great tour guide, having particular interest in the interior design of small village pubs and the ales they serve.
I was so lucky to be able to stay with Ant and see a lot of the country side including Bath, Chipping Camden, Corsham, Bourton on the Water, Moreton, Stonehenge, to name but a few. After 4 or so days of drinking and eating our way through the English country side (not really too much drinking,but it sounds blokey) with Ant, I had to wrap up our tour, and caught the train to London. I stayed in a modest little place in Paddington which was perfect for accessing the tube and buses and also being able to walk to many of the tourist spots such as Hyde Park, Buckingham Palace, Kensington Palace and the Australian War memorial. Whilst i only had a couple of days i manage to get to see lots including the Eye of London, Big Ben and Parliament, St Paul's Cathedral, Piccadilly Circus (great for a night out), the Art Gallery, The Royal Mews and of course Harrods. I was disappointed to run out of time and missed going to Lords. All in all, a great trip, i just know how much FS would fall in love with the place, so i can't wait to get us all back one day.
FS has been looking forward to a white Xmas for as long as i can remember and with the boys this'll be a great experience. Being the tight-arse i am, i suggested we could simply drive to Dubai for the day and watch the Ski slope at the local shopping centre...this idea didn't take off strangely enough. So far, all going well, we're planning on Austria. I've been told very strictly that my week in the UK gives FS unlimited time on the slopes!! My response was that i sacrificed going to the Maldives so i could do a 'reconnaissance mission' for her. The look i received said enough, and i quickly got back to washing the dishes and folding the clothes as i was told. In any case, we have a long , hot summer to get through first, fingers crossed.
We've posted a large detailed map of the world on the living room wall, and we've started to place pins to all the places we want to travel over the coming months. It's very exciting, and having the UAE as a launch pad, we hope we are able to do a really good trip this time next year, but we still play everything here month by month in practical terms.
The boys are about to finish school for the year and will have 10 weeks off during the summer!! Unfortunately for them, most of their mates here will be heading OS for the summer. FS has a number of activities planned, including a bit of school work to make up for all the time they've missed this year with the travelling and difference in school term dates.
I want to make a special mention of a new addition to our family. Little Mia Rose, well done to M and A, and how special is the first little girl on the Courtney side, going to be for all of us. We can't wait to meet her!
Anyway, hope all our mates and families are well, keep the emails coming, we love reading about what you're up to. Cheers.