It's been a while since my last confession...

Ok, so I succumbed to the dreaded Air-con lurgy (yes, that is the medical term for it) last week Wednesday which is why news hasn’t been flying thick and fast – and to those of you who thought I was lazy or had lost interest already – hah! I managed to lie outside in the sun for Wednesday morning though, to try get out of an air-conditioned environment – almost impossible to do here, feel free to applaud – and so on Thursday when I woke up 4 shades darker, couldn’t go back to work as they would have guessed I had been tanning, and thought I wasn’t sick ;-) (I did still feel crap on Thursday everyone, I promise). So we had another braai Thursday lunchtime, and I went to bed early – as I was sick – and then went to the beach for the first time on Friday morning. It was fabulous – helped of course by the fact that Peter took us in his ‘ginormous hummer bakkie type thang’ which for ease of reference will now forever be referred to as GHBTT – love that car – and so we went to the drive-on beach (I’m sure there’s a name, or a more technical term for it, but please, you get it) , which is white and very flat and there are no waves, so you can tan in the water, floating. Because you can’t lie on the beach in 40 degrees for more than 12 minutes at a time, without getting in the water (30 degrees) so you may as well stay in it! Friday night I went to Jumeirah Madinat for dinner, with a friend of a friend who I hadn’t met yet – Blake, 39, English chap. Nice chap – bloody naughty, but loads of fun. Of course there was no dinner eaten, as the beer was far more delicious than any of the menus offered up by the 40 odd restaurants in the SOUK ;-) Anyway, 2 bars later we left to go to Barasti bar – on the beach, part of Dubai Marina, 2 separate bar areas, 3 swimming pools and about a km of white sand, couches, loungers, palm tress – blah blah blah – you get it, I’ll take pics next time if you’re not jealous yet!
So fun night, and pretty well behaved, was in bed by 2am.
Saturday we watched rugby, and that is where that conversation ends.
Saturday afternoon I went back to Barasti – this time for some live music, with Hayley and her 6 yr old daughter Tao – yes, this is my favourite place in Dubai so far ;-) The music was fab, we met some incredibly funny/interesting characters, and end result is that a group of 6 of us are going sailing on Friday, on Stuckey’s sailboat. (Stuckey is an American so I believe the ‘sailboat’ is a fuck off big yacht, but I’m not going to complain!)
Other people joining us : Bob – South African, approx 150kg’s, approx 50 yrs old, with the longest beard I’ve seen since being here – and I remind you all I am now living in the Middle East so if you weren’t chuckling at that, laugh damnit!
Kat – Australian girl, 26, stunning! Editor of Etihad in-flight magazine, her Irish boyfriend Jeremy, the lead singer of the band, and also a journalist for Time Out (talented bastard, I’m a leeeetle jealous here), Hayley, Stuckey and myself – how much fun?
Again, very well behaved, except that I hadn’t eaten by 9pm so went for the lazy option of McDonalds on the way home – the taxi drivers here will actually drive you through the drive thru and order for you, how hilarious!
So, all good, except I’m back at work on Sunday – and am never going to get used to that, no matter what anyone says.
Oh, got my Dubai temp drivers license, so get to go rent a car tonight and drive home on the wrong side of the road – groan – and then will be looking at some villa’s to stay in tonight, and tomorrow – will keep you all posted!