Nice surprise

Yesterday my friend in Dubai, who I am going to visit over this coming long weekend at his place in Dubai Marina,

He lives in a flat on the top floor of the nearest little one, although I can’t stay with him because is girlfriends mother has the spare room – how selfish is that !  Remind me and I’ll tell you what the arrangement actually is in a minute…….anyway, my friend Skype’d me yesterday to tell me that if I could get there on Wednesday night instead of Thursday night then he had a spare ticket for the Jools Holland Concert in Dubai if I wanted to go – well, you have to make the effort obviously !  Macy Grey and Alison Moyet are his support so it should be fun !

I was going over for a party at his place but it seems to have been postponed for some reason which I’m sure I will get chapter and verse on when I get there. Oh yes, I was going to tell you about the accommodation arrangements – which will probably turn you green……but still, I think it’s only fair !  It turns out that as I live out in the harsh Western Desert (in a 4 star hotel DB&B) that they will allow me an accommodation allowance to go anywhere in the UAE because they would have had to pay for me to stay in my Western Desert harsh environment anyway.  I’m allowed to claim back AED 420 a night (about £80) so I’ve booked myself into a perfectly adequate hotel apartment for the long weekend (don’t forget it’s the Prophet Mohammed’s birthday on Thursday so we have a long weekend !). 

I’ve managed to find a lift from my harsh Western Desert environment all the way to Dubai (I haven’t worked out how I’m going to get back yet but hey !) – so a weekend of

And

in Dubai beckons !

I’m sure you’ll be delighted to hear all the details !

If I get a little time over the weekend I’ll try and explain what I’m doing out here – I’ve been here for a couple of weeks and I’ve just about worked it out and can explain it to Arabs wit passable English so I should be able to explain it to you lot !

Today’s inventory reads much the same as most days actually, 3-4 cigars, no alcohol (I managed to resist the temptation to open the brandy and the wine), AED 33 spent on laundry and 3 on a falafel, weather warm and sunny, food (that’s about it for food really), Ad revenue is up to £28.60 – some of you are being very generous for the good cause but some of you are not really putting your backs into it – there have been 71 “clicks” and a total of 284 page views to date, so a little more effort required from some of you whilst big kudos for those of you that are putting your backs into it.  Don’t forget, no sick children or small fluffy animals will be harmed whilst we spend the money so that’s got to be an incentive………….

Today’s photo some of you have already seen, but I think it’s lovely so you can see it again – Dubai Marina at night – I’ll update it tomorrow for you, although I suspect it won’t look very different !