Episode 4 - and now that you have been here a while what do you think ..

So what do I think of New Zealand?
- Beautiful - really some amazing nature, it is a group of Islands and stretches from some nice nearly tropical ares down to some really bloody cold areas
- Cold - prevailing wind in New Zealand is generally from the NorthWest which is at least from a warmish area but once those cold winds from the South kick in - it cools down very quickly. Very much like a baby - if its not wet it has wind - or both.
- Very country like - even though people see themselves as advanced they are a behind and that gap is increasing.
- Decision making - not a strong point - Ido not understand why (yet)
- Housing - unbelievable expensive - looking at the salries and the cost of housing - over the top

Politically an interesting country
- 4.something million people - mostly Pakeha (white) with Maori and other Pacific islanders, large number of Asians making up the rest.
- a large number lives in Aussie
- 3 year term - who thought of that - the in power party also have the eye on the clock to make sure they get ready for the next elections
- Labour was in power for a number of years - and as one of the adverts show - New Zealand you are soft, no smacking of your kids, people are on the dole, housing for the "less fortunate" and it is possible to earn more on the dole than somebody who has a full time job - what is the incentive?

Economy
- largely farming - very much dependent on the the farming sector and exports
- export is mostly raw product
- Competitive - NO - weird - is all their competitiveness been taken up by their rugby teams
- Infrastructure - almost everything is in need of an upgrade

Good things
- family is important
- mostly respect for other - very low crime levels - whoo hoo
- these guys can gargle - after rugby drinking must be the national sport
- cars are quite affordable

Do I like it here??
Well honestly, it is a difficult country, nor for sissies - wind, cold, lack of sunshine (and when it shines with the hole in the ozone layer you get seriously burnt).
Will we be staying - the jury is still out. Trying to build - the builders do not have work but it seems they are all kit builders anyway. Do not try and suggest something new - they are used to their way of building ...

Anyway - enough for now - watch this space.

____________________________

Episode 3 - the quest for the land of the long white cloud

Ok - so here we are finally having arrived in NZ. - after much gnashing of teeth, stress, lost and found luggage etc.

Wellington - is a very nice place. Hmm - I remember having said that of the semi-cute girl who lived next to us when I tried to sit her up with a friend.

Wellington is nice yes, exciting - no. Not in the Dubai, New York, San Francisco kind of way - more in a place where if you have enough friends you would enjoy it but really it is another small'ish city, close to the sea with expensive housing, coffee shops galore (ever blogged why I hate Starbucks - pretentious, expensive, cold, weak coffee etc. but that is a story for another day), a few touristy places - Te Papa, the Cable Car, Zoo ... sure there must be more??? Oh yes - apparently we just had the driest summer in 10 years - whoo whoo!!!

Jobwise - hmmm - jury still out on that one but lets say this - I will not be dying of a heart attack soon. Pretty clever people but they do not live to work so I am finding my self just trying to slow down a little bit - no wonder SA'ns is seen as arrogant - we just want to get things done, all this discussing stuff is a bit of a waste of time.

Nature - quite beautiful but after the problems we got from MAF (ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries? - more abut this later) I though it would be a natural paradise but it has quite a few non indigenous plants and animals taking over the nature round Wellington. Also a well known fact - New Zealand has no indigenous mammals (ok - so maybe a bat or two) which for someone from Africa is very strange - no snakes either so the chances of getting eaten is virtually Zero - no wonder they invented bungy jumping as a way to introduce some stress into their lives. Hopefully I will get to do that soon.

Anyway - where are we with the visa stuff, work visa is in the passports, next hurdle Residency visas - Yawn .... lets just say this - hopefully things are happening which I am not aware off.

More later ...

Episode 2 - the quest for the land of the long white cloud

OK - last episode - finally got a telephone interview. Now first thing you have to remember is that the timezones are diff rent - something like nine hours. So if you want to set a good example and be flexible (important - all employers are looking for flexible employees ..) you have to get up latest five o'clock in the morning all bright and bushy tailed, ready to impress.

So - my first interview arrived, and as it is over the phone one-on-one it is easy to be cool and collected, no body language or little facial ticks to give you away. So quickly a second interview was arranged - this time with a panel of people, and that went quiet well too - large IT firm, involved in outsourcing, amongst lots of other things, and this was the direction been discussed. However - when we came to the salary part - my expectations and theirs was slightly far apart - so that opportunity faded into the ether. Good experience though and the first interview I attended in sleeping shorts.

Back to sending CV's, replying to adverts but I changed my line of attack slightly - I contacted the advertising employment agencies directly by phone. Again up every morning - very early and contact the agencies with the promising job adverts - no some of these adverts are just fishing expeditions - i am sure there is no real jobs behind the advert but some of the others was more real.

So soon i had a number of promising leads set-up however a second truth dawned on me - I will have to visit for face to face visits. Only things is - it is a few thousand $'s for flights, accommodation and car rental and no promise of success - or even getting a n interview ...

So I bit the bullet, booked the plane tickets, and started making and calling the agents to get interviews set-up. Ha - slight mistake - it finally dawned on me that some of the adverts was ghost adverts - all flash and no job behind it. So I booked three days in Aucklabd and two in Wellington and started packing my bags - with only two real interviews planned for the whole week.

More about my firts visit to NZ later.

Where we currently are - Work Visa requests are in, now the nail biting is in full swing - hopefully I did not have some or other forefather whose really bad deeds will come back to hunt me. It wa actually not such a difficult process - once you understand what paperwork is needed - big thanks to the agents who warned me two months ago to get my police clerances for South Africa going (<--- big hint for anybody who is planning to imigrate - little things like that can derail the whole process - ask somebody who has actully done the process)

More later ...

New Zealand Quake Causes Heavy Damage - just what I need!

OK - sometimes you wonder at the timing of things - just getting all set-up to move, having sold yourself and the family on the new country and you get a little wake-up call ... see the attached video.



Anyway - lived in the middle-east, worked in Africa in some really interesting countries and not scared yet. Read about what to do in a earthquake though - LOL.

Nice web site for NZ related videos. Also ha some other NZ videos - e.g. tasting NZ Wines which is more to my liking that this shanking, rocking and rolling ...

Goodbye to Dubai

Having spent the last few years in Dubai, in complete amazement of the mad rush of buildings getting constructed, roads and fly overs popping up within a month or two, people arriving and leaving, prices of housing, food, entertainment etc shooting through the roof we have decided it is time to look for something better.

First option of course was to go back to South Africa - but as the good old ANC Government still uses a non-racist racist policy to decided who should have jobs, who should be allowed in colleges and Universities and has no clue whatsoever on what to do about rapidly escalating crime that option was a non starter (watch this page for a good old rant on this subject later).

Next on the list Australia and New Zealand - OZ quickly feel out of the race as they decided age really is the ultimate decider as to how productive people can be. Thanks for that one - I will be now joining your neighbors and sporting rivals - watch out for the guy with the NZ jersey and springbok cap when you play us.

Of course that left New Zealand - smallish group of Islands (two big ones and some lesser island) sitting at the other side of the world from every-one else who think they are important. First steps was to find out all about immigration rules etc. - great web page Immigration New Zealand which at first has so much information that it literally takes days to get your head around the different options (maybe that is part of the sifting process - testing for perseverance and tenacity)

Anyway - I got the old CV dusted and updated, found a few web sites with NZ connections and send out a few replies to adverts and waited for the replies to start streaming in - and waited, and waited and had some serious damage done to my self esteem. This nothing happening phenomena, as anybody who has tried any of the so called job-sites before can tell you - is perfectly normal. It is also part of the learning process - job agents are very much like housing agents - they wait for a seller - me with my 'skills' and an employer with his opening and 'expectations' - to match. Of course been in the computer field looking for a computer job sometimes is a very high expectation of non technical people to understand the words I am using in my CV, and the ones the prospective employer are using actually means the same thing e.g storage ~ data management, operating systems ~ management systems tec.

(I expect a postgraduate student should be able to write a program which interfaces with a few thesaurus web sites that can do a better job - watch this space - the site should be up and running soon. Also for anybody thinking of stealing this idea - I formally announce it today 20 December 2007 on the world wide web in this blog - and I will sue your arse.)

Eventually I got a telephone interview - which was a start but the expectations of the employer and me did not quite match up ...

more re. this in the next action packed blog episode.

MyDeathspace.com is dead to us UAE Netizens

Ok - this must be the macaberest cut of all.

7Days, a local free newspaper (actually the best newspaper around), has an article about Myspace.com newest drive to have a site where deceased MySpace members pages can be stored. An epitaph, resting space of bloggers. (Is it just me or are we getting really weird - this is the net - not real life!!!)

Anyway - blessed with a macabre sense of curiosity I tried to sign on to MyDeathspace.com and guess what - IT IS BLOCKER by the proxy server! I really had to laugh - MySpace is open, MyDeathSpace is closed!

Never a dull moment!!

Ever wondered how many countries you have visited?

I you have ever wondered how many countries you have visited - this is an easy way of showing it in picture form.

I am at 36 countries (making up 31% of the worlds surface), most of them more than one time - unreal how much time I must have waited in airports, spent in planes and had my total freedom dependent on some suspicious customs officials decisions. I actually can not remember most of it - must be my psychological self defence mechanism kick in to spare me from all that trauma.

Let me also use this opportunity to thank the rebels, freedom fighters, terrorists, religious bigots and everyone else with an ax to grind and who has in their own idiotic way added to the pain of passing through airports. A heartfelt - thank you, I really enjoy been delayed, body searched, my luggage and dirty laundry unpacked at airports for everyone to see and been treated like scum by airport officials the world over. Again - thank you!!! I hope next time the disruption you are planning to deliver as your final fart against the world goes of in your own face.

Looking at the map - I really need to get to Russia (Is it called Russia these days?) and China - that should just about allow me to cover the largest part of the world - with a quick skip into Canada.

create your own visited country map

Will It Blend? - iPhone

Ok - some of the stuff on UTube is informative, some is entertaining but some is just stupid.

You pick which type "Will it Blend?" actually is. Some blender!!! BlendTec

Japanese fun ??? WTF on YouTube

Just when you think the West as a society has reached an all time low with its reality shows you see something like this where we are definitely outdone by of all people the oh so prim and proper Japanese ... not for squeamish people!!



Hope he won a prize!!!!

Now the next one is funny - but I see plenty of chance for major mishaps which could get you seriously sued!!

Time to go blogging ... again!

Just to test if the blogger thing still works and to test some of the Picasaweb functionality - photo of my cat after we picked him up in the street - genuine Persian but has fallen victim to the Not a cute kitty anymore - therefore out the door!
Dubai syndrome. Animals are not very high on people's appreciation lists round here.

Lebanon - no bravery ... only sadness

Was listening to my James Blunt CD in the car it struck me that the words of this song is really applicable to the current situation in Lebanon and its neighbour - and it is applicable to both sides - nice one oh mighty leaders of our world, hope you are really proud of the bravery you are showing in order to advance your own political, economical and religious agendas but remember the people on the ground, knows in Blunt's words 'Only sadness'.

There are children standing here,
Arms outstretched into the sky,
Tears drying on their face.
He has been here.
Brothers lie in shallow graves.
Fathers lost without a trace.
A nation blind to their disgrace,
Since he's been here.

And I see no bravery,
No bravery in your eyes anymore.
Only sadness.

Houses burnt beyond repair.
The smell of death is in the air.
A woman weeping in despair says,
He has been here.
Tracer lighting up the sky.
It's another families‚ turn to die.
A child afraid to even cry out says,
He has been here.

And I see no bravery,
No bravery in your eyes anymore.
Only sadness.

There are children standing here,
Arms outstretched into the sky,
But no one asks the question why,
He has been here.
Old men kneel and accept their fate.
Wives and daughters cut and raped.
A generation drenched in hate.
Yes, he has been here.

And I see no bravery,
No bravery in your eyes anymore.
Only sadness.

Click the following for The James Blunt web site.

Only in Dubai ...

Thought I saw everything in Dubai till this afternoon - 12:45 comming from Dubai side over the Garhoud bridge, direction Jebel Ali on out beloved Sheik Zahed Road.

As usual at that time of the day lots of traffic and the normal road works just before the bridge helps to create the normal confussion and bottleneck with the normal culprits in Sunny's and Landcruisers (maybe all car manufacturers should include an Introduction to driving course with their cars) weaving from lane to lane, when we where overtaken by a policeman on his bike, blue lights flashing. First though that crossed my mind that if there was an accident up ahead it would just stuff up the traffic completely - little did I know.

Just as I got off the bridge this scene out a Hollywood movie played it off in front off me
- Picture this - just the traffic gets released from the bottleneck that is the bridge and everybody is jockeying to get into position - as close as possible to the car in front, in the normal Dubai tradition when the Policeman mentioned earlier stop in the left hand lane - and proceeds to stop all five (or is it six) lanes of the high way to allow 2 female pedestrians standing on the middle lane of SZ to be able to cross. What happened next was like a slow motions replay - screeching tyres, smoke and cars swerving all over the road, glass flying and the net effect - a three car pile-up, a few thousand Dirhams damage, major traffic jam and a funny looking cop.

To the policeman - what were you thinking!!! But on the other hand - you where on hand to take the traffic accident details right there and then, no waiting for those involved - good work! By the way, did you fine the pedestrians for crossing a highway - sorry - stupid question.

All I can say is - Only in Dubai!

Back to house arrest

Yep - that time of the year - everybody that can afford it is fast leaving the UAE for the summer months, the rest of us is just surviving, minimizing the time we need to spend running from our houses to out cars to our offices and back again as its just too damn hot (hmm that is a catchy tune) . Nobody can actually believe the effect of 40C with a high humidity as we experience here.

So what happens here during summer - most of the expat wifes who are not working has moved of home, the left over husbands :) - I know- is just struggling to work and back, wipping the sweat from their brows and waiting for tjaila time so that they can take a taxi to the pub for a bit of re-hydration.

The building is continuing - workers can now rest(for a shorter peiod) during the middle of the day. Problem is - midnight it is still above 30 Celcius with humidity thatwould make a statue sweat - so the rest period is just so much help .... .

For the first few years I was quite impressed with the Summer Surprises - this year - buy more than AED200 and get a voucher to take part in a draw (Do I hear you ask about gambling) and no real discounts as previous.

Anyway - the family is gone, I have the villa to myself and it is really boring! Showtime ( a local Satelite provider) is showing the same series of Charmed now for at least the third time since I moved here... guys - I am paying good money for your sports deficient, world cup deficient (actually entertainment deficient) channels and this is the best you can show on the prime time 7-8 slot??!!

Anyway - traffic is slightly better, service stills sucks - weird how you can buy something from an electronics shop for more then $200US and the salesperson never speaks directly to you? WTF??? Hint to the people managers at these stores - we are spending good money to keep your business going, the lowest salary will get you a body who is not really an asset- employ people who have some sort of a personality at least!

The political games in organizations here far exceeds what I was used to back home - why? Just struck me - because of the competitive enviroment and the type of people who is attracted to this environment (where we are all just temps) causes people to climb over others even easier than in the corporate dogfights back home as it is everyone for himself - the mighty money god RULES!

Weird place - a can of coke will be US25c while a hambuger can be up to $5 at McDonalds? Cars are just as or even cheaper than in the US, roads are wide with lots of lanes and you still have some idiot in a Nissan Sunny insisting on be traveling at 80Km/h in the seconds fastest lane while talking on his mobile, oblivious of the cars flashing past him on either side! It would be funny if it was not so tragic! And then when he wakes up at his exit he will just cut accross 4 lanes to exit the highway - once again oblivious to the chaos he leaves in his wake.

Six year work contacts! Great work IOM!!!

A bleeding Heart Organization, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has seen fit to start working on the plight of people migrating for work to the GCC.

The quoted article from the Gulf News announces the fact that 2 Million unskilled workers will now be able to stay for a maximum period of 6 years. I am sure they are dancing in the streets for the great advance you have bough in their lives - NOT!!!! If this becomes a reality millions of people - both here and in their home countries wil be adversly affected. Also see Article in the NewIndPress - UAE may grant 6-yr residence visa to unskilled foreign labour.

I am sure they really appreciate the hard work you are doing on their behalf, dear people of the IOM as they can now lose the ability to work for longer terms in the UAE.

• When you decided to embark upon these issues out of the kindness of your heart, have you actually spoken to these people, tried tounderstand their issues, problems, opportunities?
• Do you understand that they also wish to have longer term employment contracts and build relationships with their employers?
• That they would like to receive in job training and advance in their careers - which is not possible with short term contracts?
• That they will just have to migrate to another country where they will have to start afresh as there is no employment available in their home countries?
• Do you understand what they go through to find these jobs and what it costs them in financial and personal terms to get here?
• Did you actually think this through? DID YOU ACTUALLY THINK!!!

Maybe - next time - before you think up these great humanitarian life saving efforts try and understand the bigger picture - get out of your nice Geneva office and understand that some people are already in the UAE for more than 10-15 years and they earn a half decent living, have at least some sort of career and has built relationships with their employers and is able to send money back home to educate their children, support their parents and siblings as opposed to be workless beggars in their home countries. If they have to leave - it will be for another GCC country where this process will just start from the beginning - where they will have to pay another unscupulous agent to get a visa, start working from the bottom rung again, make new friends - to get to know new people, new rules, new laws etc. etc. etc. Iwonder - do you have any idea what you are doing!

A good idea could be for you to change the reasons why they had to migrate for work in the first place such as lack of economic growth, no work opportunities, civil war, political instability etc. before you ruin the lives they currently have.

_____________________________

Unskilled workers can stay for 6 years: Al Ka abi

By Samir Salama, Bureau Chief

Abu Dhabi:
Unskilled foreign workers and domestic help will be allowed a maximum stay of six years in the UAE, the Minister of Labour said yesterday.

Speaking to Gulf News from Geneva, Dr Ali Bin Abdullah Al Ka'abi said a total of 2 million unskilled workers will be considered "temporary contractual workers under an agreement with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM)".

"The UAE will receive an official document from the IOM recognising the change of the orkers' position from being immigrants to temporary contractual workers," Al Ka'abi said.

"This will allow the country to proceed with rules making the maximum stay of workers six years an initial stay of 3 years to be renewed only once for a similar period," he said.

______________________________

Going to the movies ....

Went to watch some very forgetable movie - 'American Dreamz' - and it is typical American - quite forgetfull except maybe for the twist in the tail - it included Hugh Grant playing Hugh Grant. I like the guy but he plays this one role - I guess just like he is in real life. Mandy Moore is the female lead - also a sightly weird casting choice something about her ...

Anyway - I usually go to morning or afternoon sessions and it is always nice and quiet - people are civilized even if you go and watch 'Ice Age 2' with the mommy and daddy squad. However - this time we decided to attend the 19:00 show and what a different experience it was.

Sorry to kick of another rant but why

• arrive ten minutes late, climb al over me and then have the gall to say - you can't see a thing? Just in case you people did not know it - if you arrive before the movie starts - they actually have the lights on in the theater and you can find a seat at your own sweet time, settle in, lining up the popcorn, cooldrink and Nachos, a quick chat on teh mobile or with the entourage and be ready for when the movie start - they even throw in some trailers which I know you haven't seen it yet as you always arrive well into the movie. Try it - you will like it!
• Which brings me to my next point - who thought up the natchos idea in movies in Dubai - HELOOOOO!!! it does not work to put some artificial cheese gunk and some tomato and chilly concotions in a flimsy plastic container filled with some corn chips and expect people not to mess!!! (especially if they walk in after the lights are off)
• arrive late and use their mobiles as torches - next one who shines his torch mobile in my face will leave the theater looking like a firefly - and hopefully you all understand which end of a firefly the light comes from.
• talk on their mobiles - you have paid AED30 for the movie (and by the way so have I) and you sit nattering away on your mobile in the movies - get a grip!
• have long drawn out discussion with your friend while the movie is playing. Slight hint - go to Starbucks, order a Late (less than AED30), get a seat and chat to your hearts content with your little friend - you can at the same time watch the passers by - I am sure you are as interested in them as you were in the movie.
• Throw your rubbish al over the floor - that is the right of business passengers on airlines only -who do you think you are?
• and finaly - what is this any seat policy - got too much trouble becuase some people can't understand seat arrangements or do you just have a crap computer system?

And then - Mall of the Emirates parking is a nightmare at night - a yield sigh means exactly that and to all you bloody idiots who do not understand that, hand back your drivers licenses or remove the illegal tint from your windows so that you can see the damn signa! Which gets is another observation - why do Abu Dabi drivers totally loose all driving manners when in Dubai - back home they drive fairly ok (which is a big compliment in the Middle East by the way) but when they get to Dubai!

Frequent Flyer Syndrome

Flying often because of job requirements I am becoming more and more irritated with peoples stupidity and their lack of respect for other people

Why

• do people push their ^&$))*&^ trolly right next to the the carousel when waiting for their luggage - stand back idiots, it is much easier and allows other people also to see when their precious suitcase arrives and allow them to wrestle it onto their trolleys without killing or maiming someone in the tightly packed throng next to the carousel
• do airlines, inspite of their own regulations allow people to board with oversized or even worse more than one piece of hand luggage? Firstly there is never enough overhead storage and when they board the people already sitting gets hit around the head, face and upper body with backpacks, cabin and laptop bags. I do not even want to think about the weight implications. People of flights to Egypt - you know who you are.
• inspite of repeated request - are people still allowed to board late? The times I have been delayed because some stupid idiot could not read his watch. Empty threats are just ignored afer a while. Maybe the passengers already boarded should be asked to give the late arrivals a piece of their minds when they board
• why do airlines (Emirates) still ask people to board in row specific order when nobody does it anyway and it is not enforced? People in this region have no idea of what it means to stand in a row - just tell them to rush the plane - they will do it anyway.
• take over more than their fair share of the armrest - I do not appreciate your elbow in my ribs although the cat and mouse game for possesion of the armrest takes some of the boredom out of intercontinetal flights
• not make allowances for big people - I hate it when the guy next to me spills over on to my space because he is either too big or too fat to fit into the seat designed for Joe Average. I really hate making body contact with the person next to me for a full flight if he or she is not a close friend or relative. Exceptions can be made for super models but they are so stick thin it would not happen anyway.
• hand out full size newspapers when it is impossible to read it without invading the space of the person next to you. And why do the person who actually take one to read it thinks I want his hand or newspaper waving in my face?
• design seats to recline in a way that it becomes impossible to tilt the entertainment sreen to an angle where you can view it.
• inspite of planes been able to take off and land without intervention from a pilot are we still delayed by misty conditions?

A final word to airlines - please do not ever, ever, ever allow moble phones to be used on planes. Some idiots will spend the whole flight nattering on their mobiles irritating the shit out of their neighbours. Which brings me to another question - given that handset designers spend billions to ensure their equipment has the capabilities tot handle low volume speech, do people still talk at the top of their voices when using mobile phones? Why do they think I need or care to listen to their discussion with a mate, wife, business partner, enemy, wrong number, service provider etc.

Gulf News: High time to pay housing fee

Every now and again I have to remind myself of the promises that was made to me when I decided to relocate to Dubai - one of them was no tax (Yes I did believe it at the time - silly me!)

Anyway the following article from Gulf news contain some real screamers! See my quotes in bold - Italic.

One Questions though- every tenant - is that equal to every expat tenant? Just asking!

Gulf News: High time to pay housing fee

High time to pay housing fee

By Ashfaq Ahmed and Jay B. Hilotin, Staff Reporters

Dubai: Dubai Municipality has asked all real estate agencies to provide data about their tenants as part of its plans to ensure collection of five per cent housing fee on tenancy contracts, said a civic body official.

The step is being taken to ensure that every tenant in Dubai register his tenancy contract with the municipality and pay five per cent housing fee. Subsequently, an online registration facility will also be launched for tenants and landlords.

"We have chalked out a plan to get every tenant on board because they are bound by law to pay five per cent fee on tenancy contracts," said Abdul Karim Al Haj, Head of the General Revenues Section at the Dubai Municipality.

The civic body had started collecting housing fees through utility bills of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority since January last year.

The housing fee is applicable to all residents and commercial establishments.

However, fees on tenancy contracts of commercial establishments and shops are collected by the Dubai Economic Department at the time of licensing.

In return, the municipality provides a host of services, such as keeping the streets clean, clearing the garbage, undertaking pest control measures, and landscaping and beautification projects, among others. Al Haj said: "The new steps are being taken just to make sure that everyone pays it."

The municipality started collected housing fees since January last year with the DEWA bills. "First it was started with the new tenants applying for electricity and water connection but now all the tenants new and old in Dubai will be registered to ensure collection from everyone," said Al Haj.

While residents who applied for new Dewa connections pay the housing fee, many old residents who have not registered their tenancy contract do not. The municipality is registering new tenancy contracts at a rate of 200 per day. There are an estimated 250,000 tenants in the city, he said.

Conservatively speaking, if the average rent in Dubai is Dh35,000, five per cent fee will be Dh1,750, the civic body will collect around Dh437.5 million from the estimated registered contracts.

"All tenants must register their tenancy contract at a special counter the municipality opened in Dewa offices," the official said.

He said residents who deliberately delay the registration of their tenancy contract [to avoid paying the full housing fee] might be slapped with a fine. Off-site registration counters will also be installed in other Dewa branches by May, said Al Haj.

"It is unfair for those who are already paying the fees if the old tenants keep dodging it by failing to register with us," said the official.

For many years, the General Revenue Section of the Dubai Municipality has charged a flat housing fee from companies for each employee ranging from Dh300 to Dh1,000, depending on their designation.

None of you business

After plans was announced plans to build two six-lane highways through the luxury developments in the Emirates Hill Area the following was published in in 7DAYS and I quote:

7Days - No Stopping Roads

"Mattar Al Tayer, chairman of Dubai’s Road and Transportation Authority, said last night the plans were now finalised, but that residents were welcome to write down their thoughts and leave them in a suggestion box.

The Interim Steering Committee (ISC), which represents residents in the luxury developments, had been hoping to meet the road authority to discuss the controversial plans.

Al Tayer said last night that his staff would be happy to meet the ISC to explain the scheme, but would not ask for their opinions or change the plans because it’s “none of their business”.

“We are not in America or Europe where approval for projects can take up to five years because everyone has to be consulted,” he told 7DAYS last night. The authority had consulted developer Emaar, as well as Nakheel and Dubai Holdings, before going ahead with the scheme, he said."

“We only deal with the developers who own the land and I’m sure they informed their residents. It’s not our job to ask for every resident’s permission,” Al Tayer added."

____________________________________

Thanks for that little wakeup call - I guess the Zillions of Dirhams people spent on villas in the area is 'none their business'?

And I am not going to say anything else ...

This is not a joke!

We discussed the other day how to get traffic to you site and this seems to be a good idea - will keep you posted as to how it actually goes (stole these words from one of the so called sites that knows what the 500 top search terms are and no - there is not 500 terms here - I had to take out some not so acceptable words ... think the list provider site also did some clean up ). Weird some of the tiles - why would people serach for ' wired magazine' as one of the top tiles? Or for 'Simple plan', ' Anna Nicol Smith'? Some of the terms could of course get my blog banned in our pretty part of the world. (start 1193 - finish 14XX)

Paris dunst

Experiment ended :).

Dubai Ski Slope - Rules and Etiquette

Well it's about to open and I hear these are the rules! A funny doing the rounds so in case you have not seen it - here goes.

Dubai Ski Slope - Rules and Etiquette

1) All Emerati and GCC residents have 100% right of way at all times. They also have the right to exceed 160 kmph, make unexpected maneuvers, indicate a direction of travel and then go in the opposite direction, ensure other skiers are aware of their prescence by using the klaxons and halogen lamps (provided by management for GCC nationals only), wear more than 30% tinted sunglasses.

2) All Indian subcontinent skiers must travel in threes only. They are only allowed to ski after 2am and before 6am and should not been seen at any time outside of these hours. There shall be no breaks allowed and all skiers must ski continuously during these hours.

3) All Filipino and Russian female skiers must be aware that attention from all male skiers is to be expected and tollerated fully. If propositioned the skiers must accompany the male skier for whatever reason. They may well be paid for this and should in no way be mistaken for payment for services rendered. This in no way should be taken as a demeaning act of male assumptions.

4) All Lebanese skiers must be within 5cm of the skier in front at all times, unless Budoir / Sho Cho's are opening in which case they must vacate the slope immediately.

5) All Western Expats must observe the following - If ski-ing the expats must at all times act annoyed and frustrated with the lack of respect shown to them. They must constantly "tut" and gesture about the lack of manners shown. They should never forget that they are better than everyone else on the slope and if it wasn't for them there would be no ski slope, mall, roads, cars, power, buildings or wars. Should the expat choose to not ski and observe the slopes then they must drink excessive alcohol, wear revealing clothes, shout about "if you don't like it then leave", urinate in public and abuse all other skiers not within their Western Expat Skier Club. On no account should the expat ever attempt to make the situation any different other than writing to 7DAYS or posting on internet message boards.

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