What Can Change in 4 Years..?

Six lanes of traffic. Not moving. Ah, 2008....

One of my favourite Dubai bloggers recently wrote about what life was like in Dubai in 2008. You should read her post here, it's great.

It prompted me to have a quick look through some of my photos from 2008.

When I first arrived I lived in a tower right next to Sheikh Zayed Road.

It was a stone's throw from the Metropolitan Hotel. That's since been knocked down, of course.

They were building the huge pillars which were to hold up the Dubai Metro, right outside the front door. The Dubai Metro is up and running now, of course.

The traffic used to tailback outside the apartment from 5 pm up until 10 pm. I actually blogged about it back then, wondering how anyone ever got home on time!

Whilst traffic is still heavy, it's nothing in comparison to now.

How things change.....

Total Gridlock

I haven’t blogged much this week. Partly because I try not to moan too much on my blog, and this week I have felt like having a jolly good whinge.

Why? They’ve changed the roads, again, and it has meant complete gridlock outside my office and the complex where I live.

When I say gridlock, I mean bumper to bumper traffic, that DID NOT MOVE from 4pm until gone 9 pm. And even at 9 pm it crawled.

There was a ‘spirit of the blitz’ in the air. Colleagues abandoned their cars (think England when it snows) and went to nearby bars and hotels. I walked home, yes walked home. This was not a casual stroll, oh no. I had to navigate through about 500 metres of building site (down trenches, past diggers) and then down a 4 lane highway – which I have to say was a bit hairy. There was no pavement. Thankfully I was with two friends from work and we encouraged one another as we trudged along.

By this point it was clocking off time for thousands of Indian construction worked, god love them. We must have looked particularly out of place as we tromped past suited and booted, carrying laptops.

With the world’s biggest mall about to open in two days time, I fear for the traffic situation going forward. Many people cite it as a reason for leaving the city, full-stop. I’m not at that stage, but you have to wonder how a city which has such high aspirations can get the little details so very very wrong. Watch this space.

No Train to Take The Strain!

I never thought I’d say this (see some of my other posts) but I’ve found myself missing….trains! Yes good old public transport, for all it’s failings, is a completely alien concept here. There are some buses, and they’re building a metro (which we saw them secretly testing today out in the desert, very cool) but neither of these represents a practical option for getting to client meetings.

I have a lot of client meetings in Abu Dhabi – about a 90 minute care journey, on a very dull straight road. The traffic can be a nightmare and the journey can regularly take 3 hours on the return trip. All adds up to a lot of 12 and 14 hour days….

So, today as I sat in traffic for the umpteenth hour, I did think longingly to train journeys of the past. Haidari and I used to have some hilarious adventures, always involving over-eating and tabloid newspaper reading – and working of course…! And then there was the time that we actually stood on the platform and watched our train pull out. Without realizing it was our train. You had to be there to see the funny side. Happy Days!