DIY – Dubai Style

I’ve had a few teething problems in the new apartment – nothing major and only to be expected really. The landlord doesn’t seem to have put together any sort of snagging list which I find staggering – call me old-fashioned but if I’d just rinsed 700 000 British pounds on an apartment, I’d want it to be perfect. I digress. The main issue so far has been with the A/C. Even when left on at full tilt for a whole day it’s still a balmy 26 degrees in the lounge. Not what you need when you fall through the door after a 12 hour working day.

I duly called Emaar (the property developer) and they sent round a trio of very sweet Indian men to tackle the problem. I knew they were highly trained operatives at the top of their game when they arrived with top-class equipment: a bucket and length of hose.

After 5 minutes (ok, it was really about 2) of watching them discussing the problem and wrestling with a step-ladder I lost interest, left them to it and jumped into the lift down to L’s apartment for wine, food, and an episode of Footballer’s Wives. (This alone is worthy of a separate post: Tanya Turner = top class entertainment!)

It was only when I’d been down there for about twenty minutes that I even thought about the fact that I’d left three strange men, alone, in my apartment, with all my worldly goods, including my purse/cash/cards etc. And it didn’t bother me in the slightest. I did have a passing thought of them rifling through my underwear drawer and prancing around with my knickers on their heads, but other than that, not a problem at all. The joys of living in Dubai!

After half an hour or so they came to retrieve me from L’s and I went to inspect their work. I’m not entirely sure that it’s sorted but I was too exhausted to argue with them. I haven’t counted my smalls, but everything seemed in order…..