Good Morning World!

Good morning world!

I love my journey to work. Aside from the fact that it's 8 minutes by car (used to be the same on foot) it's a really great route. 

After pootling through some of the oldest residential streets in the city, I head down a large main road. Although this is sparkling and well groomed (as are all of Dubai's roads) you can tell it's been around for donkey's years. It's flanked by trees: big trees, not the skinny, newly planted ones in Downtown. These are so wide you'd struggle to get your arms round them, with branches so vast you could get the cast of Fame in the shadows they spread. 

The palm trees are old too. Like the gnarly older brothers of the Downtown Boulevard palm trees, their knotted trunks and oh-so bushy tops make them look markedly different to the usual sanitised Dubai palm trees.

At the end of the road I turn onto the huge highway that takes me into the office, and am met with the (always) resplendent sight of Sheikh Zayed road, complete with skyscrapers, the Burj Khalifa, but also piles of low rise villas back from the days when Dubai was a pile of sand with no electricity and A/C. Oh, and 99.9% of the time there's a backdrop of blue sky and sunshine. Joy. I love love loved my walks to work through the Manchester streets, but it's hard to beat this view as I head to the office each day...

Always impresses me...

The Joy of Satwa

What's not to love?!

Those who know me know that I love nothing more than an afternoon strolling round Satwa. It’s such a diverse area and the antithesis of the glitz and glamour of Dubai Mall. Don’t get me wrong, I love Dubai Mall, but there comes a point at which you can only dodge so many rude, overweight, offensively dressed tourists before you want to run screaming from the building.

Satwa also my solution for almost everything. Can’t find something? You’ll find it in Satwa. To prove this point I thought I’d share with you a few things that my lovely friends, colleagues and myself, have giddily purchased/sorted in Satwa this month:

• Fabric
• Buttons
• Studded shoulder pads (oh they are SO now)
• Sticker of Sheikh Zayed for car
• Miniature Burj Khalifa
• Bike chain
• Books
• Oud burner for car (No, really)
• Bucket and mop
• Fancy dress outfit
• Abaya
• Bukhoor burner in shape of palm tree
• Shelves
• Bedding  plants
• Ribbon

It sells a lot more besides, but I think list goes some way to proving my point. If you can’t find it in Satwa, it probably doesn’t exist.

Growing a Big Bush

What I'm aiming for...

Despite having a father who has green fingers for a living, I’ve never been very good in the garden or plant department. Back in the UK I did at one point have a very large garden, which involved a lawn and a mower. Needless to say I paid a man to sort this for me….

When I moved into the city centre I swapped a garden for balcony, and after killing a wide variety of foliage I settled on the perfect solution: artificial plants. They were expensive but very realistic, and I figured that in the long run, I was saving money. Not to mention lives.

Since moving to Dubai I’ve completely eschewed plant life, despite a variety of lovely balconies. My main priority has been comfy seating from which to watch the world go by and (most importantly) to recline on whilst in bikini with trashy mags and a G&T.

That changed last weekend – maybe it’s the cooler weather, maybe it was my good mood, maybe it was the giddy plant seller next to the ‘Falcon Café’ (no, really) just off Sheikh Zayed Road…who knows. But I found myself back at home with TWO bougainvilleas – one a short fat bush, the other taller and skinner. Both beautiful and full of pink and yellow flowers.

The terrible weather and wind that howls round the balcony has meant I’ve kept the little guys in the lounge all week, but this weekend I shall be ensconcing them in their new sunny home. I’m really quite excited! Let’s see how they take to it.  My (green) fingers are crossed.