Christmas

So Christmas has been & gone. It was definitely different out here, although everyone went to a lot of trouble to try & make it as normal as possible. We were fairly lucky this year as it fell on Thursday/ Friday, although quite alot of the guys here had to work through and some had to go in on Christmas afternoon for a few hours but luckily for us not him indoors. We started off by having a "Carols by candlelight" service on Christmas Eve, organised by one of the ladies here, she did a fab job, although as we were all singing, prayer time started, so for a while We Three Kings etc was competing with the local Mosque (Iam not sure what they thought of that, but no-one came to tell us to shut up!)Afterwards we had mince pies in the Social Club and the kids from the school here put on their Nativity play again for all the adults. Then as we live in the desert we all had a BarBQ. It was actually a very pleasant evening, we came home the girls went to bed and we all got up on Christmas morning, opened presents etc as normal.......then we went swimming...because it was 25degrees and we could! The lady who had organised the carol service & her family came to the pool as well and she disappeared off to put her turkey in the oven & came back with mulled grape juice (almost like mulled wine but not quite!) Anyway we managed to have a pretty normal Christmas dinner, we deep fried the turkey in the American's turkey fryer, and had most of the usual veg but no sprouts, leeks or any pork obviously..so almost like Christmas dinner but not quite. It was a pretty quiet day on the whole as boxing day certainly did not exist - everyone was back at work at the normal time. We are off to the beach for New Year for a couple of days, which again will be like swimming on Christmas Day - a first!. Happy New Year to you all.

Christmas & guilt about the weather

We have been really busy here the last week, Kids Christmas party (bloke who played Santa was a good few years younger than me (Are you susposed to feel the same way about Santa as you are policemen ? - in which case I am now officially very old!) According to the kids he was apparently nowhere near "fat enough" to be Father Christmas & he had red Adidas trainers on which caused some discussion amongst the kids - however as they all got a present they were not complaining too hard. We have also had our school Christmas production and term ended on Wednesday so 3 weeks. I have not yet finished the shopping as I still need to get some stocking fillers, so will now have to manage that with the kids in tow. Everyone here seems to muck in - we have been "Lent" a Christmas tree - although the day after we managed to get one of our own, we are sharing supplies of wrapping paper and other stuff as everyone seems to have thought of different things but no one has everything under control. It is a really funny atmosphere as no signs of Christmas outside our compound (for obvious reasons) but inside we have street lights, houses are decorated, trees are up and we have our very own carol service on Xmas eve. I have so far managed to source most of the food necessary for a proper Christmas dinner - the smallest turkey I could find however is about 25lbs so I guess there will be an awful lot of turkey curry to be had. The weather however is doing it's utmost to make it feel anything other than the middle of winter. Whilst the UK freezes we are all out and about in shorts still. We were all at the pool by 9.15 yesterday morning as him indoors was scuba driving in it before we go to the Red Sea for New Year, and although the kids didn't go swimming til later on, it was still plenty hot enough in the sun at that time in the morning. It does make me feel somewhat guilty that we are still worrying about sun cream, whilst everyone at home is hoping their heating doesn't breakdown but at least you are all in a position where you can have Christmas day with some nice sausage & bacon rolls and a glass of Shiraz or Chateauneuf Du Pape

picnic anyone?

Our Internet has been down again but all sorted now. We took the 2 1/2 hour drive, each way, to our nearest big town on Thursday to get some Christmas shopping. Long way to go but was worth it as only place we could guarantee to get everything we needed. Couple of strange sights whilst we were there. Firstly a brand new Aston Martin DB9s - I was truly amazed ...I have no idea why anyone living here would want to spend £huge amount on a car on order to drive it on roads full of absolute nutters (it was very nice though & bloke driving it actually seemed to be driving in a completely sensible manner - which is about the first time I have seen that) I reckon on what I have seen he literally has a number of days/weeks before it gets dinked at the very least. Still I suppose that if you have that amount of dosh spare then you can drive whatever you want when you want. On the way home we passed our usual Thursday afternoon picnics - I have noticed it alot up where we live - the Saudis seem to love their picnic's (nice family thing - men plays with kids - woman sits dressed head to foot in black, in sun, watching kids have fun but not allowed to join in) They seem intent on having their picnics in the weirdest places - mostly from what I can make out at motorway intersections, junctions, & beside on and off ramps. It is really quite a bizaar sight - the country is huge & full of open space - why would you pick a place to sit on a rug right beside a dual carriageway. This weekend I did spot some cars further away from the road, those people that had got out of them however had stopped to picnic right by their car - & I mean right by - within about 3 feet!! I am beginning to wonder what this still to be re-arranged picnic with the Saudi family that was put off a couple of weeks ago is actually going to be like - I will keep you posted.

Answer to the question below

According to http://burningourmoney.blogspot.com/ the BBC have sent 35 Journos - the site also has some other interesting figures about the cost of it

Climate Conference

Just as a matter of interest there are apparently 5000 journalists covering the climate change conference for the next 2 weeks. So far I have counted 6 BBC journos (online, UK BBC, BBC Radio, BBC World) I assume that there are more than that as I don't have access here to all the BBC stations that are available at home. I assume also that they are accompanied by researchers, cameramen, sound crews and producers. I would be very interested to know how many BBC employees whose work is being duplicated by others that we are paying for to have a 2 week freebie!

The Economy today

I have spent most of the morning trying to avoid the newspapers and tv, this has become a bit of a monday habit out here is it is monday night before we can watch the x factor results show - sad but addictive (especially for the kids - obviously I wouldn't be watching it if it wasn't for them!) Anyway I just sat down to have some lunch & put on Sky news - & my blood pressure is now well & truly boiling! This could be just because I have an Ecomonics degree and therefore I apolgise if I am being a particular anorak here but unfortunately I have just had to listen to the biggest load of rubbish I think I have ever heard Gordon Brown spout (& bearing in mind that I am a political junkie - I have heard an awful lot of his c**p before.) He has just been up in front of an audience to spout of about how he is going to reduce the deficit & bring in efficency savings in government. this load of tosh has lead me to some observations:

1) presumably Alistair Darling (the privately aducated chancellor)is about to announce all this waffle in Wednesdays PBR to parliament so why has McDoom had to "pre-announce" it and circumnavigate Parliament - Apart from to try & get some headline obviously!
2) bearing in mind that McDoom has been in charge of the ecomony for 10 out of the last 12 years (& realistically for the other 2 as well) if there are effiency savings and "Fat Cat" wages to be culled then WHY THE HELL HASN'T HE DONE THIS in the previous 12 years.
3) The answer to 2) above is because it is only now that he has run out of OUR money!

Unfortunately the bottom line is that this big announcement will save us "about 3 billion" quid - let us put £3 billion into perspective - for the last months figures available (october) this governments deficit was 11.4 billion for that month - on my calculations that means that he has identified savings that will account for the deficit that his government ran up between the midnight on the 1st October 2009 and about 4am on 8th October 2009.
I may be in Saudi Arabia but I am increasingly worried that certainly Liebour, and to a certain extent the Tories, have absolutley no idea how they are going to get to grips with this gargantuan deficit, I can only hope that Dave (Brown might have mentioned he is public school)Cameron and George (Brown might have mentioned that he is public school too - but failed to mention that Harriet Harperson went to his "sister school" - St Pauls School for Girls!)Osbourne have a plan because if they do not then the UK & it's future are in serious trouble.

Ok Rant Over!

Obama & Afghanistan

Personally I think that Obama's need to have troops from the surge on their way home by summer 2011 has a lot more to do with the run up to his re-election campaign than any military objective. As Iain Martin from the Wall Street Journal points out below it is completely flawed thinking - It is a bit long winded but worth a read!




"Try a little thought experiment. Imagine for a moment that you’re an experienced Taliban commander.

You’ve been fighting for a very long time, and have been responsible for the deaths of a great many people. Guerrilla warfare is your family business and it’s pretty much the only job you’ve ever had.
In 30 years you’ve seen them all come and go, starting with the Russians. You saw the CIA arrive with arms shipments to help kick out the Soviets and you fought the rival Mujahedeen warlords in the aftermath of the Communists’ departure.

Your friends took control of much of the country and then fought a bitter civil war with the Northern Alliance. You also sided with Al-Qaeda’s terrorists, which wasn’t a smart move. After 9/11 the CIA and allied special forces turned up to clear them, and you, out. However, the Americans failed to press home their advantage and quickly diverted their attention to another war. This allowed you space to start up operations again, bit by bit.

Then, in 2003, the allies scaled up their efforts and NATO arrived alongside a large U.S. contingent. You saw the allies make some progress, but you and your friends have a lot of experience of the terrain. Of course, it’s tough fighting with the Americans and the British, but eventually - you calculate - the westerners will want to go home. You, on the other hand, are not planning to go anywhere. You and your friends have all the time in the world.

And then you hear about this new President of the United States, called something Obama. You say you don’t watch satellite television on religious grounds but if it’s for reasons of war planning then you can make an exception. You turn-on the TV in the corner of your cave and Obama is making a speech on the war in which you fight. Your young trainee from Leeds, England, is good at simultaneous translation and promises to talk you through it.

This infidel Obama is a certainly a different character from the infidel Bush, you observe. A very smooth operator. He says he’s sending more troops as part of something called a surge, as many as 30,000 of them. That’s a bit worrying; it looks like the war is about to get tougher. But you remember that by 1985 the Soviets had 118,000 troops in your country and they still lost. Now, what’s the American president promising? He’s going to train-up the Afghan army? But you know that lot inside out - this pledge doesn’t worry you one bit.

And then, what’s this? The key point. After a year of this surge, says Obama, the allies will start withdrawing their troops and scaling back their effort. This, you reflect, sounds like a very weird way for your opponents to run their side of the war. It looks like they are saying ‘give it one last heave’ and then, whether it works or not, they will start leaving in 2011.

You turn off the television, thank the young guy from Leeds, and set about discussing it with your friends. Well, that’s very interesting. Perhaps, says one colleague, if you all just lie low and hide for a year then the Americans and the British will think they’ve won. They’ll leave and you can quickly get back in control. Hmmmm… the Americans and NATO are cleverer than that, you say, they’ll come looking for the Taliban.

No, it sounds like you’re going to have to steel yourself for a year more of increased fighting. But what’s one more year in Afghanistan’s long and troubled history? And your opponent has just told you, on television in front of the world, that after that he’s going to start withdrawing.

Now, Taliban commander, do you feel depressed or perhaps rather encouraged?"

(Iain Martin used to write for the Telegraph before he moved to the WSJ - he is actually a brit)

Driving in Saudi

The Saudis love their cars unfortunately my top tip for driving in Saudi is don't! It is only for the brave (men that is as it is illegal for women to drive here - so for once I have the perfect excuse not to drive home from the pub - unfortunately there are no pubs either) We drove into our local town the weekend before last - it is only 15 mins away - but in that time we came within a centimetre of being side-swiped - not once but twice. It is not unusual to see 10 year old lads driving great big SUVs as when they are the oldest male in the family then it is their responsibility to drive, some of them can hardly see out of the windscreen! Driving around in the evening is also dicing with death as all the lads who in the UK would go to the pub, have nothing else to do but to drive round and round showing off. I have without a doubt become possibly the worst back seat driver in the world - all in the space of a few weeks - I work on the theory that him indoors needs the extra eyes and ears - he insists however that I am panicking for no reason. Apparently I am also told that unmarried Saudi men are not allowed by law to have an SUV (4Wheel Drive) until they are married - up to that point they have no family and therefore no need for one!

Quote of the day

"Sounds to me like he was trying to get away from the rough and drove into the trees" Quote from Mike Baldwin in the comments section of the Times online after allegations that Tiger was trying to escape from wife after accusations that he has been having an affair.

Blogs

I have just updated my profile to include regular blogs that I read if you are interested. I first got into blogs whilst living in the states when I discovered Matt Drudge during the Monica Lewinsky scandal - Drudge reported details that the main stream press wouldn't publish to begin with. I think that the politcal blogs such as Iain Dale and Guido Fawkes will have a huge role to play in the forthcoming general election.

2012 - 2 years 8 months today

Looking through todays papers, there is a good article in the telegraph from Ben Brogan, about the 2012 Olympics - the key paragraphs are below:

The London 2012 top brass are still laughing about it. A few weeks ago, a nervous Tory peer expressed doubts about the reliability of the builders' hoist that was about to take the Queen and others to the top of the Olympic stadium, only to be silenced by a look of disbelief from the royal visitor. A rattling lift was hardly likely to trouble a woman whose house was bombed by the Nazis.

God willing, Her Majesty will celebrate her diamond jubilee in 2012, and at 86 will provide a link to the past when she opens the games on the spot where the Blitz did its worst, in the East End of the city her parents refused to leave at its moment of greatest danger. No wonder the organisers speak in awe of her steely unflappability.

That calm under pressure is what all those involved in delivering the games will need between now and July 27, 2012, when the XXX Olympiad gets underway. With less than 1,000 days to go, construction is on time and on budget (admittedly, after it had to be dramatically enlarged to £9.3 billion). Already there is talk of the Olympics turning into a transformational national success story that could serve as a catalyst for rebuilding a country laid low by an unparalleled fiscal crisis. Expectations are rising..........

.......That year may mark another milestone of sorts. If the Conservatives are in government, David Cameron is likely to find himself at his mid-term nadir, reviled for the pain he has had to inflict, and waiting for signs of the good times he promised would follow. No wonder he is talking privately of the Olympics as the "turning point" that could restore national morale and get him off the hook in time for a general election.

Anyone who visits the Olympic park in Stratford, as I did last week, cannot help but be struck both by the scale of the project and the achievement of the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA). Members of the International Olympic Committee, who are in London today for a check-up, must be beside themselves with delight at London's progress after the horrors of Athens and the stresses of Beijing. They aren't even bothering to visit the site.

Some of the statistics are irresistible: a "soil hospital" cleans tons of contaminated dirt so that 90 per cent of the spoil from what was largely a wasteland can be reused in the construction; the stadium uses just a quarter of the steel needed for the mammoth Bird's Nest in Beijing; up to six lorries a minute enter the site, having been marshalled somewhere on the M11; 2,000 newts are in temporary housing, waiting to be returned to the River Lea, which runs through what will eventually be Queen Elizabeth Park (or Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park – it's still being argued about).


Only once in the 20th century has a government that won the games survived to deliver them. A change of administration in the run-up to the Olympics might be expected to herald political trouble. Thankfully, David Cameron does not share Gordon Brown's loathing of what he refers to as "Tony's f------ Olympics". He is committed to ensuring stability by protecting London 2012's status as the Switzerland of politics, immune from partisan attacks.

What remains undecided will be the role of the two politicians who have nurtured this cross-party consensus. Hugh Robertson has handled the Olympics portfolio in opposition, and by rights should continue to do so in government if the Tories are returned. Certainly, the Olympic family want to see him in the job, and the ODA is quietly lobbying for his appointment as Olympics minister. Mr Cameron is a fan. "He has been in that job for a long time for a reason," I'm assured.

He would replace the irrepressible Tessa Jowell. Like Mr Robertson, she was embedded in the project before the bid was won in Singapore, back in 2005. Everyone is agreed that her enthusiasm and knowledge make her a compelling ambassador for the games. Mr Cameron is minded to find her a role, but much will depend on her behaviour during the election campaign: if she appears on television attacking the leader or his party, she could scupper her chances.

The Olympics will stay off our radar until after next summer's football World Cup. But by this time next year, we may be experiencing a dawning realisation not only that this once in a lifetime event is coming to town, but that we might be about to do it quite well. I'm with the optimists, who see in those five rings a potent motor for the job of national reconstruction that must now preoccupy us.

I am glad to see an upbeat Olympic article for a change - 2012 is going to be fantastic for this country - I cannot Wait!

Thunder Storms

We had a day of thunder storms here yesterday - I must have had something to do with them it as I had been looking at all the bad weather in the uk & thinking how much better off we were here in the sun! I spent the entire day in jeans for the first time since we got here as it was relevativly cold at 70F. We ended up starting to teach the kids cribbage yesterday afternoon as all the tv/pcs were off due to the storms - I can see the school holidays here flying by (NOT!) There are still standing puddles today but the temp is back to it's normal mid to late 80s and the sun is out, we have been to the pool which has dropped by 2 degrees C overnight . It does mean however that the trip to the desert is off, Thanksgiving however is definitely on - so Happy Thanksgiving - this also means that most Americans put their xmas decorations up tomorrow as by tradition it is usually the day after Thanksgiving that they go up - I doubt anyone here will put them up so early but we shall see.

Internet

I have been having a few problems with the internet over the last few days - it is quite singularly the biggest annoyance/restriction to living here. I rely on it for my news (most of you know I am a complete news& blog junkie) and also as a means of communicating with all of you back at home. We seem to have better coverage today though, so hopefully it has been a slight blip. I did wonder if it had danything to do with the Harjj which has just started, but am told that the whole point of the Harjj is that the pilgrims come (Over 1 million of them apparently) to Mecca without any trappings of wealth - most wear just a towel! so I guess not many have their laptops and Wifi with them.
We have a potentially very interesting and diverse weekend coming up - We have been invited to a proper Thanksgiving dinner here by 2 of the Americans who live on the compound - with deep fried turkey & all the trimmings! - we are very honoured as we are the only Brit only couple invited - although eldest daughter is of course a yank! - everyone else going is either American or married to one. The other invitation that we have had has come from a saudi colleague who works with him indoors, a day out in the desert with his family for "proper Saudi food" whatever that is, along with camels, Abaya's in my case, etc etc I have no idea what to expect but will let you know.

Quote of the day

"Jedward are a Wham! comprising of Andrew Ridgley and Andrew Ridgley" Frank Skinner in Today's Times

Weekends

I still can't get used to the fact that the weekend here is thursday/friday. I seem to spend my whole time describing things that are going to happen on monday (when I mean saturday) or wednesday (when I mean friday) I suppose I will get used to it. Well busy weekend over for us and back to work/school etc this morning. The day here starts alot earlier, School starts before 8, still the nice thing is that at least there is no getting up in the dark and it has been sunny every morning. We have Sky news so I can keep up to date with the terrible weather back at home. Infact Sky news is about the only decent tv station we have. We have several movie channels but all have arabic subtitles and they never seem to advertise what is coming up, there are no tv papers or tv guide on the remote so it is very hit & miss if you manage to catch something good, the other problem is that the channel that seems to show alot of good US or UK series is run from the Emirates which is an hour different to us, so they can put on a good drama but is doesn't usually start until 10 our time which when you are up at 6 is quite late to start watching something. So the weekend here went well, a late night on thursday but all the food went down well. We went into town on thursday to do some shopping, there is a Starbucks in town in one of the malls. Everytime we have been into town we seem to bump into work colleagues (who given the set-up here are also our neighbours etc) there, however we can stand outside and chat, but should we want to have a coffee, if I am with him indoors and they are guys on their own, we cannot have a coffee together, as we have to go in the "family section" and they have to go in the blokes section, they are not allowed to be in the company of a married woman - It will take a bit of getting used to. I thought I had come up with a cunning plan at the weekend, one of the guys wants to drive the couple of hours to Ikea - I could do with going as well - and him indoors would rather stick needles in his eyes than go to ikea by choice (not to mention having to drag the kids as well) I briefly thought excellent - I can get a lift down with the aforementioned guy, do my shopping & come back - job done...only one problem I am not allowed in a car with a bloke I am not married to - apparently if caught I could be stoned and he could be locked up - cunning plan over and to think I used to think it was a drama to go to Warrington!

Who needs wii fit when you have a cheesecake!

So having been here a couple of weeks it has been decided that we ought to have a few people round. The compound that we live in is very male orientated as a loads of guys either choose not to bring their families out or, they are on a contract that doesn't allow them to be accompanied. So tomorrow night we have another couple and about 8 guys who are on their own, coming for something to eat. So the day started quite well. I got up and decided once the girls had gone to school that I would crack on in my dressing gown making the sauce for Beef enchiladas and a lime cheesecake for tomorrow night. Luckily we have limes, cooking bananas (whatever they are - they are green and never go yellow from what I can make out) Papayas and a few other unknown trees in the garden, so I thought I would make the most of the stuff ready to hand. Having got to a certain stage I thought that I would have a break, wait for the cheesecake base to cool a bit and do what is now a daily stint in the gym or on the Wii fit. On goes hideously scruffy 10 years old t shirt, and other old and ugly work out stuff (no need for anything else as no one was going to see me)I am 20 mins into my aerobics when doorbell rings. A poor & bemused Telephone engineer arrives to find me, scruffy gear on, holding 2 cans of beans, with wii fit workout on telly - you should have seen the look on his face he couldn't understand the reason why I would be holding beans (using them as weights obviously!) looking like I had been dragged through a hedge backwards, with what he probably thought was some animated kids tv programme on the TV. You also have to put it into context that it is very unlikely that he sees many women at all without an abaya on from head to foot - no wonder he looked gobsmacked! Moral of the story - always assume that you will be seen by someone. Anyway he fixed the phone & left finally, I finished my workout, got changed and set about the cheesecake. The employment contract here gives us a fully furnished house & no allowance to ship anything here, we therefore arrived with what we could carry within our standard airline allowance. I come to make the cheesey bit of the cheesecake therefore & I had to mix it entirely by hand - the sort of thing that you stop doing once you have left primary school - after whisking a coupe of pints of whipping cream I came to wonder why I had bothered with the cans of beans - I shall be buying an electric mixer next time I go shopping & furthemore make sure that even in the privacy of my own house I always make a bit of an effort!

Why leave the UK?

Given the political and economic climate in the uk it certainly seemed a good time to jump ship for a couple of years. We have a prime minister who was not elected by us, he has mismanaged the economy to such a degree that we are going to be lucky if we can escape bankruptcy as a nation and the only hope is that his scorched earth policies are reversed as soon as possible by Cameron and Osbourne. The next few years are going to be extremely tough in the uk as the government attempts to get to grips with the appalling mess that he will leave behind. I could go on about what I think of the education system, the NHS & the welfare state and particularly the vast and eye watering sums of money that this government has thrown at these areas but with no real improvement in services, and all the time allowing the budget deficit to increase, but I will leave that for another day. Radio 5 Live are reporting this morning that petrol will go above the £5 per gallon mark again in the next week or so, It is worth noting that of that of the average price per litre in the uk of £1.08 for unleaded petrol without the taxes this would cost 45.2 pence per litre - the tax represents 65% of the price - In saudi we have just filled up our car - it takes 70 ltrs and cost us SAR 43 (at an exchange rate of about 6SAR to the £ that works out at £7.16 to fill up or about 10 pence per litre) and the petrol station gave us 3 free packets of tissues to thank us for our custom (Bizarre) - Now I know that we are in an oil producing country but I cannot help feeling that in the uk we are all getting royally ripped off and no one is complaining - after all the price of petrol effects the price of everything that we buy!. Happy motoring in the UK!

Welcome

I have been living in Saudi for 2 weeks now and I am slowly adapting to a completely different way of life to that which I have had back in the UK. I plan on telling ancedotes and stories from Saudi as well as commenting on stuff happening back at home. I hope you enjoy the blog!