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!