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Gulf News web editor Adam Flinter plunges headlong into the blogosphere to find out what bloggers from the Middle East and beyond have on their minds
Abra versus water bus
This evening, I was having my usual stroll by the creek (Deira side) and I passed by the abra station — which is really crowded at any time of day with people getting off and on.
The convenience of taking an abra to cross to Bur Dubai and vice-versa is unsurpassed. I know that at peak traffic times, to get to Bank Street, I would rather walk after crossing the creek on an abra, than go by car.
Around six months ago (or even longer) the RTA launched the water bus in order to cater to the needs of high-end consumers. But it simply hasn’t worked out well. Even today, I saw a total of three passengers on board the glamorous over-hyped water bus, as compared to the crowd of passengers who used the abra.
I know the reasons:
- Why would anyone go through the hassle of buying a ticket (more expensive than the Dh1 abra ticket) from a booth and then wait for the water bus to arrive?
In contrast, you need not buy a ticket to travel on an abra. Just pay the Dh1 to the abra driver and hey presto... It’s paperless!
- Who would pay more bucks for an air conditioned and tinted water bus?
There’s nothing quite like feeling the breeze on your face while travelling on an abra. As you gaze across the horizon, you can see the sunset. The orange reflection of the sunset on the sea, or off the glass on the NBD building has been one of my most pleasant evening views.
http://facecrowd.blogspot.com/ay
RTA takes stock of new address system
In Gulf News this morning there’s more on the new street addressing system, which I was talking about yesterday.
When we say "new" it means of course new to Dubai, the rest of the world has been using it for hundreds of years.
The report ends: "The Roads and Transport Authority is awaiting feedback from the public on the new system."
OK, lines from the story and feedback...
- A project follow-up committee has been set up and consists of experts from the Dubai Municipality, Police, Civil Defence, Dubai Electricity and Water Authority, Unified Ambulance Centre, Emirates Post Holding Group, etisalat and du.
My feedback on that — excellent, well done. The organisations involved are talking to each other, something that doesn’t happen often enough.
- The new system is clear, concise, simple and easily memorised as it is based on building numbers, and names of road.
Feedback — excellent again. Not new, not rocket science but it’s a system that’s worked successfully for so long around the world.
http://dubaithoughts.blogspot.com/
Self service
Recently some petrol stations in Dubai have been trying out self-service petrol pumps. Today I happened to stop at one such petrol station for a fill-up.
It was not a new experience for me as I have used self-service pumps in the US, so it went pretty smoothly.
The only thing that I didn’t like was that the fuel cost the same as it does in full-service petrol stations.
So what’s the point? If the petrol station is saving the cost of labour to fill up the fuel tank, then some of those savings should be extended to the customer, and if I have to get out of the car in the Dubai heat to fill up my car myself, then it’s only worth it if I’m saving a few bucks.
http://umarsiddiqi.com/blog/
Premiership Football & the UAE
Back in 2006, who would have thought that AIG would become a brand synonymous with a market crash associated with sub-prime mortgages. Manchester United, at the time, picked AIG to be their sponsor above Etihad.
What has happened in the last month? AIG has crashed. Manchester United bought Dimitar Berbatov for a record price second only to Robinho’s world record signing and salary.
Robinho was signed by Manchester City who were also interested in Berbatov, and have been taken over by Abu Dhabi United Group. Yesterday Berbatov broke his goal scoring duck with a fine display in the Champions League game against Aalborg.
And Dubai? Dubai had been interested in Liverpool and had their offer for Newcastle thrown out.
And Etihad, well Etihad are now a quasi sponsor of Chelsea... Football — it’s a funny old game!
http://grapeshisha.blogspot.com/
Changes
So for the past couple of weekends, we’ve taken to wandering around some of our old haunts up in the mountains of the northern emirates.
It’s strange how life can overtake you: there are places we used to go to a lot which we simply haven’t bothered with in the past few years and we’re now finding they’ve changed out of all recognition when we revisit them.
The Hatta Track, for instance, which is now 95 per cent blacktop from just beyond the pools all the way down to Al Ain, including the Mahda/Al Ain track.
Last weekend we went wandering from Hatta (where we stayed at that slightly eccentric but rarely less than brilliant chill-out weekend bolt-hole, the Hatta Fort Hotel) to Tawi Mileha (Fossil Rock to you, mate). We took what used to be the Munay/Siji track which is now blacktop all the way up through to its connection with the Dhaid/Masafi Road.
It also, for a stretch, combines with the new Mileha road, which leads from the infamous National Paints roundabout in Sharjah right the way through to Khor Kalba on the east coast.
We can literally remember when it all used to be sand. Now it’s quarries and crushers, heavy trucks and truck stops and weighbridges: new roads blasted through the mountains and snaking across the sandy plains.
http://fakeplasticsouks.blogspot.com/
Bait and switch
We spent Eid Al Fitr in Cyprus. Having decided that it’d be a marvellous place to have our dream home, Beloved Wife made several appointments with various estate agents and land owners. I used a local contact to find a Cyprus contact and off we flew.
Business class there and back (ouch my wallet) because those were the only available seats. Once I’d booked and paid for the tickets, Beloved Wife’s employer in his mercy then decreed that her office would be shut all week. I had to reschedule the outbound flight.
Gulf Air wanted an additional fee to change the booking, "but you can pay this at the airport". What no-one told us was that paying at the airport required an additional fee of Dh100 per person to be paid to Dnata as a service charge for doing precisely nothing.
Another thing that no one had told us was that October 1, is Cyprus National Day, and everything is shut. So our appointments to see all the land we’d arranged to view became rushed. Some holiday!
http://grumpygoat.blogspot.com/
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