First Golf Game

Today was the first of hopefully many games at Awali Golf Club. Sheila was in school at an important meeting so I jollied off to the golf. It wasnt busy because only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun. I started about 9am and it was beautiful. There was a nice cooling breeze and alone I ventured into the unknown. I had no idea where each hole was but the club steward assured me it would be difficult to go wrong. Thankfully he was correct.

I only played 15 holes because by 11.30 the sun was blisteringly hot and I decided it was not wise to stay out in it for much longer so I walked in from the 15th under the shade of my umbrella. I had managed 5 pars in the 15 holes and 10 "others" that varied from bogey to triple bogey, woops! It wasnt easy because (a) I had no idea how far I was from the greens, er I mean browns and (b) I had no idea how far I would hit each club. I found the ball flies MUCH further than in Scotland. If I am accurate enough at least two of the par 5s I played will be reachable in two shots.

Here is a view of I think the 9th brown from behind the green. The fairway goes off into the distance.

You can see one of the wee men who sweep the browns sitting in the shade of the trees. The browns are covered in a loose oiled sand and its remarkably like putting on grass. Similar sort of speed. Of course you leave foot prints everywhere so they need to be swept regularly. You dont realise how many steps you take when putting until you look back at a green where every step is obvious.

I am looking forward to going back next weekend when I will try to be there a bit earlier so that I can get all the way round before it gets too hot. Hopefully Sheila will play too.

Well its tea time again so I dont want to be rude to the chef.
Cheers for now
David

Marathon event

Today we visited the Bahrain International Raceway where the Formula 1 season holds one of its races. It was the scene of the start and finish of the Bahrain Relay Marathon. The school had a student team and a staff team entered. The staff team managed a very creditable 3 hrs 40 minutes but the students managed once again to beat them although this time by only 5 minutes. Staff have never managed to beat the students. Each runner runs about 3 km and its 46km in total, a little over marathon distance.
Here is the staff anchor man Paul Millington crossing the finish line. Note the late October weather!

Managed to return the hire car to the airport this morning and the Actyon performed really well today. It cost us £8.40 to fill it with fuel because it is a big car after all.

Went in to the finance house to send some money back. Like much of Bahrain life it all seemed a bit dubious. I will rest easier when I see that the money has arrived safely in my bank account. I have also managed to set up internet banking now too and so hopefully that will allow me to transfer from the comfort of my own livingroom.

Hope this finds you all well and enjoying this recent fine spell of weather.
David

New car arrangements

New car arrangements. Fahad, the friendly and very helpful car salesman promises to arrange to pick us up from school at 4pm to take us to collect our new car. I am impressed with Fahad and trust his ability to deliver. I have stressed to him that I cannot and do not take phone calls during the school day and he seems ok with this. On occasions he has text me and we have communicated effectively using this medium.

Today at 1pm a man arrives at school with my new car. I am on duty at the break and have to leave my post to deal with this. The delivery man tells me that they work only half day on a Thursday and here is my car.

I am not a happy bunny but in the interests of an easy life I accept the car which is fine. I drove it home and a short time later Sheila drove our rental car home alone without incident. It was her first solo trip doing all the navigation and driving and avoiding crashing into mad motorists. Mind you a large percentage of them are not actually on the road so you cant really crash into them. There are no kerbs at the sides of many of the roads so they just off road it to pass you especially if you are in a queue waiting at the lights and stuff. You really have to see it to believe it.

Not much goes smoothly but it goes all the same. I will post an actual picture of the car soon. My wee man that washes it will think he has had a bit of a raw deal agreeing to wash a wee Nissan Tiida and ending up washing a humungous Ssangyong Actyon. Still all's fair in love and war, and I do pay him 5 Dinars a week for three washes, three chamois downs, removal of our rubbish bags and the occasional spot of garden tidying so he can't complain at that!

Looking forward to my first golf action since arriving. I haven't really missed it because we have been so busy but now that I am close to playing again I am beginning to get excited. It will be the first time I will have putted on a brown! they call the greens browns on account of the fact that they are brown. they have no grass only a lightly oiled sand. You leave footprints in the sand so theres a wee man (not the same wee man who does my car but a different wee man) who walks along with a brush and brushes the brown between one group playing and the next. Sounds like fun.

Well it's bedtime soon to will sign off now.
David and Sheila

OK Judith the pressure's on

Tonight we found the booze shop and we are back with a half cupboard full and a threat about what will happen to me if I start to drink it! It isnt cheap but then again its not as bad as the coffee or the haggis. We have enough to keep Judith going for a couple of days but will get more in when the flights are booked so no worries on that score. Tomorrow is our last day before the weekend and another week has passed. The weeks are just flying in.

Friday is Bahrain relay marathon where a marathon course is covered by relay teams. The school has a team in but we are not running. We will go along and shout some support from the sidelines.

have been in the pool at 5.30 every day this week so managing to keep up the routine. Tomorrow is the last day of 14 lengths then its up to 16. Going to keep increasing every week until I get to 20. It will take too much time in the morning to exceed that.

Excited about getting our new car toomorrow too. have learned not to get over excited though. Spanners find their way into the works all too easily here. Sheila will need to drive one of the cars to the airport on Friday so that we can return the hire car.

D

PS seeds are coming along nicely.

New Car

All appears to be going swimmingly with the new car deal. We had to visit the garage last night to sign the lease and write out 24 post dated cheques for the entire duration of the lease. My arm was hanging off. I tried to tell them about direct debit but alas to no avail! Anyway thats us fixed up for the duration of our stay (and a wee bit extra - still seemed the best deal). We get the car tomorrow after school. If that goes equally swimmingly it will be a brand new blue SSangyong Actyon 2.3 litre automatic just like the previous picture, if not, well it could be just about anything. Fingers crossed.

Yesterday was payday, the last in cash. We didnt have our bank account in time to get paid straight into it this time so its a wad of cash in a white envelope and not a word to the taxman. Oops sorry there is no taxman.

Well time is pressing again and if there is to be a third pay packet I better get myself in to school.
Toodle-oo the noo.
D

Two months in and still standing

Well that's almost two months in and we are still surviving. Our very busy period is probably now behind us and we are beginning to settle in to a less hectic lifestyle. The house is organised with only a few non-emergency bits and pieces needed to complete it. The car is ordered and we should get that in the next couple of days as long as the lease is approved.

I am planning to play golf this weekend, at least on the driving range if not the course and we can start to explore the island and some of the tourist attractions. We will try to put together a visitors guide in time for anyone who stops by. I am naturally finding less to blog about as our lifestyle settles so the time may be near for the updates to stop or at least slow down a little. I dont really want it to turn into meaningless posts about us going to the shops for the messages! I know from the feedback that many of you have enjoyed reading the updates and I have enjoyed reading the comments that you have added.

Time for work now so will sign off meantime.
David

Seedling report and other stuff.

I am pleased to say that Sheila's seedlings are coming along nicely and we will soon be eating the produce! It's the weekend again and we have finally had the opportunity to relax on the roof terrace for a while. The weather here now is what you dream about for your holidays. It is very sunny although it is still too hot to lie out in the middle of the day. It was perfect at 10am this morning. Whilst on the roof terrace I took the opportunity to take a picture that shows that Bahrain is not immune to the financial difficulties being experienced all around the world. A lot of building work was stopped here when the crisis hit and probably one of the biggest projects to stop is visible from our roof terrace. The picture is zoomed in so they are not as close as they appear in this picture.

You can see six tower blocks under cosntruction but the cranes have not moved for over a year. There are at least another 4 towers there that can't be seen from this angle. I shudder to think how much money has been laid out so far with nothing in return. It is not clear when they will start again but I hope it is not too soon. All of the traffic for those blocks will have to go through the road system behind our villa to get to ANYWHERE on the island because we are in the very northwest corner and they are even northwester than us!! The noise won't be a problem but if you imagine one car per flat that's a lot of traffic on top of what is already a pretty busy highway.

Sheila has been driving me to work this week to get the hang of driving on the other side. She will need to be confident before I go to Dubai because she will be on her own for those two days. I have no doubt about her ability to cope. I will be flying out on the Saturday night and returning on the Monday.

Must go now cause its getting too hot in here. The air con needs turning up a bit (or down depending on your perspective)
D

Dubai Trip is on

Yesterday I got confirmation that my trip to Dubai is going ahead early next month. I will have two days training delivered by the examination board that we use at the British School. I wont have much free time in Dubai so won't see much if any of the place. Maybe just enough to allow us to plan a visit there later.

Sheila got her CPR card yesterday so that's us both legal residents here in Bahrain. We just need to apply for Bahraini driving licences (yes they do have them) and that will be all of the administration tasks completed, I think.

The weekend is upon us once again. I think there are only two orr three weeks left till the November holiday and then three weeks after that it is the Christmas holiday and we will be travelling back to Sunny Scotland for a couple of weeks of cool down.

Cheers for now
David

Greeting the new arrivals

I am delighted to report this morning the Sheila is the proud parent of a few wee green seedlings which have popped their little heads into the sunlight. We will be eating the produce before too long and the roadside market garden may in fact be a reality if stuff grows this fast. They were planted on Saturday morning and already have popped up.
TTFN
D

Faith restored

Abdullah did indeed manage to collect the parcel for Sheila and it was found to contain a lovely digital photo frame pre-loaded with numerous pictures of ALL the family (little "in joke" there) not just some of them! Its a great reminder of home and much appreciated. Thanks to Nicola, Ashley and Michael. Your other pictures are now hanging on the wall.

We managed to open a bank account tonight so our money should get paid in soon and we should be able to manage our account online. We have been promised a chequebook, (remember them?) and a bank card to get cash from the hole in the wall machines. All very normal really.

I have booked a test drive in a SSangyong Actyon on Saturday. If all goes well we will order one and lease it for the duration of our stay. It will be brand new, 2.3 litre automatic. Just like this:

They are Korean but have Mercedes engines and gearboxes. Just like everything else here, many things can happen to scupper the plan but at the moment it looks to be full steam ahead. Its interesting to note that their payment arrangements for the lease are that we supply them with a bundle of signed, post dated cheques and they cash them one at a time every month (ahh the cheque book will be handy after all). I must tell them about direct debits! The car we saw is the same colour as the one above but there is also a deep wine colour which was also really nice. We haven't yet driven one so we need to check that its comfy and easy for Sheila to drive. Its pretty big.

Got a rug for the livingroom tonight so we are almost there, or so we think. We always think that the next thing will be the last but we keep realising there's something else needed. We picked up a corkscrew last night. It was really hard to find one in the shops but where there's a will ... you know the rest. That just leaves me needing to locate the booze shop and then Judith can book her flight!

Chow for now
David and Sheila

More surprises in the post

Thanks yet again for the new surprises in the post. A parcel has arrived from New Zealand and the long lost parcel from Nicola, Ashley and Michael appears to have turned up. It has been held at the post office in Muharraq but we should be able to collect it later today or maybe tomorrow. We will probably enlist the help of Abdullah, the local magician who extricated my infra-red pens when they were impounded. Abdullah is a local man employed by the school as a liaison officer. He works his magic in keeping the school and the local authorities on the same track. He knows how things work and what needs to be done, where and when.

Off to work again soon.
C U l8r
D

Sunday Sleepy Sunday

Good morning campers. 6am Sunday morning and already been in the pool. Today is the first day of our week and we are back to work. I hope you get nice weather for your Sunday off. It's "Think Pink" day here where money is raised for breast cancer so we have had to look out our pink stuff. Sheila has lots of choice but I am restricted to my tie! Still its the thought (and the money) that counts.

I had fire training yesterday even though it was my day off. I had to go to the local fire company and receive some training about fire extinguishers. There was nothing new in it for me as I have done all that stuff before. Mercifully the 3 hour training only lasted for 1 hr 15 minutes so I was home early.

Sheila has planted some lettuce in a wee garden box on the roof terrace. If its a success we will get a few more and maybe open up one of those stalls at the side of the road selling our market garden produce. Well  .....  maybe not but if we get a few leaves of greenery to munch on that would be great.

We were looking at cars yesterday again. We are once again facing the decision of how to proceed. Now that I have my CPR card buying is an option. We looked at a lease yesterday of a SSangyong Actyon. A kind of jeep thing from Korea. Looks really nice and robust! Not a hugely roomy motor but there are only the two of us and the golf clubs would go in if the seats are folded down. What more do we need?

Have a great holiday to those of you who have just started two weeks break and commiserations to those who haven't.
Chow for now
D

On the road again

Today Sheila had her very first drive on the right side of the road. We have visited and driven in several countries where they drive on the right but Sheila has never given it a try. Today being Friday and the roads being markedly quieter she decided to have a short spell behind the wheel. I am pleased to report that there were no untoward incidents. She will have a few goes driving me to and from school in the next couple of weeks because I have applied for some inservice training early in November. Now unlike Scotland the inservice training is not very local. Edexcel the exam board we use are running training for people new to the courses and it is in Dubai. I will have to fly there in the morning and return the next evening after two days training. It might only be the one day but I am not sure yet. Like everything else in Bahrain it might not even happen.

We handed in our applications for the golf club and had a wee drive around that area. We were near to the Bahrain International Racing Circuit where the Formula 1 Grand Prix takes place. This car seems to have missed the road a bit.

Got the sun loungers and did a bit of sun lounging on the roof so we are all lounged out now. We also passed by the Lost Paradise of Dilmun (LPoD) which is Bharain's water theme park. We will visit there soon and check it out for you. There seems to be a lot of new construction there. It wasn't clear whether it was new thrill rides or new apartments or probably both. I don't suppose it will be any kind of match for the Disney water parks in Florida but since it's really the only one it will have to do. Watch this space in the coming weeks.
D

Contact Update

Our UK mobile phones are now out of action (until we return to Scotland) so if anyone is sending text messages you will need to use our Bahrain mobile numbers. If you dont have them and need them then send us an email or contact Nicola, Ashley or Michael. I am sending them a complete list of contact numbers.

Another weekend is upon us. The "cooler" weather is not in fact cooler but the humidity level has dropped dramatically (as it sometimes does) and so it is VERY VERY pleasant here now. There is a refreshing breeze and of course glorious wall to wall sunshine. I am told that the humidity levels can go back up at any time. maybe some kind geography teacher (John "fount of all knowledge" Blackwood) reading this will have time to explain. Enjoy your break in Granada John and Ruth.

Planning another visit to the golf course today to hand in our application forms. May have a wee bash at the driving range to see if I can remember what to do. Also going for our sun loungers today. It's time the roof terrace saw some action other than visits to the washing machine (did I mention that the washing machine is on the roof in a wee shed thing?).

No sign of the wee car cleaning man today. Maybe he has Fridays off. I suppose I can't grudge him that.
Chow for now
D

Sheila takes the class

Such is life in Bahrain that when there is no one else to cover the class in an emergency then the personal assistant to the Director steps up to the mark. Sheila was asked to cover the last 15 minutes of the lesson whilst the teacher had to leave. Needless to say the students came on in leaps and bounds and now they understand home economics better than ever. I am not sure if it has given her a taste of life at the chalk face or not but as usual she coped admirably. What a gal!
D

Remember we thought the coffee was expensive?

Tonight we were shopping in Alosra supermarket getting a few messages when I spotted a McSween's haggis. Alongside were some other fresh haggi (haggi being the plural of haggis) priced at .... wait for it ..... BD9.30. Can you remember how to convert? Double it and take away 10% so I'll save you the maths ... £16.74 for a wee ball haggis. It wasn't the sort of thing you would see at a Burns supper for 50, it was the sort of thing that you would doubt whether it was actually big enough for two! Haggis will have to wait till we get home. I suppose someone must buy them or they wouldn't stock them but to be sure it wont be us.

It has definitely turned cooler tonight. All of a sudden it is feeling much cooler. According to the internet it is still 27 degrees but it feels much cooler than that. Don't get me wrong, it's not cold but markedly cooler. I am not sure how permanent it is. We'll have to see tomorrow.

Best wishes to all
David and Sheila

Postman Pat arrives again

Many thanks for the cards and gifts arrived today in the post for Sheila's birthday. She has been trying hard to forget but the cards keep arriving and reminding her.

Had my first parents evening today. They call it evening but its from 3pm till 5.30pm. Hardly an evening but its great from my point of view.

Remember I said I had hired the wee man to wash my car. What I didnt realise is that he washes the car every other day and wipes it over with a chamois leather on the alternate days. It's never looked so clean. What a man! He takes our rubbish away and tends to the garden leaving nothing for us to do except soak up the sun. Now that I have my CPR residency card I can buy a car if I want to. We will be doing some serious car hunting over the next couple of weeks to finalise whether to buy or lease until the summer. I also can now apply for my Bahraini driving licence which I have to do although it looks doubtful if any of the locals have one! Anything goes on the roads here. If a junction is busy people just go off road and bypass the junction altogether. If there is a big queue waiting to turn at traffic lights you can be sure that someone will drive right up to the front and then cut in to the space in front of you. Driving licence!!!

Chicken lasagne for tea tonight. I can smell it from here.
Cheers for now
David

Anxious wait is over

I know you will have been waiting anxiously to see the new coffee table, so here it is. It came flat pack at our request so that we could fit it in the car so I had to build it. I'm sure you will agree that I have lost none of my magic touch with the phillips screwdriver and spanner. Still liked the other one better but I expect to be nearly alone in my view.

OK here goes

It still has to have a rug fitted underneath on the floor but we haven't seen exactly what we want yet. That search goes on.



Have been in the pool this morning again. That's three mornings on the trot. Alarm at 5.30 in pool by 5.32, swim 10 lengths and then two warm down lengths. Planning to build it up to more as the weeks progress. Makes you feel great before going off to work, which by sheer coincidence is what I must do now.
Ta ta for now
D

TV installation

Things are definitely looking up here. The TV installation man arrived as planned and fitted our dream box. We now have a zillion channels but sorting the good stuff from the rest will take a bit of time. We were back at work again today. The weeks are just flying by. It won't be long till our November break and then it will be time for Santa. I hope you are all started your Christmas shopping. We saw a shop here with trees and decorations. They look so out of place here.

I have been meaning to say that despite the lack of clouds at night there are virtually no starts to be seen. The light pollution from the city must be really bad. I am not sure what it will be like in the south of the island where hardly anybody lives. I will try to have a look if we are down that way at night and let you know.

Settling in to the villa now. Has a swim this morning at 5.30 before work and plan to do so every morning as long as I can get up. I went out at that time to find that my wee gardner-come-car wash chap had already washed my car and was working on some others. Did I mention I had employed a gardner-come-car-wash chap? No? It seems only right and proper to give some employment to the locals who work hard for a pittance. He works on site for several of the others. I think there are a few of them. We had one of the maids at the door looking for work the other day. We might give her a few hours too.

Cheers for now
D&S

Larry spotted again - outside!

I have spotted Larry the lizard again only I think he is really a gecko. He was lurking outside the window on the wall so I asked him to hold still for a minute while I took a photo.

He's only small but perfectly formed.

On another matter we are getting a new coffee table today to fill the space in front of the suite. You'll see below a picture of the one I wanted but Sheila didn't like it. You all know who the boss is in our relationship. I thought you would like to see it anyway. I thought it was ace.  Its shaped like an S which I thought perfect for the Spittals. The little stools are topped with white leather and there were a couple of wee cubby holes into which you could put things. It could have become a kind of man drawer. Anyway it is not to be because we have ordered another one. I might upload a picture of it when we get it for you to compare. We might even have a vote. That way I will definitely know that my taste is all in my mouth.

Well that's as near as I get to it. Just waiting for the TV man who is coming at 4.30 to install our satellite dish and receiver. We will then have over 2000 channels to choose from. That is not a mistype, I did say two thousand. I wonder how many we will be able to understand.
Cheers
D

Pictures at last

Morning all from sunny Bahrain. It is once again a beautiful morning with no signs of cooling down. Here is the first picture of our new home. We occupy everything in this picture except the leftmost window which is part of the villa next door.

The pool is shared between all of the sixteen houses on the compound. I swam my 10 lengths this morning and intend to do so every morning before work. I will send a link to everyone on my email list inviting you to view the other pictures. If you dont get an invitation and you want to see them just send me a mail.

We nearly had a disaster last night and I do mean disaster. We were driving along outside a row of shops and restaurants looking for something to eat when a small boy about 7 or 8 ran from a shop right across the road immediately in front of us. We missed him by inches but unfortunately the car coming the other way didnt. I could see what was about to happen but was powerless to stop it. The boy went up over the bonnet and then fell to the road. He was apparently uninjured in the event although obviously a bit shaken by his experience. The adults with him dragged him back into the shop and we saw no more. The driver of the other car was badly shaken as you would be. I am very glad it was not me. That's the second accident we have witnessed in two days. We saw another one happen at the roundabout near to our house. Let's hope there's no number three.

Cheers for now
D&S

Would you believe it?

I called in tonight at about 5.30 pm local time and bought an internet connection thingy. We went and bought some bits and bobs and returned to the villa. I plugged it in and followed the instructions and what do you know. We are connected to the internet already. No encounters with a wee man and a brown envelope, no site surveys, no hassle, nowt. It just shows you that some things CAN happen quickly here. I hope to post some pics of the villa soon as I know you are dying to see it. remember it's not spectacular but it is cheap! well relatively speaking cheap. Housing is very expensive here compared to Scotland.

Sheila got more presents from postman pat here today. I think they just hand over one parcel a day to make sure they have something to hand over tomorrow. Thanks to Colin Judith and Valerie for the lovely surprise. Sheila is none the worse for her new status and at least she is not as old as Valerie. Happy birthday tomorrow.

Ok enough for now. I have to start my quest to get a TV package installed. let's hope it goes as smoothly as the internet one did.

Best wishes
D&S

Opening night success

I am delighted to report that the first night in the new place was a great success. We have a pet lizard that we are not sure how to get rid of. His name is Larry (or Lorraine) and he (she) lurks about the high walls. They are pretty timid creatures and scurry off into a corner if you go near. We will need to see if there is some kind of trap so that we can release it outside.

House is looking good and I am pleased to report that we are now officially receiving visitors. get your flights booked and we'll get the spare beds organised. Special offer, free accomodation for every flight booked, free transport to/from Bahrain international airport, free use of swimmingpool and roof terrace.

I believe KLM have cheap flights on offer right now so what are you waiting for? Better weather?
David and Sheila

We're on the move

Last night we picked up the keys of the villa and it is looking good. We have checked out of the apartment and tonight we sleep in the new gaff. Pictures will follow as soon as I can but it will take a few days, maybe months! to get the internet up and running there. Watch this space.

Sheila sends a special thanks for all the gifts, cards texts and skype messages of sympathy ... woops congratulations on the occasion of her momentous birthday. As always she is taking it in her stride.
D

Oh No Five O!

Well Sheila has finally caught me up and today is the momentous occasion. Sheila is 50 .... but enough of that I am sure you are more interested in the progress of the house. Well it's like this. The electricity man DID arrive at the house and he DID have a look around and he read the meter and he left. Apparently that's enough for one day here in Bahrain. He said that they would actually switch the electricity on today. I think it's another man who does that. So alas we couldnt move in.

That brings me back to the subject of Sheila's 50th. She looks much the same and is her usual unexcited self. A big parcel arrived yesterday and she was absolutely delighted with its contents. A huge picture of our three beautiful children. It is exactly what she wanted and she could not have received a more perfect gift. There were cards and money and she thanks you all for those. A shopping spree is on the cards but you know Sheila she is not sure what she wants. I suggested a Bose sound system and a 42" TV but she didn't seem too keen on those! I am not sure why.

Anyway here is what she looks like at 50

Not bad eh? I happen to think there's not a bit out of place. Her hair is getting quite long if you compare it to not so long ago (see below).

Happy Birthday, I love you loads.

Back to the house saga. I have made an executive decision that even if we get the electricity on today (which is by no means certain) we will not move in tonight. It is not the way I had envisaged spending her 50th birthday. So here's the plan. I will take her out for a nice meal. We will stay at the apartments again tonight and I will have the internet reconnected for a day so that we can have a skype chat with the family and anyone else who wants when we get back. That is likely to be around 7pm (ish) Scotland time. Watch for us coming online around then. Remember it is Bahrain and the internet at the apartment did prove to be unreliable at times so we will just have to hope all goes well with that plan. We will then move to the villa on Wednesday if we are connected.

Managed to see the very end of the golf after following it on the internet during the day. Magnificent Monty rallies his troops to a great win. Well done boys.

OK enough for now.
David

The further adventures of an electricity man

Hi Folks, I have no doubt you will be on the edge of your seats awaiting the next instalment of the "Electric connection". Yesterday I telephoned the man again and an arrangement to meet was duly made. At the villa? Eh no! At the electricity board office? Eh .... No! Outside the police station in Budaiya? Eh .... Yes! Only when I got there the man from the electricity company was not there. But his wee brother was. Ah well in for a Fil in for a Dinar, I spoke to him and he seemed very nice. I duly handed over the BD100 deposit (£180) and a copy of my documnetation and off he went happy as Larry. I thought to myself, "I'll be lucky if I see him or the money again" but I didnt feel I had a choice. Anyway, a few minutes ago, whilst I am typing this my phone went. I answered to hear a fine sounding chap from the electricity company making an arrangement to switch the electricity on this morning after 8 o'clock. I am not counting any chickens but it looks very promising. Remember that all of the electrical appliances have still to be tested and the air conditioning checked. There's a lot can go wrong yet. Managed to watch the exciting golf yesterday but it looks like we will miss the actual climax today. Still, if that is because we are actually getting moved in then that's an acceptable situation. Looks like we will have no internet in place for Tuesday which is a big day for Sheila. I have a meeting after school so I thought we might hang around in school after that for a while so that we can maybe have a skype chat to any of you who are available at that time. I am planning to take her out for a nice meal in the evening and we will do present shopping after a few days when we are settled into the villa. If I can get internet in the villa by then we can skype away after the meal but I am sorry I am not optimistic for that. I will try my very best though. We will just have to make up for it when we do get connected again.
Cheers for now
D

An somewhat challenging weekend

Well as you already know the move didn't happen. Why? Because the electricity man who promised to meet us to get us switched on failed to materialise. Maybe he was watching the golf or maybe he just had more important things to do. It seems you have to get very used to officialdom here in Bahrain. The job gets done if and when the officials get round to it and not before. There's no point trying to pressure them or the like because that just makes them find other jobs that need doing before yours. We are very cool about the whole thing and won't let it stress us. We will get in when we get in and thats that. We have a roof over our heads at the apartment and some money in our pocket. Millions of people can only dream about that.

On the bright side all of the furniture is in place. The bed set was delivered yesterday and the team of delivery men (yes team of men - 4 I think, maybe 5  - they were milling about like a swarm of locusts) assembled the bed in a few minutes in extreme heat - no air conditioning remember - on account that the wee man from the electric company ..... you get the idea. We spent the weekend getting all of the essentials in place so we can move in whenever the electricity is connected again. Hopefully that will be today but what the heck. If its tomorrow its tomorrow or maybe ......

Another bright side was we were able to watch the golf on TV. The overnight position looks good but I fear it actually will benefit the Americans. They are sleeping on a very determined mood to recapture lost ground. The Europeans are feeling good but may lack the bite needed on resumption. Let's hope for a grandstand finish and some fine weather for the Sunday. We are back at work today which reminds me I better get started. Please remember we only have internet at school at the moment and its likely to be like that for a good few days to come.

Cheers for now
David and Sheila

The move that was not a move

Move to villa did not happen. Back at apartment. Such is life in Bahrain. More info to follow. David