You can take the girl out of Glenrothes ....

Whilst shopping last night we saw a couple of Christmas ornaments that were pipers. They were in full highland dress and Sheila just couldn't resist having a look up their kilts. She said she was checking to see if they were musical... yeah right! What do you think? Does the evidence speak for itself? Sorry about focus I had to be quick.

David

Happy St Andrews Day and Happy "Snow Day"

Have a great day and for those of you enjoying a "snow day" remember you are supposed to be at work so remember to get something useful done. Don't venture out unless absolutely necessary but keep the pictures coming. The students here are loving them. Most of them haven't seen snow!!

David

Friday Outing

After the golf today (enough said about that!!) we visitied the equivalent of the Roayal Highland Show in Bahrain. It was a kind of agricultural show with various animal based stand and stalls. There was a dog and bird show and various stalls. They sell wee ducklings and chicks in small cages. There were absolutely loads of them and people were taking them away in droves. I can't imagine it would be allowed in the UK.

We saw the world famous Lipizzaner Stallions Display team.

Apparently these horses are not born white. They are black or very dark brown and change to white after about 8 or 9 years. Just occasionally one reaches adulthoood and stays black or dark brown and its considered to be very lucky to have one.

Weather report? Well just look at the picture! It has to be said that when we were out about 7.30 last night getting some messages Sheila was heard to remark, "it's almost cool enough to need a jersey on". It is a little cooler at night. they say you need the heating on in mid winter but we'll need to wait and see. We are not sure if we have any heating!!! The air conditioning has a setting for "warm" but we havent needed to try it.

Counting the days now till the holidays.
Cheers for now
D&S

Everything comes to him that waits

I played golf last weekend at our club Awali with a couple of guys from Riffa Golf Club, thats the one with grass on it. It costs BD60 per round (£108) but one of the guys, Madden Broadbent originally from South Africa has invited me to play in one of their competitions. It is an "invite a friend" competition and Madden has asked me to play with him. Excellent, I say, a chance to play the grass course for free. I suppose they are hoping that the invited guests will want to join and I suppose most of them WILL want to join but whether thay can afford the fees is another matter. We have looked at those again but it only served to confirm that we wont be joining. I will have to make do with any kind invitations that come my way. Its a week on Friday, the last weekend before we come home to Scotland for the Christmas break. Lots to look forward to in the next couple of weeks.
Cheers for now
David

Christmas lights in Bahrain

If you recall when we went to pay our golf subscriptions the lady there suggested we join the Bapco club. Well we went there tonight just to have another look round. there was some 10 pin bowling competition or league in full swing and it was pretty busy. The club has put up some lights in the entrance driveway. It goes for a very long way and every tree is decked with lights. It looks splendid.
This is the entrance area to the club.

We will go back for a game of 10 pin when its not so busy. The snooker hall was fairly quite. It has 5 full size tables of very high quality.

Back to work tomorrow so I suppose I better start some preparation to make sure I know what I am doing.

Cheers for now.
David

Competition Report

Well I didn't win it if that's what you were expecting. I did make 2 birdies and 9 pars but the other 7 holes were the problem. I finished 8 over par on a handicap of 5 was too much. I finished in 20th place out of 43 starters. Allowing for a healthy spattering of bandits I felt that this was not too bad. It will take some time before I get to grips with the course and its foibles. I was in good company and enjoyed the game. The weather was, needless to say, fantastic.

Waiting for visitors tonight. We have invited Liam and Andrea (the couple who live on our compound and who helped us so much before during and after the move in) for wine and nibbles.

Just waiting for the house to cool down a bit because the air conditioning has been off for most of the day. I suppose you lot might have had to switch the heating on by now!!

TTFN
David

Holidays almost over

Ah well the holidays are almost over with only the weekend to go. I am playing my first competition at the golf club tomorrow at 7.30am whilst you lot are safely tucked up in bed. Its a shotgun start where everybody starts at the same time. I am starting at the 8th hole which is not too far a walk from the clubhouse. The people with furthest to walk at the start generally have furthest to walk at the end because you finish where you started. It means that theoretically everyone finishes at the same time. There is a social afterwards.

We met a Scottish couple at the golf club last night. They were very friendly and the woman is also a bit of as beginner. I think Sheila might play a game with Roz in the near future. She comes from Forfar and her hubby John from the west coast somewhere. It was good to meet and chat with someone from outwith the school because you dont end up talking shop all the time. Roz works in the hospital here and John is a readymix concrete chappie. It turns out that they live on a compound just a few streets away from us. I am sure we will hook up with them again.

We are watching the golf from Honk Kong at the moment. The weather there looks pretty good. How is it beside you? It was another scorcher here today. We had lunch on the roof terrace again but had to come in because it was too hot to stay out for too long. The coffee cup which was black was almost too hot too touch. It was hotter in the sunshine than it was when the coffee was in it.

We have been painting the kitchen today. It was a bit past it so we decided to liven it up by painting the tiles and kitchen unit doors. It is looking quite good now. Better than it did anyway. I am not cut out for the decorating lark. I start with great enthusiasm but when the job is not complete half an hour later I begin to fade and the standard goes down a little (which is not a good thing from a low start position).

Four weeks from right now we will be back in Bonny Scotland. See you all then.
David

Happy Birthday Mum

Have a happy birthday. Sending you our very best wishes for a lovely day. Will speak to you on Skype tonight. Might even be allowed to open one of our wine bottles to celebrate!

Lots of love from Sheila and David

xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx

X and one for good luck!

Today's golf update

Well today we played the back nine only for a couple of reasons. The car was getting its 1000km service and so we didn't get to the course till about 9am. When we arrived there were about a dozen oriental golfers milling around and getting ready to start. We decided it would be pretty slow playing behind them so just played the back nine.

I am very pleased to report that my Skycaddie mapping worked a treat and I knew the distances I was away from every green. I have sent my mapping to skycaddie who will publish the course if they are happy with it. I managed to get around in only 1 over par for the nine holes. Not bad, though I say so myself. I putted much better and am getting the hang of the wee mat thing.

Sheila is getting back into the swing of things and is getting much more confident again. We bought a practice net that we can use in one of the spare bedrooms. the ceiling is high enough for even me to do a full swing if I want to. The net should allow us to work on our short game indoors. We promise to take the net down if anyone books their flights to visit.

Here is Sheila on the 14th Tee. The hole is called "Missile Creek" and is one of the most intimidating T shots on the course. It is a par 3 and if you are looking for the fairway you will look for a while. There isn't one!! Just a whole load of wilderness and then the brown. Posture looks ok, set up fine.

The brown is just over Sheila's left shoulder if you zoom in you'll see the flag.

Going off now to have a wander round a market that we saw on the way to the golf. Will let you know if we find any bargains.

Sheila bought a Wii and Wii Fit with her birthday money so we are leaping about the livingroom like daft things to try to get a bit fitter. That definietley will not be Skyped so don't even think about asking.

Cheers for now.
David and Sheila

Final hurdle negotiated?

Today we finally a chance to visit the driving licence centre where we both obtained our Bahraini driving licence. Apart for a severe dose of open wallet surgery (£45 each) it was a straightforward if complex process. You go first to this desk then that desk, then the eyesight examination then back to desk one then wait a while then desk two again, then wait another while and then as if by magic a person appears with a nice plastic licence and a copy of the most bizarre highway code book. We each had to get one. It was not enough for one between two. Still we think that is all of the documentation obtained and there should be no more hoops to jump through or forms to fill. (Unless of course they decide we need something else).

Played golf again today. I have now mapped the whole course with my skycaddie so we'll see if it works tomorrow when we go back. The car is booked in for its 1000 km service tomorrow so we'll need to do that before we go golfing. Might be too hot to play a full 18 holes.

Here's a closer view of the brown and a couple of bunkers on the right and extreme left. The bit in between that looks most like a bunker is in fact fairway!

Here's a view over the course with the houses of Riffa in the background. there arent too many trees on the course but its remarkably easy to get behind one! The course reminds me of the landscape of the spaghetti westerns. I can see a bunch of horses running through the scrub with a trail of dust behind them. Today though it was helicopters from the nearby air base. Loads of them, they were obviously on some kind of training exercise.

The weather was once again awesome. It apparently stays like this now till April time when it starts to heat up! Anywat tea is served again. Magic restaurant this. Service pretty good you know. You must try it some time.

David

A stroke of luck

We went down to the BAPCO club tonight which is where we had to go to pay our golf subscription. BAPCO is the Bahrain Petroleum Company and they own the golf course. It is a bit like the dockyard used to be at Rosyth where inside their compound it is like a sort of small town. There are shops and offices and they have a members club which is where we had to go to pay our dues. BD300 for the year for a family membership.

Whilst paying I casually asked the nice lady if we could use all of the club facilities or only the golf. She told me that it was only the golf unless we joined the BAPCO club too. She then astounded us by saying that we could fill out the membership form there and then and if we were BAPCO members our golf would be cheaper. The whole cost including this BAPCO membership was only BD245 saving us almost £100!! How good was that. It means that we can use all the facilities of their club and play golf for less than the cost of the golf alone. We havent fully investigated what the club has to offer but it looked very nice and I am sure we will find something of interest.

We picked up a what's on guide and noticed some sort of bowling competition. Not sure whether 10 pin, short mat or what but it sounds interesting.

Up late tonight, nearly 11 o'clock as I type so I better get going before I fall alseep here in the chair.

Och aye the noo.
David

Application success

Just had a phone call from the Golf Club saying that we have been accepted and can complete the application process. That is fantastic news and perfectly timed because we were planning to play every day during the holidays and that would have been somewhat wasted money. Now we can play as members at no additional cost. I can also get into the competitions and see how it goes. Watch this space.

I am going out for dinner tonight with the science department staff. Sheila is not going but she is not too disappointed because she had to force an indian meal down once already here and is none to keen to repeat the process. I on the other hand am very much looking forward to sampling the delights of apparently one of the best indian restaurants on the island. Sheila has just finished her macaroni and cheese delight!
David

More rain

Ah well I suppose. This place is going downhill rapidly! Today we had another thunderstorm and severe downpour. Again it only lasted a few minutes and it was warm rain but rain nevertheless. Winter has really set in as the temperature is down to about 27 degrees. It does feel a bit chilly.

I'll try to get a picture if I can but it was all pretty much dried up by the time we got out of school. Only a few roadside puddles were left to hint at the happenings of a short time earlier.

Still its good for the seedlings which are by now truning into plants of significant proportions. We will need to consider re-potting them this weekend.

Only two days now till the holidays so I hope this weather perks up a bit before then.

Cheers for now
D

Rain, rain, we saw rain

Yesterday while I was in Dubai a big black cloud rolled across and a thurder and lightning storm erupted. And I wasnt here to see it!! However whilst on the way to the airport I was caught in a downpour in Dubai. Mind you its still 27 degrees so it is warm rain and it didnt last long.

Safely home from Dubai and heading for bed soon.
David

Golf again

Note Sheila's accuracy stats have gone up a notch. She very cleverly got the ball to stop on that wee green patch ready for her next shot! Here she takes aim ready for her approach to the brown.

We played today in glorious weather. We have to keep reminding ourselves that its November. It certainly doesnt feel like November. I just had to take a picture of the water hazard. No golf course is complete without a water hazard so I grabbed a snap of this one as we passed.

The humps of dry sandy earth represent the waves and if your ball goes in there you are in the water and you have to take a penalty drop. You are allowed to wade in and get your ball back though!

Here is the picture of the car I promised.

Getting ready now for trip to Dubai. Might try to blog on the move but no guarantees.
D&S

Hey hey hey its the weekend

Another Thursday arrives already. I like Thursdays now. Looking forward to the golf again on Saturday and then off to Dubai on Saturday night for my course on Sunday and Monday. I am looking forward to the course but not really to being away. I fly back on Monday evening.

Next Thursday will be even better because then it will be the holidays and a chance to re-charge the batteries for the final surge to the Christmas holidays which will then be only another three and a half weeks away.

Better get my shopping list done.
See you all soon
D

Phew!

Good evening dudes and dudettes. I notice that your clocks have changed so the skyping window in the evening is reduced, on account that we are in bed at a ridculously early hour. Still we can chat till we drop off.

I am pleased to report that the money we last saw in the Bahrain finance house has arrived in my bank account in Scotland just in time for the mortgage to come out. Phew, that was close, arrived same day. There was no panic really but I am glad it arrived, albeit minus some commission and a crappy exchange rate meant that what I thought would be nearly £900 was only £800 by the time it got to Scotland. Somebody is making a fat whack of dosh out of those exchanges. We have to pay a fee at BOTH ends and the exchange rate is not great. Still look on the bright side 800 out of 900 is better than never seeing the money again!

I used to hate Mondays because there was almost a full week to go. Now I love Mondays because when Monday is over I am almost half way through the week and all of my "free" periods come in the last three days. I say "free" but in that regard its just like Kinross, lots of covering for other teachers and then there is cafeteria duty and playground duty, oh yes and front of school duty to attend to. They are not onerous tasks but they do use up what is supposed to be preparation and planning time. Mind you I have to remember to take my sun glasses with me because it's too bright standing out the front of school in the blazing sunshine.

There is now only the rest of this week and one full week to go before the "mid term" holiday. It is very late this year because it is governed by Eid (pronounced eed) which is an Islamic holiday and so we are only back for three weeks after mid-term and it will be end of term. I also have two days in Dubai next week so that will shorten it still further. We are beginning to look forward to returning to the cold and wet for a couple of weeks and to seeing you all again. Will we need to bring a jersey?

New car is going great but I will have to order a small step ladder for Babs and Dave to help them into it. It is so high that Sheila too needs to clamber up to get in. We are still not sure what to do with our November break but a goodly helping of golf seems favourite. Hopefully we will be members by then to keep the cost down as each paying  BD7.500 (double it then take 10% off) every day will be quite costly. Still it will be worth it. If I have my membership I might even treat myself to a game at Riffa, the grass course. I will have to bite down and swallow hard when I hand over my BD60.000 though. At least I can be sure my round wont be spoiled by pouring rain after 2 holes.

Still keeping up the swimming although not at the weekend this week. I had a couple of days off. Somehow it is easier to get up with the alarm at 5.30am and jump in the pool than it is to get in after rising at 7 on the weekend.

That's all the news for now. Many of you have said that you enjoy reading this blog so I will keep it going for now. If you are posting a comment it would be useful to others if you choose the option at the bottom of the list where you choose Name URL. Just type your name and leave the URL bit blank. So come on lets hear your comments. Keep it clean though, there are children reading this!!!

A' the best
D&S