200th Blog Post

Hi y'all, it appears that this is my 200th blog post. How time flies when you are enjoying yourself. We have certainly enjoyed the last couple of weeks with Ashley being here. I must say she has been very lucky with the weather!!!! Wall to wall sunshine EVERY day. The last few days have been very humid with lots of condensation on the windows, on the OUTSIDE!

We have now confirmed that we are on the move again. We are going to a different villa. You might recall when we arrived that we saw a perfect villa, the very first one we saw but we didnt want to rush in and take it until we had seen a few others. By the time we decided the original villa had gone. Well we noticed that another one on the same small compound is available. We decided to view it and guesss what? Yep, we decided to take it. It is very close to the school, walkable when the weather is "cold" in the "winter" time It means that we wont have to endure the nose to tail traffic every morning and we should save a bit on fuel! It is also closer to the golf course.

It is a smaller villa, a bungalow with three bedrooms, two en-suites, a shower room, open plan kitchen living room and a small private pool. It will mean we can eat outside easily. The roof space we have here is fine but its a pain trailining everything up two storeys from the kitchen. Now it will be just a short walk across the livingroom. I'll post some pictures when we get there. Should be moving around 1 November.

Ok time to get ready for the first proper golf competition of the year. 18 holes today, wish me luck.
David

Another weekend arrives

Well thats another week done and Ashley's first week is over. We have had a busy week. Last night we visited Adhari Park which is a sort of cross between the Links Market and Disneyland! Sheila being golf daft insisted that we play mini-golf and then was regretting not taking her own putter and ball. You know what they say about a bad workman. Here we are ready to tee off.

It all went badly wrong from here although it has to be said that I was the only person who had to fish their ball out of the pond. I feel I was a bit unlucky!

We visited Bahrain Fort the other night just as it was getting dark. We missed the sunset, my navigational skills left a bit to be desired I'm afraid. But we managed to capture a few nice pictures of the floodlit fort.

Today it's off to the Bahrain Racing Circuit for a look around and then for Friday Brunch which is a bit of a tradition in Bahrain but something that we have not yet done. This week is a sort of practice shot at the BAPCO club before we go for the full monty at one of the exclusive brunches next weekend. Another case of open wallet surgery I fear.

After brunch it's down to the golf club for the first competition. A nine hole opener to the season.

OK time to get ready.
David

Another update

Hi all, I forgot to post my weekly update last week probably because we have a visitor. Ashley is first to arrive here in the middle east and she tells me that the bed is suitably comfortable. She was a bit ill on the third day and spent that in bed. It has become something of a tradition that she spends at least one day of her holidays ill in bed! Anyway she is feeling fine now and we are almost at the weekend again. She has been lazing by the pool and reading while we have been flogging our guts out as normal.

She has maybe been ill but I can say she has been pretty lucky with the weather!!!! Its been glorious since she arrived.

I have tonight bought Sheila her anniversay come birthday present. A pearl coloured Blackberry phone. Really in keeping with her new important status in the school. She is much more important there than me now. I have 8 staff and Sheila has about 28 I think.

First golf competition this weekend and lots planned for Ashley. We have visited the Bahrain Fort last night. I'll post some pictures soon.

Well that's all for now,
David, Sheila and Ashley

Weekly News

Hi once again, another weekend is upon us. We have had a very busy week starting with two in-service days and then three hectic days with the students back. It is alwasy a busy time getting everyone into their new groups and classes, especially since the building work has made such a difference to the layout. It all takes some time to get used to. The building work is almost complete and at least all of the essential accommodation is habitable.

One of my students told me that she had seen me on the TV during the holiday on Candid Camera. I was walking in one of the shopping malls one day several weeks ago and a man jumped out in front of me wearing a silly scary mask. I didnt think my reaction merited an appearance on the show but perhaps it was funnier than I thought. Apparently they post all of the shows on YouTube. I have had a look and didnt see it. Latifa says she will send me the link to the clip because it is apparently there.

Sheila has formally been promoted to Office Manager as well as her role as PA to Karen so she is now officially in charge of all of the administration staff in the whole school. She is a very clever girl don't you think?

Monday saw us celebrate our Pearl Wedding Anniversary. Thanks for all the messages of sympathy oops I mean congratulations. We went out for a meal to Cafe Italia. It was VERY nice but it was a wee bit of open wallet surgery. We had two bottle of water along with our meal and they cost us BD6. TEN quid for two bottle of water! A bit on the hefty side. The whole meal was BD57 about £100. Apparently that's what you pay these days for a nice meal. Anyway it was really enjoyable. The waitress brought Sheila a pillow. I thought a pillow? Why does she need pillow? It was to rest her hand bag on. All the ladies got one for their hand bags too. Amazing! We might take Ashley there for a special meal if eveyone agrees to order the cheapest things on the menu!!!! There is a steak dish that costs BD37.500 thats about £68 for a steak. I would be expecting the hale coo for that!

OK Thats about it, rugby world cup starts today. I have set the tape to record all 48 matches and I plan to watch the lot. Must go now to the bank to check on my Dinars to make sure they are OK.

See you all some time.
David and Sheila

Weekly update

Well its Friday again and another week has passed. It's been a busy week with the new staff at school getting settled into their accommodation and getting the lie of the land. We have been heavily involved in their induction week making sure that they have all they need. A far cry from the help we received a year ago. Although we got lots of help it was not formally organised like this year. Things are much more well organised now. We had a few meals out with them and generally got to know them quite well.

Not long now till Ashley arrives. She asked if we had a parasol for the roof terrace and we said we didn't. I tried some silver gaffa tape and attached a golf umbrella to the deck chair. Perfect I think although it looks a wee bit Heath Robinson! Ashley may not approve and so we might need to make a new purchase. The new bed has arrived and the new suite arrives next weekend. Nicola is coming out to see us too in October so we are looking forward to that.

School starts officially on Sunday with a couple of inservice days before the students arrive on Tuesday. It still looks impossible that the work in the school will be complete before then but it is amazing what can be achieved when the pressure is on.

Got up with the sun this morning for an early few holes before the sun got up too high. It was only when I arrived at the course that I realised there are two locks on the locker room and so I couldnt get in for my clubs! Golf is a difficult game but I can assure you it's nigh on impossible with no clubs and no balls. I had to wait till the staff arrived so I only managed to play 6 holes before it was too hot to continue. We went back tonight and played another 5. Weather has remained very hot and humid.

Planning a meal out for our anniversary this week but not sure where we'll go. I better make it somewhere a bit special if I can. I believe there's a Macdonald's drive through at Alosra Shopping Mall, that should do nicely.

Well I think that's the news for this week.
David & Sheila