Things I will miss about Dubai:<\/p>\n
1.\u00a0 The weather in late Autumn and early Spring.\u00a0 This cannot be beaten.<\/p>\n
2.\u00a0 The swimming pool on the roof of my apartment block.\u00a0 I doubt I’ll have one of these in Sakhalin.\u00a0 Maybe a skating rink, but not a swimming pool.<\/p>\n
3.\u00a0 Multi-screen cinemas.<\/p>\n
4.\u00a0 The shopping malls.\u00a0 Normally avoided, I will surely miss being able to buy all manner of clothes, household goods, and electronics all under one roof.\u00a0 The first time I need a new pair of jeans, I know I’ll be wishing the Bur Jamman Centre had a branch in Yuzhno.<\/p>\n
5.\u00a0 Driving about in a Mercedes coupe.<\/p>\n
6.\u00a0 Clean streets.\u00a0 I know they are covered in litter and sand, but at least it’s dry dirt.\u00a0 Your car doesn’t get covered in sludge, and your shoes don’t need\u00a0a\u00a0polish\u00a0every day.<\/p>\n
7.\u00a0 Being able to nip out to the grocery store without changing clothes or putting on a jacket.<\/p>\n
8.\u00a0 The abundance of electrical and computer shops, and the prices at which they sell stuff.<\/p>\n
9.\u00a0 The Viceroy<\/em> bar in the Four Point Sheraton hotel, and one or two other bars and restaurants.<\/p>\n 10.\u00a0 Seing the sun shine every day without fail.<\/p>\n 11.\u00a0 The Fillipino band in the Sea View hotel.<\/p>\n 12.\u00a0 Cans of Pepsi for 1 Dirham.<\/p>\n 13.\u00a0 Proximity to a major airport served by a pretty decent airline, and a superb geographic location for travelling.<\/p>\n 14.\u00a0 Scuba diving.\u00a0 Although I’ve heard you can do this in Sakhalin, if you bring a pickaxe with you.<\/p>\n 15.\u00a0 Watching live Premiership football immediately after work on a Saturday and Sunday.<\/p>\n 16.\u00a0 MBC2.\u00a0 I know they show a lot of crap, but I’m going to miss it.\u00a0 I really liked how they had no watershed for showing 18-rated films.\u00a0 You could wake up on a Friday morning and find yourself watching an uncut Platoon<\/em>.<\/p>\n 17.\u00a0 The general benevolance, or laziness, of the police.\u00a0 They leave you alone, which is good.\u00a0 I’m going to yearn for this after a year in Russia.<\/p>\n 18.\u00a0 Dirt cheap petrol.<\/p>\n 19.\u00a0 Seeing Dubai’s megaprojects completed.\u00a0 I know half of them won’t be, and the other half will be white elephants, but I’d still liked to have seen the Burj Dubai and The Palm finished.<\/p>\n 20.\u00a0 The guarantee of\u00a0doing next to bugger-all\u00a0at work in the three months of summer and a month of Ramadan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Things I will miss about Dubai: 1.\u00a0 The weather in late Autumn and early Spring.\u00a0 This cannot be beaten. 2.\u00a0 The swimming pool on the roof of my apartment block.\u00a0 I doubt I’ll have one of these in Sakhalin.\u00a0 Maybe … Continue reading