DXB Brinkworth

In 1998, two local guys shot a Sudanese man dead in reaction to him claiming he was bullet proof. A bullet in the chest and one in the head is a pretty severe means to prove somebody wrong.

As alarming as this was, the case has now been reopened in an attempt to throw out the life sentences issued in 2007.  The convicted got an agreement from the victim’s parents for leniency. They are now seeking a single year of imprisonment (already served I guess).

gulfnews : ‘Bulletproof man’ case is reopened

Incidentally in other news today, not that it would have helped, a bullet proof t-shirt was announced (http://www.news.com.au/technology/boron-treated-wal-mart-t-shirt-can-stop-speeding-bullet-says-scientist/story-e6frfro0-1225852806454).

Ryan Interesting, Newsworthy arrest, courts, murder

Yesterday a number of Tecom families gathered downstairs on the Floor 1 terrace to celebrate Easter.  We had a well-received egg hunt for the kids - large and small, as well as a BBQ lunch and a few drinks with good company. Interestingly some of the kids didn’t go crazy with the chocolate. Lewis was the obvious exception, he had half his face, and pretty much his entire t-shirt covered in a mixture of chocolate and baby slobber.

It’s probably the first time my kids participated in such a big Easter egg hunt. And a few good lessons were learned.  Probably none more important than Myles learning no matter how full your basket of eggs becomes, NEVER put chocolate eggs in your pockets if the temperature is warm.

The kids enjoyed playing football, hide and seek, and chasing each other on bikes.  But once they grew a bit tired of these games, they seemed to go their own ways.  It was interesting to see Myles walking up and down the garden speaking some “foreign” language. I had to ask what he was doing, to which he replied he was being an Indian. He was equipped with a spear made from a frong from the garden, so I figured he was the American variety of Indian.

Trying to fit the theme I told him about traditional Indian names (without mentioning the standard two dogs joke).  We started with the animal, which he chose a Rhino. I was pleased, as it’s my favourite animal.  But I would soon regret the whole activity. As he’s just five I simply asked what is the Rhino doing, as it would be the first part of his name.  He responded it’s Pooing.  So “Pooing Rhino” it was for the afternoon.

Some friends set out to eat fish, in compliance with the tradition. It encouraged me to also get some prawns for the BBQ which was a very nice touch.  But the longer we stayed down there, the hungrier we were, and they conceded that fish was just not to cut it.  So they walked across to Carrefore and bought a full leg of lamb to throw on the BBQ.  It was delicious, even if a little heathen.

Ryan Adventures, Family news, Interesting, Woops Easter, Myles

This year we had our first Christmas in our adopted country, Dubai. Being a Muslim country and away from all family, it was always going to be different. But it was still extremely enjoyable with some good friends taking the usual place of family.

It seemed that most of our friends went home, or decided to travel over the Christmas break. I should mention, the Christmas “break” was a break by accident only. The holiday season is irrelevant over here. We were just fortunate that December 25th happened to fall on a Friday - the first day of our weekend.

We knew a handful of friends were staying in the building Christmas day, so we invited them to come to our place for a traditional Christmas lunch. Well, not quite traditional. We happily substituted the baked ham for a baked lamb as we had Muslim friends join. And also, the Christmas crackers that we’d expect to pay a few dollars for in Australia were the equivalent of $77 AUD a packet. So we got the cheapest kiddy ones, and used them sparingly.

For the months before, there were quite a few shops advertising the Christmas season which surprised me. We were even able to buy a tree - we chose the only one that would survive the attention of a headstrong 1 year old called Lewis. So it was certainly beginning to look a lot like Christmas. We even had a Christmas lunch at work which was unlike any Christmas lunch I’ve ever had. Karaoke was the theme of the day. And Santa was not as pale as I recall. He had dark skin from the Asian subcontinent, as well as a penchant for Bollywood dancing, which made for a fantastic entrance!

It also seemed at least one of the local police were in the spirit of the season when he booked me just one muqalifer(?) - fine - instead of the two I was deserving.

The traffic infringement happened on the way into work. I found myself in the wrong lane for the turn I wanted to make, so just like everybody else - which is apparently no excuse - just before the traffic lights I cut over a solid line when I saw a break in the traffic. This got the attention of a policeman on a motorbike, that I did see a few minutes earlier. He shouted a few things at me, and the only thing I comprehended was driver’s license which I gave to him. After this he wanted to see the car’s book (registration). I was driving a friend’s car while they were out of town, so I had no clue where the rego paperwork would be. I tried all the obvious places starting with the glovebox. I didn’t want to make the policeman more angry so I started handing him each piece of paper in there. Handing him things from the kids’ school didn’t help matters. We drove a little further where we could stop. He started dishing out a few more fines to people as he parked his bike - man this guy was efficient! I used the extra time to search the car completely, but to no avail. When I checked the boot I spotted an “I love UAE” scarf on the back window. I half-considered inconspicuously putting the scarf around my neck to appeal to his patriotism and let me go. But I thought better of it. At times like this there’s probably a fine line between trying to make a genuine connection with a guy in authority and taking the piss. The fine was just for “Not presenting vehicle registration card when required”. He dropped the charge for cutting the line. Ho, ho, ho.

Otherwise the Christmas was great. Technology enabled us to beam into my family’s Christmas celebrations in Australia, where everyone was well. Our boys loved riding their new bikes and Insha’Allah won’t break any bones. And our table full of friends - who incidentally spanned four continents - all shared what Christmas has always meant to me, having fun and enjoying the company of others. That is, despite all of us eating way too much - an obligatory Christmas tradition!

In fact we had plenty of food remaining, so we filled a few plates and sent them to the security guys who work in our building. Ordinarily they’d gobble this up and be extremely grateful. But it was sort of pleasing to hear that they couldn’t accept the food. Their fridge was already overflowing from loads of other tenants sending down food for them also. ‘Tis the season.

The day after Christmas I woke up early at 5:00am to watch some of the Boxing Day (Cricket) Test match - a bit of an Australian festive tradition.  After watching just half an hour of play between Australia and Pakistan, I had the clearest demonstration of the time difference between Dubai and Australia I’ve had.  Despite rising before the sun did in Dubai, play had already finished for the morning and it was time for the lunch break!

I hope everyone else had a lovely Christmas.

Ryan Family news, Interesting bikes, Christmas, fine, police

There’s only so many times I can read Myles the two or three kids books we have here before I go crazy.  And I think that point has passed.  All our books are still in storage in Brisbane. And knowing we’ll just have to move again means we don’t want to buy too many more right now.

Besides, Myles and I used to love visiting the Brisbane City Council library on the weekend and regularly getting a new bagful of books.  It was also a pretty cool place to just sit and chill-out.  We have been wanting to try the same here, but other things have always taken priority. Tonight however, I thought we’d finally visit a Dubai library.  “Gertie” - the name we’ve given our female-voiced GPS - gave us some pretty terrible directions. We were pretty much led onto the Metro’s tracks, so we had to do some rapid reversing, then a  large detour to get to the library.  The original directions suggested we’d make it there from our house in five minutes, including the traffic it was almost 45.

When we got out of our car Myles asked if he’d be allowed in, which I thought was a pretty odd question. It turned out to be well-founded. As we entered the gate a security guard walked straight up to us and said Myles wouldn’t be allowed in. Then he asked how old Myles was. I said four, which made him shake his head. Only six year olds are allowed to enter the library.

Next to the main library building there was a “Children’s Library”. Surely we could get in there, nope - he said it was the same deal. Only six years and above. I said we were just having a look, can we at least do that.  He said we’d need to test it with the staff on duty.

We did. And failed. The lady immediately asked how old Myles was, and four was the incorrect answer. I suggested he was very smart and is very good with books, but she was not wanting to budge. When I asked why they had such a rule, she said kids at four cannot read, and they make a mess of books.  I didn’t agree, but that made no difference.

The only ground I did make, was I’m allowed to get a card for myself, then I can take a  family loan of kids books. As she was saying this though, she seemed to be reducing herself to the fact Myles would most certainly ruin her books anyway.

This situation was quite upsetting for poor Myles. He was looking forward to going to the library this evening, so much so he almost ate all his spinach. His hopes certainly ended though with the ridiculous circular rule that kids should only read books when they’re able to read books. So I decided to get the library card another time - Myles would have to wait in the separate kids library while I did that anyway.

When we got outside I consoled him by saying we’d buy him a book instead. I spotted a bookshop sign from across the busy road. We made our way to it, and when we got close enough I saw it was an Islamic religion book shop. Hmm.  We entered anyway, and they did happen to have a small kids non-denominational section. I picked up the classic educational resource pictured. Not only does the cover have a misspelt title, it also has some odd graphics which bear no resemblance to any of the content.  It does have a train though. And it was a great relief to the slap in the face the Dubai library provided.

Next time we visit, Myles is primed. He’s magically become six!

Ryan Adventures, Interesting ageist, different rules, library

With such a large Indian presence in Dubai, a lot of the online news for the area have links to Indian ads.  One that got my attention this morning was the Bengali Matrimony web site, http://www.bengalimatrimony.com/

It’s mostly the same as what (I assume) you’d expect on an online dating site back home.  It has a few differences though.  It seems to have a pretty comprehensive search on religion, region and language - I guess as India’s such a large, populous and diverse place.

But I thought the face search was most interesting
(http://profile.bengalimatrimony.com/search/smartphotoform.php).

What it does is allow you to return all the prospective brides that have a facial similarity to your chosen Bollywood actress. Woohoo!

It seemed a bit hit and miss from my trial of this (for purely research purposes obviously), but obviously worth a try.

Ryan Interesting Bollywood