Masood in Abu Dhabi

Winter sunset - AD Corniche

2010-12-29T07:45:00.000Z

James Caan

2010-09-15T16:18:00.001+01:00

... not the actor!

Sheikh Zayed Mosque from the Souk Qaryat al Beri

2010-09-12T15:29:00.001+01:00

Back to school

2010-08-28T10:42:00.002+01:00

The thought still depresses me after all these years.

Spices at Carrefour

2010-05-28T11:42:00.000+01:00

Spices at Carrefour - Abu Dhabi

How not to number floors in a building

2010-05-12T17:41:00.001+01:00

Usually you expect floors in any building to start at 1 or G (for Ground floor) and go from there. If you really want to be radical, you could go for A, B, C and so forth.

But check this out at Wahda Mall:

Starts (if that is the right word) with LB, and then goes on, UB, G, UG, 1, U1, 2, U2, LR and R.
You have to ask yourself why?

First car accident

2010-03-19T15:24:00.001Z

Had my first car accident in the UAE. The gentleman driving behind me was 'checking emails' on his blackberry while driving at 70kms (approx 43 miles). The speed limit on this stretch of road is 100km (62 miles)

Here is him just after he hit us (don't think he braked at all):

...and here is me:

On the positive side, AD Police and Saaed were very professional and courteous to deal with.

Moral of the story? Do not use your mobile phone while driving, specially not for checking emails.

http://iffir.blogspot.com/

Global village - Dubai

2010-03-14T13:49:00.001Z

A ride at the 'Global Village'.

Image made with a Blackberry camera phone.

Underwear, seriously?

2010-03-10T13:41:00.008Z

A used clothing collection bank, no problems so far:

But look closely:

Yep. But the question is who is donating their underwear and why.

Maybe I am missing something here.

Curtains in a car window

2010-03-05T13:32:00.001Z

Seen on Airport Road Abu Dhabi.

Al Ain Wildlife Park and Resort

2010-02-27T13:30:00.000Z

Al Ain Zoo

I knew it.........

2010-01-23T07:44:00.000Z

....'Women driving too slowly' blamed for causing accidents (according to a study by the UAE Ministry of Interior). Extracts from the story published in The National:

"Slow motorists cause accidents when frustrated commuters, perhaps anxious to get to school or work on clogged roads, try to overtake lagging vehicles, the Ministry said, with women apparently being identified as frequent culprits."

"Omayya al Sayegh, a driver and housewife, said women were generally bad drivers. “They’re slow and they lack concentration,” she said. “If you see anyone driving aimlessly from left to right and not knowing where to go, you can tell that she’s a woman.”"

Full story here.

The biggest traffic jam in the world

2009-12-13T05:59:00.004Z

It has been raining consistently for the last couple of days and it has turned downtown AD into a giant traffic jam:The picture above is of Electra Street (Zayed 1st) at around 9:30a.m. on Sunday. It was so much fun driving to work today!
http://iffir.blogspot.com

Eid and Clouds

2009-11-30T18:00:00.006Z

Went to the stunning Grand Mosque for Eid prayers and took this:

.. and completely unrelated, we have clouds in Abu Dhabi:

http://iffir.blogspot.com/

Car wash

2009-11-14T07:51:00.006Z

An inevitable consequence of living in the desert is that cars gets very dirty very quickly. Visits to the car wash are frequent.

You go through an automatic car wash and then to the 'Vacuum Bay' where the car is cleaned on the inside. Cost - 30 dirhams.

The picture above is of the car in front of mine getting vacuumed.

http://iffir.blogspot.com

Text spam

2009-10-23T17:25:00.004+01:00

Sometimes you get spam texts. Sometimes, they are from the government. Sometimes they are in Arabic. There is no way to stop them.

http://iffir.blogspot.com/

Selling snow to Eskimos

2009-10-02T14:25:00.003+01:00

or selling sand in the middle east!

full marks to ELC for the effort!

Labour camp

2009-09-19T09:24:00.004+01:00

Went to a labour camp last week to distribute iftaar to the workers with colleagues from work.

At most camps, the employers provide iftaar and dinner. At this camp, the workers bought their own food. We also had iftaar with them that day.

New kind of street lamps?

2009-09-05T07:12:00.004+01:00

....ramazan decoration on the island in the middle of Corniche Rd, Abu Dhabi.

Lets draw

2009-08-20T09:10:00.003+01:00

Saw this in the childrens section of a local supermarket. What I found interesting was not the blacked out image (which was probably a pig or some such) but the little guy behind him in the pool.

If you look closely, the censor has drawn a moustache on it. Funny.

Sandstorm in AD

2009-08-05T06:38:00.004+01:00

The sandstorm from the office window. The little spec is the sun (although it looks like the moon!)

A car (not mine) after the sandstorm:

What is this road called?

2009-07-07T16:47:00.003+01:00

If you looked at the picture above and guessed, "Zayed the 1st" or "7th Street" then you would be wrong. No one uses those names. The road is actually called 'Electra', which appears no where on any signs or any maps.
Not sure why. I have heard, this same road, further across the island, is called "Nagda Street'.

Funny town, Abu Dhabi.

Bed space in Abu Dhabi

2009-06-25T16:43:00.004+01:00

Notices on the side of a phone booth. 'Bed space' means exactly that, a bed in a room which has more than one occupant.

My name is........

2009-06-25T11:55:00.003+01:00

on an island off Abu Dhabi.

The German Cake

2009-05-16T15:15:00.003+01:00

A German Cake foound at Starbucks at Marina Mall yesterday.

Are these the only gays in the village?

2009-05-12T16:42:00.004+01:00

Of course not, and these guys are definitely not. Its just how some of the guys walk around here.

Do mobile phone batteries have backsides?

2009-05-05T17:15:00.003+01:00

This one does:
An el-cheapo Chinese phone (which I am currently using) with a backside!

The Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi

2009-05-03T19:36:00.005+01:00

The Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi

The picture below is of the chandelier in the interior of the mosque.

The internet here is pretty crappy so I had to resize the pictures.

Shaky stadium on the inside

2009-05-03T19:09:00.005+01:00

....... the Abu Dhabi cricket stadium where Pakistan managed to win the final one day.

When at the shopping centre ....

2009-04-29T14:57:00.006+01:00

Please wear respectable clothing
No kissing or overt display of affection
No consumption of alcohol in the mall
No dangerous activities
No pets allowed

A 'courtesy policy' outside Abu Dhabi Mall.

The sign said shake.....

2009-04-29T07:21:00.003+01:00

..... so I had to shake it.
A shaky Shaikh Zayed cricket stadium in Abu Dhabi where Pakistan were playing Australia on Monday.

Abu Dhabi airport

2009-04-28T08:29:00.005+01:00

End of the journey or the beginning of a new one

....and the obligatory shot of the airplane wing.

Things I will miss about London - Flickr

2009-04-25T00:18:00.003+01:00

...... because Flickr is banned in the UAE.

Things I will miss about London - Lebanon Rd

2009-04-23T09:17:00.005+01:00

Things I will miss about London - my car

2009-04-21T18:41:00.002+01:00

Things I will miss about London - buses

2009-04-21T15:57:00.003+01:00

Things I will miss about London - Tayyabs

2009-04-21T15:53:00.004+01:00

Tayyabs, probably the best desi restaurant in London

Things I will miss about London - Trains

2009-04-21T15:52:00.004+01:00

Things I will miss about London - the river

2009-04-21T15:51:00.001+01:00

Things I will miss about London - the Green

2009-04-19T12:44:00.003+01:00

Things I will miss about London - the Strobists

2009-04-17T18:03:00.002+01:00

Huy and Rams posing in Paulos kitchen. Instead of preparing for the LPMG presentation, we were testing Paulos softbox.

Image made with a D300. SB600 in softbox camera right.

Paulo at the LPMG seminar.

D300 SB28 camera left white shoot through. Gelled SB24 at background. SB28 in Paulos softbox camera right for rim light.

Jonathan jumping for joy at a Strobist meet.

D40 - two strobes either side gelled.

Things I will miss about London - work colleagues

2009-04-17T17:47:00.003+01:00

..... not really but they might read this.

DB colleagues pretending to work.

Image made with an iPhone.

Things I will miss about London - the City

2009-04-17T17:24:00.004+01:00

The city of London

Image at the top is a view from the Deutsche Bank at Appold Street and the image at the bottom is made in front of the Bank of England.

Both images made with an iPhone.

Things I will miss about London - East Croydon station

2009-04-17T16:59:00.003+01:00

The long climb up to East Croydon station, and the run down the ramp to get to the platforms to catch the train. The picture shows a rainy East Croydon station on a Friday afternoon.

Image made with an iPhone