Pfftt...

I'm out of excuses. I'm just slack at blogging these days.

This morning whilst going out for breakfast I decided I'd take my camera along to get some neighbourhood pics to use as a post. It was a lovely morning - 34 degrees - with a bit of a breeze to keep the burn at bay. We landed at an Italian cafe at the beach and ordered coffee and breakfast, I decided it was time to whip out my camera and take a few snaps. I got one under my belt - a bit of a warmer upper I guess you could call it - then there was a gentle buzz, a small click and my camera tidied itself away for a battery depleted nap. Bugger! The pic here isn't mine. It's Jumeirah Beach, just in front of where I had breakfast.

I had plans of a fruity, oaty, cereal based breakfast with perhaps a cheeky helping of yoghurt, however I caved in and had an aubergine, mozarella and mushroom panini instead. I did have a skimmed latte though, as a respectful nod in the direction of healthy eating.

The gentlemen passing the cafe today were as yummy as my breakfast. It was a good job I was wearing sunglasses as my meerkat impersonation was absolutely shameless. TOH was pretending to read the newspaper but I could tell he was paying attention as he read the same page for ages before I challenged him about it!

The pleasant morning suddenly got scorching hot so we made a run for it and since then I've been wrestling with my iTunes which has gone totally crackers and is unable to find the folders for any of my music. The advice from the world's geeks has been helpful but also useless - something they honestly advised that I should be prepared for.

Another battle we're having right now is with a large army of the UAE's most intelilgent ants. How the heck they're getting in to our kitchen is a secret we've yet to discover but they've maintained a constant presence near the teabags for about a week now. Who knew? Ants like a brew in the afternoon like the rest of us. Perhaps they're also quite smart in assuming that where there's tea, there's quite possibly a good chance that there'll be biscuits. Foolish ants!! Don't they realise that biscuits go stale in seconds here if they're not kept in the fridge? Maybe this is just a diversionary tactic and whilst we're watching their small-time investigations, there's an enormous squadron of them making off with the contents of the freezer and the booze cupboard. Note to self... check booze cupboard.

We've settled in to our neighbourhood now and we're getting the hang of where everything is. On Thursday evening we went to Buddha Bar for dinner - it's just across the Marina from where we live so it's kind of one of our local restaurants. It's very cool and the food was great. TOH and I got far too tipsy on cocktails and wine but it was a great evening.

We're a little sad that the summer is more or less here which means that we won't be able to make much use of our huge terrace. It gets far too hot in summer - temperatures last week were up to 47 degrees but the humidity in August and September is immense; breathing outside is like trying to breath under water.

TOH has just returned home with a massive bush for the terrace. Apparently it's quite happy to live in the heat but requires watering every day. I'll give it 3 weeks before we're having some kind of plant removal...