As you know we have ben allocated our permanent accommodation - approx 50m away from Sheik Zayed Road - the busiest 6 lane double freeway in the whole of the UAE and a royal palace that has chickens and camels in the back yars. Yes, the noise is a problem but that I am sure we will be come accustomed to it in time ... and it is louder than the proverbial white noise! But the villa is central to all the amenities and is after all right next to a palace - so we have royal neighbours to rub shoulders with. A far cry from the derelict , dirty villa we were in over the past 4 months. 

Sadly 70 families still remain in temporary accommodation - and their situation is uncertain as the Arabian Ranches villas are still not available to xxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxx and apparently the Green Lakes apartments on the Marina have advised these families that they have till the 21st of April to vacate the building. So many people have had their lives put on hold by this accommodation debacle ... a year of absolute uncertainty which has left an indelible mark on each of the 225 families who were placed in temporary accommodation a year ago because of poor planning and a lack of inter-departmental communication. 

Yes, I guess we are poor sparrows despite living next to the royal peacocks ... but there is I am certain a bird mafia that rules the avian roost here in Dubai - note I said avian not aviation although I am certain the same could be said of xxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx. Anyway - after having moved into our new villa last Saturday in Safa 1 in our postage stamp garden which by the way is the same size if not smaller than my pool in my lovely home in Cowies Hill South Africa, the cat family on wednesday morning managed to catch a small sparrow and brought it unharmed into the kitchen where they released it much to my and my husband's consternation. We caught the sparrow before it came to any harm and after a while released the bird. A few minutes later whilst cleaning the upstairs bathroom, my youngest son told me that there were peacocks on the fence who were barking at the cats. And lo and behold there they were - the bird mafia in all their glory angrily sqwarking a lesson to the cat family ( all six of them) who were sitting up at the peacocks with amazement at how their small morsel of a sparrow had transformed itself into 3 humungous birds that were far bigger than them in size and weight! Although knowing my cats they were probably wondering how they would consume such a creature if they caught one!

Lesson to be learned - don't play with small sparrows because their connections might just be peacocks!!



CLICK! or dare I say "SQWARK"