JadAoun.com

A heart-breaking story in this morning’s newspaper:

Restricted timings for fuel tankers to operate on Dubai roads have led to many Emarat petrol stations running out of Super 98 gasoline said a Emarat spokesperson.

The horror! No 98 octane fuel? How will we survive!

Jannet Anderson who drives a Porsche said: “My car was running on reserve fuel. I was on my way from Al Barsha to Sharjah and had a tough time getting Super 98 petrol. The Emarat petrol stations at Defence roundabout, Garhoud as well as the one located opposite to the Festival City did not have any.

“A concerned attedant from one of the Emarat petrol stations than asked me to check out with their stations located on way to the Dubai airport road. I was lucky to get the petrol over there.”

I hope that authorities take strict action to prevent this from happening again. God forbid these high-performance cars disappear off the streets of Dubai.

Fellow Dubai-based blogger, Seabee, had commented on the new road re-naming system in Dubai however, it was only a few days ago that I noticed this sign while biking:

Apologies for the poor picture quality, but it was the best I could do with my phone.

Two things surprised me when I noticed that road sign:
1. Beach Road was renamed to Jumeriah Road
and
2. Road 35A has been renamed to Al Jalbout Street

I was really hoping that the Powers That Be (the Road & Transport Association) were going to improve the address system across the Emirate. Prior to this, roads were littered with signposts stating 35A, 26,B, 7C, and so on with no clear understanding of how they were named. Now it seems they’ve just replaced the numbers with meaningless names. I fail to see how this is supposed to help.

If you live on 35A or Al Jalbout Street, there’s a pretty good chance I will not able to find you.

I had discussed this earlier:

I still find the “violation” quite amusing.

Here are the photos I promised:

Biking Half-Way Point

Bike on a Break

Me on a Break

Now that the weather has cooled, I’ve decided to start biking again. After a 4-month break, its proving slightly difficult to get back in to my 5-day-a-week, 1-hour-a-day rountine but I hope to make it by the end of the week. Here are some photos from the road (more to come during the week):

Here’s my bike all ready for the drive back home.

On Route: The Jumeriah Beach Hotel

Where my journey begins: Burj Al Arab

Well, at least no new taxes. The UAE Federal government has finalized its budget for 2009:

The zero-deficit budget approved by the Cabinet will not introduce any new government fees or taxes, according to a senior Finance Ministry official.

That’s good news to the anti-VAT club; we are in the clear till 2010.

Nothing rings in the end of summer than a gloomy, foggy day:

Well that was the scene on my way to work Thursday morning. Visibility was down to a few meters in certain areas and to my surprise, people were driving slowly, almost cautiously through the low-lying clouds. For a second, I forgot I was in Dubai. But of course the fog cleared up by mid-morning and the maniac drivers came out to play again.

Here are some more photos of my drive to work:

Its plastered all over the press. Lebanon will be suing Israel in the EU for marketing Hummos as Israeli:

The Association of Lebanese Industrialists wants the European Union to declare hummus and other culinary specialties as traditional Lebanese dishes. The menu of potential targets also includes arak, the anise-flavored alcoholic drink, and tabouleh, a mixture of bulgur, parsley, mint and other herbs.

Get ready for a food fight! If only hummos could be used for good rather than evil:

Clip from the movie, You Don’t Mess With The Zohan

Funny story:

Hollywood star Salma Hayek was forced to explain her sexuality after a talk show host in Britain failed to understand her accent and asked her if she was a lesbian, British tabloid newspaper The Sun reported.
Eamonn Holmes, who is from Northern Ireland, made the gaffe on ITV’s ‘This Morning,’ the newspaper said.

Holmes told the 42-year-old star of films including “Desperado” and “Frida”: “Hayek doesn’t sound very Mexican.”

But when the star said “I’m half Lebanese,” Holmes sputtered: “You’re a lesbian?!”

Hayek burst into laughter and clarified that she was Lebanese, according to The Sun.

When he realized his blunder, Holmes asked her to forgive him and admitted he had thought she had said she was “half lesbian.”

It reminds me of the timeless episode from Golden Girls:

Here’s a shot from just around the block from my house in Barsha:

I couldn’t but laugh at the two commercial establishments that operate side-by-side (both run by the same company). You have on one hand, EMCO Financial Services,

and next door you have EMCO Laundry Services.

Get it?