Dubai’s big freeze

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Last week, Building helpfully pointed out to young, adventurous types why leaping on the next plane to Dubai – the land of plenty (of construction projects) – might not always be such a good idea. Among the reasons listed were the price of renting a flat, and some even more worrying statistics concerning the price of beer.

Dubai’s bloggers, on the whole, do little to dispel the notion that Dusty City is something of an acquired taste.

Secretdubai.blogspot.com opens a recent posting with a nod to TS Eliot: “September is the stickiest month, breeding damp patches out of limp clothes, mixing humidity and sweat, and generally making everybody’s life a clammy nightmare. It was no surprise to note that humidity reached 98% the other day.”

Proving that it’s impossible to please anybody as far as the weather is concerned, Ramdux uses the blog forum on www.travelpod.com to complain: “Brrrr, everywhere is cold: taxis, shops, hotels. Of course, I’m talking about the abundance of air-conditioning around here – it’s everywhere.”

Apart from the boiling/freezing climate, the other main topic of conversation among the emirate’s bloggers is the yet more hellish traffic. Dubai.metblogs.com comments: “Well, schools are opening, people are back from vacations and hell is loose once again on the roads of Dubai and linking emirates. Since last week, if you want to get to work on time, you will have to subtract another half an hour from your departure time.” There follows seven helpful tips for the successful navigation of the Dubai traffic, although since these include the “identify chronic bottleneck areas and try to avoid them”, I’m not sure there will be many more happy motorists as a result.

Webmasterdubai.blogspot.com is another Dubai citizen teetering on the verge of road rage, specifically Jumeira Beach Road rage. The road, home to the world’s tallest hotel, the Burj al-Arab (pictured) has been “beautified”, but not to webmasterdubai’s liking. “Despite the millions spent on JBR and installation of dozens of traffic lights, the signals are not linked,” he moans. “I arrived at our destination wanting to do nothing more than turn right round and go home to bed.”

So if it’s not the weather, it’s the traffic. And if it’s not the traffic, well, then it’s the work–life balance.

Dxbsunshine.blogspot.com writes about the “new weekend system that has just been implemented”, thereby imbuing the idea of taking regular days off work with the air of a complete novelty. “The weekend is now officially Friday to Saturday for all government businesses. The private sector is still a grey area.”

Probably something to bear in mind before you take that job …