The situation in the world is pretty crazy these days. The situation here in the UAE is no less special. We've opened up our doors, e-gates, airports and hotels; embracing capitalism with open arms and welcoming everyone and anyone with a passport by "adding value" via the pink stickers you can get at your nearest Immigration and Naturalisation branch, typically valid for 3-years.
Now you can really reap the benefits (and drawbacks) to such a model. Ok there is a liquidity problem in the UAE and the world, but on the flip side I can safely say that traffic in the UAE and especially Dubai has become better. I think I can even call it "manageable". This is a great thing and a time for us to rejoice. We can spend less time on the road and more time with those we love.
Last thoughts: Where have all the gold-diggers and speculators gone to? Where is their next Dubai? Maybe they have gone to volunteer in Gaza?
04 January, 2009
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28 comments:
Home for Chrsitmas and New Year... of course if they stay away, it will be citizens of the UAE who suffer...
I think they all came to Abu Dhabi. I have noticed that traffic in Dubai is better. Much more so than a year or so ago.
But traffic in Abu Dhabi has gotten far far worse.
What you've noticed are the holidays.
Traffic is correct in August also. Let's wait until DSF starts, i'm sure the grinding will be back. :)
Buj, are you trying to steal RTA's thunder?
/end sarcasm
go recession! woo hoo!
im afraid it might have something to do with all the holidays in december...
=(
Good riddance to the gold diggers and speculators. Now all of us who really want to make this place work can get on with it without them giving everyone a bad name.
How about when things get back on track (i.e. post recession, if I can say so) - what checks and balances to ensure gold-diggers/speculators and scum cousins do not renegade the towns again? Sure did make life hell.
Rosh said:
"what checks and balances to ensure gold-diggers/speculators and scum cousins do not renegade the towns again?"
suggestion: assign Kanye West to oversee (reject or approve) all applications for work-permits…. ;)
BuJassem: you may have been too quick off the starting line. Actually, they're back. The good times lasted till yesterday (the last in the long string of holidays). Now it's crunch time again.
P.S.: Are these the same guys responsible for turning the half-a-million tower cranes at the Meydan Project into statuesque stillness?
(Not to mention all the other ones in a state of suspended animation all over the city.)
If so, I doubt they'll be back in a hurry.
It is (relatively) good on the roads, but I'm afraid it's just the holiday season. When they all get back we'll have gridlock again :-(
with the recession going on.. are they really gonna go ahead with a 'shopping festival'
Harsha, foreign/local spending is exactly what's needed. A healthy influx of shoppers and bargains helps fight a recession. Sensible spending makes the world go round :) It's when greed steps in, the cycle cracks.
DJ, brilliant! :)
It is true Abudhabi is getting crowded by Dubai cars and by Dubai employees including labor. The construction sector is the one mostly affected by the sudden project stop + most construction companies in Dubai are heading to Abudhabi, creating an extra pressure, i.e So many companies and a much smaller market.
which reminds me, whatever happened to Sama Dubai's 'lagoons' project (next to al khail road)?
hemlock: do you mean the one that was advertised as being beneficial/complementary to the bird sanctuary when in fact it was going to rip the heart out of it?
Hopefully it's dead and buried. Can you imagine the mosquitoes around there!? :-)
nzm: i hope so... cuz ive seen tonnes of flamingos there, and ive wondered how and what is being sold and built there. the "lagoons" hoarding has been there for a long long time now... but not a single crane.
just wondering.
hemlock,
..not a single crane, only flamingos...
cracking pun, LOL. I'm sure it was intentional.
Apologies BuJ for hijacking your post.
"The Israeli military said last night that three of its soldiers were killed and 24 wounded by a shell FROM ONE OF ITS OWN TANKS in a battle near Gaza City."
This is what's called poetic justice!
Anonymous, why so bitter and so jealous? Lol where you sacked by any chance? You seem like it :p
Thanks all for your feedback... Moryarti.. you cracked me up walla!!! We need more sarcasm in the Arab world :) As for Anon @ 06 January, 2009 19:11
wallah you can highjack my post anytime if it's about the genocide in Gaza on the hands of murdering Zionists.
60 airstrikes last night. Yes, all just in one night.
700 Palestinians dead to date. The Israelis you ask? 11. Most of whom in friendly fires. As anon says, poetic justice.
Make no mistake, Gaza is Modern Day Karbala.
But while the persecution of the Ahle Bayt was over come Ashoura, Gaza suffers still.
For how much longer? When will this second Karbala end?
May Allah give the people of Gaza patience to bear their fate while we puff on our shishas and make the right parlour noises.
Shame on you. These are people who have just lost their jobs. They are people who have families to feed and they no longer have an income.
You would think that some of you would show a bit of compassion.
You would think that some of you would show a bit of compassion.
DE:
Off-topic Poster here!
There used to be such a thing (in-us) called 'compassion' but that was a long time ago. In this day & age where relationships are convenience-based, compassion gets extracted from /within/ us without an anesthetic.
That is why they say;
Life's a beach
It came riding on a horse
And at the end of it we die
So much for Care!
Message for DJ and the guy who sent me the link for the rebars:
They are damn 'rebars' indeed!
Hope that clears things up. Those rebars...hehe!
Let me know if you got this message.
I did try and explain it's those things that hold the concrete together and look like iron rods...
Rebars: what an industry, and what a name!
ah... I*maginate.. rebar is usually kept in singular.. just like the plural of fish is fish.. and rebar = reinforcement bar, so it's an acronym, and thus sounds funny or made up.
Thx Buj - this whole rebar issue was brought up on Stained's post about the rain! And I promised DJ and the other guy who finally suggested the mysterious 'coppery things' are actually called rebar (no 's' lol), which I am so ecstatic to finally confirm. HEHE!!
It's even weirder that you can't add an 's' to rebar! Strange...! I will certainly remember next time I have a conversation with someone about rebar (please let me add an 's'!) After finding out what rebar meant, I spotted an article devoted to it: regional rebar demand had dropped by 30%. How fascinating.
The guy on the 7th floor being constructed just opposite better have a nice rebar to hold on to because safety doesn't look like much of an issue from where I'm sitting!
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