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Saturday, April 03, 2010
Thursday, August 13, 2009
The Office - 1st day
Another re-cap
So, the driver collects me at 08:30 and bleary eyed I rock up at the office. Yes, it's up there on the 15th floor!
(I should point out that these photos were taken a few days after, during a bad sandstorm - it's normally blue and sunny!)
The first day was great - enough time to set up my laptop, get a mobile phone, meet a few people etc. My boss took pity on me about 12 and sent me home - the constant yawning was a real giveaway!
As my first day was on the last day of the week (Thursday) my new colleague took great delight that I wasn't told it was dress down Thursday. Only person with a tie on!!
Oh well.
The Flight!
OK - continuing on with my review of the recent weeks. I will focus on the flight.
We arrived relatively calmly at Heathrow airport. We didn't have a huge amount of time, so went straight to find the Etihad desk. We had two large trolleys, loaded with 5 suitcases - the children's car seats, the buggy and our hand luggage.
I was convinced we would be over the weight allowance, but amazingly we were OK. The bad news is that there was no room to seat all 4 of us together, as the flight was full. So it was 1 + 3. Sadly (for Leanne) the "1" was me about 20 rows infront of the rest of the family. Initially, the children were in 2 together by the window, with Leanne next to them in the middle row. However, that was less than ideal so Leanne ensured a move happened... A friendly family moved to allow Leanne and the children to occupy 3 seats at the rear of the aircraft.
The take off run was great - Elise and Harry spent the time screaming (like a rollercoaster) and laughing saying the plane "was hurting my bum". This of course had the surrounding passengers in hysterics.
What can I say about the flight - smooth, efficient, comfortable, loads of legroom (even for me) and this was economy. Certainly very impressed by Etihad.
I know Leanne doesn't believe this, but everytime I attempted to get up and go back to see them, either they would serve food and drinks or the captain put the seatbelt sign on to warn of turbulence. Honest!
The onboard TV also included a view from the camera mounted in the nose and underside of the aircraft. This was great for takeoff and landing. As we landed at night, there was not a huge amount to see sadly - a vast expanse of darkness (I guess that was the desert!).
Once we landed - it took a while to get through immigration. I had to go seperately to pick up my employment visa. I had been advised this was hidden away - I ended up wandering through offices that were deserted until I found the counter. My visa was on the top! Picked it up, and was then sent to have a retina scan. Again - the office was deserted so I stood and looked stupid (very easy) until a dude showed up to do it.
I then joined the family and we went through imiigration proper. This was OK, took about 20 mins, passports stamped. We then had to put all our hand luggage through x-ray securty (bizarre!).
Waiting for the hold luggage was a breeze - I think because everyone else had already left!
We then met the company driver - Illiyas. He went off to bring the car to the front of the entrance. As it was now 1.30am, we said we would wait outside to sample the night air. Big. Mistake. A wave of heat hit us as soon as we stepped outside, and we were all instantly drenched by the severe humidity. "Daddy, it's making me all slimey" said Elise - how right she was!
Illyias then turned up seemingly with the world's smallest car (a Nissan Tilda) to take 4 people, 6 suitcases, hand luggage, car seats and a buggy. Somehow we all squeezed in, and we started the drive to the apartment.
Our first experience of Abu Dhabi was the immense construction work. Building sites lit via floodlight, cranes working etc. Apparently the building sites are run on a 24/7 basis - as we would soon find out. More of that later.
We arrived at the apartment around 2.30am. We were on the 9th floor - It was lovely - nice big living room, hallway, bathroom, maids room, 2 bedrooms (1 with en suite), kitchen and balcony. Everything was brand new - literally the kettle/toaster were still in boxes etc.
We crashed about 3am - as I knew the driver would be back at 8.30 for my first day in the office!!
So, safe, sound, tired and looking forward to the upcoming adventures.
We arrived relatively calmly at Heathrow airport. We didn't have a huge amount of time, so went straight to find the Etihad desk. We had two large trolleys, loaded with 5 suitcases - the children's car seats, the buggy and our hand luggage.
I was convinced we would be over the weight allowance, but amazingly we were OK. The bad news is that there was no room to seat all 4 of us together, as the flight was full. So it was 1 + 3. Sadly (for Leanne) the "1" was me about 20 rows infront of the rest of the family. Initially, the children were in 2 together by the window, with Leanne next to them in the middle row. However, that was less than ideal so Leanne ensured a move happened... A friendly family moved to allow Leanne and the children to occupy 3 seats at the rear of the aircraft.
The take off run was great - Elise and Harry spent the time screaming (like a rollercoaster) and laughing saying the plane "was hurting my bum". This of course had the surrounding passengers in hysterics.
What can I say about the flight - smooth, efficient, comfortable, loads of legroom (even for me) and this was economy. Certainly very impressed by Etihad.
I know Leanne doesn't believe this, but everytime I attempted to get up and go back to see them, either they would serve food and drinks or the captain put the seatbelt sign on to warn of turbulence. Honest!
The onboard TV also included a view from the camera mounted in the nose and underside of the aircraft. This was great for takeoff and landing. As we landed at night, there was not a huge amount to see sadly - a vast expanse of darkness (I guess that was the desert!).
Once we landed - it took a while to get through immigration. I had to go seperately to pick up my employment visa. I had been advised this was hidden away - I ended up wandering through offices that were deserted until I found the counter. My visa was on the top! Picked it up, and was then sent to have a retina scan. Again - the office was deserted so I stood and looked stupid (very easy) until a dude showed up to do it.
I then joined the family and we went through imiigration proper. This was OK, took about 20 mins, passports stamped. We then had to put all our hand luggage through x-ray securty (bizarre!).
Waiting for the hold luggage was a breeze - I think because everyone else had already left!
We then met the company driver - Illiyas. He went off to bring the car to the front of the entrance. As it was now 1.30am, we said we would wait outside to sample the night air. Big. Mistake. A wave of heat hit us as soon as we stepped outside, and we were all instantly drenched by the severe humidity. "Daddy, it's making me all slimey" said Elise - how right she was!
Illyias then turned up seemingly with the world's smallest car (a Nissan Tilda) to take 4 people, 6 suitcases, hand luggage, car seats and a buggy. Somehow we all squeezed in, and we started the drive to the apartment.
Our first experience of Abu Dhabi was the immense construction work. Building sites lit via floodlight, cranes working etc. Apparently the building sites are run on a 24/7 basis - as we would soon find out. More of that later.
We arrived at the apartment around 2.30am. We were on the 9th floor - It was lovely - nice big living room, hallway, bathroom, maids room, 2 bedrooms (1 with en suite), kitchen and balcony. Everything was brand new - literally the kettle/toaster were still in boxes etc.
We crashed about 3am - as I knew the driver would be back at 8.30 for my first day in the office!!
So, safe, sound, tired and looking forward to the upcoming adventures.
Saturday, August 08, 2009
Well, we have arrived!
OK, let me start by saying that I have not made a post on here simply because I have been too busy! Which I guess is a good sign.
So, let's go for a recap!
Departure from UK
Preparations were not helped with a large power cut that affected the Bexleyheath/Dartford area. This meant no internet access, no showers, no vacuuming etc. I spent most of the day before on the phone (thankfully we had an old phone that didn't require electricity) to different companies. It is surprising how easy the Internet has made simple things (i.e checking baggage allowance limits) easy to find!
So, it was difficult to get the house fully cleaned. 3 hours of power every 6 hours - all mobiles/ipods etc were plugged in ready to go!
My mum had arranged to take us out for a farewell meal - alas the place we had booked was closed due to the power cut, so we had to go to a lovely restaurant in Bluewater (who apparently have their own generators!).
Shortly before we left for the meal, I sold the car! Yes, talk about leaving things to the last minute. 6pm, the night before we leave the country! So I was sorry to see the car go, but to be honest the money was needed. And we were paid in cash...
So, the trip to Bluewater involved distributing a large amount of cash to each person going. (Didn't want to leave it in the house). Quite a stressful meal actually!
On our return home, we found power was on, so we started packing the suitcases. What did I say about leaving things to the last minute...
Day of Departure
Sleeping on the floor (everything else shipped) in a house with no power was a nice way to wake up on our final day. We couldn't wait to leave!
A flurry of activity somehow saw us ready to leave just about on time. Just a short hop around the M25 - my Mum took myself, Elise and Harry whilst Leanne travelled with Steve (and the suitcases) in his VW campervan!
It was a pleasant enough journey, but I was convinced some disaster would happen (car breaking down, traffic etc) so I didn't fully relax until we arrived at Heathrow.
More to follow!
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Moving day!
So, the day finally arrived. It was frantic and frenetic. It was stressful and --- hang on a minute, no it wasn't! The service was fab. The company turned up at 9.30 am, we told them what was going, and that was it. They took care of everything - never seen such good packing. They took furniture apart, wheels off bikes, you name it!
Very impressed. A big lorry turned up at 10am
Our stuff hardly filled it though
They stuck some wood up, to avoid the contents shifting around in transit. Hmmmmm.
Fingers crossed it arrives safely. Oh well, it's insured.
Here we go!!
Saturday, July 18, 2009
It's getting nearer..
Well, I am writing this brief note whilst having a brief period of reflection. We are at T minus 4 days until we are on the plane. T minus 2 days until our house is loaded in a container.
I have been away to Toulouse for 3 days, got a chance to meet my new colleagues which was nice. It was a bit of a bad trip - timewise - to be honest. Really need to be here doing things. Seemingly there is so much around the house still to sort - books EVERYWHERE, toys, clothes, bric-a-brac. Went through a mad half hour earlier of just chucking everything away. Oh well - it can all be purchased again I suppose.
My wife has gone out to the West End with her sister and niece for a bit of girly time, she certainly needs it, she has been so stressed out.
Until the next time!
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Tilt Shift photography
There is a good tutorial here which covers the steps required in Photoshop.
Essentially, the idea is to try and reproduce a photo as if it were a miniature scale model. There are many examples on the web just google "TiltShift images",
The technique works best when photographing a busy scene from up high. I trawled through my online gallery, and found a good photo from my visit to Rome a few years back.
Here is the before:
And the after:
A nice effect!
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