mrsg | ExpatWoman.com
 

mrsg

mrsg
274
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Latest post on 13 May 2014 - 17:20
Do you use the granular chlorine in your pool, or the blocks? I have an above ground pool that needs chlorine, but I can't find the granular/powder variety in town, only the blocks, which don't work in my pool. Any ideas?? Thanks
mrsg
274
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Latest post on 04 May 2014 - 14:42
Blimey, just checked my rent. We only moved in 6 months ago and are already looking at a 10% increase :0 And that is what I find so crazy. What has changed since you moved in all of 6 months ago?? Has your drive to work/town dramatically improved? Have you suddenly found that amenities are so much closer? Has your favourite restaurant opened an outlet just for you, right by your house? No, nothing has changed. I sometimes think I've slipped back in time and it is really May 2008!!
mrsg
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Latest post on 04 May 2014 - 14:14
I am with NOW and have not had a problem to date . Have been with them 18 months. They have always been quick to answer any queries, and approvals are almost instant for anything needing their OK.
mrsg
274
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Latest post on 04 May 2014 - 14:12
Tenant not changing the locks.........
mrsg
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Latest post on 04 May 2014 - 14:11
Not changing the locks is part of the rental agreement :(
mrsg
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Latest post on 04 May 2014 - 14:09
Arch - I deliberately didn't comment on the run up to the bid announcement, as I knew I'd get my head blown off!
mrsg
274
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Latest post on 04 May 2014 - 14:04
I found that a friendly garage can easily disconnect the speed alarm, and re connect it before you take the car back :) Also, regarding speeding on roads here. I have driven for 26 years here, and not had a speeding ticket. Do I drive at the exact set limit? No of course not! Do I ever drive above the limit of the road (as in, 120 plus 20 grace) ? No of course not! BUT - it is far more important to know the custom of a road, more than the speed limit. Yesterday, a western looking woman in a white saloon car was merrily driving at 119 on the Mohammed Bin Zayed Road - in the outer most, very fast, lane! Would she move? Not a chance. How did she avoid getting rear ended by numerous cars coming up at 140 before realising she was only doing 119??? Heaven only knows! She was driving at the speed limit on the road signs, and refused to move. Well my dear, you were a much bigger idiot than any of the other drivers travelling at 140 - because the outside lane of the MBZR is driven at 140!! You were a danger to yourself and others. And before anyone asks, I know she was travelling at 119 because I matched her speed, safely on the inside lane! There was absolutely no reason for the other driver to be out on the 6th lane, as the lanes from 1 - 4 were empty!
mrsg
274
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Latest post on 04 May 2014 - 13:17
I have an outstanding landlord on my villa, and an opportunistic landlord on my business premises! Business landlord has been in today, threatening us with changing the locks, barring us from the building, and generally being unpleasant! His attitude is - I can charge more so I intend to. Sorry Dubai, but if you let this happen again then the expatriate business community, which you rely on, will not forget ! We cannot afford to keep taking it on the chin - and neither can our employees. I cannot afford to pay thousands of dirhams more for no improvement in facilities. I cannot afford to increase salaries to allow my employees to pay thousands of dirhams more on their rents either. Everything in Dubai is going up apart from profits (because we now have to pay more for everything else!). 2020 means nothing to most of us. Time to get a grip on fact, not fantasy. edited by mrsg on 04/05/2014 <em>edited by mrsg on 04/05/2014</em>
mrsg
274
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Latest post on 04 May 2014 - 13:07
So, having filed a case at RERA against our office owner regarding his rent increase (17 percent with only 20 days notice), said owner has just been to the office, told us he wants us out, and is changing the locks tomorrow !! Doesn't care that we have a rera case filed, claims he has no notice of that, despite the hearing being on Tuesday, and despite us bringing the rera guy to the owners office to serve notice ! RERA advise us to call the police if he changes the locks tomorrow. Great - more hassle ! Considering that there are no facilities around our office block, the roads are in a mess, building is going on, and the building is less than half occupied, I just wonder where he thinks his new tenants are coming from!
mrsg
274
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Latest post on 01 May 2014 - 11:58
Thank you ladies. Unfortunately they are far too small to eat or the garlic might have been tempting. The dog will drink the beer - snails and all !! Will resort to egg shells and orange peel - have lots of both :)
mrsg
274
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Latest post on 30 April 2014 - 14:17
No gardeners on today ??
mrsg
274
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Latest post on 30 April 2014 - 14:16
But why would Emirates tell you what other airlines are doing? How would they even know? I think mrsg was referring to the airport website not Emirates Crossed replies :)
mrsg
274
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Latest post on 30 April 2014 - 14:15
I didn't go to the Emirates website. I went to Dubai Airport website - and they will know what the airlines are doing !!
mrsg
274
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Latest post on 30 April 2014 - 13:55
Yes, I went there first. Too much to expect that they would actually let us know which Companies are moving! Everything I have looked at repeats the mantra - Emirates are not moving. Good for Emirates, but some of us don't fly with them!!
mrsg
274
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Latest post on 16 April 2014 - 12:56
It was recently in the local press that 5 nurses had contracted MERS in Al Ain, and that one had then died of it. Unfortunately his body could not be returned to his home country because of the risk of inadvertently spreading the disease, so he had to be cremated here. Maybe that is where this has come from. If it truly was a school that sent out this message, then they need to be reported to the authorities. There are people who will take this seriously and panic!
mrsg
274
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Latest post on 16 April 2014 - 12:38
I practice a form of Yes Parenting - Yes you can tidy your bedroom Yes you can clean your own bathroom Definitely Yes you can make me a cup of tea Yes you can have whatever you want for dinner as long as it is what I have already cooked for you This woman is an idiot. Can you imagine being a yes parent to a teenager ??? Nightmares !! <em>edited by mrsg on 16/04/2014</em>
mrsg
274
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Latest post on 03 April 2014 - 10:44
Please don't complain about the rain! Before you know it , it will be 50 degrees with 100 per cent humidity - and you will look back longingly to the days it rained :) I have lived here for decades, and yes we have had rain in April, and in fact, a storm in August one year that blew all the tv satellite dishes off the villas in Jebel Ali, and bowled them down the street! There was also the year it rained in late March for 4 solid days, and caused roads to collapse and the hill at Jebel Ali (the one with the communications satellite) to slide down into the villas in one half of the village, covering furniture in 3 feet of sludge. Rain in the desert - go out and dance in it. The windows will still be there, and still need cleaning, in the summer :)
mrsg
274
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Latest post on 25 March 2014 - 13:09
I know exactly what a cam would show. Every day,: Owners gone. Mmm, can I get into the kitchen? No. OK, will jump onto sofa, where I'm not allowed, and sleep for a bit. (there will follow a couple of hours of heavy snoring !!) What was that noise??/ Agghhhh, owner back! Quick, off the sofa and stand behind the door . Door opens, waggy tail, lots of love. Every day :)
mrsg
274
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Latest post on 25 March 2014 - 07:28
Ecochic - I always keep her indoors if we are not there anyway, and this place is so quiet there is very little outside noise. She is very good about being left on her own, only occasionally chewing my shoes :) batgirls gal - Khawaneej.
mrsg
274
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Latest post on 24 March 2014 - 14:05
99.3 its been around for ages. I listen to it in the office. It's aimed at a slightly older audience so doesn't play the latest 'hits' all day long!
mrsg
274
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Latest post on 24 March 2014 - 13:48
Thanks Ecochic. I have spoken to my neighbour already and she was as surprised as me! Our area is still being developed, so there are no houses in front of me, and I am on a corner plot. No house behind me, but there is another street further back with maybe 10 houses there. That's what bothers me. There are so few houses here really, it's not like Jumeirah or Springs with proper neighbourhoods. I think it must just be someone who doesn't like me walking my dog passed their house and so has complained ! If she barked, or growled at people, they would at least have a reason, but I can count on one hand how many times I have heard her bark in 4 years! She is a typical Lab - soft as lites! And I know they will never be able to catch her because she doesn't go out on her own - it's the thought that someone nearby doesn't like us enough to go to the extent of registering a false complaint. Not nice!
mrsg
274
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 24 March 2014 - 12:01
Mice are like cockroaches - you may only see one, but there will be more ! Consider this: •A single female produces between 5-10 litters annually. •Each litter consist of 5-6 young that are able to reproduce at approximately 30 days of age. One mouse = many, many ,mice! Choithrams used to sell mouse traps, and the little grocery shops on places like Beach Road usually have them. Whatever trap you get, bait it with chocolate. And if it is a humane one, take it miles away or mouse will come back!
mrsg
274
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Latest post on 24 March 2014 - 11:49
I don't know where the barking is coming from unfortunately. We have lived there for 6 years now, and had the dog for 4 years, so I will be really annoyed if a newcomer has decided to cause problems! I know some people will think so what, get over it. But she is very much a part of our family, and I would hate anything to happen to her. I am going to be paranoid about someone leaving out poison now!
mrsg
274
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Latest post on 24 March 2014 - 11:38
I am both upset and annoyed. He came to say that he had received a complaint about my dog. I was shocked as she is well behaved, doesn't bark, and we most definitely scoop poop whenever we take her out on walks! He said he had received a complaint that she had been let out on her own and had entered a neighbours house. He went on to say that he had advised the complainant to shut the dog in and call him next time it happened. He was warning me that , if it happened again, I would be fined! I told him 1000 per cent, it was not my dog. And it can't be as she is only out when on a lead with one of the family. At all other times she is either with me, or locked in my house. Now I know Labradors are clever, but I have yet to meet one that can unlock a door, unlock a garden gate, go for a wander, then return and lock herself in again :) But - the inspector said it didn't matter what I said, he had to follow up on a complaint! Stupidly I didn't ask how he had decided it was my dog, but now I'm worried that any further complaint against us - even though I know it is false - will lead to action being taken against my dog! I live on a corner plot, so only have one immediate neighbour, and it wasn't her. So, has someone picked on my dog because she is the only one they ever see on a lead being walked? And has someone followed me home without me knowing - which worries me ? How else would they be able to point the inspector my way? There are very few dogs in my area (which is mostly Emirati) and I haven't seen any recently, but there is a lot of poop on a sand lot a few streets away, and I do hear a dog barking every now and then. As I said, I know absolutely it is not my dog, but am worried that things will/can escalate. Am I worrying for no reason at all?
mrsg
274
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Latest post on 17 March 2014 - 14:28
I will go back with a small counter offer. I don't mind paying 5% increase (well, I do, but am trying to be reasonable !), but not 16 per cent. Especially as he wants to charge extra for a parking space !
mrsg
274
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 17 March 2014 - 14:23
He will grow out of it. Just give him time, and don't make a big deal of it. My younger son got so annoyed with himself when he couldn't pronounce his older brother's name, that he gave him a nick name he could pronounce! Years later, older son still answers to the nick name :)
mrsg
274
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Latest post on 17 March 2014 - 14:11
Thanks Marink. I don't want to slap him with the rules, but neither do I want to pay a huge increase - especially as at least a third of the building is still empty, and no improvements have been made to the area. What I find annoying is the last line of his rent increase letter - Tenant must give a full months notice of intention to quit. Well, he hasn't given us the option of giving a months notice has he !!
mrsg
274
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Latest post on 06 March 2014 - 11:58
I saw this on MSN earlier today and posted it to Facebook. The situation in Syria (and beyond, in neighbouring countries offering help) is heart breaking. And I feel so helpless :( Money , clothes, toys - it just doesn't feel like enough !
mrsg
274
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Latest post on 04 March 2014 - 14:36
The one on Al Wasl Road, Near the Police College. The big one on Al Wasl by Safa Park might also have it , but I haven't been there.
mrsg
274
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Latest post on 04 March 2014 - 14:07
I've been looking everywhere too, and happily found it yesterday in Choithrams on Al Wasl, near the Police College.
mrsg
274
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Latest post on 26 February 2014 - 12:37
[ I drove past the site at Miracle Garden, either the school was hiding or it is only a giant pile of sand at the moment. I drive past the site every day - lots of nice hoarding, but no work on the school. Lot of work needed to make the plot look as good as the advert! Not that good a place for traffic control though.
mrsg
274
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 25 February 2014 - 12:31
Try The Light Building in Arjan, next to Miracle Gardens. We pay 40 k for a 620 sq ft office.
mrsg
274
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Latest post on 04 February 2014 - 15:37
http://www.ameinfo.com/blog/media-and-advertising/osn-offer-live-coverage-sochi-2014-winter-olympics-stunning-hd/ OSN broadcasting on 4 sports channels :)
mrsg
274
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Latest post on 03 February 2014 - 15:15
What is so sad and scary was that he had gone back to heroin after being clean for 23 years! That is a long time to be clean and shows how strong a heroin addiction can be... He had recently separated from his long term partner, and was living apart from her and the children. It could easily be what drove him back to drugs. Whatever he took certainly killed him quickly if the needle was still in his arm :(
mrsg
274
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Latest post on 20 January 2014 - 13:26
Were you immediately outside of Spinneys? I have seen lots of people park there, but there are no spaces there for parking. It is actually the lane to use if entering the side lane or car park lane. So if you were parked there, you were fined for parking on the road, blocking traffic.
mrsg
274
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Latest post on 17 January 2014 - 18:17
Nikki - we registered all 6 family phones at the same time, yet both DH and I have had to go in today to re register ours. The other 4 were already registered. Yes we know - we registered them all at the same time. The girl on the desk apologised but what could she do ?
mrsg
274
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Latest post on 13 December 2013 - 16:48
wow that is expensive !! Will tell them to pack carefully ! BA Economy plus gets 46 kgs of baggage, and their Business class gets 3 bags, max 32 kgs each - and you can still check in more by paying very little compared to Emirates. But the food is better on EK flights !
mrsg
274
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Latest post on 05 December 2013 - 11:59
And let's not forget, we slaughtered them in England in the summer :) We have to let them regain their self confidence, or they might never want to play us again. (just keep telling yourself that as they whup us!)
mrsg
274
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Latest post on 27 November 2013 - 13:53
Letter gone out today stating that the original letter from the Board of Directors still stands, and that the school will close next year. The College is not affected - apparently. Sad day for hundreds of people :(
mrsg
274
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Latest post on 27 November 2013 - 09:36
My 4 children attended JAPS, and then went on to EC. We have been very happy with the school over all those years. I know that there is an alarm bell ringing in everyone's minds about the safety of the College, but I still think I would take the place if I were you. Being constantly broke, AED 4000 is a lot to lose (for me )but I think it is a risk worth taking. EC is a lovely school, with some incredibly dedicated teachers. The year 6 at Primary have also been told that their places are safe for year 7 at the College. When looking at the exam results, you should also remember that EC is the least selective school in Dubai, yet constantly posts results on a par with the other colleges here. My child achieved 7 A* and 3 A's at GCSE recently. Dedicated teachers and enthusiastic kids can work wonders.
mrsg
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Latest post on 27 November 2013 - 09:23
For an awful moment there I thought you meant permanently !! The rumour is that everyone will get tomorrow off if we win 2020, not just schools.
mrsg
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Latest post on 26 November 2013 - 12:58
Dxbrun, sorry, which ministry is it you are referring to? If the Ministry of Education is closed, which it is for all Public sector holidays, then schools also have to close. They are not allowed to open when the Ministry is closed, as there has to be someone in authority available should there be an incident in a school that may require formal intervention. <em>edited by mrsg on 26/11/2013</em>
mrsg
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Latest post on 25 November 2013 - 13:10
Sorry - perfect sense would be giving everyone National Day off !! Ah but then how many people would chuck sickies on the 1st? Hey ho. Line up behind Bubbling Creek :)
mrsg
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Latest post on 25 November 2013 - 13:08
Although, thinking about it - I know an awful lot of people who will be happy having a recovery day on Sunday (Rugby 7's on Saturday )
mrsg
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Latest post on 25 November 2013 - 13:03
Sorry - perfect sense would be giving everyone National Day off !!
mrsg
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Latest post on 25 November 2013 - 13:02
I have never understood where the thinking comes from for holidays here. So the private sector doesn't get National Day off at all - just the day before. Wonder how many celebrations are organised for the day BEFORE National Day ??????
mrsg
274
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Latest post on 25 November 2013 - 12:08
We've always done all of our visas at Jebel Ali and never had a problem. Family visas, new, cancellations etc - always quick and easy. Although I do advise getting there early, as by 10 a.m. they are always busy and waiting times creep up.
mrsg
274
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Latest post on 25 November 2013 - 12:04
National Day is always going to be 2nd December- quote by Doubting Thomas True - But National Day, and National Day holidays for the private sector, are two totally different things ! And to Anon Dubai, the reason the holiday has been moved to Sunday and Monday is simple. If Monday and Tuesday were given as holiday, far too many people would be mysteriously ill on the Sunday anyway :) edited by mrsg on 25/11/2013 Does no one appreciate a midweek break? It's either a long weekend or bust here, it seems! I'd love to have the holidays during the week, but seriously, too many people keep their kids away from school on the other days when this happens, and too many people take a 'sickie' from work!
mrsg
274
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Latest post on 25 November 2013 - 12:01
How deluded some of the comments are! "Dubai is one of the biggest / talked about cities on the Planet" Err it is - if you look from outside, it is a "hot" topic city and everyone know where it is and what Dubai is trying to achieve, have you ever heard of :- ??? Turkey İzmir, Turkey Russia Yekaterinburg, Russia Tsar Nicholas II his wife and 5 children were murdered by the Bolsheviks in Ekaterinburg in 1918.I think a lot of people know this city! And in the early 1900's it was probably THE hot topic city in the world as well.
mrsg
274
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Latest post on 25 November 2013 - 11:53
National Day is always going to be 2nd December- quote by Doubting Thomas True - But National Day, and National Day holidays for the private sector, are two totally different things ! And to Anon Dubai, the reason the holiday has been moved to Sunday and Monday is simple. If Monday and Tuesday were given as holiday, far too many people would be mysteriously ill on the Sunday anyway :) <em>edited by mrsg on 25/11/2013</em>
 
 
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