The Carr Family: November 2007

Fishermen in the family...

These probably seem a bit contradictory, seeing as we have just acquired two goldfish as pets, but all fish caught were thrown back into the river and survived, just in case you were worried! I have known Nath for nearly 11 years and this is the first time I have witnessed him catching a fish. I reckon all those episodes of ESA before Boots 'n All on Thursday nights have paid off...
(Photos taken on our week-end at Ferndale farm in the Eastern Cape earlier this month).

Dubai at dusk

Taken from the Lakes looking across to Dubai - Saturday 17:45 pm.

Point of clarification

A number of subscribers to our blog have called in (rather grumpily) wanting to establish who is who in the tank? Benjy is the speckled one with Black and Gold markings and Archie is the Gold Goldfish. Profound response from the pet shop owner when I asked if they would be ok sharing a tank: he said "of course, their colour does not make a difference, just like humans...".

And then there were six...

We would like to welcome BENJY and ARCHIE to the family. We have been wanting to get some sort of pet into the house for a while and settled on goldfish in the hope that they will not cost us as much as Bailey did with collateral damage. So, we took a trip to the local fish shop yesterday for Josh to make his selection. WW3 almost erupted when Josh confidently settled on a sea fish that looked remarkably like Nemo (R1,500) and a giant lobster for his "choice of 2". Lesson learned, always specify very clearly what the choice is i.e. two from the goldfish tank! Here are Benjy and Archie in their new home at our home. Josh and Dan are pretty chuffed.

Other then that, a hectic week for all of us. Kimbo was home alone for three nights whilst I was in Tanzania and Daniel has come down with a bad chest which required a visit to the Local International hospital (oxymoron or something there...?). Nothing too serious and he seems to be on the mend now. He is now crawling properly and starting to coast around tables, pot plants, etc. Fun in the sun below. To squash any rumour mongering about the ladder in the back ground - I am not moon lighting over week ends as a handy man. It just would not be afair on the local market.

Good luck to the Boks this evening against Wales. There is no lack of support from Dubai, starting with these two.

Due to popular demand

We have enlarged this one...

Dubai dairy

It has been an eventful few weeks. We all flew back to SA the week before last as our visit visa's had expired. You have 60 days after arriving in the UAE in which to do a 101 things to get your residency visa and we (or more accurately Barclays HR) simply ran out of time. Kim and the boys spent some quality time in Stutt catching up with Granny Pie, Des, Uncle Darryn and Aunty Cindy. We all managed to get together over the week end and had a great time at Ferndale, between Stutt and Cathcart. A beautiful thatched chalet overlooking Thomas River and an aloe infested krantz. We love the Eastern Cape... News reports confirm that it has not stopped raining there after I managed to land a few fish. I was not the only one that was taken by surprise - evidenced by Roger rushing over to take photographic evidence. Please send photos so that I can frame them. It's been years! Anyway, we are now back in Dubai and we thought we would share some photos of where we are living, and the boys of course.

We live in Villa 143, Zulal, The Lakes, Dubai. Therefore, there can be no excuses for not visiting or sending Christmas cards or presents. The Lakes is part of Emirates Hills, a residential suburb of Dubai. The Lakes are man-made of course... Dubai has the adidas approach - impossible is nothing. This is a desert after all.

This is our road with Dubai in progress in the background. It is a very safe and friendly environment with communal pools and gardens and plenty of SA's scattered around.

Here is our communcal pool and play centre. There are several in the complex and nice to chill out at over the week ends. Josh's swimming has come in leaps and bounds and the water is just starting to cool down to be almost refreshing.