Anna goes home

This morning Anna left for Germany after a three week visit to help us move in and get settled. Fiver misses her already (Stuart would, if he was here).

It was great to have Anna here when we moved into the flat. She is an expert on house moves, having done it so many times herself, and she was there when everything was packed in Ipswich. I guess you could call it relocation tourism, following containers around the World.

When we gave Anna time off from unpacking, sorting and organising our possessions (she enjoyed it, really ;-) she followed her favourite occupation: going on the busses. In her first week we got a bus pass for her and a timetable, and off she went to criss-cross Dubai on public transport. According to her it was great, a cheap way to get around and a quick way to cool down on an air-conditioned bus when walking got too strenuous. The bus pass is pretty nifty, it works by loading money onto it and then swiping the card as you get on the bus, which takes off the right amount and gives you a paper ticket. This way there is no need for change or even knowing how much it is to get to where you want to go (not that bus travel is expensive, one trip is usually 1.25 Dirham, about 28 Eurocents or 18p). Anna mentioned that the busses are very frequent and out of rush hour not too busy (she regularly took the number 19 from Sheik Zayed Road to the bus station).

So when you get over here, public transport is obviously the way to get around - plus it means you can leave the responsibility for crazy driving to the bus driver.