Thursday the 2nd of October

Today would have to go down as one of the laziest days I have had in a long time. I had a couple of hours on skype this morning talking to Jenni and team back home and then Philly and Lisa rounded out with Wendy and Greg. Great to chat and catch up with friends and loved ones.
I then went for a wander to do laundry. Now doing laundry here is a very taxing task. I have to carefully not think about separating out the colours and the delicates and I have to concentrate as I push the items into the plastic bag to carry down the back of the Hotel to my Laundry man. Its everything you think of when you think of shady back streets. Water dripping down the side of buildings from the air conditioning units and not a lot of natural light coming in. The rubbish bins out the back and general stuff you see in all good American gangster movies. You then come out onto a back street that is not much wider or brighter with a line of different shops, with one being my laundry man. After negotiating the deal I wander off to get a haircut.
There's a barber next door to my laundry man (Must learn his name, my laundry man not the barber) who offers me a good price, but I'm a little wary after the article I read in the paper two days ago. 423 barbers in Abu Dhabi have had sterilisation orders slapped on them in the last month and 37 of those business have been closed down. Now while I'm quite safe I'm sure because the 37 have been closed that's still an awful lot of unclean scissors out there lurking waiting to infect my neck so I head out onto the main street to find another location. Roll up Ali! Nice shop, no one in it (That's a worry) and double the price. Won't negotiate down either. So he's either good and knows he's worth it or I suck at negotiating (Probably the later!) I decide to give it a whirl and 50 minutes later I wander out a new shorter man with a very good haircut for $16. I'll be visiting Ali again. (Inshallah or Ala willing as he puts it)
After a bit of a wander around I'm ready for a swim so up to the Sheraton pool (Not quite into the man's beach yet down on the corniche. Eid means bulk male bodies. I'll wait for it to thin out) Couple of hours lazing around there a bit of reading in my room and I'm ready for tea. All in all a very pleasant day and one that I could easily get used to.