I’m SO not going to miss this place!

So, I’m back inside after over an hour spent outside in the middle of the night.  This time there was a real fire down the hall.  Apparently, someone set a door on fire.  I somehow slept through (I guess having a loud fan on high helped) guys in red bandannas banging on people’s doors.  The police were apparently here just before the fire.  The guy that lives in that apartment wasn’t home.  I woke up to smoke detectors going off and lots of screaming.  There was a lot of smoke in the hall.  I was really worried about how bad things would smell in here especially as they let the people on the first two floors back in a while before those of us on the third floor were allowed back in.  The hallway does stink from the fire extinguisher but my apartment is surprisingly okay.  But as the title of this post states, I’m SO not going to miss this place!

My very frozen window

If I have the heat in my apartment on its lowest setting, my apartment gets pretty warm but if I turn the heat off it gets really cold after a while. So I’ve been alternating between turning the heat on and off which is fine during the day but not so much fun when I have to walk to my dining room in the middle of the night! Today a rather obvious suggestion was made to me which I had somehow not thought of: to keep the window in bedroom open a little while keeping the heat on all night. I attempted to open my window this evening but it that is presently impossible! I knew that the windows in my apartment weren’t the greatest and there was so frost on them but I was not prepared for just how frozen this window was!  The good news is that I think that opening just the inner window is definitely allowing some cold air in.

My very frozen bedroom window

A closer view!

Sidewalk update

The work on the sidewalks near my apartment is going very slowly, to say the least. When I arrived back from my vacation I would have thought it would be done by now but I am now thinking this will not be done anytime soon! I’m sure the reduced Ramadan working hours are having an impact but still I can’t believe how long this is taking. Though they’ve completed a small section of sidewalk right behind my building the rest is a bigger mess than ever! I really wish they would only tear up a small section at a time and then finish it promptly but instead they dig things up and then leave them forever. Parking has become a bit of a problem as a bunch of spots of covered with bricks and debris. As a lot of people still seem to be on vacation, I can find parking spots but it is really difficult to tell until I’m about to turn into one if it is a full spot of half filled with stuff! Anyway, here are a few pictures:

The finished section!

A not so usable parking spot.

The rather disgusting part.

Missing sidewalks etc.

My flight back to Abu Dhabi went very smoothly and we landed about 50 minutes early. I was through immigration in no time (as usual there were no lines) and my luggage came relatively quickly. However, I did forget what level I’d parked my car on in the airport parking garage. I knew the exact spot where it was parked; I just had the level wrong! I felt a bit stupid but overall everything went shockingly well.

When I parked my car behind my building, I noticed that a small section of sidewalk was missing. It was dark and I assumed that it was probably just this small section that had been dug up. Today I realized that I was very wrong! While the sidewalk in intact in front of my building in front of my building and in a few other sections, more of has been dug up than not. It looks like they dug up fairly random parts. Hopefully, this is over soon! But after being gone for three weeks I should have expected some sort of surprise and as surprises go this really is pretty minor. I think I would have screamed (and cried) if my power had been off! There had been some notices on the doors of my building and neighbouring buildings before I went on vacation. As they were in Arabic I didn’t read them but I’m thinking they probably said something about the sidewalks being dug up. Anyway, here are a couple of pictures of the former sidewalks:

I’m so annoyed!

I should be feeling excited about going home tomorrow but instead I just feel really annoyed.

My flight tomorrow was originally scheduled to leave at 10:10am tomorrow morning which I thought was a really good time as I could just wake up around my normal time and head straight for the airport. I looked on my flight’s status this morning and it said it had been rescheduled to 12:25pm which didn’t annoy me too much as it wasn’t that much of a delay and it would allow me to sleep in a little. However, when I looked again a little later (probably because I can be obsessive-compulsive about some things) it now said it was rescheduled until 5:40pm. At that point I was not impressed! I hardly think a 7.5 hour delay is insignificant and it seemed so strange to be decided so much in advance and there certainly aren’t any weather issues here or in Toronto. So, I called Etihad and asked why they kept rescheduling the flight. I was told that it was still supposed to depart at 12:25 and that their website was wrong. A couple of hours later, I received a call from Etihad telling me that the flight really was rescheduled until 5:40. I asked why and was told it was for “operational reasons.” Could they possibly be anymore vague? I think passengers should be given the reason for such a long delay! Maybe I’d be a bit more understanding if there was a good reason but I’m guessing there isn’t a good reason. I was assured that the flight will definitely leave at 5:40 tomorrow but I am more than a little skeptical though Etihad’s website is still saying 5:40 is the departure time. Now I’m left with much of a day to fill somehow and I really don’ think I’ll be able to concentrate on anything.

But the whole flight situation wasn’t the only thing that annoyed me today! I walked into my building and pressed the button for the elevator but nothing happened. It then dawned on me that it was pretty dark in there and the power must be out again! This is the fourth time (that I know of!) that the power has been out in the last month. Even though I knew it would be pointless I was really frustrated and decided to call the electricity company but the power came on while I was waiting on hold.

I really need a bit of a break from this place and I’m just so annoyed that my departure has been delayed!