Did everyone get made redundant?
Discussion
Agree yorky. I left in 2012. Really missing the racing. Tried it in the UK but struggled. Traipsing up and down the country on my own with a trailer in the rain was a ball ache.
Also really missing the UAE roads. Can't believe I'm saying that. The southeast is congested and full of pot holes. Even if you live in the Surrey Downs you'll be hard pressed to find empty roads. Need to drive 3 hours out to Wales. Somehow despite the congestion in Dubai I still managed to enjoy driving on the road. Plus you were never far from the Autodrome or Yas or Jebel Hafeet.
Also really missing the UAE roads. Can't believe I'm saying that. The southeast is congested and full of pot holes. Even if you live in the Surrey Downs you'll be hard pressed to find empty roads. Need to drive 3 hours out to Wales. Somehow despite the congestion in Dubai I still managed to enjoy driving on the road. Plus you were never far from the Autodrome or Yas or Jebel Hafeet.
James72911 said:
Another one who is still here! 14 years next week...
Agree with most of the comments above - expat packages cut, lots of stealth taxes, prices of things keep rising... not sure I have seen much of the drop in house rentals yet, but surely its got to come. Also the Facebook forums taking over.
BUT, having said all that, where would I rather be? not sure I want to go back to the UK, plenty of its own issues, and there is still lots to enjoy here.
Try and keep looking for the positives!
Tell us more about your 72 911..I have one here too!Agree with most of the comments above - expat packages cut, lots of stealth taxes, prices of things keep rising... not sure I have seen much of the drop in house rentals yet, but surely its got to come. Also the Facebook forums taking over.
BUT, having said all that, where would I rather be? not sure I want to go back to the UK, plenty of its own issues, and there is still lots to enjoy here.
Try and keep looking for the positives!
Harris_I said:
Also really missing the UAE roads. Can't believe I'm saying that. The southeast is congested and full of pot holes. Even if you live in the Surrey Downs you'll be hard pressed to find empty roads. Need to drive 3 hours out to Wales. Somehow despite the congestion in Dubai I still managed to enjoy driving on the road. Plus you were never far from the Autodrome or Yas or Jebel Hafeet.
Amen to that. If you think your roads are bad where you are, try where I am in Ghana, West Africa. Road repairs/maintenance is non existent. National and A Roads are tarmac/Concrete, but you spend more time swerving around the huge holes! Also what you class as B Roads in the UK are hard packed earth roads here - no tarmac.There really is no point having a nice car here, yet I have seen tasty Mercs, Massers, Ferrari's and an Aston here!
Paracetamol said:
Tell us more about your 72 911..I have one here too!
Hi, ok geek hat on! Firstly, my name is technically wrong! It is actually a '73 model, but built in October '72. It is believed to be the first 911 imported into the UAE. It was found by a friend in Sharjah in 1992 looking very sorry for itself, with a Subaru engine fitted. He sourced a period correct engine from Autofarm in the UK, had it resprayed, did various other bits to it. I bought it 11 years ago, and have done a few more updates to it - new interior (headlining, carpets etc), general maintenance. Mainly just drive it, although getting a bit too hot again now...
Left in Sept 2013, never a massive contributor here but met some of the guys who are/were and a jolly good bunch they are.
Still visit fairly regularly, was last there for a week in May and jeez ain’t it expensive now? Still have an eye on a return but doesn’t seem to be much of interest in Construction industry. Been offered opportunity in Kuwait but not it’s not buttering my parsnips.
Still visit fairly regularly, was last there for a week in May and jeez ain’t it expensive now? Still have an eye on a return but doesn’t seem to be much of interest in Construction industry. Been offered opportunity in Kuwait but not it’s not buttering my parsnips.
shirt said:
Is oily still around?
I was.....then I moved to KSA for a couple of years to hide from the lay-offs...was brought back to Dubai in Jan 2017...recently relocated to Abu Dhabi.For the oil patch the downturn has been nothing short of brutal.
Prices pushed down ~50%, mostly into loss-making territory. Better to do work at a loss than none at all; as at least some of the bills get paid.
We laid off ~35,000 people globally, loads in senior jobs in the Middle East. You know what they say, for every Western expat there are 200 other foreign workers depending on their salary too. Cleaners, barpersons, shop assistants, teachers....
Without anywhere near the expat cash in the economy any more prices have increase significantly for the rest of us. Not just a little, 5% per month inflation is the figure I heard.
I go back to the UK alot, every 5-8 weeks or so, and therefore I get to compare prices too. I can shop in Tesco for the family of 4, for less than half what it costs for me alone here, for a weeks worth of food. The Tesco shop would also include wine/beer...
Try actually looking at what you are paying in the shops. A block of cheese is 10 quid. 10 quid!!! Nothing is cheap here, in fact nothing is even reasonable here! I buy everything i need in the UK, usually coming in with as much food as my (now very much reduced - did anyone notice that?) luggage allowance will let me, just so I dont have to spen here for a couple of weeks.
So I keep the family tucked away in the UK, live on my own here with bare minimum consumption. I have a AED20k Golf, and try to keep within AED300 a week on food and consumables. Mostly means I end up eating out the bins of the local hotel.
Another 12 months of inflation at that rate, and there will be a big economic stall. Everyone I know that can is getting out, because nobody is making any coin here.
Porridge GTI said:
The future is all about KSA.
I heard that things had cooled there too with big projects being cut due to oil price.nI lived 2 1/2 years in Riyadh before moving to DXB and contrary to popular opinion, had a great time.
Wouldn’t hesitate going back for the right project.
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