Digging Deeper

Good morning, it's 6:00 am and I am just about to set off to the airport with my hubby to pick up his sister and her hubby.  The flight is due in in 20 minute, but it will take at least another hour for them to get through customs.  So I've got time to finish my blog, drink my coffee, and get on our way.   Unfortunately, they haven't had a great start to their holiday.  We had a message from them yesterday that due to heavy fog, they were still stuck in the airport. They were not happy and had to spend over 6 hours waiting around in Humberside Airport waiting for the fog to clear.   Eventually, they called to say they were leaving and would arrive in Dubai around 6:30 am.  Unfortunately, they don't seem to have much luck, the first year they came they lost their luggage. Luckily enough they did get it back two days later.

Yesterday the drama started early.  At 7:00 am my step son called to say that his truck was stuck in the sand.  Yep, it happens to a lot of people around here, probably due to the fact that there's a whole lot of sand about.  Apparently, he was driving on the road and for some reason missed the turning onto the area where we live.  Unfortunately, there are loads of roadworks around the area and if you miss the entrance you have to drive all the way around the development, putting about another 15 kms onto your journey.  Its a right pain in the backside and drives you crazy, especially if you're in a rush. 

Anyway, my step-son decided to do what a lot of people do in this situation, take a short cut and go across the sand.  But within seconds his tyres were stuck in the sand and he was going nowhere.   (many a time if a driver has missed their turning, you can see them backing up on the motorway, it seems to be a done thing here).

I left for work early (due to the meeting with 'she who shall not be named') and immediately saw him around the corner of the development.  Although I would have loved to help him, I was in a rush and was certainly not going to start digging sand in my suit at 7:30 am.  Bless him, there he was trying desperately to dig his truck out of the sand and all I could do was laugh.

10 minutes later I was in the fast lane of SZR going towards Jebel Ali. Suddenly, I had one of those near death experiences.  I looked in my rear mirror for a second and when I looked back the cars in front of me were all braking.  I immediately stepped on my brakes but it didn't seem to be doing any good, I braked harder, and harder whilst considering moving into the right hand lane, but I couldn't as another car was right by me.  Almost doing an emergency stop I managed to slow right down and luckily everything was OK, but honestly my legs were weak for the rest of the journey and I was still a little shaken when I arrived at work. 

When I left work 10 hours later, the traffic was horrendous.  The trucks were queueing bumper to bumper and it took me about 30 minutes just to get off Jebel Ali.  That was all I needed, I wanted to get home and sort out the room for my relatives arriving.  Needless to say, I shouldn't have worried as I had plenty of time.

So, the time has come, I'm off to the airport, can't wait any longer, I'm so excited to see them.  I'm really looking forward to this next week, hope you are too.