Passive Aggressive Cat

Posted by Kanga.

Bert is generally a normal cat, but he has a few quirks. One is that he comes into the bedroom anytime from 3:30 to 5:30 a.m. to insist on getting under the bedcovers. It would be okay, if he just got under the covers, curled up and went to sleep. Instead he insists on being between DaddyBird and I, which means I have to roll over to make room for him. He then dilly dallies about getting under the covers and fusses about being positioned just right. He often goes in, curls up, waits a beat, and then exits just to turn around and want back in. Even if he does curl up quickly and settle in, then he wants to bite any hand or elbow that might be within reach. If he can’t bite, he’ll settle for kneading and clawing human flesh.

I’m skilled at sleeping, but cannot sleep through all of this. He manages to fuss around long enough to make sure I am completely awake and will not get back to sleep before the alarm goes off.

Thursday evening I had a little chat with Bert. I told him he was free to come in at any time and fuss around all he wanted about getting under the covers, because I was going to be able to go back to sleep no matter how long it took as this is the weekend.

Magically, Bert did not come at all. I’m sure he’ll be back around 3:30 am Sunday morning to ensure that I am sleep deprived for the beginning of my work week.

Dubai Tourist for a Day

Posted by Kanga.

I’m on two weeks vacation now, but we are staying local. We needed to go into Dubai to do some bank business at our original brach, which only took a few minutes, so we had the rest of the day to be tourists.

So, we went to the Dubai Museum, which is in Bur Dubai, the oldest part of town. It is housed in Al Fahidi Fort. Admission is 3 AED ($0.81).

The museum also has an underground section. It is very well designed, providing a recreation of a market and city streets. There are also pearl diving, boat building and fishing displays. The problem is that the museum was set up in one shot and is not being updated or developed. (At the very least, they should dust the stuffed animals.)

We headed over to the Dubai Creek where we met this lovely stray cat. She enjoyed some getting some attention.

We took an abra across the Creek to the Deira side. The price is still 1 AED each ($0.27) There was a parade of tourist buses unloading travelers transferring to the abras.

Then we took a walk down the creekside where boats load cargo. We did this same walk about three and a half years ago. There was significantly less cargo, but that may or may not be a sign of anything.

We road back across the Creek on another abra.

We ate dinner at Bayt Al Wakeel restaurant which has a wooden deck that hangs out over the Creek. It is a nice view, but I cannot recommend the restaurant. The service was not particularly good. The bread was not freshly baked. The meat (both chicken and lamb) was tough. And, worst of all, they chased away the stray cat.

All in all, it was a pleasant day.

To see all pictures from the day – click here.