Fuck, I thought I corrected it!

Igor, it's all about humidity. With no moisture in the air, 45C in Nevada's quite nice.

Yes, but a nice, holiday-style sit-on-the-beach dry heat. Not a sweaty, unpleasant, moist, no-air-con heat.

I had no problem with the humidity in the humidity places but perhaps I missed the really humid bits.  Onyhoo, what's there to do in Paris?

There's a tower, go see that.

Unlikely wrote:

I had no problem with the humidity in the humidity places but perhaps I missed the really humid bits.  Onyhoo, what's there to do in Paris?

McCrabby is there, go and find him.

Skerret wrote:

Unlikely wrote:

I had no problem with the humidity in the humidity places but perhaps I missed the really humid bits.  Onyhoo, what's there to do in Paris?

McCrabby is there, go and find him.

I'm not going until the 15th of August.  Will he still be there?

What's he doing there?  Just hiding from the spiders and whatnot?

Unlikely wrote:

What's he doing there?  Just hiding from the spiders and whatnot?

Mostly.  He rode his bike ride across the Americas in search of Incan gold and then decided to go to Europe to extend his search for gold and possibly himself.  I could have told him where he was the whole time though.

... basically, I dunno.  He's on holiday, kinda, but might stay, thus making it a non-holiday.  Bored of Australia I think.  I might meet him UK-side late this year/early next if I finish this Ph.D, at which point the first annual Skerretstock will be held.

It's 38-40 here in greece and its a dry heat. Having lived in a very similar state to Elm, with 100 degree Fahrenheit days, he must be made of metal if he isn't feeling uncomfortable in 42 Celsius Vegas.

tigerswiftly wrote:

Elmlea wrote:

tigerswiftly wrote:

Has anyone ever worked in the Middle East? If so... thoughts?

Where in the Middle East? Between myself, some colleagues and my in-laws, I can tap experience of working in Saudi, Qatar, Bahrain, the Oman, Dubai, and other parts of the UAE.

Any of the above, really. I'm trying to put together a 5 year plan and am considering job opportunities in that region for some point in the future. Oman sounds good. Dubai too.

All are unpleasantly nightmareishly hot; like Matt's Singapore story.  Of those, the Oman's the nicest place to live and work and everyone I know who goes there loves it.  I know a few people who work for the Omani Air Force so I'll ask them for some more info if you like, and it's a job I'm considering in the future.

Qatar is nice and cosmopolitan, there are a lot of military types at Al Udeid near Doha and I have a few chums who fly for Etihad out of there too.  My in-laws spent a decade in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, and it sounds broadly similar.

I have about half a dozen ex-colleagues who work in Saudi for BAe, and it sounds like a total utter fucking hellhole.  Most only survive by working out of Dharain and being able to hop over the border to Bahrain every weekend for some respite.  I think a lot of the pain they suffer comes from working indirectly for the Saudi government, though, but it's certainly nowhere near as friendly, progressive or welcoming as the UAE or the Oman, especially for westerners and women.

If you have any specifics for any of the areas I'll drop some people a line and ask.  It seems in general though, people who go there with the most support manage best, and it suits younger workers.  If you work for a big oil company who'll provide a massive house, a few servants, and a country club membership for your wife like my father-in-law's did, then it can make anywhere pretty pleasant.  Friends flying for Emirates and Etihad have had mixed experience, but the guys who jumped from their first airline job at 26-30 and did it before wife & kids came along coped better.

The ex-RAF guys working for BAe get superb company support to an extent, but in Saudi your family is effectively confined to the large expat compound you'll live in.  Everything's provided and the pay is phenomenal, but the fact you have armed guards on the gates should point some things out.  Fact is, a guy with my qualifications would attract about £135 000pa tax free from BAe to go work in Saudi, and you'll notice I haven't gone there, which should say a lot about it.

But the other bits along the south east of the peninsula seem popular, but don't expect to go out much in summer.

I already told you I might.

Why do you always sound like you're asking a question Skerret?

Diluted Dante wrote:

Why do you always sound like you're asking a question Skerret?

It's a weird habit we picked up at some point.  I dunno?

Some prize fandans in the bar last night talking about working in Abu Dhabi and how they don't go out because of the heat so they get the "natives" to get their stuff for them.

Told them they were speaking from quite a position of privilege and they said they earned it because they put up with the heat.


Fuds

regmcfly wrote:

Some prize fandans in the bar last night talking about working in Abu Dhabi and how they don't go out because of the heat so they get the "natives" to get their stuff for them. Told them they were speaking from quite a position of privilege and they said they earned it because they put up with the heat. Fuds

The heat here is quite something else though. I live around 100 yards from a mall and walking from my apartment to the mall in the summer would mean being soaked in sweat. Everything is geared around this so that all it takes is a call to a local store and they will deliver groceries. And by groceries I mean they will, if you ask, bring you a couple of cans of coke (AED 3 so about 25p a can). Anything and everything is just a phone call away. I felt guilty the first few times but you soon twig that it is a business and they are more than happy to have your custom. Same with my maid, comes twice a week, does all my cleaning, ironing and the like for what we would regard as a pittance but for her is a real decent living.