黑洞社区

Search terms: Dubai

Last week, 黑洞社区 helpfully pointed out to young, adventurous types why leaping on the next plane to Dubai 鈥� the land of plenty (of construction projects) 鈥� might not always be such a good idea. Among the reasons listed were the price of renting a flat, and some even more worrying statistics concerning the price of beer.

Dubai鈥檚 bloggers, on the whole, do little to dispel the notion that Dusty City is something of an acquired taste.

opens a recent posting with a nod to TS Eliot: 鈥淪eptember is the stickiest month, breeding damp patches out of limp clothes, mixing humidity and sweat, and generally making everybody鈥檚 life a clammy nightmare. It was no surprise to note that humidity reached 98% the other day.鈥�

Proving that it鈥檚 impossible to please anybody as far as the weather is concerned, Ramdux uses the blog forum on to complain: 鈥淏rrrr, everywhere is cold: taxis, shops, hotels. Of course, I鈥檓 talking about the abundance of air-conditioning around here 鈥� it鈥檚 everywhere.鈥�

Apart from the boiling/freezing climate, the other main topic of conversation among the emirate鈥檚 bloggers is the yet more hellish traffic. comments: 鈥淲ell, schools are opening, people are back from vacations and hell is loose once again on the roads of Dubai and linking emirates. Since last week, if you want to get to work on time, you will have to subtract another half an hour from your departure time.鈥� There follows seven helpful tips for the successful navigation of the Dubai traffic, although since these include the 鈥渋dentify chronic bottleneck areas and try to avoid them鈥�, I鈥檓 not sure there will be many more happy motorists as a result.

is another Dubai citizen teetering on the verge of road rage, specifically Jumeira Beach Road rage. The road, home to the world鈥檚 tallest hotel, the Burj al-Arab (pictured) has been 鈥渂eautified鈥�, but not to webmasterdubai鈥檚 liking. 鈥淒espite the millions spent on JBR and installation of dozens of traffic lights, the signals are not linked,鈥� he moans. 鈥淚 arrived at our destination wanting to do nothing more than turn right round and go home to bed.鈥�

So if it鈥檚 not the weather, it鈥檚 the traffic. And if it鈥檚 not the traffic, well, then it鈥檚 the work鈥搇ife balance.

writes about the 鈥渘ew weekend system that has just been implemented鈥�, thereby imbuing the idea of taking regular days off work with the air of a complete novelty. 鈥淭he weekend is now officially Friday to Saturday for all government businesses. The private sector is still a grey area.鈥�

Probably something to bear in mind before you take that job 鈥�