WTF is going on with traffic in Gala?

Just a quick one today.

I just sat in traffic for ages in Gala - it took me 75 minutes to travel a distance that normally takes 15 minutes during the day. Why? The Sultan Qaboos Mosque round about (not the highway exit one, but the next one in from there) was completely snarled by idiot drivers that don't understand the concept of not going into a junction (in this case a round about) until it is clear to exit it. Total grid lock. When are they going to put lights in there?!


In other news, lots of Halloween parties went on over the weekend. The wife and I went in disguise (a vampire and a witch!) to the VICE house music event (hosted by BMB Events) that the Dragon featured on his blog recently. The music was good, really good (that is, if you like that sort of thing), but attendance was a little low. It wasn't helped by the fact that there were no signs at all outside Rock Bottoms pointing to the event being held upstairs, we very nearly just gave in and went to the Halloween party at Rock Bottoms, even though I don't like that club, because we were in costume and happened to be right there. I'm sure that some people did end up going to Rocks purely because there was absolutely no indication at all that there was a party being held upstairs. Things to remember for next time I guess. Thanks for the tickets Dragon, and BMB Events!

le fin

News roundup.

Well it's been a pretty busy few days, with lots of things going on both in the office and on the personal front. I have to say though that the weather lately has been great :)

So, yesterday, finally, MC3 (that's the Passenger Terminal Building at Muscat International Airport) was tendered. J&P came in the lowest price, with CCC following as second lowest. I guess the technical evaluation will now have started and assuming that J&P tick all the boxes that need to be ticked, they will be awarded the job, they're certainly a very competent Contractor. If you're thinking about a move to a new place in Azaiba or al Hail, do it now because I suspect that with the influx of people working on MC3, demand for housing in these areas is going to increase. Well done to The Sultan Center for seeing a market, and opening a supermarket right in Azaiba. I'm sure their money-printing press is working over-time at the moment.

It also has not really been publicised, but I'm blogging it anyway, Galfar some how managed to get awarded the Ras Al Hadd Airport Contract. I'm literally blown away, how can a Contractor who has consistently failed to meet a single deadline on any of their infrastructure projects continue to be awarded work? Incredible, really.

So these ROP fines... officially it's still not true, unofficially, its pretty obvious something big is going on: New ROP cars, new cameras, red-light camers, and presumably the ROP themselves are undergoing more training in how to police traffic - but who knows? So increased fines are actually a good idea, it's a stronger deterrant. RO 10 is not a significant deterrent, if you're driving a nice car and speeding, a flash for 10 is a minor annoyance, nothing more, and so it doesnt deter people as much as it used to. Inflation and all that. 10 fines costing RO 100, versus 10 fines costing RO 350, suddenly thats in the range of an annual insurance premium, and people will take more notice of their speed.

People are starting to talk about Eid 2 holidays. From what I've been told so far, it looks like we'll get saturday - tuesday off (including a day for the National Day). Flights back to Europe are being booked already, with many people opting to take leave on the Wednesday and get 9 days vacation. I guess time will tell. I plan to spend Eid 2 camping here in Oman.

Finally, on Oman Forum, user Supermacs posted a rather amusing flowchart, copied below for your entertainment.

The flowchart came from this website.

Welcome back....

Hello everyone,

Just back to work today after a lovely 2 week vacation in a far away land. Some speculation is going round that I am secretly the Dragon from Muscat Confidential, and that the Dragon is Angry's wife/male partner, depending on who you talk to.

Nonsense!

Not a lot to share with you all except that I've heard some talk that the speeding fine is being increased from RO 10 to RO 35, and that the new increased fines came into effect on the 24th of October.

Muscat also beat Doha at the rugby on the weekend, well done guys :)

le fin

Hectic times

Well, nearly time for me to head to the airport for an early morning flight.

The blog's been neglected the last few weeks because I've been snowed with work, which, I guess, is a good thing!

I'll be back in a couple of weeks and will start blogging again!

Did everyone notice that Burger King finally put their signage up at the Oman Oil with a View on Qurum Heights Road?

Driving along the Muttrah Corniche tonight, at 2.30am, I was pleased to see that the ROP had setup a road block and appeared to be stopping every car and checking to see if they were drunk. Some real policing - great job!

Back soon!

le fin