Monday, 24 August 2009

Does anyone know the Arabic for bath plug?!

Well we managed to move in to the apartment and have spent a night here and I managed to cook dinner.
The almighty was on our side (as well as the lovely Mr Hameed) and we got curtains in the bedroom just in time so we didn't have to spend the night under the green glow from the minarets of the mosque across the road. We have curtain tracks in all the other rooms but I think I may have used up my desperate English brownie points and now have to wait my turn for the rest of the curtains.
Yesterday proved to be a bit of a disaster as the new sofas arrived only for me to find that, with all the packaging on they wouldn't fit in the lift. Amir, who looks after the building, was convinced that they would go, but none of us was very keen to risk unpacking them so they had to go back to the shop. I then had to go to the shop and choose new (much smaller sofas) which will definitely fit in the lift. I ended up with 2 sofas and 2 chairs, not in the beautiful white leather which I had dreamed of, but I'm sure they'll be very nice. Most importantly the wicker basket chairs are not really designed for a lot of sitting on, though the fact that Chelsea beat Fulham and England regained the Ashes helped John to forget the discomfort! Due to my pleading the new furniture is due to arrive this afternoon so hopefully tonight will be more relaxing.
In the middle of the sofa trauma I discovered that the cleaners had turned off the gas and I couldn't get it back on again. However, with help from Amir (how did I ever manage in Manchester without such a helpful chap on site?) we got it going again and I was able to cook my first dinner here, though, without much furniture it was a bit of a picnic. I'd been to Spinneys earlier and bought groceries. Spinneys is the supermarket of choice for British expats, so plenty of familiar brands and helpfully labelled so that I could try not to increase the food miles, since the provenance of all the fruit and veg was very clear. I still don't know why avocados have to come from Australia - clearly the Carmel brand wouldn't be welcome, but there are other parts of the Middle East with more friendly connections!
So why the comment about bath plugs? Well none of our baths (we have three), have plugs so I went to every likely, as well as some unlikely shops to ask, but no-one had the faintest idea what I was talking about. In the end I have resorted to carrying the one from the kitchen sink in my handbag and waving it in every shop I pass, still to no avail so if anyone has a spare supply be sure to send us one (or three)!

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