Snap caption: Ummm, guess not that important

Dear Aramex: I ♥ you

It was just a few days ago that I complained about my Aramex service; excellent service had turned into no service, which last week turned into a very expensive delivery of 12kgs of magazines dating back to July.

Well, all that changed just now, when a big delivery of my December issues was delivered, gratis, in an arrangement made by Alaa the general manager of Aramex in Abu Dhabi hours earlier. In fact it was just a few hours after I first posted about this magazine saga  that the company's CEO, Fadi Ghandour, had posted a comment on this blog apologising for the situation and saying it would be rectified after the weekend. "I am taking a personal interest in your story," he wrote, explaining there was no reason "whatsoever" for the delay.

Now I feel bad for joking about Aramex's love of "reading the Economist", but Alaa didn't seem to take it personally when he mentioned it on the phone this morning. He knew about that too.

With all this prompt attention I can't help but wonder what would happen if I started blogging about jeans that are too tight, bank accounts too empty, a lack of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups in the UAE, you know, easy-to-fix stuff. Joking aside, I can't help but be impressed at how on the ball they are (and want to make another joke about the importance of their magazine-reading preparatory work). I guess they feel, rightly, that in this viral age, a company can ill afford even one tiny old blogger complaining about a couple of magazines.

These are cute: Carolina Herrara-designed National Day bracelets

The bracelets commemorate the 39th National Day, this Thursday, December 2. They are available at the CH Carolina Herrara store in Mall of the Emirates and Mirdiff City Centre.

Toki has excellent Japanese food and funky bidets

Toki, the Japanese restaurant at the Hilton Hotel on the Corniche, has great Japanese food and I also really like the atmosphere – very private rooms that make you feel as though you are in your own little world.
















What really impressed me though was these futuristic bidets. Almost all bathrooms at hotels, restaurants and malls here have a version of "the hose". So far Toki is the only one I've seen with something so high-tech. Note the "front cleansing", "rear cleansing" and "dryer" functions. I have no idea what the buttons beside that square box do.

Don't even get me started on "oscillating".

Overheard at the Marina Mall Starbucks: Two incredibly fat men talking

Incredibly fat Western expat man #1: Lisa's put on quite a bit of weight.

Incredibly fat Western expat man #2: Mmmmhmmm.

Incredibly fat Western expat man #1: But she still looks well. Pretty face.

Dear Aramex, the tremendous love I once felt for you and your US mailbox/courier service has most definitely waned

This is what almost 12kgs of magazines look like:

I have never trusted that mail or packages will arrive to me here in Abu Dhabi via regular routes since the birthday-packages debacle of 2008 and 2009.

Mmmmm, dates, yum yum yum, delicious, scrumptious, mmmmm yum yum dates

Today is day one of the International Date Palm Festival, which runs until Thursday at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre. When reading today's press release, in particular a section about products from the Emirati Al Foah Company, I couldn't help but think of that scene from Forrest Gump where he talks about his love of shrimp:

"Other Zadina products include date ice cream available in 12 flavors, cakes and cookies, fine jams with dates, other fruits and spices available in 10 flavors, a caramel made of date honey, truffles, chocolate coated dates and chocolate coated date pieces infused with other delicious spices such as cinnamon, ginger and rose, as well as the ingenious date gummis which are made almost entirely of date honey, with only a natural plant based thickening agent added to be able to form the sweet into the gummi shapes which children love, thus enabling parents to smuggle some goodness into their children and teach them the benefits of dates and healthy eating from a young age."

Update: I am only really now noticing the genius of the phrase "smuggle some goodness into their children."