Bets, Carrot Cake and H
My mate Helen was in need of a holiday and decided the best time to come would be for the Dubai Sevens. If you’ve read the ‘Lost Weekend’ post you’ll have a good idea what it’s about. H loves her rugby, the sun and a tipple every now and then, so when better for a visit? She arrived on the first day of the sevens for 10 days and we set about catching up on our patio with a long cold G&T or several. His nibs was out for the evening with a friend of ours from Kuwait Wayne. He’s a salt of the earth South African with more stories than me, great company, very amusing and was in Dubai for the Sevens also. He and Helen got on like a house on fire so the scene was set for a great weekend.
The next day we met with Wayne and another of his friends at the Lime tree café. The Lime tree is yet another Dubai institution, not found by many tourists it’s a favourite of the locals here and makes the best carrot cake in the world ever! We ate a hearty lunch including carrot cake, ready for the afternoons boozing at the rugby. How Wayne was still functioning was amazing as he’d had only 3 hours sleep, they are a hardy bunch the Safricans! Once at the sevens we met up with more of them and sat to enjoy the sporting spectacle and the buckets of beer. There we met Ron, quite simply the most robust man I’ve ever met, with no sleep at all he was partying and singing with the rest of us. Ron lives in Qatar and manages a team of ‘seniors’, you know the older players. Much merriment was had and of course beer and as the evening drew a close we decided that food was required. Good wholesome stodge was the order of the day so we went to the Dhow and Anchor an English pub in the Jumeirah Beach Hotel.
We sat on the terrace and ate traditional English fare, fish and chips, cottage pie etc and a bottle of wine or two. Once we’d had our fill we left; Helens bag now bulging with the miniature Heinz tomato sauce and mayonnaise bottles that she’d fallen in love with! So glad the staff didn’t see this, the Dhow is mine and his nibs’ local.
Finals day the busiest and best day of the sevens arrived and with simmering heads we went back for yet more beer. We found our Safrican friends and managed to squeeze in with our buckets. Wayne and I had a little wager going, and as our teams progressed the wager increased, only stopping when his nibs put his foot down! There was a bit of money and a lot more pride at stake on whose team went furthest, but it just added to the excitement of the day. After several hours of drinking and singing, and watching a local radio presenter make a complete fool of himself as a cheerleader the final game was upon us. What a game it was too, very entertaining, end to end stuff with the holders England coming out on top again by beating Fiji (again) 28 – 26. Of course I was very happy at the result and being the good sport that I am didn’t rub the noses of my Safrican friends in it too much ;-) Wayne paid his bet and his nibs and I left exhausted but happy.
Helen on the other hand was having way too much fun to leave; she eventually got home as the sun was rising after going backstage to meet the Rugby Rock band then onto a party. We didn’t see much of her the next day and I’m not surprised we’d had one hell of a weekend.
We decided to end her holiday at the other extreme and went to the Burj for afternoon tea. We delicately ate our sandwiches and scones and sipped at our champagne and tea. A very refined way to end her trip I’m sure you’ll agree. You’d never have recognised us as the same girls singing ‘I love the way you move’ at the top of our lungs whilst gripping a couple of tinnies at the Sevens!
The next day we met with Wayne and another of his friends at the Lime tree café. The Lime tree is yet another Dubai institution, not found by many tourists it’s a favourite of the locals here and makes the best carrot cake in the world ever! We ate a hearty lunch including carrot cake, ready for the afternoons boozing at the rugby. How Wayne was still functioning was amazing as he’d had only 3 hours sleep, they are a hardy bunch the Safricans! Once at the sevens we met up with more of them and sat to enjoy the sporting spectacle and the buckets of beer. There we met Ron, quite simply the most robust man I’ve ever met, with no sleep at all he was partying and singing with the rest of us. Ron lives in Qatar and manages a team of ‘seniors’, you know the older players. Much merriment was had and of course beer and as the evening drew a close we decided that food was required. Good wholesome stodge was the order of the day so we went to the Dhow and Anchor an English pub in the Jumeirah Beach Hotel.
We sat on the terrace and ate traditional English fare, fish and chips, cottage pie etc and a bottle of wine or two. Once we’d had our fill we left; Helens bag now bulging with the miniature Heinz tomato sauce and mayonnaise bottles that she’d fallen in love with! So glad the staff didn’t see this, the Dhow is mine and his nibs’ local.
Finals day the busiest and best day of the sevens arrived and with simmering heads we went back for yet more beer. We found our Safrican friends and managed to squeeze in with our buckets. Wayne and I had a little wager going, and as our teams progressed the wager increased, only stopping when his nibs put his foot down! There was a bit of money and a lot more pride at stake on whose team went furthest, but it just added to the excitement of the day. After several hours of drinking and singing, and watching a local radio presenter make a complete fool of himself as a cheerleader the final game was upon us. What a game it was too, very entertaining, end to end stuff with the holders England coming out on top again by beating Fiji (again) 28 – 26. Of course I was very happy at the result and being the good sport that I am didn’t rub the noses of my Safrican friends in it too much ;-) Wayne paid his bet and his nibs and I left exhausted but happy.
Helen on the other hand was having way too much fun to leave; she eventually got home as the sun was rising after going backstage to meet the Rugby Rock band then onto a party. We didn’t see much of her the next day and I’m not surprised we’d had one hell of a weekend.
We decided to end her holiday at the other extreme and went to the Burj for afternoon tea. We delicately ate our sandwiches and scones and sipped at our champagne and tea. A very refined way to end her trip I’m sure you’ll agree. You’d never have recognised us as the same girls singing ‘I love the way you move’ at the top of our lungs whilst gripping a couple of tinnies at the Sevens!
posted by Bev @ 5:54 pm
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