Author Archives: Mark Rossiter

a toy with every transaction

Posted on March 27, 2005 by Mark Rossiter

One of the smart new housing developments in Dubai has an ad on the side of the buses: An Audi with every apartment, a Porsche with every Penthouse. When you have seemingly unlimited resources, who needs to be clever?

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insomnia

Posted on March 24, 2005 by Mark Rossiter

I woke up at 2.00 the other morning. My head wouldn’t stop, so I got up and spent a few hours on the computer. At 4.30 Allison brought Kyria (5 weeks) out to the room I was working in; she … Continue reading →

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nothing happened, again

Posted on March 24, 2005 by Mark Rossiter

There used to be a Fall song that started with Mark E. Smith declaiming through some kind of megaphone: All those who entitle themselves, or whose main entitle is themselves, shall feel the wrath of my bombast! before the band … Continue reading →

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old meaning new

Posted on March 20, 2005 by Mark Rossiter

Dubai’s newest development, Burj Dubai, will contain the tallest building in the world – briefly. Its developer Emaar’s chief competitor, Nakheel, has an even taller one planned for the causeway to one of the vast artificial islands it is constructing … Continue reading →

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trick of first light

Posted on February 15, 2005 by Mark Rossiter

Our baby girl was born on February 10th. We took my wife to the hospital in Sharjah the night before; then I brought Ian (21 months) home and we managed some sleep without her. I dropped him off at the … Continue reading →

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crackdown, they say

Posted on February 15, 2005 by Mark Rossiter

The papers say that there is to be a crackdown on dangerous driving, with fines and cars impounded for running red lights, weaving in and out of traffic at speed, and driving on the shoulder. The story seems to come … Continue reading →

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120kg of gold

Posted on February 3, 2005 by Mark Rossiter

Win 120kg of gold! blares from billboards around Dubai. They don’t do excess by halves…

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designer wave

Posted on February 2, 2005 by Mark Rossiter

On the radio, two stations join forces for a tsunami fundraiser. Good on them. They do it in very Dubai style, too: the first item up for auction is a $550 Estee Lauder hamper…

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downstairs upstairs

Posted on February 1, 2005 by Mark Rossiter

A story in the paper about a 52-year-old guy from Kerala who drives a bakery truck and lives in a room in Sharjah with nine other working men: he won a luxury studio in one of the swank new apartment … Continue reading →

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tsunami on Dover Beach

Posted on January 27, 2005 by Mark Rossiter

The Archbishop of Canterbury – a thoughtful character – says that the awful suffering, and the 200,000+ dead, caused by the tsunami in the Indian Ocean must cause many Christians to question their faith in God. It’s hard to disagree … Continue reading →

Posted in anybody up there?, England, someone's England | Leave a comment