littlejimmy

It's a very British day today with the grey clouds and wind...just slightly warmer. I went outside at lunchtime to see if it was raining, having not seen any since I came back 6 weeks ago. The air is clearer though after the rain. Can actually see buildings in the distance now!

DXBtoDOH

So Mini Mill has a thing for strongly curvaceous and lascivious female shapes?

I don't do women so obviously my opinion is meaningless but If I had to pick I'd go for the Argentinian/Chilean ladies. Not so many curves.

scrubbedexpat141

It's always great after rain, clears the air beautifully.

Millhouse

I’m quite into the crazy and curvey combo. My wife is African and generally as mad and stable as a box of frogs.

littlejimmy

Yep, it's one of the best times to take photos.

littlejimmy

It's getting wild at the top end of the Palm now. Very windy and some rain. Wonder if we'll see any hail like they've had in Saudi.

archie159

Err... well, driving a big car with half the fuel economy is your choice, plenty of people get by without falling for that one and seem to cope on a perfectly normal car. Our family weekly commute fuel bill, for 2 small but fairly uneconomic 4x4s is about £45 equivalent (plus extra for longer weekend drives) - I was paying that daily in the UK. And loads of people I know (western expats, in Abu Dhabi) seem to manage to find somewhere to live which is not too far from the school, or just make do with the school busses. Like I said, it just takes a bit of planning and self-discipline, and not feeling you have to keep up with the bling-parade.

I just don't get all this whinging about an inability to live in Abu Dhabi on 100k tax free* a year - there are loads of people doing that, quite happily, making the most of the many other opportunities and experiences that come with being here. I guess none of them frequent this bored.

*yes, I do note and agree that if the OP ends up paying UK taxes, if he/she isn't here long enough, then the package is a lot less attractive.

scrubbedexpat141

A colleague's wife used to do 100km a day just on the school run (25km each way, twice a day). It blew my mind when he was moaning that her car was in for a 10,000km service every couple of months.

100k is livable but very tight making you beg the question if it's worth it or not.

scrubbedexpat141

Imagine if your company didn't pay for it, you'd have to earn 6,000+ gross to be able to pay for the train fare alone...probably more than any London weighting.

Millhouse

In Dubai 100k a day is quite easy, less so in AD I guess, although I recall my wife reading lots of books at the traffic lights there.

We were around 70k a day on both cars (in Dubai). On a 5k service interval that meant that one was in the garage every month.

100k is doable but tight and it doesn’t compare to 70k in the UK when you have two kids.

40k a month for two kids was seen as just about ok 10 years ago. In a country where inflation runs at 4-5pct per annum, 60 is the new 40.

scrubbedexpat141

My attitude to the 40-45k family now is they can live and enjoy themselves but it's the savings that get hurt, so in reality - it's just a choice, it is livable.

nonthaburi

Similar to what I do. School run, 33 km each way, twice a day. 5000 km service every month more or less. At least I don't pay for fuel, although it's probably only 500 a month.

al dente

We have 2 to 3 round trips of 60kms to school a day. We have three cars and a driver. My work is the closest but that is still 50km a day.

Moff

from Reading (less than 30min train from Paddington), season travel card is £5,300, season ticket parking at station is £1,850.... additional gross pay required is around £10k on £30k salary and £12.5k on £50k salary... excludes petrol cost of getting to station!

Queef Latinah

To the OP, 100k gbp per year is just not enough.

I have carefully tracked my spending over the past 3 years and on average, I spend 100k gbp per year on organic avocadoes and prostitutes. When I need to save money I switch to the African ones.. (avocadoes).