Hail to Victors!

Hello All
Today is the third day of my five day break and it is hard to handle. Decisions, Golf, sailing, fishing, shopping, do not know what to do! Weather is perfect. Played and won our second round of a match play yesterday, I parred the last hole to win.

My partner Len, ( with the red hat) from Wales managed to defeat Kevin, an American ( in the blue shirt and his son) we were up 4 holes at one point but the lead narrowed to one till the last hole. A lot of fun. As you can see the skies are clearing up and you are able to see the nearby mountains easily.

Woke up early this morning and had breakfast then went back to bed and slept till noon. Tring to decide what to do today, perhaps go to Dubai.

In the photo posted you can see some of the construction workers here, it is no wonder building here continues at a hectic pace. they pay these workers $250 a month! The mall they are building across the street is quite large and should be quite nice. I am thinking of putting a store in there. I will need someone to run it and I will pay more than $250 a month! What I am thinking is a store selling exclusively American goods. From everyone I have talked to it should work nicely. I have by far too much time on my hands and need to expand my horizons.

What I need to know what do we still make in America? Give me some ideas.Another idea is bringing big SUVs here., they love them! For myself I would like to bring an Element here for my own personal use, can't find them here! The Element would be ideal here, if that isn't possible I will probably buy a Exterra. The off-road scene here is really big and I would like to partake.

My circle of friends is growing larger and we are all in the same boat. The Arabs stick pretty much to themselves and the expats the same. Right now I am stuck with the dellema of which golf club to join, right now I belong to Tower Links, located in town and Al Hambra which is here where I live. The social life at Tower is much better and I have most of my friends there. But if I party there I need to take a taxi home. Then take a taxi back to pick up my car in the morning. The courses are both quite nice and the greeen at Al Hambra are much faster becauce they irrigate with purer water (less salt). Both courses have nine holes that are illuminated so play during the hot months is possible.

If you look at the photo that I am standing alone you can appreciate the size of the sand traps that are here, although the sand behind me is a waste area, you can ground your club. My sand game is getting quite good! The hole behind me is a long par 5 and has mangroves on the right and trees on the left. You need three good shots to make the green. And let me tell you EVERY green is well defended with traps. All the traps are as deep as you are tall.

Hope some of you visit and play.

Take Care
Mike

Long Weekend

Hello Everyone

Been awhile since reported. Happy to say I will be coming home to Toledo for the holidays. Has been quite cool lately 70's. Rained again last night, quite a thunderstorm, streets flooded again because they have no sewers. They pump all the sewage into tanks and then a truck pumps it out, nice.

Right now I am on a five day holiday Friday-Tuesday, nice! Practiced at the club this morning and am getting quite good at the short game. I will probably do the same tomorrow.

This place is so interesting, looking forward to the opening of the mall across the street. They say it shoud open up by the end of the month. I walked thru it today to see the progress and they still have alot of work to do. There must be 300 workers on the project, when I walked through the mall they were all on break, about two hours I imagine and they were all laying down taking a nap.

This place is so different, but nice.

Mike