Day 14. April 2.

We decided the night before that we would attempt the water park again today. Mother Nature had another idea. I woke up to an orange fog outside the hotel window and could only see as far as across the road. Toby called, he lives on the 32nd floor and couldn't see anything at all because he was above the sand storm clouds. It was certainly an inconvenience but a really impressive one. Tobe came to meet me at the hotel for some lunch, it's easier getting him into the hotel than me trying to get into his flat. There's an English pub in the ground floor of the Byblos so decide to go there- it's heaving!! It's teaming with Westerners on their lunch break, I assume. Jerry Rafferty – Baker Street is playing and football is showing on two screens, handball on two others, there's three dart boards (all occupied), a pool table (also occupied with a full blackboard of next ups). We sit in a booth and scour the menu; fish and chips, bangers and mash, fry up, chicken curry, lasagna, cheeseburger, all 60 AED with a pint. It's like Weatherpoons. I order bangers and mash, Toby has a fry up and both are average, but that homely, lovely, average. Not that fancy mash with extra seasoning and sausages which are handmade and misshapen. My mash still had a few lumps and my gravy was definitely bisto. I loved it. 

The flat that the boys had put the offer in fell through, so we headed back to the marina to view a few more properties. They seem to be at a disadvantage by being organised, all of the owners seem to want someone immediately, which is now they lost the last one. Nevertheless, Toby now has an agent called Natalia on the case, but the first property we viewed is a potential. It's heavily under budget which is appealing but could do with a little makeover. The first thing you notice is the rugs in every room, covering all the floors, all dark brown colours. The furniture is too large for the rooms and a dark brown. The current bedding is dark browns and reds with gold threading, again too dark for the rooms. And the curtains, oh the curtains, they have grand valances with tassels and swathes of cloth. Also, yep, you've guessed it, dark brown. But all of this stuff is superficial aesthetics which can be gone in ten minutes. We view a couple after but I think the brown bachelor pad could be the new venue for Dubais’s ‘Toby and Guy’.

Rewarding ourselves, Starbucks beckons and we kill some time before going to Scoozi’s (sp?) to meet Toby's friends for dinner. I have trust issues with restaurants that cover two cuisines. This one is Sushi and Italian. But Toby loves it. They were having an SAS night, sushi and snakebite. We bump into Niall on the way there and meet Guy outside. Freddie arrives ten minutes later, followed by Dan a few minutes after him. Freddie is on that conveyer belt like lightening, ordering crab salads and passing plates around like they were on a time limit. Guy’s intentionally had a light lunch to ‘save space for this evening’. And Dan practically climbs on Guy to reach the belt. Turns out Tobe managed 20 plates before. Fatty. Niall doesn't eat fish- apart from fish fingers, which Dan and Tobe won't let him forget. So Niall and I sat at the end of the table away from the belt and ordered off the Italian menu. They're a funny group. I hear a lot about their teammates, the names they've given their homes and general chit chat. After filling themselves with an obscene amount of sushi, McGettigans calls for snakebites. All of their other teammates are there, Toby gets the usual lack-of-job grief which Dad would have enjoyed. But the four sushi scoffers are in food comas, Dan looks visibly uncomfortable and Guy regrets his decision to order a Guinness. Conversation is a little slow and they look like they could vomit, I think there was even discussion of TCs. Gutsy gannets. We leave shortly after and I enjoy the last night in my king size, single occupany hotel room.