Lost in translation

Another of those amusing signs for which you can only asume either somebody has a great sense of humour or else there as been a terrible case of lost in translation:

For the record, its a fresh fruit juice bar......goodness know's what secret ingredients they are adding!!

Only in Dubai!!

On the theme of reasons to be cheerful there could also be a very rich vein of list of "only in Dubai",  a list of all those things that coudl only ever happen here.  Now this would be a long list, and already done to death elsewhere I am sure, but I saw my own personal summing up of the entire sad tale of this tinsle town turned ghost town where the common may can fool himself that he is something specially only to have it all crash down around his ears.

And the sight in question - an advert for a Lanborgini on a sumermarket notice board!!

I mean come on, supermarket notice boards have usually been the reserve of the tired family car you want rid of, the old step ladder you forgot to return after borrowing and hte box of crap you found at the back of the shed.  Surely such luxury brand items as a Lambo should be sold in expensive magazines or swanky forecourts.......I guess not in Dubia.

I'm leaving, I am Cheerful - That's me

To be read to the tune of "Reasons to be Cheerful - Part 3"

Won't miss Abu Dhabi, or the Jebel Ali
You can keep Dubyai and its smoke.
Off plan Palace, the business card ballet
Agents are all pally, now they're broke

Arabs call them Jamals, won't miss camels
Ugliest of the mamels no joke
Gordy shiny silly, Driving may kill me
In hatta with a Philli; phone broke.

No more grin and bare it, no more have to ware it
when 'cruiser cut me up and then you
Too hot to be sporty. Kissing it is naughty
Mercury hitting Forty, humid too

No more joining queue with a form and stamp or two
I've been in a few; they're pooh.
But if you have the wasta, things will move on faster
if you don't then you'll fester, its true

Leaving I am cheerful (that's me)
Leaving I am cheerfil (He he)
Leaving I am cheerful (that's me)
Leaving I am cheerful - that, is, me

In cyclone shake their asses, old men and young lasses
Very best prices just for you

No more family visits, no more 'good er innits'
Their getting on your tits; day two
Catboy gordie bird, drivel every word
won't miss it y'ave my word, nintytwo

Non-muslim pork n pickle, the courier motor-sickle
recession feel the prickle. We're off.
Expat on a Harli, Ravies for a darlee
sure of jippyfarty next day

Internet it's cruddy, no skype to phone a buddy
beaches, can't go nuddy.  No way.
Double apple tokey, lovely sheesha smoky
Coughing splutter chokey

Cinema know I'll go, without a ring-a-ringo
Hate that will a passion I do

Leaving I am cheerful (that's me)
Leaving I am cheerful (He he)
Leaving I am cheerful (That's me)
Leaving I am cheerful - That, is, me

Oh yes yes boss dear, Not coming here
Perhaps next year.  No hope

Leaving; I am cheerful (that's me)
Leaving; I am cheerfil (He he)
Leaving; I am cheerful (That's me)
Leaving; I am cheerful - That, is, me
Leaving; I am cheerful (that's me)
Leaving; I am cheerfil (He he)
Leaving; I am cheerful (That's me)
Leaving; I am cheerful - That, is, me

Reasons to be Cheerful - Part 3

I've just thought of a another one!! 

6.  Weekly/monthly rent will become the norm - No more annual rent:one checque!!

Yes people of the world unacustomed to the daylight robbery that is renting a villa in the sand pit that is right, here in the land of the mad we are often required to pay rent up front FOR THE ENTIRE YEAR!!

Well not any more as Australia is a far more civilised place and I see from letting agents over there that weekly and monthly rents are quite definatly the norm.  Happy days.

Reasons to be Cheerful Part 2

I have a reason to be cheerful for being in the UAE so in the interests of balance and fairness I feel I should add this:

-1 I can hoon around in the desert with my mates whereever and whenever I like without the nanny state telling me I cna't because I might break something/someone/some how and it will all end in tears.

Hence I now have a great new banner image with thanks to Goatboy after a trip into the desert which gave rise to a perfect opportunity to do a nice little donut or three on an almost pupose built gravel patch.

SWEET!!

Ps.  If you are reading this shortly before considering buying YBOD off me then please disregard this post, that is not YBOD and I didn't do donuts in her.  Honest

Reasons to be Cheerful, Part 1 revised

Great, no sooner do I start my list of reasons than the UAE decides to steal my thunder on one item 5 and do away with teh Emirates Identity Card scheme.  Well it's not enough, I'm not staying jsut because of that!!

So a few more:

5.  Not have to read teh newpaper on a daily basis to find out the whims and changes of the government machine which will chaneg again by tomorrow

Reasons to be Cheerful Part 1

No, this isn't a reference to that god awful ditty from the seventies or whenever it was.  It is in fact the start of what I suspect will become a VERY long list.  And the list is this:

I am in the later stages of arranging a new job in Australia and, all being well, will be leaving the sand pit for much fairer shores.  This is a fact that very much pleases me and fills me with alsorts of excitment, not least because it means I am finally moving on, only three years later than planned but moving on none the less. 

Now I'm not saying I havn't had a great time here in the UAE, because I have, I had some briliant adventures, met some great people and even ended up marrying one of them. However, I have sadly also met some awful people, seen some awful things and come across near pythonesce levels of loonicy.

I therefore thought I'd start putting together a light hearted list of reasons to be cheerful at about leaving Dubai - Here goes:

1. I won't have to run the Dubai 10k next Janauary that a lovely friend arranged for me as a birthday present (for me, an avide lover of the coach!!)
2. I'll probably miss my next turn on compressor duty at DSDC
   
3. I won't have to take a few hours out of my weekend to drive to the middle nowhere to by beer because I don't have a license to buy it at over inflated prices in Dubai
   
4. I will never have to get an Emirates Identity card as I'll be outta here before they are required!!

If you have any additional suggests dear reader feel free to leave them in the comments section and if I agree I'll add them.

Normal Service Resumed......again

Just a quick update on teh Du situation, which I must admit I thought was Du-n and Du-sted. It seems that in Du world if at first you don't succeed then you have to try and try again.....even after you have already done it.

As previously reported here, Du came and testedout lines and hooked us up about a week ago and low and behold, last night we got a call at 11pm from a Du service agent who was ever so pleased with himself to be abel to tell us:

Du: Evening sir
Me: Evening, who is this
Du: I am calling from Du, I have great news
Me: Really, well it better be at 11pm
Du: You know how we told you that we woudl not be able to send and engineer until the 29th to connect your account?
Me: Yes
Du: Well, good news sir, we have managed to bring the date forward to the 27th
Me: What?
Du: The 27th sir, it will be two days earlier
Me: And you had to call me at 11pm to tell me that
Du: Yes sir, its good news
Me: So good i had to be woken up after I have already been in bed for an hour and a half
Du: Sir?
Me: Well maybe we could both wait until tomorrow morning when we have had a good nights sleep and have clearer head
Du: Pardon sir?
Me: Because then you can check your computer and realise that you connected me 3 days ago!!
Du: Pardon sir
Me: Good night, and do not call me again this late
Du: But sir.....
BBbrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

I felt a pang of guilt for the fella as he did seem really proud of the fact he was going to be able to arrange an engineer 2 days sooner.

Meeep Meep

This year I vowed that under no circumstances was I going togo to an Iftar buffet as they are, generally and on the whole, crap. Only people who haven't eaten ALL day would want to touch most of the make 'em cheap stack 'em high stodge that is shoveled out on the buffets......which is probably why Iftar comes right after fasting.

Add to this, when we went out for Mr Bailey's birthday a few weeks ago the Dodd's broke the news to Richard and I that as a birthday present they had entered us in the Dubai 10k!! With friends like that who needs enemies. As so it is that the co-pilot and I are having to embark upon the (very) long road to fitness.

On Wednesday last week Ashley at work decided that we should all embark upon a run as a kind of group team building torture event bt combing these two - avoiding Iftar and running - and enter the Dubai Road Runner 5k Iftar race. This basically involved a runaround Musrif park starting at 6pm and running until Iftar - and therefore no water until the end!!

Ashley then press ganged Mr Page, Gregor, myself, Chris and Matt and Natasha into joining her for this act of stupidity, along with each of our respoective partners.

And so it was that at 5.30pm we congregated in the car park as Musrif, limbered, stretched and generally tried to make it look like Mr Page wasn't the only one who knew what he was doing. We struck off at 6pm and by 6:05 I was crossing the finish line wishing I hadn't agreed to this stupidity.

By 1km I had been passed by the lead pack of girls and by 2km I was passed by Natasha to a hoot of "Camon Mate, are you going to let yourself be beaten by a Sheila" and she might have even said "Struth".......but equally I might be resorting to crude stereotypes and paraphrasing but she said words to that effect as she glided past effortlessly and I cursed her to trip and fall (in a no injuring or damaging way of course).

But 35 minutes later it was all over and I was stumbling over the finish line and completing my first ever running race....and I even beat three other blokes!!

Full results can be found her, and I can be found pretty close to the end of the list

http://www.dubai-road-runners.com/iftarchallenge/iftarresults.html

Readers in High Places

Well, it would appear that this blog has readers in high places..........as low and behold the Du machine ground into action today and I was called this afternoon to say that if I could be home within an hour then an engineer would be there to connect my internet and TV.

So, with all due haste (but equal measure of due attention to road safety of course) I high tailed home from work to find the fella sat in the drive way with a box of tricks under his arm. Five minutes later he had plugged in the cables, turned it on and we are now up and running!!

Hurray for readers in high places!!

For those interested, the 'checks' the Engineer had to make on the lines which were the reason Du couldn't connect us remotely were made up of plugging in the network cable in to the wall, other end into my laptop and asking me to connect to a web page........ground breaking.

THE SERVICE IS TEMPORARILY SUSPENDED

SORRY - DUE TO THE INSANITY OF THE DU COMPANY SYSTEMS THIS BLOG WILL BE TEMPORARILY SUSPENDED FOR UPTO 28 DAY

WATCH THIS SPACE.......BUT DON'T EXPECT ANYTHIGN EXCITTING TO HAPPEN

Du - Well...actually we don't....but we do....just not straight away

The co-pilot and I have recently moved out of our borrowed palacial mansion and into an new "little house of our own" (albiet rented - we are not daft enough to buy in Dubai at the moment). we completed the move last weekend and the new landlord is a sound fella (a rarity in these times) and he kept the DEWA and Du servces connected while we moved in.

Now I have been following with amused interst the Grumpy Goats on going saga with Itisalot and his efforts, in vain to date, to persuade them that as a ISP they have just two functions (1) to provide internet and (2) collect payment for said service. And in summary it would appear itisalot are only able to master the second part of that equation.

In our old appartment (prison Cell Block Wakka) we had completely failed to enjoy any of Itisalots services as they did not have cables in our area yet. So, with the move to the Arbian Ranches we were looking forward to never having to deal with itisalot again as we would be switching (through no choice of ours) to the otehr monopoly - Du (oh the joys of the free market competition in the Sand Pit). This will be brilliant we thought; fast internet, cable TV and not a hint of Itisalot's incompetence.

Yesterday therefore co-pilot met up with the The Landlord and went down to Du to arraneg for his account to be cancelled and ours to be set up and thereby effect a "seemless and painless transition of power"......or so we thought!!

The Co-pilot and The Landlord explain the situation and requested the disconnetion and setting up of our account.

"No problem" replied the (suprisingly) helpful assistant.....[click click clicked click]....."there you go Mr Landlord your account has been cancelled and your internet will be disconnected within 24 hours"

all don't remotely, efficiently, and without undue hinderance or hassle.

And then she turns to the co-pilot [click click clickty click) "and there you go madam you have been scheduled for reconnection"
Co-pilot "scheduled? Do it will follow on as soon as the Landlord is disconnected"
Assistant: "Pardon me"
Co-pilot: "you said scheduled, does that mean it will be straight after"
Assitant: "Oh no, your request has to go to an engineer.....who will schedule an appointment.....to come to your premises to make the connection"
Co-pilot: "erm..why can't it be done remotely like the disconnection?"
Assistant: "becasue it is the companies system of course"
Co-pilot "why?"
Assistant: "well, because they need to check the lines and make the connect"
Co-pilot: "but why, we know it works, you havejus tdisconnect The Landlord from the same line"
Assitant: "yes I know, but its the company system, what can I do"
Co-pilot [realising she is fighting a loosing battle]: "Groan.....so how long will that take?"
Assistant: "Oh I'll schedule you for the next available slot......which is......[click click clickedy click] 29 September"
Co-pilot: "WHAT!! That's over four weeks away!!"
Assitant: "Well yes, it is a long time away, but the Engineers are all busy"
Co-pilot: "What with, checking lines unnecessarily?"

24 hours to disconnect.......672 hours to connect!! Don't you just love high technology!! My brother can work on a server in Frankfurt while sat in London, and get can turn it off and on again at will. But the dears at Du need a man to come a month later to check it manually.

So it is that the YBOD family will be off air for the next 28 days while we await an Engineer coming out to check a line we all already know works fine.........I love living in the sandpit.

NOT.

Internet Carrier

I have for some time been slightly in love with all things Apple Mac.......some have even suggested I may be a Mac fanboy. I don't deny it ;0) While in the UK for the wedding I decided to treat myself and upgrade my iPhone 2g to the sexy new 3gs.

As with all such things related to using the iPhone under anything other than the original contract I have of course had to jailbreak the phone and remove the carrier restrictions. Buy this was easy enough thanks to the iclarify website.

With the new phone up and running I immediatly set about filling up its memory with useless apps that would serve no purpose beyond the amusement brought about by there initial installation. One fantastic example of this is the 'fake carrier' app which allows you to change the name of the phone provider in the top right corner.

I have long since adopted the Grumpy Goats name for the local provider in the UAE (but won't mention their name for fear of getting my blog blocked on the grounds that.....well.....they don't like it) so it was with great amusement that I set my iphone to show the same:

Trust you approve Grumpy Goat.

Normal Service Shall Now Be Resumed

Following a long break in postings on this blog regular reader(s) can lok forward to a resumption of normal service as my latest side project is now completed and I can return to more important matters like diving, driving and general inane observations of stuff around me.

So what was this side project I hear you ask.......well, I only went and got myself married didn't I!!

The lovely Imogen Mason (now Beckett) agreed earlier this year to marry me and made me proper proud. I nthe lead up to the wedding I have therefore been dedicating my efforts to our wedding blog, which can be found at www.marriedandnotevenpregnant.blogspot.com.

While previously htis has only been circulated around those invitted to the wedding, with the big day over and done with I thought I'd share it with my wider reader.

Enjoy.

As Aerodynamic as a....

While back in the UK visiting mum I saw what has to go on the list of bunny hugging gone mad. At the end of the road is a Defender which, even for the non-tecnical minded, is easily regarded as vehicle that would appear pretty far down the list of cars you'd choose if fuel efficiency was your priority.

Well, this neighbor has his long wheel base defender and has fitted a huge roof rack for maximum stuff carrying (good man).

However, if you look carefully, he has also fitted one of the aerodynamically designed Halfords storage boxes. Why did he choose to add on of these?

Well apparently to help with fuel efficiency!! On a Landdrover!!

He maintains every little helps!! On a truck as about as aerodynamic as a filing cabinet!! It takes all sorts.

Airporting the Extreme Way - WDS

I have not posted on the Yellow Box of Doom in quite a while, and that is mainly because i have been really busy with wedding arrangements and any time spent blogging has been done on the wedding blog (yes I know, all very sad and anally organized but we do indeed have a wedding blog!!)

Anyway, I had a free evening this evening so spent a bit of time trying to get the apple airport network working at its best, which is hasn't really been doing since we moved to the Palatial Ranche......long and short of it is the place is just too big and the wifi just isn't reaching all the corners one would expect of the Heineken quality Apple usually supply.

Airport Extreme........reachs the parts other rooters* cannot reach

However, once I started reading around the subject it tranpires that all this time I have had the network set up incorrectly. I had it set up as an extended network, which apparently means that it simply shares internet and printers etc. If I want the express to boost the signal to the other part of the house i need to utilise WDS (Weally Difficult Sh!t).

Now I won't claim to understand a single word of how WDS works etc but there is a rather clever chap I found through google who does, so I thought I'd share the link for anybody else who might find it useful......and so I can find it again in a few months time when I can't remember how it all works:

Spencer Critchley is the clever chap.

So I am off now to test the new and improved boosted signal while sat on the toilet using the internet.

* for any Australian readers out there I simply couldn't resist the deliberate use of the Australian meaning for rooting ;0)

Shadowy Gangsta Wars

Warning to all woudl be fools who leave a YBOD on hos own with only his cameraphone and shadow for company.

While 'helping' BSS2 with the wheel respray I noticed out of the corner of my eye that my shadow, the little tinker, had chosen to earn a crust on the side a shadowy gangsta!!

Never trust your shadow, they might look all innocent and tustworthy, always there right behind you:



But at the first opportunity they will arm themselves



and when you confront them about it they draw their weapons



and fire at random in the air!!



Ibbah ibbahhh underlay underlay!!! El presedenty bandito, I kill people for money, but you are my friend.....I kill you for free!!

Golden Spade Star Shot

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

ME4x4 Golden Spade 2009

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

The yellow box gets new shoes - well, pollished ones at least

Well, its been a long time since I last posted on YBOD and to anybody who has been patient enough to be a regular reader, I appologise. So what have I been up to. Well, two things - planning a wedding (yep, I am getting married next month) and also I've been out playing a lot in the truck with the guys from ME4x4

However the driving season is over now as the hot weather comes in and camping is no longer a realistic option. As a result I should have more time now for updating blogs and tinkering......which brings me on to the subject of this entry:

For a while now BSS2 and I have been seeing more and more FJs around Dubai which have been modifed, resprayed and generally pimped to a more or less degree. And while some of these look better than others (need I mention the PINK FJ doing the rounds in Dubai). I have over the time I've owned YBOD3 partaken in a bit of ICON bolt-onary but BSS2 and I decided to enbark on a bit of re-spraying to give YBOD3 some nice new black wheels.

Now this task was of course planned out meticoulsy in advance, with all factors considered and the optimum time to carry out the work chosen.....which was why we ended up making an early start, and spend most of the day until 3pm in the blistering heat of Dubais summer. I think average air temps were around 40ish, maybe a bit higher. But still, as you can see from the step by steps it was all worth it as she does look VERY cool:

Step 1 - Jack the car up and put her on Axle Stands (note 'before' shot of silver wheels)


Step 2: Remove Wheels and take to the back garden (via the front rooms so be sure Alex isn't looking otherwise you have to explain tire tracks through the house, and she isn't going to believe you that a gang of hells angels passed through)


Step 3: Taking Care to carefully label each one so you know where to put them back in the wrong order later on only have a girl notice your error forcing you to correct it (not that we will admit that happened of course)

And remembering to keep you nuts somewhere safe so you don't loose them

Step 4: Put down plastic sheeting, layout wheels to be sprayed and mask up the tyres (which you don't want to spray as they are already black). note that the back is sprayed first so that any paint that runs through can be sorted before the front is sprayed.


Step 5: Spray everything up, allow to dry and then flip and repeat step 4. Sorry, no pictures of the spraying stage because....well.....I was too busy drinking beer and pointing out the bits BSS2 had missed

Step 6: All to dry over night while you head off to a three year olds birthday party to drink more beer

Step 7: Return in the morning with a mild hang over to find that BBS2 has been up at the crack of dawn and already cleaned off all the masking and put the wheels back on for you. Stand back, admire and tell yourself that while BSS2 might have done all the clever bits, and all you actally did was clean the wheels and shake the cans of paint for him, it stil looks damn good and feel proud of yourself.






As Alex put it, it make the YBOD3 look more Rufty Tufty. I'm taking her word for that ;0) There was one other minor modification that was made in the process of spraying. Given that YBOD3 had long sinced passed out of the relms of simple motorised transport and inot the much more appropriate bracket of big boys toys it seemed only fitting to modify the Toyota grill badge accordingly:

Piture Dump

Regular readers (presuming there is one) will notice that is has been a LONG time since I last posted on the blog. This is in the most part due to lazyness, but also it has been a very hectic few weeks since we got back from Australia and also I really want to upload the Australia pictures into the blog before I do any other entries. And with lack of time this is causing a backog.

Well a solution has been suggested to me by A D Das and that is Panoramio. I used to have a Flickr account set up for just this purpose but the thought police over at Itisalot have deemed Flickr to be too corupting to the moral fabric of society and as such barred it. Don't believe me? Just click here form within the UAE and see what you get.

Anyway, I now have set up a Panoramio account and will be uploading soon. The address is:

http://www.panoramio.com/user/2726791

Watch this space.......

The FJ Gets a New Hat

Following our fantastic trip to Australia the Co-pilot and I are forming plans and dreams to jack it all in and take a sabatical to go travelling around Australai. Now with that now almost cliche of phrase - "the current econominomic crisis" it doesn't seem the best time to be quitting a job if you have one still so we are staying put for the time being. However, sanity dictates that can't just put a dream that big on hold indefinatly therefore we have decided to "invest" a few of the comforts we plan to take on the big trip, the main one being a South African Sarafi style roof top tent:

After reading around the subject and checking out what is available here in the UAE we decided to go in the end for the Forerunner Featherlite which was sourced through Icon in Dubai. Other options available were either on the second hand market (but sold before we coudl get it) or the Opensky tent from ACE.

In the end we selected the Forerunner for two principle reasons - the Featherlite is, as the name suggests, much lighter (about 38kg vs over 60kg). Secondly the guys at Icon actually knew about what they were selling and therefore able to talk to me about it thus giving me some confidence in the product. The guys at ACE almost seemed suprised to find they sold the tents, let alone talk to me about how to erect the tent etc.

So we selected the tent and took it out for its inaugral trip for the 2008 New Years Eve Camp Out (more about that later). Now, not being a great writer or journalist, I'm sure I'm not doing full justic to the tent by trying to give a review, but here goes. I'll split the review into five heading; ease of installation, ease of errection, space and comfort inside, ease of packing away and finally quality of construction.

Ease of Installation - This is probably the only place I would say the tent REALLY got on my tits, but then on reflection (and discussion with others) I don't believe it is anything of a crisim that could be layed at the Frontrunners door specifically, but instead to all tents of this type. In fact if anything it is made inherrantly easier with the Forerunner because it is lighter.

Basically, you have two aluminum rails on the bottom of the tent base which are then bolted using the supplied brackets to your roof rack. Now this sounds easy in principle except that you have to try and get your arm between the roof fack and the roof to bolt the damn things on. Now I have the ARB Expidition roof rack which due to the nature of the roof rails that attach the rack to the roof only give access to the underside of the tent at the front and back (not at the sides) as such the only way I could get to bolt the tent rails to the rack was to unbolt the entire roof rack, lift it up on blocks on the roof, bolt the tent rack, and then rinstall the roof rack. This was a very cumbersome and time consuming process, and before the end of the camping season here I shall be devising a quick release system so I don't have to repeat the process. But anyway, after lots of spit and cursing it is now installed and looks grand.

Ease of Erection - Now this is where the well designed roof tents aces the alternatives. To test the ease of installation we challenged the other new year campers to the first Dubai International Speed Tent Erection Competition.

The contenders - The Featherlite, a Carfour 80chip Dome Tent and a Go Sport Six Man Double Dome. And the conclusion - It has jsut taken you longer to read this paragraph that it took to erect the featherlite!! You unzip the tarpauling and pull out the ladder. The operation pulling out the ladder also unfoldes the tender and it all clicks itself together in a sweeping stretching arc like a cat waking from its sleep and having a good stretch. Genious. Total time, about 15 seconds.

The 80Chip tent took about 10 minutes, and the Super Six Man Double Dome, as far as I know, is still being assembled now. In order to maintain impartiality the whole event was presided over by our own tent errection expert - Jameria James:

Space and Comfort inside - Well, what can I say, the tent comes with a built in foam matress which, compared to the comfort levels offered by airbeds or roll mats this was a palacial luxury only otherwise experienced by visiting princes I am sure. Also, I am well over the six foot mark and usually expect to spend most of a night in a tent with my head or feet against the canvas. However, at well over 2m in length the Featherlite afforded me ample room to toss and turn and not once did I wake up stuck to canvas.

The proof being in the pudding I can vouch that we went to bed some time after midnight (ish) and slept through to 8.30am and awoke refreshed and cherpy without the vaguest hint of stifness or lost sleep. Even the Co-pilot was unable to find anything to complain about. The tent was even checked out by our aforementioned expert judge who concluded it was "wow!!" and awarded it the full green rating

Ease of Packing Away - well, once you have removed the sleepers, the inspectors and the general passers by who want a nosy inside the great temple canvas campingness the tent becomes just as easy to pack away as it was to erect. Fold away ladder and the action of folding away folds the tent away. I really couldn't be easier.

Quality of Construction - Now I don't know that much about the design or construction of tents so I'll have to keep the comments brief. The tent fabric was lighter than I was expecting, but then it is the featherlite so to be expected. The rest of the contruction is very strong and heavy weight, the seems are welll constructed and the corners are stengthened. The Copilot liked the colour - an important comment for a girl. As far as longlevity and build quality go only time can really tell, so we'll let it tell.

So, in summary, as you might be able to guess I am impressed and "chuffed to bits" with the new tent.

The Return Home - Raining

Under Construction

Cut up by Emirates

The Return Home - Raining

Under Construction

Cut up by Emirates

Astralian Grand Adventure - Part 2 - On the Road

Under Construction

Australian Grand Adventure - Part 1 Melbourne

Under Construction

The FJ Gets a New Hat

Under Construction