Unexpectedly we found ourselves living in a time before internet and phones and television. It all started about two weeks ago when we finally moved out of our hotel. It had been a long stay there, and we thought we’d immediately slip into a more comfortable, convenient life in our newly finished home. In Dubai, you never get what you think you’re going to get.
We arrived at our villa on April 7th, it was about 40 degrees inside. I say about because there was no way to know for sure, there was no power and consequently no working thermostat in the place. We had three utilities to set up. The first one we crossed off our list was Emicool (they provide central A/C). This went relatively smoothly, with only three independent trips to their head office to convince them that the property did exist, and that we rented it, and that we’d like air conditioning. That was wrapped up by the 8th. We had caved and slept at the Marriott on the evening of the 7th. We only booked one night because we were sure that we’d have it all sorted by the end of the 8th.
As mentioned the Emicool turned out to be relatively straightforward, but only in hindsight. At the time it was a blood-boiling experience having to get all of the documents just so, and realizing that just so was different for every individual we talked to. It was a moving target, but a slow moving target. DEWA (Dubai Electricity and Water Authority) was much worse. After we sorted out the air conditioning we moved on to getting power and water. Turns out the A/C doesn’t work without power anyways. For starters their office is hidden away in some obscure building in a maze of apartments. It was only by sheer luck that we managed to spot it, and when we did we availed ourselves of the 4x4 capabilities of our truck. We crossed parking lots and fields in ways they were not intended to be crossed. The first visit was more of a get to know you affair. Of course our paperwork was not in order. We thought that we got it sorted out after the second visit, but that was only on the paperwork side. Then we moved on to the technical side.
Water came on very quickly, they had it sorted out by the time that we got back to the villa, but then we were stuck waiting for power. The first technician showed up at about 11h00 pm on the 8th. By that time we had thrown in the towel and gone off to the Marriot. It was fully booked, but they recommended the Premier Inn, which was close, but definitely not premier.
The next morning we hurried off to our new home to see if we had lights. We were pretty silly thinking it would be that easy. We called DEWA and they said they’d send someone right out. Six hours later a technician showed up, checked the service, and assured us everything was in order. We flicked the light switch on and off, he scratched his head and walked out the door. After an exploratory walk around the neighborhood we came across a grey steel box overgrown with jasmine. Sweeping away the greenery we were met with a locked door. Not to be deterred the technician pulled out… I know you think I’m going to say key, but it was actually a screwdriver, a really big screwdriver. He mangled the lock, and door, and finally with his calloused hands pried his way into the electrical service for the neighborhood. There were no fuses for our property. He had no fuses; that was a different technicians job. The long and the short of it is that we left, and by the time we got back we had power. It doesn’t really matter how long we were gone for, we’d rather not go into it; it’s kind of a painful memory. Too close to the surface I guess.
So, two out of three. Not bad. We had moved into our place now, and wanted a phone and internet and a few T.V. stations. Here we thought we’d have it easy because we could choose between two different service providers. I won’t bore you with the details again, you’ve had enough of those. There was another go around about the paperwork, Nicholas walked out of one of the providers not quite yelling that he would never be a customer of theirs, there was no fiber optic line to the house, then there was, then there was service. About twenty days after leaving the hotel we thought we hated, we have finally re-entered the 20th century with such comforts as electricity, running water, phone and internet. We’re very happy to be back in the future, especially to have contact with our family and friends. It’s been a long wait, and we thank those of you who are still tuning in to our blog.
