It was a morning like any other. The snooze button on the phone's alarm was hit several times as I burrowed deeper and deeper into the snug recesses of my cosy bed, unwilling to wake up. A steaming hot breakfast followed, and then it was time for that insufficiently appreciated thing we call the shower. A morning to cherish, though, because 24 hours later told a very different story: bones ached and muscles were stiff from huddling up against the freezing night. There was a rainblocking sheet of a flimsy tent above our heads where a roof should have been. It smelt like sweat, sunblock and congealing noodle curry.
A group of us teenagers were out camping in the desert with our families because one of us had had the bright idea of "making the most of the nice weather until it lasts".
We'd been preparing for it weeks before the actual weekend trip. Packing was probably the hardest bit, though tents, sleeping bags and mats, stoves, beach chairs and clothes were the easy part. I decided to throw in assorted skin creams and lip balm for good measure, just in case it got too dry, and while I was at it, lots of essential oils and some make-up too, which, actually, is a pretty good sunblock.
The food conundrum was slightly more pressing. Unable to decide how much was enough, I stuck to my better-safe-than-sorry policy, and made sure that between my parents and me, we had 20 packets of crisps, 15 Pot Noodles, gallons of water and Gatorade, and chocolate to last a week. We may have returned home with most of it uneaten, but we didn't starve to death, which is always a good thing when you're going on an expedition to the desert.
We started off just before noon. A few families we knew got together, some members swapping cars until we were all well mixed up, and then we sped off towards the great outdoors. All the teenagers inevitably ended up in the same car, much to the consternation of one irate father - the one whose car it was. He retaliated by ignoring our requests for Virgin radio and blasting Eric Clapton out of the car stereo instead. We got our own back later by singing loudly and raucously well into the night when everyone else was trying to sleep.
The plan had been to start trekking and exploring as soon as we got there, but when we did, everyone was too tired from the journey. And we had been certain that we were going to be much more motivated than the adults when we reached our camp ground, but I suppose we'd been a little too optimistic. Donna and I, meanwhile, found a herd of surprisingly friendly goats who were more than happy to nibble on our supplies of Jammie Dodgers. We had to shoo them away eventually when they made up their minds that our clothes seemed rather more appetising than the biscuits.
With the cars safely locked, we set off in due course. For many of us, it was a refreshing change to do some good, old-fashioned walking - not on a treadmill nor around an artificial lake, but in an untouched place, which made the whole experience much more enjoyable. The terrain was a sort of mix of hills and sandy bits; we might have been in the middle of a desert, but it's that time of the year where spring hasn't really succumbed to the punishing midsummer sun yet, so the weather was ideal for trekking.
Returning to the cars to spend the night, we set about actually making camp. You would think that the instructions on the leaflet for pitching a tent should actually provide some guidance on how to pitch a tent. This, unfortunately, wasn't the case, and as Donna and I fiddled around with the flysheet and pegs and things that evening, all we succeeded in doing was getting extremely tangled up. Getting the tent sorted eventually, we turned our attention to cooking a wholesome dinner of noodles and chocolate bars. Thirty minutes of heating water over our tiny stove only made it ever so slightly lukewarm, but we poured it over the noodles anyway and ate them uncooked - hunger is really the best sauce. Attempts to start a bonfire were soon abandoned as it kept going out and we'd exhausted our supply of matches.
This sounds all very adventurous in writing but it's not quite so romantic when temperatures plummet in the middle of the night when you're trying to get some shut-eye. It was very tempting to retreat to the warmth of the cars, abandoning chilly tents and sleeping bags on rocky ground, but no one would give me the car keys because it was "against the spirit of the trip".
I'm not sure I could call what followed a "good night's sleep", given all the insects that somehow crept in even with the zip fastened, but it was an exciting escapade all the same. That doesn't mean I'm up for another one any time soon - the blisters are still peeling and anyway, I've got too much work to be able to engage in frivolous activities like this. Honest.
The writer is a 15-year-old student in Dubai.
Follow us on Twitter and keep up to date with the latest in arts and lifestyle news at twitter.com/LifeNationalUAE
GOLF’S RAHMBO
- 5 wins in 22 months as pro
- Three wins in past 10 starts
- 45 pro starts worldwide: 5 wins, 17 top 5s
- Ranked 551th in world on debut, now No 4 (was No 2 earlier this year)
- 5th player in last 30 years to win 3 European Tour and 2 PGA Tour titles before age 24 (Woods, Garcia, McIlroy, Spieth)
The%20specs
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How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
RESULTS
Argentina 4 Haiti 0
Peru 2 Scotland 0
Panama 0 Northern Ireland 0
Vidaamuyarchi
Director: Magizh Thirumeni
Stars: Ajith Kumar, Arjun Sarja, Trisha Krishnan, Regina Cassandra
Rating: 4/5
BULKWHIZ PROFILE
Date started: February 2017
Founders: Amira Rashad (CEO), Yusuf Saber (CTO), Mahmoud Sayedahmed (adviser), Reda Bouraoui (adviser)
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: E-commerce
Size: 50 employees
Funding: approximately $6m
Investors: Beco Capital, Enabling Future and Wain in the UAE; China's MSA Capital; 500 Startups; Faith Capital and Savour Ventures in Kuwait
Bookshops: A Reader's History by Jorge Carrión (translated from the Spanish by Peter Bush),
Biblioasis
Titanium Escrow profile
Started: December 2016
Founder: Ibrahim Kamalmaz
Based: UAE
Sector: Finance / legal
Size: 3 employees, pre-revenue
Stage: Early stage
Investors: Founder's friends and Family
About Krews
Founder: Ahmed Al Qubaisi
Based: Abu Dhabi
Founded: January 2019
Number of employees: 10
Sector: Technology/Social media
Funding to date: Estimated $300,000 from Hub71 in-kind support
Ultra processed foods
- Carbonated drinks, sweet or savoury packaged snacks, confectionery, mass-produced packaged breads and buns
- margarines and spreads; cookies, biscuits, pastries, cakes, and cake mixes, breakfast cereals, cereal and energy bars;
- energy drinks, milk drinks, fruit yoghurts and fruit drinks, cocoa drinks, meat and chicken extracts and instant sauces
- infant formulas and follow-on milks, health and slimming products such as powdered or fortified meal and dish substitutes,
- many ready-to-heat products including pre-prepared pies and pasta and pizza dishes, poultry and fish nuggets and sticks, sausages, burgers, hot dogs, and other reconstituted meat products, powdered and packaged instant soups, noodles and desserts.
Tips for job-seekers
- Do not submit your application through the Easy Apply button on LinkedIn. Employers receive between 600 and 800 replies for each job advert on the platform. If you are the right fit for a job, connect to a relevant person in the company on LinkedIn and send them a direct message.
- Make sure you are an exact fit for the job advertised. If you are an HR manager with five years’ experience in retail and the job requires a similar candidate with five years’ experience in consumer, you should apply. But if you have no experience in HR, do not apply for the job.
David Mackenzie, founder of recruitment agency Mackenzie Jones Middle East
JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH
Directed by: Shaka King
Starring: Daniel Kaluuya, Lakeith Stanfield, Jesse Plemons
Four stars
THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
On sale: Available for preorder now
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
Other workplace saving schemes
- The UAE government announced a retirement savings plan for private and free zone sector employees in 2023.
- Dubai’s savings retirement scheme for foreign employees working in the emirate’s government and public sector came into effect in 2022.
- National Bonds unveiled a Golden Pension Scheme in 2022 to help private-sector foreign employees with their financial planning.
- In April 2021, Hayah Insurance unveiled a workplace savings plan to help UAE employees save for their retirement.
- Lunate, an Abu Dhabi-based investment manager, has launched a fund that will allow UAE private companies to offer employees investment returns on end-of-service benefits.
Sweet%20Tooth
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Revibe%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202022%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Hamza%20Iraqui%20and%20Abdessamad%20Ben%20Zakour%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20UAE%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Refurbished%20electronics%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunds%20raised%20so%20far%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%2410m%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFlat6Labs%2C%20Resonance%20and%20various%20others%0D%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Results
Male 51kg Round 1
Dias Karmanov (KAZ) beat Mabrook Rasea (YEM) by points 2-1.
Male 54kg Round 1
Yelaman Sayassatov (KAZ) beat Chen Huang (TPE) TKO Round 1; Huynh Hoang Phi (VIE) beat Fahad Anakkayi (IND) RSC Round 2; Qais Al Jamal (JOR) beat Man Long Ng (MAC) by points 3-0; Ayad Albadr (IRQ) beat Yashar Yazdani (IRI) by points 2-1.
Male 57kg Round 1
Natthawat Suzikong (THA) beat Abdallah Ondash (LBN) by points 3-0; Almaz Sarsembekov (KAZ) beat Ahmed Al Jubainawi (IRQ) by points 2-1; Hamed Almatari (YEM) beat Nasser Al Rugheeb (KUW) by points 3-0; Zakaria El Jamari (UAE) beat Yu Xi Chen (TPE) by points 3-0.
Men 86kg Round 1
Ahmad Bahman (UAE) beat Mohammad Al Khatib (PAL) by points 2-1
Men 63.5kg Round 1
Noureddin Samir (UAE) beat Polash Chakma (BAN) RSC Round 1.
Female 45kg quarter finals
Narges Mohammadpour (IRI) beat Yuen Wai Chan (HKG) by points.
Female 48kg quarter finals
Szi Ki Wong (HKG) beat Dimple Vaishnav (IND) RSC round 2; Thanawan Thongduang (THA) beat Nastaran Soori (IRI) by points; Shabnam Hussain Zada (AFG) beat Tzu Ching Lin (TPE) by points.
Female 57kg quarter finals
Nguyen Thi Nguyet (VIE) beat Anisha Shetty (IND) by points 2-1; Areeya Sahot (THA) beat Dana Al Mayyal (KUW) RSC Round 1; Sara Idriss (LBN) beat Ching Yee Tsang (HKG) by points 3-0.
