Victory

(14/8/23)

Despite being on a pseudo-holiday, the weekend arriving is still precious. I had a much-needed lie-in and a leisurely morning. It wasn't all a waste of time. I worked on the new laptop as well as a new video.

We had our lunch and then raced out to McCafferty's for the 2:30 PM kick-off of the Women's Quarter Final match. England against Colombia - it was messy and entertaining! I'm so glad it didn't go to penalties, unlike the Australia/France match that finished an hour before.

As we were out, we decided to have a drive to make use of the rental car. We ended up in Mushrif Park, somewhere we haven't been for years. The last two attempts were abandoned because of the long queues. Today, we drove up to Gate 2 on what felt like an endless approach.

The park is Dubai's first public park, opened back in the 70s. It was mainly desert then. One of my childhood memories is of my dad's car getting stuck in the sand when trying to get to the park! Back then, they had a train that took visitors on a ride, but it was soon abandoned. I remember the school I attended taking us for swimming classes. Much of the old park remains, but several newer attractions have been added over the decades. The most significant changes are an adventure park with a zip line, an equestrian paddock, a cycle shop for the cycle track and a couple of eateries.

The Dubai Astronomy Society has its spot in it (my extra). Sadly, we arrived when they were packing up for a special event to watch the meteor shower outdoors. We'll have to go back to check it out.

Back at home, I was so pleased to get the key I needed to upgrade my OS to Windows Pro 10 on the new laptop. Now I need to start downloading the apps I use and transferring my data. All done without sending the laptop away for three days or paying someone £25 to install Windows. Result!