Salute the women drivers of Saudi

There are plenty of things i don't understand in the world......
- Why ring pulls were removed in preference of push tabs
- Why the English language tolerates words with two meanings (for example- Outstanding!)
- What biological purpose to crying serve?

But one thing that makes my blood boil is the Saudi's social slavery; preventing women from driving to protect themselves...... madness utter madness.

I really can't do justice to the whole issue. Luckily i didn't have to as a brave young woman Manal al-Sharif explains and champions the cause.


http://tiny.cc/ezxjn


this is an evolving story, since this above report, she was arrested and forced to retract her desire to drive and promise not to attempt this stunt again. Luckily with the door pushed open, others have found safety in numbers, and a recent "mass drive" went ahead.

I can not believe in this day and age we still tolerate such blatant slavery.

More Mufti

His Grand Mufti-ness is always available for a quote. Here are a selection of his best pronouncements (also his most confusing)

GM on deviant thoughts promoted by education
http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/saudi-arabia/saudi-grand-mufti-blames-curricula-for-deviant-thoughts-among-youngsters-1.2054

GM ranting about Gaza protest, in a bob geldof stylee
http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/saudi-arabia/saudi-grand-mufti-criticises-pro-gaza-protests-1.44566

Saudi Grand Mufti

This guy absolutely cracks me up!

iyadh: Saudi Arabia's Grand Mufti Shaikh Abdul Aziz Alu Al Sheikh said cinema and theatre are against Shariah (Islamic law) as they are tools that distract people from work and efforts to achieve progress.

He was replying to questions about theatrical performance and watching comedies during an interaction with students at King Saud University on Tuesday.

"Theatrical performance, whether it is a cinema or a song, would generally make an impression that is against Shariah. People need only those (art forms) that are useful to them to change their way of life (in an Islamic manner),'' he ruled.

It is noteworthy that last year the Grand Mufti had issued an edict against watching Turkish melodramas of "Nour" and "The Last Years", the hottest shows on Arab TV, aired by MBC.

He slammed them as evil and ordered audiences to stop watching them. "They contain so much evil; they destroy people's ethics and are against our values. Any TV station that airs them is against God and His messenger. These are serials of immorality," he noted.

The Grand Mufti replied to questions raised by the university students on a wide variety of contemporary topics and matters. Urging students to refrain from smoking, Shaikh Alu Al Shaikh accused the tobacco companies of giving bribes to doctors to play down the harmful effects of smoking.

"Smoking is really an ordeal, whether it is cigarettes or smoking of Shisha or Ma'asal," he said while drawing attention to the fact that some European countries banned selling them on public streets.

The Grand Mufti advised students to avoid reckless driving especially during early hours. He also warned against playing chess as "it causes a man to lose his wealth and waste his time." Referring to photography he said: "Photography is one of the necessities of life."

"It will be helpful while delivering lectures, carrying out religious activities and even while maintaining public security. Only the photography of sculptures and models is prohibited."

Replying to another question about donating organs of a dead body, Shaikh Alu Al Shaikh said that several scholars have permitted it as it is useful for living beings. However, it is not permissible to take organs before the death of the concerned person.

On the question of accepting remuneration by poets for attending festivals and cultural events, he said that it is permissible if their words are good and faultless. "If there are abusive words or references, then they are not permissible," he said.




For me it is the attention to detail!

waiting for the moon

At the moment we are all waiting for the New Moon. The Saudi’s have called for the Moon Sighting Committee to convene, and investigate possible sightings. Plenty of Govt. agencies have placed predictions on when the moon will be seen, Bahrain has asked for its people to be on the look out and report the first sighting to a local official. And last night even I was frantically searching for the blasted thing. You see Ramadan doesn’t end until the New Moon is seen in the skies above wherever you are. So It came as a big surprise when Saudi announced that the moon had been sighted to coincide with the end of their weekend! Although why they would bother lord only knows (they get the best part of two weeks off anyway).

 

See it turns out there is a lot of politics brewing over the moon. I expect David Cameron to jump on the “Moon Sighting” bandwagon shortly! There seems to be a certain amount of histrionics about it too. I mean I’m pretty sure that the moon is predictable (didn’t we all learn that in school), plus we don’t really do cloudy nights out here, so no danger of that. So why the fuss? From what I understand its to do with inter-country rivalries, the UAE not wanting to organize themselves around the Saudi’s. Although this morning the Government announced that Eid would begin tomorrow (no moon sighting, just guessing I assume?), so pretty much negating the need for all this committee lark…..you can tell they used to be British ruled! “What we need is a moon sighting committee!” etc etc

 

So yesterday was Divali (the festival of lights, that is celebrated with a back to front swastika), and a group of us trudged down to the creek to see what all the fuss was about. Tom and I were the brave ones, we opted to take off our shoes, and wander into the Hindu Temple to have a look around. Dubai is tolerant of all religions…….. to a point, so there is only one church and only one temple, and before you ask no Synagogue. Also they are not keen on religions celebrating their faiths, so there were no fireworks allowed, a pretty fundamental tenet of the festival, and only a few rogue individuals dared to break that edict. The temple was very humbling, with lots of lights and people praying, a group of women in the corner grinding down flowers to create a very floral smell, were chanting in a low tone sounding like humming. The Temple wasn’t technically open for the prayers, but there were still 30/40 people walking around what can only be described as someone’s house. It was small and from the outside gave no clues that it was the main place of worship, as it turns out there were another four or five “gates” to the rest of the temple dotted around the market stalls and tiny walkways. Downstairs there were portraits of the gods with people offering short prayers and touching them for respect. Tom and I felt privileged to have been part of their evening, if only for a short time. We left and went to see the fuss surrounding a shop across the road. Here they were selling fresh flowers, a gift to the gods, which you would hang up in your house or rub into your hair to leave a strong smell.

 

Feeling culturally liberated, we then moved onto the Sherlock Holmes pub and tucked into a pint, before going to an iftar buffet after sunset. Very nice indeed, and the next challenge is to figure out how we can muscle in on some Eid celebrations! In the next three days this city is going to explode with people shopping, worshipping, and a festival atmosphere, but were not sure where!

 

I leave you with an amusing story from the local news. The Dubai Court of First Instance sentenced a man to 2 years in prison the other day. The accused (a Lebanese man) had gone out with a few friends and ended up in a hotel room with 9 Malaysian prostitutes and their Russian minders. When he awoke the next morning he had lost his wallet, so he went to report this to the police, who promptly arrested him for drinking and having an illicit affair. It doesn’t end there, as between the arrest and trial he went home to Beirut and was killed in the fighting. The Court refused to accept that he is dead, and when asked if the defendant would be appealing against the ruling, his lawyer (in disbelief I assume) said- “Why? My client is dead!”

 

So Eid Mubarak my friends….. I’m going to enjoy my two days off!

Ramadama ding dong

"Hell is other people"- Sartre
 
 Well chaps and chapesses. Its been a while since i've
 pressed these keys in anger, and by golly have i got
 nothing to tell you
 
 No really... Its ramadan, the world closes down, and
 you feel like a dirty traitor when you eat any food
 before iftar (breaking the fast)
 
 Had my house warming last weekend. Drank too much,
 made too much noise, got a letter about rules from the
 building manager. Broke my bed by using it as a
 trampoline.... te he.... knew what you lot were
 thinking when you read that last sentance!!!!!
 
 Working pretty hard, and for just the craziest Local
 guy ever.... why we employeed him i'll.... hold on...
 i know why we employed him ;) he's doing my nut but
 i'm learning to have fun with him.... for example he
 has this rude habit of emailing me when i'm sitting
 next to him, when he could just turn and ask.... so
 i've now started emailing back. And everytime he
 emails me a task i email back asking for further
 clarification.... its winds him up no end.
 
 I had a little bit too much fun last night. We (tom
 and i) went out to Longs bar. which is a really cool
 place, and is absolutley packed during ramadan, full
 of pretty young things. Tom as i've mentioned before
 is an expert in pick up techniques. So we decided to
 have some fun with it. So he starts chatting to this
 Blonde in her late thirties. Then calls me in-
 
 So we get chatting and she says-
 
 Blonde- So what do you guys do?
 Tom- we own a beauty salon
 Blonde- really, i've had my nails done today what do
 you think...
 Luke- oh daaaarrrrling, dear me, how much did they
 charge you for that?
 Blonde- oh, urm... only about 100 AED
 Tom+Luke- well it shows
 Blonde- but it was at (local salon name, wasn't really
 listening), and they came highly recommended
 Luke- you'll have to come by ours
 Tom- yeah, we'll sort those out for you
 Blonde- where is it?
 rumbled.... so i make my excusees and leave tom to
 pick up her number... that is gonna be a strage
 conversation if she calls
 
 Anyways- busy old week ahead. I've been invited to an
 iftar meal by one of my team. Its also his twin boys
 birthdays, so its going to be one hell of a party
 (minus alcohol).
 
 Love y'all

Driving my car

Well I’ve been busy, so I make few if any apologies
for not emailing sooner. Plus I still have no TV or
Internet access in the Apartment. There is a phrase in
Arabic that sends a shiver down my spine. Basically
its an international “get out clause” that allows them
to rest everything in the hands of the almighty.
“Insha Allah”- literally means “God willing”, and if
anyone in a service industry says this to you be
afraid!

So why is this relevant? Well the Fibre-optics company
is working on the principle that we’ll all get TV “God
willing”. Now as most of you know, I’ve never been
that keen on organized religion, but I’m 100% sure
that God has very little to do with whether I get TV
or not! I’ve also encountered this same situation with
getting my new car, and again I’m pretty sure that God
isn’t registered to drive in the UAE.

Enough with the ranting. After two weeks of blood
sweat and angry late night telephone calls, I received
my new car yesterday! I feel like a fraud, like I’ve
sold out to YP-dom (Young Professional) by getting an
Audi A3! But It is amazing, and technically a very
fast car! And its got a 6CD changer…. And yes I did
spend all last night figuring out which CD’s would go
into it! So now only a few more pieces in the jigsaw
puzzle to complete. Here’s a summary:

1.      Visa- Got the scars to prove it, oh and the
stamp in the passport
2.      Apartment- check
3.      Labour Card- Proof that I work in the UAE for
LTSB
4.      Driving License- I had to go to the Dubai
Police Academy! This country is full of humor!
5.      Car- check
6.      Alcohol license- probably another couple of
days away
7.      TV and Internet- Insha Allah

About the alcohol license- You have to apply to the
government to drink, it costs 20 quid for the year,
and you have to provide proof of residency and your
contract with the landlord. Also if you live in shared
accommodation you have to get a signed letter from all
of your housemates stating that they are ok living
with an alcoholic! They also need to know your salary
so that they can give you a limit! Yeah that’s right
an alcohol limit, so that you don’t spend all of your
wages on beer! I mean if you think that you live in a
nanny state….. it’s a whole different ball game over
here.

To get alcohol you have to go to A&E (seriously!),
which is short for the African and Eastern company, I
went to pick up the application with my fellow manager
(Pravin), and I bought alcohol in full view of the
shop staff on Pravin’s license! Not a blink, then
Pravin asked if we had to apply for Licenses in the
UK. I explained that there would be an uprising in the
UK if we had to apply for an alcohol license,
surpassing the indignation for the Iraq War and crowds
that attended LIVE8, at which point I realized that
Bob Geldof is probably not the cultural icon in Asia I
thought he was.

Driving License is another quirky little tale to tell
your friends. To get certified you have to take an eye
test. Now I’m virtually blind, so this was troubling,
but I did remember to pack the glasses that I had four
years ago, just in case. So you trundle down to any
opticians in Dubai, and request a Driving license eye
test. They sit you in their chair and flick some
letters onto the wall (as usual). Now I can’t see
them, so he magnifies and magnifies and magnifies,
holds a card over one eye and then the other…… but I’m
still struggling to see them

“You wear glasses?”

“Yeah I do, shall I put them on?”

So I put them on, and then he says “you see ok”…..
“yeah crystal clear (cheeky little wink)”, and signs
the box and takes 40 dihrams. He even fakes my age on
the eye test form to 23…. Still not sure why, and I’m
off to the Dubai Police Academy. From there you have
to bribe the guy in the photo room otherwise he
rejects your application, and you have to pay for the
license, all in all only about 30 quid. But the bribe
worked because I’ve got a license that expires in
2016, but I only have a visa till 2009, maybe I
should’ve tipped immigration as well?

Work is fine, work is great. Working very hard and
often late. But getting a lot of job satisfaction from
the whole experience. I’m heading back to the UK for
my birthday Friday 15th, so please find the time in
your crowed diaries to come out for a short drink, cos
you wont see me again till Jan!

Khalli Walli

Several phrases plucked from the Dinglish dictionary
(Dubai speak) that really sum up Dubai:

Duperlative: A dubious claim that something is the
tallest, biggest etc in the world. For example the
Sheikh’s life ambition is to be first Arab nation to
host the winter Olympics….. and is thinking of putting
in a bid for the 2014 world cup (there are no stadiums
above 20k seater)

My Friend: A total stranger

Splurge Al Arab: after the only 7 star hotel in the
world, it describes the phenomenon of expats spending
their months wages in a week on spurious items

Doing a Movenpick (Tom and I made this one up):
getting hopelessly lost, being able to see your
destination (the f#*ker was big enough), but not being
able to figure out any of the bleeding road signs, and
finally being stuck in a traffic jam for two hours!

You can also have a large amount of childish fun with
the country of Oman. For example (say it out loud) “In
some parts close to the border, you can accidentally
slip in and out of Oman” and many more

Oh dear been a long day as you might be able to guess.
Been to Ikea though and picked up yet more flat
documentation….. but as yet no house keys. Getting
hold of a simple set of keys to an apartment is as if
you we buying a squadron of F-14 fighter jets.
Undersign here, in triplicate there, oh and you can
collect the keys from blah blah blah! Still my
shipment has arrived and is currently being
scrutinized by the Ministry of Information (very
Orwellian I know, but its true) for naked lady
pictures, and class A drugs like; paracetamol,
ibuprofen, and probably calpol.

Been up to loads more stuff…. Went for a Royal Hamman
(not the footballer) on Friday. It is the traditional
Moroccan bath treatment, and is highly recommended by
all of the locals at work. Very strange experience,
but I left feeling refreshed. Saturday was all about
furniture shopping, that was until my hire car broke
down, and it took them two hours to find a
replacement….. oh and me!

Here’s the deal. They are doing so much construction
work that it becomes difficult for everyone to keep
track. Hence no postal delivery service or decent
maps. But its gets weirder….. take my shipment from
the UK, I’ve had to draw them a map of where my
apartment and all the local landmarks are. Imagine how
strange it feels to stand in the queue at Ikea drawing
a pencil map of where you live…….. try it sometime,
embarrassing isn’t a strong enough word. But at least
my geography lessons didn’t go to waste, my old
teachers would be proud that I remembered to include a
key showing what a traffic light looks like on my map.

Well guys and girls……. With impending war in the
middle east (can’t help but feel my arriving did
something?!), I’ll sign off with the reassuring
message that the UAE won’t be getting involved very
soon. One of my team has just left the army (to join
Lloyds TSB…frying pan and fire springs to mind)
because they did too much running in the sun! God help
us if an Israeli soldier accidentally slips in an out
of Oman (ah, it never grows old).

But as they say over here Kalli Walli or “Don’t worry
about it”

Smoking da shisha

For the purpose of clarity this happened in 2006, we were all young and living the high life!

Alrighty…..what a weekend baby!

So first things first. Tom is a bit of a player, a self-esteem junkie, you know the type. He has just finished reading the book on how to pick up women, the revolutionary book that has a very high success rate. And in his first two weeks here he has really been putting it to the test. I’ve lost count of the women he’s “met” so far. For me it’s really a spectator sport, watching him use all of the tactics and seeing the results.

Rule 1- Don’t start with a line, start with a non-sexual comment, that engages your target.

Rule 2- Once engaged add value (stamp collection discussion not advised)

Rule 3- Include a time penalty “Sorry I can only talk for a few minutes, I’ve got to re-join my friends over there”

I know its simple isn’t it. But it’s so effective. On Thursday we (Alex- Marketing, Tom- HR, Toby- IT, Me- Operations)  sauntered down to the Apartment at Jumeirah Beach Hotel. A real swanky place, full of wannabee’s, but playing funky house, so not all bad. Tom saw his prey early (Emirates Airline Cabin Crew), and worked his magic, so much so that the woman in question left the rest of her group (with another gal) and joined us for the entire evening. Textbook execution.

Then as 3am closed in (yeah I know I was surprised too!), one of the girls (Steph) suggested an after party. I agreed to host. So off in the Taxi we went. Only one small problem; you can’t buy alcohol unless you have a license, and no license unless you are a resident (Visa), so luckily we had Toby with us, who stopped off at his flat to grab his vodka!

Basically long story shortened, we stayed up till 6am, then they all climbed into my bed. Let me clarify that……. There was me, Jamie (Aussie Air Host, Gay), Steph (Trainee Emirates Hostess, getting close with Toby) and Toby (getting close with Steph), as Tom and Saskia (Former Uni affair, Trainee Emirates Hostess, small world!) had already retired to Tom’s room. And got a little bit of shut eye before being rudely awakened by Tom wanting to get the Day started circa 10am.

They all left, but we are sure to catch up with them again this week in the Irish Village . And Tom and I (Toby went to rest) went to the Four Point Sheraton, for Brunch. The place was empty, just Tom and I pretty much for the entire 4 hours. It was Mediterranean food, so lots of salads, dips, cold meat, etc. Plus as much dirty house wine as you could drink! It was amazing, and something that I really think the UK should get involved in, as it prompts people to sit down and talk for hours about allsorts. In our Chat this week Tom covered off a Psychologist course that he went on that has helped realigned his life, I explained the differences between the US and UK Democracies, and just general chat about each others lives etc. Very cool, not something you could do in the hustle and bustle of home.

Then the madness began. We got in a taxi (no I’m not going off on a rant again), and got chatting to the Driver (Tyson, from Hyderabad ). Tom instigated a conversation, and shortly after that we were being whisked away to the creek (ooo eeerrr misses), near the Sheikh’s house. As it was a Friday there is no alcohol served anywhere between 4-6pm (Friday Prayers). So we went to a wooden shack, and got a Turkish coffee and a Shisha. What I hear you cry. Yes it’s a bit like a bong, expect healthier and not hallucinogenic. Essentially it is a water pipe, which you inhale; you get a choice of flavours to burn into the water, apple being the most popular. They place the coal on top of the Shisha and a bit like a bag pipe you inhale the smoke, and blow it back out again. I had a couple of toke’s, but as we all know, I’m not a fan of smoking so this seemed completely against my code of ethics, and declined to further partake. Then after agreeing to set-up a rental car business with Tyson, in exchange for me getting a 4x4 from one of his friends, we headed back to the hotel for some well earned rest.

Saturday was just as frenetic, as it was house hunting time. As usual I was in a no-nonsense mood, and this was heightened by the way they do things, see you don’t get shown round, you just turn up at the building and convince the Guard that you are there for a reason and they show you round. So by the end of the day I had agreed in principle to sealing a flat. After having seen half finished buildings that were “available now”, and received contradictory promises form many agents, I settled on an apartment in the Dubai Marina complex. If the contract comes through today, then I’ll be living in the Marina Residence Tower B, 16^th Floor (Top), Number 1603. It overlooks the 12 lane highway that zooms through Dubai and down to Abu Dhabi . The rest of the view is of the new bridge they are building and the 17 odd apartment blocks they are starting, a building site really. The apartment has a gym and swimming pool on the ground floor and roof, and is a mere 35mins (Give or take) from the office. I’ll have a parking space under the building, and there is security on patrol 24 hours a day.

But getting to this state was the hard part, realizing that most apartments are just shells, with no cooker, washing machine, fridge etc, was difficult to fathom. Plus all of the apartments are unfurnished, due to that fact that they are just coming off the production line and are snapped up before the landlord can put items in…… although there is an element of charging silly prices for little effort on their part!

One of the buildings I looked at was lovely. Just outside the Greens complex and cheaper than the Marina (not by much). Initially it was due to be ready first week of August. It was in my top two, due to its location, and the size of the bedroom and living room. When I returned to look at it in the evening, it had gone but there were other properties in the building available so I peaked at those. Despite the swimming pool being tiny, and they Gym having nothing in it, that was the one. Only to find out that, as was apparent from walking around, it wouldn’t actually be ready until 2^nd Week in August, but maybe the first week, etc, so I went for the other one.

Stage two is to fill the apartment with lovely stuff. As I have no real possessions or furniture I’m going to have to buy a bed, etc. I’m looking forward to it….. guess that’s a sign of growing up.

Taxi drvier

Hello all,

(Best Geordie accent) Its day 8 in the Bur Dubai
house, and the ex-pats a re getting a little annoyed
with the crazy taxi drivers and their De Nero like
tendancies

Yeah thats right all of them are bonkers, not one is
sane. I got in a taxi to work yesterday and was
acosted by a pakistani national that was disappointed
with the interest that he was being charged on his
loan with Emirates Bank, and wanted me to sort it out,
all because i was getting a taxi to our branch! Then
on the way home, it got worse, with some bloke telling
me about his 11 years in Dubai and his twins back home
that he never saw...... then (Not joking) he went on
to tell me that he was faithful to his wife almost all
the time, and descibed in gross detail the "little"
mistakes that he has made throughout his time here in
exchange for taxi rides.....


Whoa, I know too much information. Today I sampled yet
another Taxi ride from hell, mainly because he didn't
know where we were going, and wnated directions from
us! But enough.

Today I took in a sacred ritual for Dubai, the Friday
Brunch. Its a non working day for evryone, so the deal
is that you go to a hotel and take in thier Brunch.
Its an all you can eat and drink affair with unlimited
alcohol. I know ace! only for max 15 quid. So I've
just returned from the Al Murooj Hotel (Double Decker)
having sampled more than a few pints.... hence the
spelling and poor grammar.

Well one week completed.... and there really aren't
enough words in the english language to describe
Dubai, its a strange and unerving mix of styles and
cultures, with soooooo much to do and see. I'm loving
it, and i know that i'm still on holiday mode, but
this is a truly beautiful place to be.

I've settled into the whole work thing very easily.
NOt to be too unkind to the wonderful and welcoming
people i'm working with, they are a long way behind
the UK in banking expertise, but they have a real
passion and desire to improve, which is really
refreshing. I'm spending the first few weeks, looking
at processes and really getting to grips with what
they do. Its not very stimulating  but is absolutley
essential to making a good impact.

I still an't get over how humid it is. The heat is all
around, and it never gets cool, apart from when you
enter a building and the a/c really kicks in!

I'm hanging about with another new guy called Tom, he
moved in two days after me, so we're experiencing all
of this together. And we are constantly being
surprised by what Dubai has to offer. Drinks are
expensive, and the girls are sometimes undercover
prostitutes, but you live and learn.

I really want you all to come over and experience the
same thoughts and feelings that I have in these first
8 days, hopefully you will..

I get the hire car tomorrow, so I won't have to deal
with any crazy taxi drivers!

One small step for.... nah its not that grand

Well hello all,

It’s just coming up to 14:00 here in sunny (no

really!) Bur Dubai (The district I’m in). I’m

currently sitting in the business center at my

apartment. They’ve got four PC’s downstairs that are

free to use and very slow when it comes to internet

connection, I’m sure I’ll find something closer to

broadband soon.

I arrived last night at 8, very prompt, then got

ferried through customs and passport without so much

as a blink. Then collected my bags and met my new

boss. Everything they say is true, the driving is

awful (yeah worse than mine, I couldn’t believe it

either!), the people are very friendly, and the

weather……….. well it was 37 degrees last night, just

bizarre, its pitch black and yet hotter that an

English midday, I can only really describe it as

living in a sauna. I was sweating within a minute,

which must have looked very strange to my new boss,

but I suppose he’s done this all before.

My apartment is very similar to a hotel, with a

reception, gym, swimming pool on the roof, restaurant

and room service. But the aim is to do most of my own

cooking and cleaning, as this is what I’ll have to do

once I get my own place. Watched the Footie last night

as well and fell asleep half way through.

Today, well I’ll ventured out on to my tiny balcony to

get a sense of how warm 47 degrees actually is. But am

yet to wander out into the big bad world. Planning on

heading to the Wafi Shopping center, and then maybe

once it gets cooler I’ll walk around the local area.

Which by the looks of it is heavily built up and not

exactly picture perfect.

Tomorrow the boss has invited me over to his house to

sit by the pool with his family, and then in the

afternoon, I’ll be heading off to the Indoor ski

thingy with him, to well…..ski I guess, alas  hadn’t

really planned for a ski trip in my luggage!

Then on Sunday its off to work for day 1.

Really difficult to describe how it feels…. You know

………that I’m actually going to be living here. So much

to do, no idea how to get about, or what I’m supposed

to do in what order………I’ll figure it out.

Well that’s my first email out of the way. Speak soon.