Anyway, more of all that later. Dubai was a blast thanks to the warm hospitality of the Williams clan. Young Anna Sophia showed Conor the delights of building sand castles on her private beach on Frond F of the Palm Jumeirah.
As you see it is not a small villa, it is a huge, beautifully appointed, leviathan with views over the Atlantis resort being built on Frond G and beyond. 
We shopped, skiied, and holidayed to our hearts content, and this time battled with the 12 lane expressways ourselves. I managed to find the right exit for the Emirates Mall car park, and get into the car park, only to lose track of the way, and end up back on the 12 lane expressway going in the opposite direction! 20 minutes later we managed to turn around and this time successfully negotiate our way into a parking spot.
Mumbai is growing too fast for its own good. The infrastructure is not able to keep pace with the demand for functioning office space, and residential homes to put people in. According to a Mumbaikar I was speaking to last week, that is because the Central Indian government empty the city coffers of locally collected taxes on an all too regular basis. Central government then have the temerity to go and spend it on projects aimed at lifting people above the poverty line - they have managed to do that for around 200 million people in the last 15 years. There are not many socialists to be found in the Mumbai - lots of rupee billionaires though!
Dubai is also a building site on a grand scale although much more ordered. The scaffolding is metal and rigid rather than bamboo and squidgy. The dust is permanently in the air as a result of the amount of digging being done and the fact that its a desert!
Just as many Russian gangsters, Hummers, gold taps, extraordinary civil engineering projects, and shoe shops as our last visit but this time it all seemed more normal rather than like Disneyland - perhaps we have been away from the UK for too long. Ski Dubai was of course a key element of the trip, but this time all of us were outskiied by Anna Sophia who has ski lessons there every week as a part of her school PE curriculum!
Back in Mumbai, we had a week long visit from the Swans, 
God daughter and all. Simon took to the hierarchical nature of Indian society very easily indeed. His 14 stones (and increasing....) clearly represented a problem to these cart pullers given that Matheran hill is about a kilometre of steep mountain side. They gave up but Scouser was not prepared to get out and walk. Lisa acted as peacemaker and paid the cart-pullers double the going rate.
The kids appeared to have a great time, and Ravi became a favourite uncle overnight !
While Simon was in India we were lucky enough to stumble across Mr Sachin Tendulkar, captain of the Mumbai Indians, and all round cricket legend.
CHAK DE MUMBAI INDIANS !
When asked what Sachin was like when he shook hands with him, Conor was his usual brutally honest self, and suggested that Sachin was a bit bored and frankly not interested in what Conor was saying. A lesson for Sachin in humility there I think. At the time, Sachin was sitting in his Rolls Royce so perhaps he had an excuse.
Not only did Simon and I catch Sachin, but we were also lucky enough to spy
a former Miss Great Britain, Preeti Desai, in Mumbai. We were obviously too polite to disturb Preeti in mid-celeb but Karen bundled in there and starting quizzing her about celebrity life. Preeti has moved to Mumbai from Middlesborough (brave!) to launch her career as an actress in Bollywood.
Good Luck Preeti I say!
The Indian Premier League Twenty 20 tournament is underway in India and is BIG news. Kolkata and Delhi are heading the league after 3 games and Mumbai are holding the table up. Sachin has not been fit, but there are mumblings of a return for the Messiah. Work has been unbearable as all the Delhites have found it impossible to stoip bragging about their wins. The League final is at the end of May in Mumbai and it looks likely that the tournament will be a HUGE success - grounds have been full for all the games so far, and its rumoured that the tournament will actually make money in its first year. Given the wages they are paying the idols and the overseas stars to come and play, that is quite an achievement. Shame about the cheerleaders though....
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7366516.stm.
SAVE THE CHEERLEADER.
Due to all those Americans defaulting on mortgages on their trailers, Mumbai is emptying of ex-pat folks as the financial services sector tightens its belt. Lots of Conor's classmates will be leaving Mumbai for the last time at the end of term, and I think the light bulb is coming on for him. He is asking lots of questions about his next school and the children he will meet, and can he join up at RADA now. We all have mixed feelings about leaving - we've made some great friends, seen some great places, and jumped WAY out of the rut that we found ourselves in 2 years
ago. Now on to more challenges !!
Dumbers
PS Video of Karen's brace. Do take a look.... hee, hee..
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