A recent development in the UAE mail delivery may have gone unnoticed by a lot of people. I, myself, had seen only one before in the JVT community. At the time, I pondered on what ‘connections’ this family must have to get their own personal mailbox attached to their house.

Mail delivery is a common woe that many UAE expats frequently complain about. It often seems to take weeks, if not months, for your post to arrive at destination. Until now, when family wanted to send a letter (yes, I know that sounds like the stone ages), you had to provide the company post box address (generally the husband’s company). Hard to get love letters delivered that way!

In the context of restrictions to post office hours and cut-backs on postal delivery persons going on in most European countries and in the States, it seems incredible that the UAE has embarked on a new plan to actually deliver mail to our homes. Quite a feat in a country, particularly in my neighborhood, that either lacks street signs or regularly changes street names. It’s hard to believe that Emirates Post has found this will be a cost-effective service to offer. In any account, I will be happy to see the postal person three times a week at my house. I would have been satisfied with once a week. Most likely, I may hardly get a paper letter once a month, given that actually penning a note to friends and family has gone out of style.

Mail is maybe making an unexpected comeback. And a fancy one, no less. Keys were delivered in an impressive box emphasizing the feeling I got of being among the privileged few to have my mail delivered right to my doorstep. No more Aramex!

I welcome this new initiative and find it most exciting. In this age of internet and e-communications, I look forward to receiving the first paper letter in my mailbox with great anticipation. I eagerly await the moment my children can experience the thrill of opening the box to find their favorite magazine. It’s so nice to see them lazily leafing through a paper magazine in their bedroom without having a buzzing computer connection ‘parasiting’ their pleasure. Yes, the simple joys of yesterday have now come to the far-advanced metropolis of Dubai. In the name of progress, go out and get your own home postal box today!

After a long wait, the parks and playgrounds are nearing completion. There are tennis courts, swings, monkey bars, basketball courts and expansive grassy turfs. One inspired resident recently sent out a call for a weekly fun rugby game at the main pitch. I heard from the Facebook ‘vine’ that turnout was quite good. Let’s hope this group gets momentum and it becomes a regular weekend feature. I’ve also seen a post about starting some friendly basketball games. I’d say it’s high time to get out there and move those muscles. No better way to make new friends and keep in shape!

It’s just a real shame to have received such a negative message from Nakheel this week:

“Please be advised that the Community Sports Amenities in Jumeirah Village Triangle are still under construction. Residents and visitors are advised that entering the courts and the surrounding area is strictly prohibited due to construction being undertaken. The safety of our community is important to us.”

What is this all about? Some residents, albeit only a few, have been waiting for a place to run or throw a ball with their kids for 4 years now. Most of us have been waiting the better part of 2 years or so for the pleasure of a nice outdoor walk. I find this communication to be rather insensitive on the part of Nakheel. Due to their own mismanagement, the JVT project was significantly delayed. They should be happy that residents are pleased to finally have green public spaces. I, for one, am relieved to see that most of the tree ‘sticks’ have been replaced with live plant specimens. Given that villas were to be occupied as of December 2008, we’ve had a long wait for these community sports facilities. Now we are being told to ‘stay off the courts’ with no indication of any time frame for completion. It could have been more helpful if Nakheel had finished some parks before others and informed residents of the spaces available for use. Instead, all parks are advancing at relatively the same pace and we do not know when we may be able to use them.

The most comical part of the message is that safety is a key issue for Nakheel. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to notice all the open manholes and vacant tree planting cavities. This is a recipe for twisting your ankle or breaking an arm when walking through the parks. I must also comment about traffic safety. Speeding in the community is a constant concern. One lady just wrote about her cat being run over right in front of her house. What if that had been a child? If Nakheel were truly concerned about safety, the traffic lights would be operating (not just flashing yellow), the cross-walk signals would function and the speeding humps would all be completed. I feel justified in making this statement as I personally e-mailed with Nakheel JVT Customer Service on these issues about 2 months ago with little result. Despite this rather annoying deficit of true consideration on the part of Nakheel, I am convinced that JVT will be one of the nicer communities to live in one day.

I have lived in Arabian Ranches and on the Palm. I have visited friends in Green Community, Silicon Oasis, Springs, Meadows, Jumeirah Islands, the Villas and Victory Heights to name a few of the communities I know well. It seems to me that once completed, Jumeirah Village Triangle will be unique from all these other communities. While other locations are beautifully landscaped and almost all have communities pools (the lack of which is a huge disappointment to residents here), JVT has a sprawling layout that connects all corners of the community through a massive main park. Let’s call this ‘JVT Central Park’. It extends through Districts 4, 5, 8 and 9 boasting water features, long green expanses and a running trail. Central Park connects to another long park running through Districts 1, 2, and 3 via a long ‘canal’. The total running distance (or if you prefer, walking) should measure some 6 kilometers as per my rough calculation. This layout lends itself to more community interaction in my opinion. In many neighborhoods (or districts according to the official nomenclature), we also have triangular shaped mini-parks with basketball, tennis or kids play equipment. On another sad note, some of the childrens’ spring-riding animals are already broken and lying on the ground. This highlights Nakheel’s concern for safety very well. One can also hope that these play areas will be shaded at some point given the hot climate we live in. That would seem a basic amenity even to the uninitiated!

As I would like to get to the bottom of what we, as residents, can expect to have in our public facilities, I’ll be meeting the Engineer from Ghantoot responsible for soft and hard landscaping soon. Watch for my upcoming article after my exclusive interview with him.

Regardless of the small problems, things are finally taking shape. Many residents are out in the streets, walking their dogs or playing with their children in the parks. It’s time to finally take advantage of our new parks and sports facilities – even if we are currently banned from doing so!

What do you like best about living in JVT?

Leave a comment.

I’m pleased to inform you that the first reading of the book club will be:

The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng

By popular decision, the best time to meet is weekday evenings. Therefore, the first meeting will be held on:

Wednesday 27th February at 8:15 pm

Don’t delay, get your copy of the book soon. Happy Reading !

Be sure to get on the book club mailing list by sending your contact details. Click here.

You will receive an e-mail confirming the date and location of our first meeting.

Reminder: on Thursday 7 March (7-8pm), an interactive session is planned with this author at Emirates Litfest. Save the date !

The dog days of summer… By all accounts, the hottest days of the year have passed in Dubai. But recent events seem to have put JVT into something of a dog ‘daze’. In effet, ‘to daze’ is defined by the Random House dictionary as ‘to stun or stupefy’, ‘to confuse or bewilder’. Most of us have been put into a deep daze by the dreadful dog death of late. Yet even before, the dog topic came up often among residents. Incensed by walking past many dog droppings, I had originally entitled this posting “Pick up the Poop!”  I’m still outraged by the number of animal feces I find on sidewalks. It’s incredible that dog owners do not, at a minimum, get their dog to squat in the sand next to a tree versus right in the middle of a walking path!   See evidence:

However, given the recent turn of events, I have revised my initial story to reflect upon the stir caused by the vicious mauling of two small pups. Tempers have flared on Facebook and hundreds of residents have expressed their shock at the outrageous killing of the little dogs by a ferocious Doberman on the loose! My initial reaction was utter disbelief.

I met the family shortly after the incident and their grief over the terrible tragedy was still fresh. I add my condolences for their loss to the outpouring of sympathy expressed by so many other fellow residents online. In the wake of this calamity, a number of dog walking residents have taken to facing off with dog owners that allow their faithful companions to walk free from a leash. Some people may feel a dog should not be tethered, however, given the appalling recent event, one could expect that dog owners only give their pets freedom within the confines of their gated yard ensuring also that there is no option for escape. Clearly, the aftermath of this incident has brought out a lot of opinions and created a huge on line chatter.

A park just for dogs?

One resident had a clever idea – why not request a fenced in dog park for the community? Some seem clearly in favor. A few have voiced their disapproval and concern for increased maintenance fees. Let me say here that I do not have any animals. Yet, I can see there exists a large percentage of animal-loving residents that call JVT home. For their sake and that of the animals, I favor the creation of a dog facility. For the safety of small children and the ability of all residents to enjoy walking in the park without having a large dog race after them, I would also vote to have a special dog area.

Of course, we are not at liberty to design our community as we might jointly see fit. This is the prerogative of Nakheel. Therefore, I proposed to contact Nakheel on this matter. My request explained the awful incident and suggested Nakheel may wish to work with residents and explore the various concerns in order to avert any such future tragic occurrence. I informed them that a number of residents had a concrete proposal to discuss:

JVT residents have two requests to put forward to Nakheel for your kind consideration:
1) Create a dog park within JVT that would have a high fence around it and an obstacle course for the dogs to run.

2) Put up signs around all other parks that dogs are only permitted on leashes and that owners must clean up dog poop.  Supply dog poop bins around the community.

I even suggested that residents would willingly form a small committee to work with Nakheel on design issues should they agree to a future dog park.

Their response:

Rest assured that we are working on increasing the awareness about the Rules and Regulations by sending out Notices to the all dog owners across Nakheel communities. Once the parks are completed, plan to enforce of installing signage and proposed fences will be forwarded to the management. Hope this clarifies your queries.

Hum, waiting until the parks are finished seems ludicrous. As the reply did not exactly answer my questions with full clarity, I have requested a precise response regarding the possibility for Nakheel to discuss the creation of dog facilities with concerned residents.  Stay tuned for their answer.  While we wait, why not vote on whether you are in favor of a dog-specific park? Click here.

Now, back to the poop !

Dogs are lovely, in my opinion, and I have encountered many gentle furry friends while walking through the neighborhoods. One can see poodles, Labradors, pugs and borzoi, just to name a few. Unfortunately, we can also find a lot of POOP !

Now this really baffles me. How can kind-hearted animal lovers not respect the environment? I cannot believe that they think they are alone living in JVT. Have they no consideration for others? All the adult dog walkers I have come across appear to be friendly and caring. Yet they are not very thoughtful. Simply leaving your dog’s poop on the sidewalk just in front of a children’s playground is frankly rude.

Even prior to the disastrous attack, a raft of comments on the various community Facebook pages demonstrates the general frustration level of residents about dog manners. Many dog owners themselves have commented on this unacceptable behaviour.

I was particularly amused by this lovely sign made by Sheila Tildesley-Linton on Facebook.

To give dog lovers the benefit of the doubt, I wonder if the problem could stem from a lack of trash cans. I’ve only noticed a few. Therefore, I had already previously contacted Nakheel to request the installation of poop bins. Yes, I’m still waiting for an answer on that one too. In the meantime, don’t leave home without your doggy bag and please scoop the poop!