Reassurance needed

Ooo I like!!! light and airy s'all good. Love that room, you obviously have a talent for interior design. Simple solutions are always the best.

Yes that was a compliment if you were wondering. :icon_biggrin:

Right! I?ll teach you to be complimentary to me and throw all my neatly logged conceptions of you into disarray . As punishment, I?m forcing you to look at photos of more ?light and airy?, namely the rest of the house (well, if you click on the link you?ll see them, if you don?t you won?t and will escape punishment). Click on View Slideshow at top right. Doesn?t look too light and airy as the sun outside is very bright and makes the inside look darker on the pics but you get the idea.

Don?t assume we live in a ?posh? house cos we are posh . The Omani houses in the capital area are very often this size or bigger a) to accommodate big Arab families, b) to give plenty of room to move about as outdoor living is only possible for a few winter months of the year and c) houses are big and gardens are small as the cost of keeping a garden watered in this heat is very expensive.

Aside from the mock anger at the top, thanks very much for the compliment, Stevey. I'll probably recover from the shock in a day or two. ;)

Cool...I like bathroom the most. There are 5 others to play with as well, only they're just bog standard (excuse the pun ) ones. Chunky's room is nice too as it's more homely somehow. Would do my head in having the bed in bedroom 2 off centre to the window tho hehe. That's probably just my OCD tho ;D Case of having to fit in with the leccy sockets etc. Bad Feng Shui to have a bed underneath a window anyway. Although it's not under the window, it works out that it's in the middle of the wall, so can't have it all ways.Anyway I'll spare you my thoughts on interior design for a session in chat room perhaps I can't wait . Fancy myself as a bit of an eye for design kind of guy you see.

Nice place, especially the patio gardens. Sometimes I wish my own garden was smaller, because I spend so much time maintaining it rather than relaxing in it. I'm surprised the Omanis don't have more courtyard gardens, rather like the Spanish/Mexican or New Orleans French Quarter styles. The walls would help keep it cool.

Six bathrooms??? How big is your house? I hope the cats take advantage of all the space to roar around in. BTW, I didn't see a photo of Chunky's room. Do each of the cats have a special room with their toys and catnip stash?

The house has 5 bedrooms and 6 bathrooms and that?s only part of it. Attached to the left hand side of ?our? bit there are 2 apartments, which are probably 2 bedrooms each. A lot of Arabs have houses built and rent them out while their children are growing up. Then, when the children come of age, they have a house ready and waiting for them to move into. Most of the houses do have courtyard gardens as they are more suitable to the climate. Plants grow rampantly here and can get out of hand unless cut back every couple of weeks. Bougainvillea is a favourite for splashes of colour and can be seen everywhere.

Chunky?s ?bedroom? is on the landing at the top of the stairs where the green cushions are. He takes up residence there, lolling amongst the cushions like an Indian raja, in the hotter weather, as I keep the a/c on in that area to percolate around the house. Purdey just settles wherever we are.

what's your story then MB? Until recently I thought you were out in NZ! Are you going out there permanently or do you just spend a few months there a year....or what? How come you know so much about NZ? What do you do? What does your husband do? Where else have you lived? What colour are your socks? Do you hoover under the bed? How often do you clean the oven? Hows y bum for spots?

:005: MB will answer shortly, so I'll leave it to her. Besides, I have no idea how spotty her bum is. But if her immaculate home is anything to go by, she doesn't have any.

MB, could you send us one of your bathrooms? We've only one.

?MB will answer shortly, so I'll leave it to her. Besides, I have no idea how spotty her bum is. But if her immaculate home is anything to go by, she doesn't have any.

MB, could you send us one of your bathrooms? We've only one.

I'm working on my reply, but it's taking ages to count all the spots on my bum . ?Not an easy task unless you're a refugee from The Exorcist.

Selchie, you are more than welcome to several of our bathrooms. ?Imagine having to clean them all. ?Even though we only use 4 (2 upstairs and 2 downstairs = never any queues) dust finds its way in and creates a lot of work.

B*gger! Was preparing my reply on Word when it crashed. Have to start all over again. Probably my punishment for being too gobby. Will have to wait until later though as I'm off out to have fingerprints taken etc. as it's visa renewal time. :icon_rolleyes:

Hi Dawn,

OK, second time around. ?Taken from the top, we?ve been in Oman for just over 2 years, but are hoping to retire to NZ in a few years. ?In January we went down to NZ for a 3-week holiday (pics available on a link in here ) to catch up with Taffy (beloved son ? :-* , well he was until he forgot Mother?s Day ? >:( ) and Welshgirl (d-i-l whom we?d never met before, along with bubbly young daughter ) and to finally take a look at the house we?d bought via the Internet and Taffy. ?

Apart from Oman I?ve lived in Kuwait, Syria and Qatar, although hubster has also been to many other countries before my time. ?He?s a Lead Instrument & Control Engineer/Senior Project Engineer in the oil and gas industry.

What?s next? ?Oh yes?.. err?...I don?t really know anything about NZ other than what I?ve researched ?. ?Takes ages to dig through stuff trying to find an answer for someone, then I go through agonies worrying whether it?s correct or not.

I don?t work here in the true sense of the word, as we never know how long we?re going to stay in one place. ?I used to do volunteer work, making handicrafts to sell to generate money for the handicapped of Oman. ?Previously did it in Syria as well. ?It didn?t work out so well here, as it was a long way for me to travel and the other women were all Dutch. ?Although they speak excellent English, it was only natural that they?d want to speak in their own language, so I began to feel a bit isolated and eventually gave it up. ?Also it was working out to be expensive, as I didn?t have my materials reimbursed like I did in Syria. ?I suppose you could say I?m doing volunteer work on the forum now ?. ?Unlike a lot of other women here, I don?t have a maid, so keeping track of the housework takes a fair bit of my time and sweat (and yes, I do vacuum under the bed? sometimes. ?Don?t clean the oven very often as I don?t use it much. ?It?s a big lump of a thing (typical Arabic size to cater for large families) and costs too much to heat up for just the two of us, so I use a little counter-top oven most of the time and I do clean it when it needs doing. ?Still looks a bit ropey though.

Don?t wear socks or any foot covering here apart from sandals, but I do possess a variety of socks, standing by for when we visit the UK. ?Now, last but not least, after a great impersonation of Linda Blair in The Exorcist, I?ve not been able to find any spots on my bum at the moment. ?Call back in a week though and I?m sure I can oblige you.

Ok, so how did I score? ?Do I get the job?