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Gulf News deputy web editor Florence Pia G. Yu plunges headlong into the blogosphere to find out what bloggers from the Middle East and beyond have on their minds
Identity crisis
It seems the UAE ID card is now synonymous with the word aargh! And the mental picture of people pulling out their hair in frustration over the not-so reliable online registration system. Or at least according to most bloggers.
With the December 31 deadline looming, alarm bells are ringing across the country. The blogger from experiencingtheemirates.blogspot.com wrote that people who have not been able to get an appointment are being advised to get in a queue and hope for the best. "People are reporting that the waiting time in queues is taking between three to six hours!" the blogger wrote.
Darcyandmichael.blogspot.com were on the same page. "We naively thought that using the Post Office would save us time. It did not. Two weeks later and the bureaucrats seem to have no clue where the forms are," the blogger wrote.
Talk on the new ID card also spilled onto online forums. "Has any one of you actually managed to get the pre-registration form for your ID card filled in online yet??!" an exasperated genghis_caterpillar posted on the forum lonelyplanet.com/thorntree.
"I have spent a total of 2.5 hours online trying to make the thing work, and just when I thought I finally got it wrapped up, the file got me down as working for the Dubai International Financial Centre. I think the website has just called me a banker..." genghis_caterpillar continued.
Register dead people
"Still, it wasn't all misery. I like the bit where you fill in your date of birth. It has a pull down menu for the year which starts at 1890. Nobody told me they planned to register dead people!" genhis_caterpillar wrote.
It wasn't all tales of misery, however. The blogger from dubaithoughts.blogspot.com said the experience at the Al Barsha registration office was far from unpleasant.
"All I took, as instructed, was my passport and the registration form/bar codes I'd printed out from their website. And cash for the Dh100 per year fee plus Dh20 delivery charge. I went at 9.30am and found a parking space right outside. Only two people [were] in the queue at reception, so I was dealt with within a minute or two. My ticket was timed at 9:32am and at 10:04am my number was called," the blogger wrote.
"A friendly Emirati lady entered my details into her computer, translating my English form into Arabic and correcting the mistakes the website had insisted on including. Two of her colleagues came through, she showed them my Australian passport and we had a chat about Australia, laughed and joked about them wanting to visit and staying with me there."
Meanwhile, the rain that recently hit Dubai and other parts of the country also caused a pitter-patter on most blogs. Not so surprising, since rain in this dry country is always a welcome sight.
Superhappygazelle.blogspot.com wrote: "I was a bit confused when I came out of my apartment and noticed water all over the car. My first thought was, ‘Someone threw a bucket of water on my car!'"
Jensindubai.blogspot.com said she never saw the actual rain "but experienced the after effects of flooding and traffic headaches".
"I woke up to a strange darkness, peered out and saw gray clouds and wet ground. We had the first rain of the season! I went on the roof to take a new picture."
The blogger from pwbp.vox.com was thankful the rain stopped "before I had to leave the hotel as I would've been totally unprepared: No umbrella, no raincoat, nothing waterproof".
"It was weird to see the roads swilling in water and the few people out running for shelter."
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