Driving is, unfortunately, one aspect of Dubai life that is nigh on impossible to avoid.  Indeed some days it feels like that’s all I do – early morning drop off for sports training, regular drop off, errands across the Emirate, pick ups, football training drop off for DS2, home for dinner with the other two munchkins, pick up DS2 and drop DS1 for his football training before taking DD to netball training…..it is no wonder that my derriere appears to have taken on the shape of my well worn cream, leather car seat!

During the week my car is a changing room (albeit a very messy and smelly one), a dining room and (much to my chagrin) less so, a study.  My 4×4 is my second home…..

When the mercury begins to rise, it is every desert car’s duty to offer a welcoming, air conditioned haven from the searing temperatures.  When choosing the optimal parking spot, whether it be at school pick up or footie training, we taxi mums use well practised technical, and very complex algorithims, all soley based on minimising sweat patches and fending off  frizzy tendrils.  Yet, so often I found myself turning the stuffy, hot air blue because my previous car’s AC did not hold up its end of the bargain when it came to its cooling responsibilities.  That said, humidity fogged up sunglasses often blinded me to the car’s other positive attributes as I began to dream of the car with optimal AC….

Fast forward too many sweaty days…

Zipping around in my new car, I and my shiny, smooth tresses laugh in the face of the increasing temperatures.  Inside my personal igloo, I even forget what time of year it is, and keep a pashmina to hand should it get too chilly.  My munchkins’ messy meltdowns have evaporated, and no one screams in agony when the metal buckle on the seat belt touches them.

As I get to know my new, chilled friend, AC competence no longer ranks up there as a priority, and I begin to notice other, how shall I say….deficiencies with my new best friend.  The fact the dashboard does not screech neon seatbelt signs at me when the front seat passenger is not buckled up (yet does when the driver is not clicked in) is slightly concerning in this day and age of smart-everything.  The foot step thingy on the outside of the car aimed at, I assume, aiding a less clumsy looking embarkation and disembarkation into a high off the ground 4×4, are so narrow I end up positioning my foot accordingly causing my ankle to bash against the car door frame, and it’s beginning to hurt.  First world problems – I know!  Randomly the dashboard screams ‘BRAKE‘ in bright, neon letters when I am at more than a ‘safe’ distance.  Why?  I have no idea…at this rate this feature is likely to cause an accident as opposed to preventing one!

Yet when I found myself standing at the rear end of my car, desperately scouting the sides, the interior, the fob key….looking for the button that closes the boot automatically…..only to realise I had to close it manually…..I questioned my wisdom in focusing on AC for my new ride….