11.May.2008 : Wasting Time While I had decided today would be the last of organising our stuff in preparation for the move Monday (tomorrow), I had a couple of other things to do first – they should have been quick … One was to transfer my first Dubai Mobile across to our friend Susi. Many [...]

07.May.2008 : Right Back Into It I arrived back from the Singapore Melbourne trip this morning at 5:30 am. It was a good trip, especially taking Meg and kids down via a stopover in Singapore for a night – we used to do that when going home on leave before the direct service started, it [...]

05.May.2008 : A Busy Day in Melbourne For the past 14 years of my employment with Emirates, we’ve operated a flight from Dubai to Melbourne via Singapore. It departs Dubai at 02:45am on Day One, landing into Singapore 8 hours later at 2pm Singapore time. Departing Singapore on Day Two at a bit after 3pm [...]

30.Apr.2008 : Last Paycheck Today I started asking questions about when my last Pay would actually be Paid. This seems like a simple question, does it not? One that those leaving the company, particularly around the time of Profit Share payout would be expected to ask? Since this will include Profit Share and Provident Fund, [...]

25.Apr.2008 : Car Trouble Today I backed carefully out of a nose in park at Wafi, and received a terrible crunching noise for my efforts. I kind of like my little white volvo and now that I don’t own it, I’m even more concerned with looking after it. Some examination revealed that Volvo designed a [...]

24.Apr.2008 : Last Roster My last roster with Ek was issued today. I managed to swing 8 days off in the middle of the month (second top bid) and also a BKK with a HKG shuttle on the 29th – which is when I’m supposed to be on RG days. I e-mailed HR to check [...]

21.Apr.2010 : Car Sold After stuffing around for ten days, my car is sold. Originally a old co-worker from the office had expressed an interest in the car. First was a look at the car (I dropped in to his place to show him the car) then it was a test drive (he came round [...]

17.Apr.2008 : Police Report It now looks like I will need to obtain a police report to get an ASIC card in Australia (having previously been told I would not). So I’m now researching that topic. I have also been advised to get a document from the GCAA certifying my GCAA licence as a genuine [...]

16.Apr.2008 : Mr. Flanagan Yesterday I wrote a letter to Maurice Flanagan. In an airline where change (particularly in the management structure) is a way of life – he’s been the biggest constant for us from the beginning. I’ve only met and spoken with him twice. Once was a highlight – winning the UK Ideas.Org [...]

11.Apr.2008 : Garage Sale. Today we had the first Garage Sale. We advertised two days before on the dumpsters up and down the street. Although we’d put 9 am on the ad – the door bell started ringing at 8am. When I went out there at nine, there was 50+ people crammed up against the [...]

10.Apr.2008 : Provident Fund. Today I spoke to Nick Foxton (nick.foxton (AT) emirates.com) who has clarified a few of the outstanding issues associated with provident fund payout. Because the administrators are about to change over (14 April) I’ll describe the newer system which has multi-currency advantages over the old. You still have two choices in [...]

09.Apr.2008 : Mashreq Bank. Today Meg and I went to Mashreq bank to setup closing out accounts and credit cards. More/New information has come to hand – it turns out that my Visa Card (big spending limit) is tied to my salary, thus requiring the 33 days notice. However the Master card is not, and [...]

07 Apr.2008 : Ticket Refund I’ve hit a snag in the road with Staff Travel. If you’ve been following along with my saga, you’ll know I purchased Cat A tickets for us all to go on a holiday to JFK. In the end however, I went there on my ALT, and Meg and the kids [...]