THANK YOU DUBAI
FORMER EXPATS S WANT TO SAY...
THEY ARE PEOPLE who left Dubai’s shores many years ago, taking with them fond memories of a life well lived. Now in their 60s and 70s, these expats want to reunite in Dubai to express their gratitude to the country that welcomed them and allowed them to become part of its development history.
Edward Scalpello is one of them. The Italian, who first came to Dubai in 1982, has written a letter to His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, requesting such an opportunity.
“Many of us have the urge to speak of our wonderful memories to those who are too young to have experienced them and to the world at large,” the letter says. “Most of us are now in our 60s and 70s and we thought what a wonderful public relations excercise it would be for Dubai if you could honour us by inviting a large group of us over to express our great love for the city.”
So how did the yearning start? With a Facebook group formed of mostly Brits who moved to other countries. At ‘Dubai — The Good Old Days’ (DTGOD), over 5,300 members regularly chat about Dubai, its incredible new infrastructure and wonder if the new expatriate communities ever think about what the old Dubai had to offer.
“There is, consequently, a common urge amongst us to spread the word of just how wonderful it all was when the only skyscraper in sight was the World Trade Centre,” says Edward.
Recalling those fabulous Fridays on Dubai’s beautiful beaches and the weekend camping trips in the desert, Edward this year formed another FB group — The Golden Oldies — hoping to make the “reunification dream” come true.
“The idea came as a result of a lighthearted comment on the possibility of Shaikh Mohammed chartering an Emirates A380 to fly us all back to Dubai for a reunion and PR exercise,” says Edward, now based in Bedford. “It produced so many responses that after consultation with the DTGOD founders, I formed a splinter group with the sole purpose of maintaining all matters and posts connected with our letter to Shaikh Mohammed in one place.”
Edward returned to Dubai in early 1997. He was the regional managing director of the Italian videoconferencing manufacturer Aethra. After a twoyear contract, he returned to Europe but the call of Dubai proved too strong and he came back in 2000 and remained there until 2012.
“During my first visit back in the 80s, Dubai was a city of expats working hard and enjoying life even harder,” he reminisces. “The tallest building was the World Trade Centre, which you could see when returning from Abu Dhabi, signalling you were well on the way home. It was also a good landmark when lost in a Dubai that did not yet have street names or numbers and no maps (apart from the excellent Dubai Creek fun map produced by the well known Russ North) and certainly no GPS. Now you couldn’t see it even if you stand underneath it!”
The Pot & Pan souk shortly before Metropolitan Hotel was where Dubai started back then.
The un-fenced road through the desert that led to Abu Dhabi was long and tiring. The hidden speed breakers along its two-lane length, together with wandering camels, claimed several lives. The two-lane Shaikh Zayed Road had just a sprinkling of cars and no traffic jams. Haggling with a taxi for the Dh2 fare across town was part of the fun.
Edward saw all this change. The speed humps disappeared, all but one, and the desert was largely fenced off, preventing camels from straying on the road. Shaikh Zayed Road turned into a 14-lane highway and there were thousands more cars. The World Trade Centre was buried beneath much taller skyscrapers, beloved roundabouts gave way to under/over passes; free zones, new housing estates, golf courses, shopping malls and parking meters sprang up all over the place.
New bridges supplemented — and in some cases replaced — the three original Creek crossing places, a driver-less Metro line was designed and brought into operation, and the beaches were nearly all closed with hotels, villas and car parks taking their place. Many of the world’s biggest things were built — the tallest building, largest fountain, highest hotel, hottest skiing slope… The list goes on.
“Many of us Golden Oldies admire the Dubai of the 21st century and even have a sense of pride in being a part of its history,” Edward says. “Most of us also mourn the demise of the 20th-century Dubai which we all loved and miss so much!”
Despite the recent financial crisis that hit just about every country in the world and some difficult periods during the Gulf War, Edward believes Dubai has seen mainly ups and very few downs.
“However, speak to the newcomers and they may well paint a different picture because all they see are the massive development programme, the 16-lane highways full of mad drivers, the exorbitant rent, school fees and new hidden taxes such as the salik (road toll),” he says. “They see all this as a ‘down’ because they probably compare it with their home countries which have not (and could never have) experienced such enormous changes in such a short time. You have to be a Golden Oldie to appreciate the real wonder of Dubai past and present!”
Edward attributes the success of the city to “its visionary and supremely well respected leaders — and a few drops of oil!”
He vividly remembers his meeting with Shaikh Mohammed in 1997.
“His Highness’s love of horses is common knowledge,” he says. “He owns horses all around the world with many in the Godolphin stables in the UK and also in France. He would often travel to these locations to check on them and the trainers and keepers. The travels kept him away from state affairs, which often required his timely intervention. I thought video-telephony could be a viable alter- native solution for him where he could chec horses and both see and speak to the staff wi moving from his office or palace.
“I wrote a letter to His Highness and also s of this with a very good local friend of mine w father worked for the ruling family. To cut a story short, I was subsequently invited to His H ness’s palace to provide a demonstration of s video-telephony link.
“The equipment was set up in his majlis i Zabeel Palace and I awaited my turn among other visitors and dignitaries to meet him. days passed before I was summoned and they two of the most interesting days of my life. many VIPs arrive and leave and was constant and watered by attentive staff in the purpose restaurant facility in the palace. Even the rest was fascinating and splendorous.
“When I eventually met him I was asked next to him in the majlis which was full of s locals and officers. He asked me to show him it worked. It is a source of constant amazemen a story to relate to my grandchildren that I wa a only able to meet this famous man but also a listen and speak to him without any official p col! I often wonder what my chances would meeting Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in si i circumstances!
“Due to technical limitations, the demonstr worked but not well. I shall always remembe Highness’s last words to me: Come back whe e get the technology right.
“Unfortunately, the technology improved never subsequently had the opportunity of t His Highness up on his kind and generous off
DURING THE GLOBAL economic crisi Dubai bashing in the foreign media rem ed him of an old British anecdote about communication during World War I: A group o diers under heavy attack radioed for help, s ‘Send reinforcements, we’re going to advance
message received was: Send three and fourpence, we’re going to a dance.
“Such is the nature of storytelling over distance,” he says. “I doubt that any of the Dubai-bashing reporters had ever been to Dubai. Dubai has risen above it and in its usual grandeur!”
If he were to gaze into a crystal ball and say where Dubai is headed, Edward would find it pretty obvious: To be the commercial and tourist capital of the world, especially with an airport designed to cope with more than 25 million people every year and millions being spent on infrastructure development.
Edward thinks this is the first time expats are getting together to thank a city for changing their life. He knows of no other city in the world where the old expat community shares such a strong love and bond with it.
It’s because Dubai gave them a very safe environment in which to live and work. It combined great tax-free earning potential in a truly cosmopolitan environment with freedom of movement and recognition of individual cultural differences, religions and preferences. Plus there were the great beaches, fantastic climate (at least for nine months) and fabulous cars (people elsewhere only dreamed of) at affordable prices.
“These are the things we all remember,” he says. “These are the things we all miss. These are the things which would make us return at the drop of a hat.”
Why do 5,300 people from across the global want to thank a city?
“We live in difficult and troubled times,” he answers. “As we get older, we reluctantly have to appreciate that deteriorating health and mobility together with lack of opportunity reduces our usefulness. Life is not quite as satisfying and joyous as it once was, so naturally we seek solace in our memories of the good old days. For us Golden Oldies, that was what Dubai offered us. We want to thank the city for providing us with such wonderful opportunities and fantastic memories of great times.” —