Dubai to host 2020 Olympics?

In a statement that falls just short of 'Sheikh Mohammed for President', local headlines today are all a flutter about Dubai's plans for 2020, hosting the Olympics, the Paralympics AND the World Expo. These events co-incide once every 20 years, and 2020 is apparently going to be Dubai's year.

You have to admire the ambition. Especially as this announcement comes as high profile executives continue to resign, the property market is on its knees and people are said to be leaving the city to avoid the rather extreme consequences of job loss and bankruptcy. The news is fairly comical these days, unless you're in it of course!

Living here, reading the news, talking to colleagues, clients and friends, it is very difficult to get a grip on what the actual situation is. Some say the boom is over, some say it's just a hitch and the emirate will be back to [a more grown up version of] its bling-tastic self by the time the summer is over. Some focus on the doom and gloom, but I am just planning to get through the summer and then resume the beach/sundowner/all-year-round-sunshine lifestyle that takes the edge off living somewhere so inherently stressful. My philosophy is that if I spend within my income and just enjoy all that is around me without getting swept up by the 'expat lifestyle', then inshallah I can't go to far wrong.

Clearly this isn't the attitude that wins one the 2020 Olympics. But that is an ambition I plan to watch with interest from the sidelines.