Witch Life Balance Event

I went to the Witch 'Life Balance' Event last Saturday and it was so much fun. It took place right in the centre of London, a little far away from my house, so I treked up to Abby's flat in Plymouth the night before. After a 6am start we hopped onto a rather busy train. Somehow, we not only made it into London on time, but found our way through the Underground. We met Steph and Emma and headed to the 1000Heads HQ. Phew! Who knew I had some sort of inbuilt sat nav :P

Champagne on arrival was much appriciated & I think name nags should be required at all blog events, I am rubbish with names and I was worried I would call people by their URL's! Thank god for those!

It was so lovely to meet all the bloggers and everyone at Witch were so generous! There was more food in one room than I eat in a year and so many fun activities, some naughty some nice :) I particularly enjoyed getting my nails and makeup done, and having a one-on-one chat with the Witch Makeup Artist. She gave me some great application tips to help my makeup stay in place! For links to all the bloggers who attended click here and scroll down to "Blogger Photos". Thank you Witch for running this event, to see all the official pictures click here...

Me and Steph, who is sporting a rather sexy hat, after some lovely Burlesque Dancing.

Lucy & myself attempting a bit of Burlesque dancing, not embarassing at all!

Abby... drinking :P

Abby, Steph & Half of Me :)

Me getting my makeup done by the lovely makeup artist!

The tinted moisturer swatch :)

A polaroid picture of Abby, Steph and Myself taken by Holly at the event - I sneakily stole this from Steph's blog so all credit to her :)

Thanks again Witch... I shalll review a couple of my favourite products soon!

Onna x

HM issues more Royal Decrees as a result of protests in Oman, and the official lists of demands.

In Salalah, Sohar and Muscat there has been significant protests over the last week as we all know. There have been Royal Decrees issued all week. The picture above is from the very well written blog by Dan & Jillian Kearney, who are teachers based in Sohar. Go and read their blog, there are some excellent insights and images there. I hope they don't mind I pinched the picture above!

The main demands (10 in total) have been posted on the Al Harah web forum, and I've posted them here (as best as I can tell after Google Translate has had a go):

1. A formal and explicit apology from the Omani Government, in various media, to the families of martyrs, wounded, prisoners. And that there is just compensation for these people.

2. Removal of the Inspector General of the Royal Oman Police because he is responsible for deaths in sohar

3. The Resignation of the Attorney General because he used to report to IG of Police, and the new AG to be an selected from the Judges.

4.  Determination of a group of judges of the Supreme Court to oversee the Commission on the Truth The current problem of the public prosecutor on the events of Sohar, with an emphasis on the Committee's deliberations to be open and published in the media first hand.

5. The dismissal of cabinet ministers who said the people by refusing to, and not assigned to any position, official or ceremonial; Ali bin Majid Al Ma'amari, Ahmed bin Abdul Nabi Macki, Maqbool bin Ali bin Sultan, Khamis bin Mubarak Al Alawi, Hamad bin Mohammed Al-Rashidi, and Chancellor Abdul Aziz Bin Mohammed Al Rawas.

6. The formation of the Government of competencies and a national at the earliest opportunity, under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister appointed by the Sultan for a period of two years, so that you are the government - in addition to her duties - reviewed all of the popular demands that emerged from the demonstrations and sit-ins in various regions of the Sultanate, carried out the following priorities:
     1 - the formation of economic committee composed of experts Omani economists the task of putting packs economic urgency, to address the claims of economic made by the protesters, with a focus on the problems of unemployed workers and the poor classes in society, and the low salaries of public and private sectors, military, retirees, and to develop radical solutions to the national economy, particularly acquisitions and the crisis of economic monopoly.
     2 - to form a committee of experts from the field of education to review the various stages of the educational system, including higher education and its institutions.

7.  The formation of an independent judicial commission to investigate cases of corruption and financial security and administrative support.

8.  Establishing a National Council for the drafting of the Constitution of Oman, that the ends of his works, to present the draft constitution to a popular referendum in a maximum period of two years from the date of the establishment of the Council.

9.  The establishment of a constitutional court separate and apart from the Supreme Court.

10. Expanding the powers of the Shura Council in Legislature and Regulatory matters, and held accountable to the Council of Ministers until the adoption of the Constitution of Oman.

And today, in what is been seen as really big news, HM has acted and removed the following people from office:

Ali bin Majid Al Ma'amari, minister of Royal Office, oman's security apparatus. He's been replaced by General Sultan Al Nu'mani, presently head of Royal Court Affairs.

Nasr bin Humood Al Kindi takes place of Sultan Al Nu'mani at Royal Court Affairs

Ali bin Humood Al Busaidi, minister of Diwan has been replaced by Khalid bin Hilal Al Busaidi

Now that is quite some news - and perhaps a sign of things to come.

In a some-what related story, the insurers for LuLu's in Sohar are saying they wont be paying out for it because they don't cover 'Political Unrest'. Thanks to Jaidev Majumdar of the Muscat Daily for this news.

Local twitter users in Sohar have also reported that since the LuLu's has been out of action, there has been a huge boom in business for other supermarkets in the town, and most noticeably the Safeer mall. I understand that there will be a Carrefour express opening in the Safeer Mall on April 1st. I suspect this has been in the works for some time, because Majid Al Futtaim (the people that own the City Centre mall brand) pulled out of their investment for Sohar City Centre (of which Carrefour was a planned anchor store).

And lastly, on a completely unrelated note, I'm giving away 2 tickets to the Canadian Stampede on March 10th - I'll be drawing the winner on Tuesday evening.

le fin.

New Summer Dress Bargain!

A few weeks ago when I was in Cardiff I picked up this little gem from Primark! My friend pushed me into buying it and I'm so glad she did, it was only £5 and will definitely be a staple in my summer wardrobe. Its so flattering, although the sizing seemed a little small! I have smallish (34B/C) boobs, and the 12 was too tight around my chest, so this one is 14. In the Cardiff store they had it in atleast four different patterns, so if you dont like this one, you might prefer another. 

Here's how I plan on wearing it this summer:

 

✿ Sunglasses - New Look £2.99 

✿ Bracelets- Topshop £10

✿ Sandles- Topshop £36 

✿ Bag- River Island Satchel £36.99

✿ Pendant - ASOS £8.00

✿ Bag - ASOS £15

✿ Heels - Dorothy Perkins £39

✿ Ring - Dorothy Perkins £5

The Weekend starts tomorrow!!

Enjoy...

Onna x

Sohar: Thursday evening.

6pm- The r/a is closed, less than 1000 people, its peaceful.

More later.

le fin.

The 18th Annual Canadian Stampede party

It is that time of year again.... it's Stampede time again!

Every year for the last 18 years, a group of Canadians have put on a party to celebrate the Calgary Stampede (officially that is, unofficially it's a party thrown by Canadians to show everyone else how to actually party). This party is big, really big. It will be attended by over 800 people, and there are less than 75 tickets remaining.

Thursday March 10th, from 7pm will see the latest instalment of the Canadian Stampede kick off to yet another stampede party. With special Canadian import DJ Hurricane from Calgary working the crowd, you can be assured that everyone will have a great time.

Personally I'm looking forward to the Golder Garter Saloon shooter bar, which never fails to disappoint.

And because those Canadians are so nice, they've given me 2 tickets to give away to you right here on Muscat Mutterings. If you want to come to the best party in town, leave a comment (with a method of me contacting you) or send me an email you must be aged 21 or over to attend this event. I'll draw the tickets on Tuesday the 8th in the evening.

Bon chance!


le fin.

30 Seconds to Mars WINNER!

Under the watchful eyes of Mrs Sythe, we have drawn the winner.....

Congratulations to Faaa6! You won the 2 free tickets! A message is on it's way to you already about how to claim the tickets!

Thanks everyone for entering.... Next week I'm giving away tickets to a different event, so stay tuned!

le fin.

A little update about Sohar

Just a quick note to you all in case you were thinking about going to the UAE this weekend by road. Sohar is passable, the Army have setup some diversions around Sohar, adding time to your journey, but at least allowing it to happen.

The border at Wajajah (Hatta) is now open.

le fin.