Life at Emirates Today

Salam Alaikum,

Welcome to The Arabian Adventures of Sheikh Gareemi Nahan, the internet's only weblog detailing the goings on in my currently hectic life.

It's been six weeks since I left the dark and dingy climes of Scotland and yet this is first opportunity I have had to write anything other than an odd, short e-mail (odd in both content and regularity). I work at Emirates Today newspaper, which, I believe but cannot proclaim as fact, is the second biggest selling newspaper in the United Arab Emirates. I am currently employed as a sub-editor which basically means I read copy written by other people, edit it for grammar and punctuation, make sure it makes sense and flows well, and doesn't contain any libellous, biased or false statements. I also ensure that the copy is written to conform with the newspapers style guide, ie, 'website' not 'Web site'; 'past' not 'last'; 'more than' not 'over' and hundreds of other such nuances.

Other tasks that befall me are the writing of headlines, photo captions and standfirsts. I take particular delight in getting as many puns into the paper as possible. My favourite successful headline so far is a story concerning the Chinese Military, and how all new students had to enrol in the army before they could become a student. The photo accompanying the story was that of a marching squadron of fresh-faced young students dressed in full military regalia. My headline:

"Gung Ho, Gung Ho, It's Off To School We Go"

So, in summary, work is going well and I am enjoying it. The only down-side I have found so far is that I am not getting to actually write, which is obviously what I want to do. The most I have written so far is a short nib (News in Brief) about the massacre at the Amish school in Pennsylvania.

Life at Emirates Today has now been divulged.