More video of Sophia Kestrel

We finally got around to making another short compilation of video clips staring Sophia at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKhjLSm7NPU She is darling but you may want to adjust your computer's sound around the eight minute mark. - Posted from my iPodTouch

Video of Sophia Kestrel

Three short clips of Sophia Kestrel's first week are at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEH99cqsD0E. She's darling and the video doesn't quite do her justice. - Posted from my iPodTouch

Our Baby!

Not much time to write but I posted some photos of the baby on Facebook @ http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=220780&id=733446398&l=1d3861a2e6. Mom and baby's homecoming is Sunday evening hopefully. - Posted from my iPodTouch

Counting down the final days to The Arrival

It was another hot, windy and dusty weekend here so it was uncomfortable to spend much time outdoors.  Darcy and I had taken a few walks along the Corniche to stretch our legs.  It's quite difficult for her to get comfortable sitting and sleeping now.  Darcy looks as lovely as ever and the pregnancy has been fairly smooth so far.  The photo below was taken about a month ago or so.

We are narrowing our lists of baby names for both genders.  It's been a surprisingly difficult process.  Darcy's mother was scheduled to arrive in Abu Dhabi on the 21st.  However, the volcanic eruptions in Iceland may delay her trip because her connection is in Frankfurt.  There have been massive cancellations at airports in northern Europe. 

I've had a flare up of sciatica (I hope that's all it is) in my left leg so I've been hobbling around at work and home.  So I haven't used my bike indoors in a few weeks and I've used the treadmill and bike lightly at the gym.
 
Dubai maternity hospitals hike fees 100% - the new prices are what we already pay in Abu Dhabi.

Raids on labor camp restaurants see third of a ton of unfit food destroyed

Confusion over rules leaves cyclists at the crossroads

No more instant visas for Westerners and Asians flying to Qatar - I hope this policy doesn't spread to other Gulf countries.

Four Weeks to The Arrival!

Darcy and I are both nervous and excited about the baby coming in a month from now.  We've looked at dozens of names on websites and books but few have caught our eye.  Hopefully we'll get some inspiration when it's born.  But we'll need to choose a name quickly if it comes to that point as the baby can't leave the hospital without a name on the birth certificate.


I've been really sick with an eye infection and bronchitis over the past month.  I think it all began with the Shamil desert winds picking up a lot of sand and dust and affecting my eyes and lungs.  I missed an unprecedented eight days of work.  I'm almost back to normal but my energy levels have been low.  Luckily Darcy did not get sick as I was worried about passing on my illness to her.  It was windy and hazy again today so I'm hesitant to spend much time outside. 

The baby has been kicking and moving around a lot more now which has resulted in more restless nights for Darcy.  I guess we should get used to not sleeping regularly for the next few years!  Last weekend I practiced tying a baby wrap.  It's pretty neat. 

Some of Darcy's friends from her old workplace organized a baby shower last weekend.  We got some very nice things and the baby room continues to accumulate things.  Today we picked up a free changing table - thanks Rob! 

It's spring break at my work so many of the students are gone but a lot of faculty will be around.  They want to save their vacation time for the summer.  We've bought our tickets to fly home in late June which is only three months away.  And we'll have our baby in tow too!

Countdown to The Arrival

The building next to us is finally getting its windows cleaned.  It's been one year since ours were last done.  The little platform that the cleaners used has been rusting outside so I guess these simple repairs take time around here.  Maybe we shouldn't complain as a friend of ours says his building's windows have not been cleaned since he moved in almost three years ago.

On Tuesday we attended a fancy dinner reception that honored America's President's Day.  It was sponsored by the U.S. Embassy in Abu Dhabi and we saw many diplomats and army/navy brass.  I met a librarian from the State Department here and he kindly put me on his mailing list.

On Friday morning I and a friend walked in the annual Terry Fox Run.  It took place along the Corniche and it was nice to be outside walking.  I used sunscreen and wore a long brimmed Tilley hat but one part of my neck still got sunburned.    

Darcy is nearing the end of Week 30 of the pregnancy.   Only 10 weeks to go before The Arrival.  We finished reading a couple of baby names books and we're now looking at each others' lists.  We only wrote down a couple of names that were the same but it should be fun trying to narrow down the list of boy and girl first and middle names.  Of course this is based on the assumption that the name will fit the baby after s/he is born. It will have to have a name before we can do all the paperwork and leave the hospital.

Ten million dirhams on a camel 'not very unusual'

Internet domain first for UAE

New clear street signs by 2012 - this is long overdue.  Our building's biggest tenant (Standard Chartered Bank) just moved out so using that landmark for getting taxis may not work anymore. 

Historic footage of Sheikh Zayed found

Dubai's Unwritten Social Contact - interesting article considering this is written by an Emirati.

Alleged Assassins Caught on Tape - this bizarre story of international intrigue reads like a made for Hollywood movie

What's New

It's been a stormy weekend but it's nice to see dark clouds in the sky.  However, our windows that I cleaned after the last big storm are now muddy again.  Our building's windows haven't been cleaned in almost a year now.  A friend of ours says that his building's windows have never been cleaned since he moved in 2.5 years ago.  Alberta's Premier paid a visit to Abu Dhabi recently and signed some bilateral agreements.  He also participated on a panel in Abu Dhabi's annual World Future Energy Summit. 

There have been a few stories about the city's plans to expand paid parking.  The new zones are getting closer to us and we're nervous about having to pay when there is little guarantee that we'll be able to find a spot.  Unfortunately parking in the city is still very difficult but we're able to find parking close to our building.  Apparently there are massive problems with Abu Dhabi's nascent recycling program.  Another article
talks about upgrading an existing recycling depot.  We've been recycling plastic, paper, cardboard and aluminum for about a year now.  There's a small place we drive and unload our stuff but we wonder what happens to it after we sort out the contents.  Many of the big dumpsters have poor laborers sifting through the garbage and neatly sorting out the plastic and cardboard.  But is it all for naught?

Dates for the the 2010 Red Bull Air Race  were just confirmed for next month.  Makes one wonder how organizers could plan it here.  We've seen it a few times before as it's close to our building.  However, we're still too far away to see the planes up close. 

Darcy is near the end of Week 28 of her pregnancy.  A friend gave us their baby crib which they had got from someone else.  He helped me put it together so the baby room is starting to take shape now.  Guess we need to buy a mobile for it.   We're still reading baby name books and our lists of boy and girl names are slowly growing.  We'll have to compare them and narrow them down to a few.   We're also hoping that it doesn't take too long for all the baby's paperwork to be processed after its born.  It must have a passport, residency visa and a health insurance card before we can leave the country.  Hope for the best and plan for the worst I guess .  We'll have to be careful with picking our departure date to fly home for the summer after the birth!





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Catching Up

Yikes - it was Halloween since I last blogged!  I'll use the old cliche that much has happened since then.  I'll start by saying that Darcy is pregnant and is due around April 24.  We're both very excited and a bit nervous.  Call us old school but we decided not to know the gender of the baby.  We want it to be a surprise and we don't think it will be too hard to buy gender neutral clothes for the baby's first few months. 

We've bought and received some baby books and baby clothes.  We also bought a car seat in Edmonton and shipped it with us back to Abu Dhabi.  But we still have a lot of things to purchase plus baby proof our apartment before the birth.  Few boy and girl names have caught our fancy but we don't want anything too old Testament or New Agey sounding.  The photo below is the Team Canada 2010 Olympic hockey jersey for our little one.  No, I didn't buy it - Darcy did!  It's very cute and appropriate since the baby will be born in the same Olympic year.  Maybe I should get it framed once s/he outgrows it.

Our November 25 to December 10 trip to Paris, Bruges and Brussels was fantastic.  The weather was cool and rainy most of the time but it didn't dampen our spirits. Our hotels were in great locations and were within walking distance to many places.  Paris highlights were Notre Dame, Versailles and the Louvre but we saw wonderful places every day.  The medieval city of Bruges was incredible and we filled our share of Belgian waffles, chocolates and mussels.  The Grand Place in Brussels was very interesting too.  We did a lot of walking and took the convenient subways.  If you have a Facebook account then you can view photos of our trip here.

On December 21 we renewed our National I.D. cards.  The process only took an hour but we visited the office early in the morning and crowds weren't too bad because it was the holidays.  Darcy got hers delivered Saturday and mine should come on Sunday.  That should take care of us for three years until our residence visa runs out.

Christmas came and went very quickly but we got some nice presents.  Darcy baked some goodies but unfortunately I only had a normal two day weekend.  Unfortunate news is that Darcy's father passed away on December 27.  So we flew to Edmonton for the funeral.  Things weren't any easier with us trying to book tickets within 24 hours of leaving Abu Dhabi.  Plus I had horrendously long layovers and missed flights because of winter weather.  My roundtrip flights were about 70 hours door to door.

However, it was comforting to be home for a short time and visit with family and some friends.  We had not visited Edmonton over Christmas in five years so the extremely dry and cold weather (averaged about minus 20 celcius) caught us a bit off guard. We returned to Abu Dhabi on January 12 severely jet lagged.  I often wonder how politicians can fly around the world, attend conferences, make speeches and not appear jet lagged. 

So the last few months have been bitter sweet for us.  But we'll visit Edmonton in the summer and Darcy's mother may visit us after the baby's birth.  We'd like to fly home for Christmas too.  2010 will be an exciting year for us!

Trick or Treat

My week long business/leisure trip to London was great!  I visited the Tate, National and National Portrait Galleries, British Library, British Museum, and London Museum.  Plus I did a lot of walking.  The weather was a bit cooler than I expected but at least it wasn't uncomfortable walking around the city like it still is in Abu Dhabi.  I hadn't been to London in over nine years and I met up with an old friend too. 

Darcy finished her last day of work on Oct. 29 and is looking forward to a break.  She booked our hotels in Paris, Brussels and Bruges for our two week trip in late November and early December.  The weather here is still fairly hot as we head into November but it should be a bit cooler by now.  The Formula One race here has dominated the local news this weekend.  I'm not really much of a F1 fan but it is interesting to see all hype behind this event.

Although Halloween is not a big day here we still bought a carved a pumpkin.  It was expensive since it had to be shipped from either North America or Europe.  But it was huge and looked neat lit up.  Check out Darcy's Facebook profile for a photo. 

Whale shark springs big surprise at beach club  we stayed one night our first summer here.

How should a mosque look?  The mosque has a 21st century design.  It's not very large but it took years to build.

At last, another way off the island and another article about the new bridge. 


New route halves time commuting to Abu Dhabi I drove it last Thursday and the new highway is fairly quick to reach from our place.

Single card for residents next year - I hope there's more success with the implementation compared to the first national ID card attempt.

UAE is top Arab state to live in  The full report is at http://www.prosperity.com/rankings.aspx and Canada is ranked #7.

Clinton to meet Abbas in Abu Dhabi They'll likely meet at the Emirates Palace which we'll drive close to on our way to the mall today.  I wonder if we'll see any black limos.

Debate over Arabic instruction heats up Ironically many Arabs in schools say they don't get very good instruction with learning English!

Waypoint on the old silk road

Planning trips abroad

I'm off to London on October 14th to attend a two day conference.  Then I'm spending four extra days to sight see the city and hopefully meet a friend that I haven't seen in seven years.  I'm staying in a low budget hostel that is close to Hyde Park.  Meanwhile Darcy's last physical day at her job is October 29 and her separation day is Dec. 23.  She's going to use up her remaining vacation time in between so we're going to visit Paris and Belgium for a couple of weeks. I have a bunch of unused vacation too that I need to use before the end of the calendar year.

The weather is slowing cooling off and I braved the elements and did my first evening corniche walk earlier this week.  The corniche beach extension project has extended all the way to our neighborhood.  So there will be almost two kilometers of beach.  But the grand opening of the entire stretch has been delayed (no surprise!)

Motorists blind to dangers of tinting  - we have 30% tinting for our car and it's fine.

Drivers face fines and seeing their cars impounded but they still want tints


License plate I 44 fetches 2.3 million Dirhams - that's about $626,000 USD


Police call for ban on passenger minibuses

Life after the meltdown

Parking problems the space race - luckily we don't have to pay in our neighborhood....yet!  I guess we should keep an eye on the parking permit website.


DNA database set to start in a year

Burj Dubai not quite a tower but a free-standing structure

EID Mubarak!

The Muslim holy month of Ramadan has come and gone since our last posting.  EID began Sunday morning so I have three days off while Darcy has the week to relax.  We had wanted to return to the Bab Al Shams hotel where we stayed last year.  However, the rates had gone up significantly.  There was a newspaper article recently written that said many UAE hotels charge more if rooms are booked directly through them versus using travel sites like travelocity and booking a package.  That's unfortunate so that might deter us from staying in many hotels here.

Hard to believe that fall starts in a day or two.  Perhaps we've become more tolerant of the climate here over the past three years but this summer did not seem as oppressively hot and humid as past ones.  However, we've had to contend with more water leakage problems and putting up with extremely dirty windows.

Darcy and I will drive to Dubai during our break to see the new Dubai Mall.  There is a huge bookstore that is supposed to be the biggest in the UAE.  I can't remember when I last stopped in Dubai but it's probably been at least a year.   I have a new co-worker and it's a chance for all of us to see some new sights.  Speaking of traveling, we booked tickets (online deal with Lufthansa) to spend two weeks this fall in Paris, Brussels and Brugge.  We're looking forward to it and friends of ours here went there last year and loved it.

Abu Dhabi plans to build 17,000 villas for Emiratis

The spy who came in from the sea

Riddle of fasting in land of the longest day

Controversial Canadian ferries bound for new duty in the gulf

Metro chaos prompts information campaign

Large colony of flamingoes found

Going for a swim?  Bring your wallet

Survivors of our spiritual past

Ramadan Kareem!

Marhaba everyone!

We've been back in Abu Dhabi for two weeks now and we're back into our routine.  Saturday is the start of Ramadan and one of the nice things is that our work day is reduced to six hours.  I'll leave my office a bit earlier to exercise twice a week and I'll stay late on the other three days.  So I'll end up working more hours a week over Ramadan but still fewer than the normal 40.  After that is the EID break and then I'll need to start figuring out when to begin using my twenty work days of vacation this fall.  It will be nice to have all these breaks this fall in the midst of another busy semester at work.  I finally have a new co-worker so it will benefit the library and especially public services!

Our vacation in Alberta and B.C. was great and naturally too short. It was great to see my brother and sister-in-law after three years. Another highlight was seeing the Pacific Ocean on Vancouver Island. We really enjoyed staying at the Middle Beach Lodge.  The $35 seafood dinners were great, view from our balcony and beaches were wonderful.  The weather was unseasonably hot and we got a sunburn despite wearing sunscreen, sunhats and keeping our shirts on.

The long 25 hour journey from Vancouver to Edmonton to Toronto to Frankfurt and finally Abu Dhabi was luckily uneventful.  I'll mention that the Frankfurt Airport is not a very attractive or comfortable place.  They are doing a lot of construction but I don't know how it can improve things.  It felt like one was in a prison by being rather dark and having few windows. 

Below are some interesting stories from our neck of the woods:

A bygone age brought back to life
Love that stands the test of time
Saudi ready to unveil its future
Shoe repairer's soul is in the souq
The poetry in personal messages
Abu Dhabi's last wind tower to be preserved

Ila Aliqa Abu Dhabi!

Well, we made it though another academic year and it's vacation time!  This is our third time flying home for summer vacation and it always seems surreal when the departure day arrives.  A friend is going to drive us to the airport so we'll have plenty of time to relax for our 2 am red eye flight to Frankfurt. Then it's on to Calgary and Edmonton.  So another 24 hour flight home.  Luckily I can earn Star Alliance airmiles.  So we'll be back blogging in August!

Aggressive plan to increase university enrollment

Retail rents fall for first time in at least ten years


Air conditioned bus shelters on the way

Tourists are beckoned to the Gulf

Emiratis explain why they resigned


UAE birthrate falls by nearly 50%

Scientists finish tests on UAE's first satellite

Abu Dhabi to extend length of school day

Welcome to Summer!

Life in Abu Dhabi has slowed down as many people have started leaving for their long summer vacations.  Traffic isn't quite as bad and the mall didn't seem quite as busy on Saturday.  I'm down to four work days until we leave for Canada.  Luckily I have the flexibility of working shorter weeks otherwise I'll lose my time.  Unfortunately Darcy doesn't seem able to take time off like I can.  I still don't think that the weather has been as hot and humid this spring was in the past.  Of course we may be more tolerant of it now.

I've been busy trying to make online library tutorials.  They're at http://www.youtube.com/user/PILibrary.  I'm not a great public speaker and the tutorials don't have a crystal clear resolution but they've been fun to make.  I have to rely on using free screen casting software and Apple's iMoive program until my library can get a license for Camtasia (an all-in-one package).

Our friends Rob and Karima gave birth to a daughter (Lily) last weekend.  I think it was my first time holding such a young newborn (12 hours old)!  Darcy and I were named Lily's honorary aunt and uncle.
 

Inspectors fail half of Sharjah's restaurants

GCC Immigratio Heads Propose Dual Residency

Where your money goes

Press Freedom Center Struggling in Qatar

UAE roads are among the most deadly: UN

DNA could illuminate Islam's heritage

Dubai bans Iran protests

Construction firms ducking heat rules

Drivers relieved as lorry chaos appears over

UAE reports high website censorship

Good bye to May and hello to June

Well, another month has flown by and it was a somewhat uneventful month.  But with living here that's a good thing!  We got our visas renewed for another three years and it was a surprisingly quick and painless affair.  I even got reimbursed 100% for the processing fee. 
We will have been in Abu Dhabi for 3 years on June 2.  The time has gone by fairly quickly and we've now reached the minimum amount of time that we initially committed to staying here.  So we'll now take it one year at a time as to what to do next.   We leave for Edmonton in 1 month!

Temperatures soar past 50 celcius  

Villas show their (not so old) age

Search starts for the UAE's first female mufti

Majlis is a key feature of civilization in the UAE Al Hosn: A Pocket of Peace - Darcy's former supervisor is quoted in this article. We live on the northern edge of Al Hosn and we love it too. Although the construction is getting bad.

Slowly transitioning into vacation mode

This week is my first 3 day work week and it feels pretty nice!  I can spend a bit more time at the gym and watch some dvds that I bought years ago in Florida.  The heat and construction noise continue to go up but what can one do?  We went out for dinner last night at the Beach Rotana Hotel.  That's where we lived for 6 weeks when we moved here in 2006.  We couldn't believe how much the skyline to the northeast had changed!  The expanse of water across to Reem Island from the hotel had been shortened considerably.  And there were numerous buildings under construction along with a freeway.  I don't think that the hotel beach there has much of a view anymore.  Poor Darcy is frustrated by some big personnel changes at her work - 'nuff said!  It's now 7 weeks and counting until we leave for Edmonton...

Shoppers are paying a premium - ouch!!

Mosques campaign seeks donations 

Sir Bani Yas to host four new lodges - Looks like we may want to visit there again some time...

Young men need more motivation, study finds-a report like this being made public is astonishing!

Dream hospitals unveiled - this is desperately needed

Big spenders at Big Boys Toys

UAE could help clinch climate deal

Lack of confidence hampers Emiratisation

Post office plans home deliveries

Earthquake strikes off coast of UAE

Welcome to May!

The month of May began with a really hot day so summer is just around the corner.  When we get into our car the temperature gauge reads in the high 40s celcius or about 100 farenheit.  My walks on the Corniche may be over until the fall.  Darcy and I start our summer vacation in exactly two months on July 2.  I've been enjoying my three day work weeks to use up excess vacation time. The construction noise around us seems to be getting worse plus Darcy has to deal with it at work. 
Meanwhile we're still investigating making a will.  It's more complicated with living overseas but there is a company in the city who acts as a go between with a major provider.  We're just getting clarification about fees.  What's more complicated is getting life insurance.  We're getting quotes from two different companies but we want to think this through carefully. 
We're going to have to bite the bullet and get our plane tickets for our Edmonton to Vancouver return trip.  The fares are awful and have actually gone up by about 200 CDN for WestJet!  So we'll pay just over 600 CDN for both of us which is the same as what we paid last year.  Luckily the airfare from Abu Dhabi to Edmonton is cheaper this year.
Work in somewhat uneventful for us.  Although I'd like to start making some online screen casting tutorials for some of our databases and library catalog.  Below is an assortment of regional stories.

UAE bars pork imports - the WHO has confirmed that the swine flu is spread by human to human contact and not from eating pork!

Conference centre soars with falcons

National anorexia levels astonishing - ironic considering that the UAE also has terribly high levels of obesity too. 

A rower's tearful tribute to Zayed

Labour day may become a permanent UAE holiday

Rights body reviews abuse video claim

Sheikh unveils his replica ark

Access to universities to be widened

US university to launch DIFC campus


Abu Dhabi room rates highest in world

Expats urged to embrace culture

How well do you know the emirates?

So, could you pass the emirates patriotic test?

WOMAD in Abu Dhabi

We attended the three day WOMAD (Peter Gabriel's World of Music, Arts and Dance) concert on the second day.  It was good but sadly security was being selective in allowing people in.  Beside us just as we entered were a couple of guys from Indai, Pakistan or Bangladesh.  An events guy held up his hand to them while we proceeded.  It had nothing to do with them being bachelors as we saw a few single male Europeans inside.  So the laborers were forced to watch from the fence outside.

The first group was The Dhol Foundation.  Details are here.   The second group we saw was Abdullah Chhadeh & Syriana. Details are here.  The last group that we saw was The Kamkars.  They had ten performers.  We saw all five performances on the third and last day and seeing Robert Plant was great!  Heck of a deal considering that it they were all free.  There were more non Westerners in attendance yesterday which was nice to see. 

I had today off and worked out and then I met Darcy for lunch.  I then walked home (only took 30 minutes but it was bloody hot out.  However, it's nice to work four day work weeks.  Below are some interesting stories....

WOMAD festival opens with a bang

UAE laws translated into English

Sharjah's tour guides put on right path

Emirate to close its bars and nightclubs

Mubadala issues first annual report

Personal odyssey into wilderness

Dubai's dark side - other stories about the UAE produced by ABC news are available

WOMAD is coming

Last week was the Red Bull Air Raee along the Corniche.  This coming weekend it's WOMAD!  The performances are free and they are about a 30 minute walk from our apartment.  Temperatures will get close to 40 Celsius or about 100 Fahrenheit so it will be hot!  The last performance will feature Robert Plant!  It would be nice to see him even though it will likely happen late on Saturday.  Luckily I have Sunday off.  Since I have a lot of vacation time to use I've decided to work four day work weeks until the end of June.  I'll still have over 30 work days to use up in the fall.  What to do....
Democracy wrong choice for UAE

Canada to recruit more Gulf students

Libraries Undergo a Sea Change

Global crisis is behind us says Sheikh Mohammed - that's a bold statement!

Pull the udder one - male goat produces milk

Dazzling start to daredevils' season

The view from inside the camps

Arabtech pledges to improved its labour sites

Arab societies should be more proactive

Abu Dhabi wildlife center opens its door to the public

Giant labour camp to house 32,000

Elongated oyster shell hotel for lulu island - we live very close to the island

Capital district plan celebrates identity

thinking about more vacations

Darcy and I had a wonderful time at the new hotel on Sir Bani Yas Island for her birthday two weeks ago.  It will rank as one of our special places along with Jasper and the Everglades.  The weather could have been better but it was interesting to experience tremendous lightning storms.  It rained a lot but apparently not as much as in the northern emirates.  We still managed to do four outdoor activities: archery; wadi walk; game drive; kayaking.  The hotel opened only six months ago so they are still hiring staff and developing the island's infrastructure.  The conservation efforts are impressive since the island is really just a big area of salt and minerals.  A majority of the plants need watering from miles and miles of connecting hoses.  There are many gazelles and other animals that have been brought from Africa (ostrich, cheeta, peacock, oryx). 

Other news is that the Formula One race to be held here on November 1 has been selling tickets briskly.  They went on sale a week ago.  Construction noise in our neighborhood and Darcy's work is bad.  We hosted a baby shower for a friend on Friday and Darcy did a great job.  There was a lot to eat!  Finally, I'm in an unusual dilemma of having to use up 45 days day of vacation by the end of the year or risk losing all of it.  That's excluding time off that I've booked for our summer vacation and 15 days that I can carry over into 2010.  Guess I've been working too hard and not taking enough time off!  Darcy doesn't have as much time off and I don't want to have to take vacations by myself.  Hmmm.....maybe I can work four day work weeks the rest of the year!

Can Abu Dhabi be a pedestrian city?
 
City retains essence of centuries-old culture
 
Women-only bus service for Dubai
 
Expats gloomy on property value
 
Identity concerns over marriage rate
 
Jewellery sale evokes romance of Umm Kulthum
 
When pavement turns to jungle
 
Abu Dhabi motorists face paid parking