Finding time for those odd jobs

Dubai: The new official weekend silenced cell phones and residents said people were respecting the public holidays and keeping those business calls on hold.

On top of this the new holiday means residents are actually finding the time to run errands and make trips to the bank that they just did not have time for during the week.

"The banks are open and that's really good because I have time to go now. I used to have a half day off but now I really appreciate having the whole of Saturday off," said Amid Nejad, 30, from Iran.

"My phone feels like it is off too, I haven't had any work calls so far," he added, while walking to the beach. "Now with a real two day weekend I'm finding more things to do and making the time to do them," he said.

Abdul Rahman Aldhohayan visiting from Saudi Arabia said the Friday-Saturday weekend was better as some private companies which work on Thursday still called you despite it being your weekend.

"We also miss less days for business with the West. It is more practical," he said. Although he was caught a little offguard with the UAE weekend changeover, "We thought nobody would be here today. It would be just us but there are lots of people here," he said speaking in a mall.

Marie Shirazaian, a Briton and mother of two in her forties has been living in Dubai for 14 years. "It isn't such a shock and I've always had Friday-Saturday weekends but now we match up with our friends who had different weekends to us," she said.

"We couldn't go out because they would have to go to work early on Saturday morning but now it's ok. It's better to give everyone the same weekend. You feel that you have more time off," she said.

Mohammad Al Agha, 30 from Syria said he enjoyed the new weekend and was able to go to the beach but his work schedule has changed and caused him a lot of rearranging. "I like it though as I can work on my car and go to the beach now on Saturdays," said Al Agha.