A savvy frugalista knows there's nothing wrong with flying economy out of Sharjah; Air Arabia offers some of the best deals in the Emirates. But the problem is getting to and from Sharjah, as a taxi ride can easily negate any money saved on a plane ticket. Fortunately, the airline offers a Dh40 shuttle service to Sharjah from its Abu Dhabi and Al Ain offices. Leaving at odd intervals throughout the day, it's best to look online (www.airarabia.com) before you take off and land. It might get you to the airport earlier than you hoped, but that might be just fine faced with dropping Dh300 on a cab. Both Etihad and Emirates offer shuttles, too. Emirates will take you to Dubai from Abu Dhabi and Al Ain (and back). The catch: there are only three trips to Abu Dhabi and two to Al Ain each day. Also, you have to book at least 48 hours in advance through an Emirates office. Etihad offers a free luxury coach to and from Abu Dhabi to its Dubai and Al Ain offices, but you must request the service when you book your flight.
Temperature 39°C Time 15 minutes As we watched the thermometer climb a little higher last week, we decided once again to put the legendary claim to the test by trying to fry an egg on the pavement. Our M investigative assignment continues with new, although yet-unconvincing, results. We chose the same patch of black pavement as the last experiment - reportedly hotter than lighter surfaces - and cracked the egg in the midday sun. Within the first couple of minutes, countless tiny bubbles had formed under the egg white, and after five minutes the layer of the egg in contact with the pavement had begun to turn slightly white. That was as much "cooking" as we could see over the full 15 minutes. Then someone had the idea to try it on metal: so we performed the same experiment on a dark cooking sheet, which we left out in the sun to get nice and hot first, and the result was only slightly better: a little more white around the edges. After 30 minutes in the sun we gave up, because like last month, we were almost fried ourselves. We'll return to our experiment next month to see if the normally scorching July heat will fry our egg. Stay tuned.