Phone? Check . Keys? Check? But is that all you need before you leave your home in the morning? Abu Dhabi Week has come up with a handy checklist of items you might need to take with you before hitting the streets – but is there anything we’ve forgotten? Feel free to let us know your alternatives ...

1: Satnav You quickly realise that paper maps are pretty much rendered useless around Abu Dhabi, with a new building popping up every day and yet more new road diversions changing the city layout frequently. Unless you can follow directions such as “there’s an Etisalat building on the left and a petrol station to the right” (which accounts for almost every street in the city), then a portable satnav – or a smartphone GPS application – is probably a safe bet for your sanity.

2: Loose change Change for the bus, tips for taxi drivers and money for bottles of water – stepping out into Abu Dhabi means taking a pocket full of change. The alternative is suffering indignant glares from shop owners and others who refuse to have change for that rather limp AED 100 note crumpled in your hand.

3: Steel-toed shoes Abu Dhabi boasts actual pavements along most of its roads –unlike neighbouring Dubai, where pedestrians are mostly an afterthought and regarded as unworthy of serious attention. But walking on them can require some skill. Piles of rubble, crooked, loosely laid slabs and random large rocks in the middle of the pathway can make a brisk walk seem a little like a dangerous assault course – against your toes.

4: Reflective umbrellas Those new to the land of perpetual sunshine may be a bit confused by the sight of umbrella-carrying pedestrians – but this handy accessory isn’t there to shield from the rain but the sun.  Waiting for a taxi in the midday heat can be a frazzling experience – and an umbrella is an essential for keeping cool and sheltered in the less than shady city. What you need is either a parasol (those Victorians knew what they were doing) or one of those heat-reflective silver-coated umbrellas that only Filipinos seem able to find.

5: Your guide to life in the Emirate No self-respecting Abu Dhabi dweller should be without a copy of an essential city guide. The good news, of course, is that Abu Dhabi has just such a publication – packed with the city’s latest news, reviews of restaurants, useful small ads, and much more. How great would it be if such a magazine were actually free, too? And if it was the correct size and shape, it would also be extremely useful for fanning yourself while waiting in a queue. My, aren’t we good to you?