As is traditional in our culture, we’ll start the discussion with the weather, which is now well settled into winter here with cold nights (around 18degs………) and the occasional cloud……we even had a few spots of rain yesterday, and I mean a few……probably caused catastrophic failure of all sorts of systems all over the region, along with an unprecedented number of car accidents ! (on a slightly different but related note – when the recent Blackberry server failure occurred, which caused large parts of the world to grind to a halt, traffic accidents in the UAE were reported to reduce by 40% - you can make up your own mind what people were doing when they were supposed to be driving, but as you’re not really supposed to even hold hands in public here……………………)
I’m not sure how much lower the temperatures will go (we’re down to late 20s during the day, with light winds and no humidity to speak of – which is where the relief comes in !). I got here at the end of January this year so I’ve yet to do a full cycle but it seems similar now to then, so fingers crossed that I won’t need wooly socks !
I’m working out in the desert for 4 days a week at the moment, with frequent trips to Abu Dhabi City and Dubai for weekends. That will all change shortly as my friend Julian is supposedly giving up his apartment in Dubai, supposedly in preparation for a new job in the UK in June (poor old boy’s a bit mixed up at the moment and can’t decide what to do for the best…….) and I probably won’t have a free room any more – on the upside, the company are hiring an apartment for me (and other regional visitors) in Madinat Zayed, so I’ll have somewhere to live and play 7 days a week. I’ll have to cook and entertain myself but I can still go visit the bright lights whenever I feel like it !
Today I have had my leave confirmed to go home for Christmas (and I think, what with weekends and national holidays, New Year as well, but don’t tell anyone…….) so can now actually look forward to seeing everyone again shortly. It will have been the longest period ever that we’ve been apart, so that’s something to get excited about. The next thing after that will be the family coming out in February half-term for a break and to potentially look at houses and schools so that we can make an informed decision about moving everyone out here at some point. There is a lot of water and bridges etc., but you have to have a plan of some sort !
The main attraction for us here (apart from the World 7s rugby circus arriving this weekend and the World Championship Golf finals next week, not to mention F1 Powerboat racing the weekend after that…..) is the Al Dhafra Camel Festival which takes place for 2 weeks during December, just up the road, at the camel track that we all know and love so much. Already it’s starting to take shape with tents and Bedouins arriving by the day, and bloody camels wandering about everywhere. First prize, I’m reliably informed, for the most beautiful camel contest is AED 1,000,000 (about 170,000 quid), not to be sniffed at ! The place will be teeming with Sheiks and therefore is currently teeming with gardeners and cleaners, painters and maintenance people, all falling over themselves to make a large portion of the desert look less like a pile of natural sand……….good luck is all I can say. One good night of wind and the whole lot will revert to whatever it feels like reverting to – I can’t wait ! They say that the Queen of England has mentioned that the whole world smells of new paint…….I’m guessing that Arab Sheiks have much the same view !
It was nice of Auntie to take the time to write, it always brightens up the odd lonely moment, and there are a few – exercise can only paper over some of the cracks ! We’re moving towards a payday this week, and that always helps to paper over some of the others…..after that, we revert to wine !
And for those of you with the option, don’t forget it’s Mrs G’s birthday today – I believe that she’s 23 again if you’re looking for an appropriate card !
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