Farewells

"All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go" . . . Yes, tonight I'll be leaving on a jet plane (hopefully) on my way to Darwin, Australia via Singapore. It sounds like a hellish journey, but on the positive side it will be much shorter than if I was leaving

Delighted of Al Ain

Today was the day for grabbing the vehicle reregistration by the throat and getting it done. It's a short story of three chapters, mercifully. It could have been oh so much longer. Chapter 1 - insurance. I've learned through bitter and sweaty experience

Another year over

My goodness the time has whizzed by. Here we are again in the 'winding down' stage of my second academic year here in Al Ain. I've finished teaching students and today I finished marking students' portfolios (or protfolios as they often say)

Live long and prosper

After months of talking about a Girls' Weekend in Dubai, we finally got our act together and headed off to the Smog on Friday morning, having booked into the Ibis Deira City Centre hotel. Our plans were to visit the malls and find a nightclub for a spot

Medium

Get closer because I think I need to whisper this. It wouldn't be good for too many people to know what happened to me this week. Men in white jackets, 'they're coming to take me away, ha ha' type thing. I think I've been watching too many trailers for

Out and about

My fourth semester in Al Ain is coming to an end and it's been wonderful. Back in 2007 I really thought that I was burned out as a teacher. Working at Norwich City College, each morning I had to force myself to go to work and try to endure some of the

First WOMAD in Al Ain

Finally I've found some time to sit down and write something. It's been a mad whirl of work, body pump, yoga, mah jong, work, choir, bollywood movies and planning a trip to Australia. Good though. It's been a year of excellent concerts and another one

This just in

While we are all feeling the effects of an insecure financial situation, shopping is still an important pastime over here. Particularly in Al Ain where we don't have the range of hotels, clubs and other cultural delights that can be found in Abu Dhabi

Slumdogs and millionaires

Thanks to the Facebook network, I've discovered an article on the Independent website about The Dark Side of Dubai. Apart from the fact that I've never seen large photographs of Shaikh Mohammed plastered on buildings in Dubai, the report looks into issues

The hell of being a loud-mouthed, pea-brained TV presenter

Alarming news. It seems that a tall bloke wearing badly fitting jeans, whose only talents are rubbishing everything (particularly Norfolk), driving cars too fast and making sweeping generalisations based on long-held misconceptions and prejudices, has

A bit of weather

What a whirlwind March has been. I braced myself mentally before the end of February since I knew that every weekend in March had an event. It's been a question of holding my breath and diving in and not worrying about having no chance to recharge my

March Madness

I'm mainly missing daffodils at the moment. The other day I saw some yellow flowers from a distance and stopped in my tracks. Could it be? Surely not. Not. However, in spite of the lack of daffodils, I have been going slightly mad to celebrate the month.

Storm dust

It's hot, windy and dusty. It's unseasonably hot. The temperature leapt between 5 to 20 degrees in a week (depending on who's talking) and has now reached the 'slightly uncomfortable with a constant sheen of sweat' stage. Apparently

The Indians are coming

 How many of you remember the exhilaration of Colin Welland's acceptance speech when he won an Oscar for best original screenplay? His 'boy next door' features were in rapture as he, over-optimistically as it turned out, proclaimed "The English are

Human Rice

Work has been very busy since I returned to the land of almost perpetual sunshine, hence the long silence. Sorry to tell you this, but I was very grateful to be 'home' if only because it seems I have become a sunshine addict. It was so dark in Norfolk.