Luck

As we head towards St Patrick's Day next week, there will be trinkets for sale in the card shops and someone, somewhere will mention Luck. 'Luck of the Irish', 'Lucky Shamrock', etc. Wear green and you'll be lucky. Well, I hope that some luck does come...

Windy City

I shouldn't be at home writing this. I'm supposed to be sketching in a peaceful, palm fringed wadi in nearby Oman (yes, I know that sounds Edwardian). Instead, I am throwing together a long overdue blog on a sandy computer, listening to the howling wind...

My Hurt Month

Does anyone remember biorhythms? I think it was an '80s thing. I can remember an ex boss explaining the process to me. She had a handy calculator so that she was forewarned when she was likely to burst into tears because she was emotional critical. I...

Short and Tweet

Very odd. I wrote a blog on this theme this morning and I know that it was posted, but somehow it disappeared while I was out shopping. Perhaps the nice people at the Evening News didn't like it, although I wouldn't say it was any worse than usual. So,...

Taboos

A few weeks ago I had a rare opportunity to sit in the college staff room to eat lunch and read a newspaper. The newspaper was Khaleej Times, one of the three English language newspapers here. On the front page was a story about the increasing rate of...

A world without Mafi

This is a blog that I had hoped not to write for a long time. Mafi the Cat was euthanised last Tuesday. You'll know of Mafi as 'Cat the Elder' because, ludicrously, I wanted to protect her identity. Well, mine as well I guess. Not too many cats in Norfolk...

Happy Blue Moon Year

You knew it was a blue moon on New Year's Eve didn't you? I wouldn't have known if I wasn't for the fact that I was searching for night sky constellations in the Middle East. Didn't find what I was looking for, of course, but did find a Young Astronomers'...

Christmas Recreational Vehicle

I've just changed my car. Just after I arrived here in August 2007, I was offered the opportunity to buy a 10 year old Daewoo Leganza for a very cheap price. I snapped up the bargain, as I had known all 3 women who had owned the car before. Not often...

Send gopher wood

Heavy rain falling. Stop. Drains clogged by last week's sandstorm. Stop. Roads are flooded with a foot of water. Stop. Roundabouts look like lily ponds. Stop. Quite pretty if I didn't have to drive round them. Stop. Maniac drivers think it's fun to drive...

Heads in the sand

I'm back from my 7 day trip to Jordan and Syria. It was marvellous to visit so many historical sites, including some that I grew up with in my Sunday school and RE lessons. I spent a wonderful day relaxing by the Dead Sea, which was not at all as I'd...

The gift of a day

After the relentlessness of a busy workload, I've just enjoyed a surprise day off. It's Eid Al Adha tomorrow and we have all of next week off too. The week off was something that we had all counted on. In fact, three other people and myself gambled that...

Relentless patterns

I haven't got time to write this but I'm going crazy. The all too familiar feeling of being totally overwhelmed has returned to my working life, after 2 years' absence. It's Thursday afternoon and everyone keeps asking if I'm going to have a nice weekend....

Man City v UAE

As I write this, the second half of the match between Manchester City and the UAE national football team is about to start. Fortunately I remembered to turn to the Abu Dhabi sports channel just in time for the half-time analysis by UAE's version of the...

Blondes

I've just had my hair died a sort of reddy purple. Or possibly a purbley red. The hair has had mixed reviews. I have to admit that I wasn't totally delighted when I first saw the new hair colour. I was reminded of Richard, my fabulous Norwich hairdresser...

Where was I?

I can't remember what I was nattering on about in my last posting - can't remember the title at all. Ah well, something to read a bit later. So, where was I? Good question. Pin back your eyelids and I'll bring you up to date with 6 weeks worth of trivia.The...