Chronicles of a Trailing Spouse...

I have a favourite dress, I bought it in an Italian store in Al Whada mall in Abu Dhabi. I visited this dress every week until it went into the sale whereupon I pounced on it and purchased it immediately. It's silk, empire line and very flattering. I don't know if it's just being in my thirties, but I find clothes shopping more and more difficult as I get older. In my twenties a trip to Grafton street meant agonising over every single shop where invariably I wanted EVERYTHING!! These days I wander into the high street stores and feel like there's a big secret that nobody's let me in on. I can't relate to fashion any more. It's all smock tops and ugly frocks. It seems to me that most of what is in the shops went out of the shops twenty years ago. Why anyone would want to revisit the fashion of the 80's is beyond me. Indeed, finding an outfit for my recent  80's themed party was easier than finding something nice to wear for a normal night out. I...

So it's Ramadan, I get it, wonderful. However, I fail to understand what that has to do with my morning take-out cappuccino from Coffee planet in my local ADNOC petrol station. I knew what was coming before the poor guy broke the news to me -- I could sense the bad news which hung in the air as he and his colleague shuffled around me silently debating who would deliver the crushing words  'sorry maam, but the machine is not working, it is Ramadan' as I jostled with the stacked cups and the 'cappuccino' button. Now, I realise that at this special time in the Islamic calendar Muslims all over the world are fasting, praying and generally being at one with God, but I'm afraid that at 8am this was irrelevant to me as I spluttered 'we're not ALL Muslim you know !!'. The poor guy was very apologetic but what could he say? I realise this doesn't signal armageddon, or even rain, but I do LIKE my morning take-out cappuccino on the way to work. I...

Ramadan started yesterday at sunset. I know this because we wanted to have a drink outside by the pool at the Hilton and the barman wouldn't let us. The kids were allowed to bring their Sprites outside, but not my glass of wine. I offered to disguise it but to no avail, the barman firmly told me, 'no madam, it is Ramadan'. There's a special moon sighting committee who decide when Ramadan starts, I'd love to hear that conversation - - 'yup, that's it there, that's the moon alright' -'where?' -'there, look, THERE!' -'oh yeah, I see it now' -'well, no drinks outside for a month' -'quick, go and tell everyone' I know, I know, I'm being flippant, but my flippancy is not reserved for just Islam; all organised religion leaves me feeling a bit baffled. Of course, I like the customs and rituals which accompany religion, and so I consider it a cultural rather than a spiritual thing in my life, and...

Welcome to the first post of this blog. I didn't even know hat a blog was until last week, but now that I do, I've decided that if people can blog about their cat, then I shall blog about my time in the Middle East, and whatever else I can think of. I hope it will prove interesting to you, dear reader, and I hope I learn something from it too. Keep reading!