Thursday 31 March 2022
Fletching
Wednesday 30 March 2022
Hyde Park and more Theatre
Tuesday 29 March 2022
Geology and Theatre
Monday 28 March 2022
Happy Birthday Ally
Sunday 27 March 2022
Fabulous Fabergé
Saturday 26 March 2022
Beautiful Birmingham
Friday 25 March 2022
Brummies
Canals in Manchester
Thursday 24 March 2022
Train journey
Wednesday 23 March 2022
Home Sweet Home
Monday 21 March 2022
Screen Machine
Sunday 20 March 2022
Even warmer!
Warmest place in Britain
Thursday 17 March 2022
Revisiting the past
Monday 14 March 2022
Wagon Wheel
Sunday 13 March 2022
One man show
Saturday 12 March 2022
Films and photos
Friday 11 March 2022
Back in time in Jordanhill
Thursday 10 March 2022
The lark did not ascend for us
I booked tickets a while ago to Vaughn Williams’ The Lark Ascending at the City Halls, which I thought would be a nice evening out for James and me. Unfortunately I wrote on the calendar that the venue would be the Royal Concert Hall. So this evening we went for a pre-theatre dinner to Ask Italian in Renfrew Street before our concert, but as we crossed the road at twenty past seven James commented that the Royal Concert Hall looked very quiet; in fact there were no people going into it or hanging about outside it at all. I checked the tickets and realised my mistake. Oh dear, and by now it was twenty-five past; there was no way we were going to get there in time for the 7.30 p.m. start. We briefly debated heading to the City Halls for a drink and then going in to the concert after the interval, but then decided to cut our losses and go to the cinema instead since we were right beside Cineworld. We got tickets for The Batman, and treated ourselves to a 4XD showing, which meant that we were thrown around in our seats during the many action scenes, rather like our recent dune-bashing experience! The film was very long; nearly three hours, but it did hold my attention and I quite liked the slight change of attitude that Batman learned by the end. However Robert Pattinson was an awfully sullen Batman, and the film was so dark as to be almost dreary - James commented that each film incarnation of Batman seems to be more downbeat and despairing.
Wednesday 9 March 2022
Nearly Spring
Wednesday 2 March 2022
Farewell to Dubai
I felt sad that Tuesday morning was our last breakfast of the holiday, sitting outside on the terrace with bird singing and hopping around us. Ally researched what the most numerous ones were: Laughing Doves (which had rosy pink chests) and White-eared Bul Bul. I went for a swim in the Gulf one more time and then got changed and showered and we set off to airport. It was all very efficient and we were soon on the plane. I was sad to leave but delighted with the excellent seats on the plane that Cat had reserved for us; two sets of two seats one behind the other so no strangers to have to let past us. The flight went smoothly and we had lovely views crossing the Alps in Austria. When we were going through passport control at Gatwick an official shouted to a young man near us, “No shorts in the airport!” which made him and us laugh. We said our farewells as Ally and Cat headed home and we stayed at the Airport Premier Inn, which is conveniently less than five minutes walk from the terminal. Unlike Dubai it was cold and drizzly back in the UK. Our room was comfy and we were soon fast asleep.
Tuesday 1 March 2022
Midnight at the Oasis
On Monday we were up early to be collected from the hotel by Nabeel in his Toyota Landcruiser for a morning in the desert. We drove for about an hour north and started off with camel-riding. It is possible that I may have ridden on a camel many many years ago in Cyprus (I’m not sure if it was just the boys or me as well) but that in that case there was a ladder and platform to get onto the camel and it walked in a very small circle. The Dubai experience of camel-riding was completely different: the camels were sitting down and you had to swing your leg over to get onto the saddle, and then the camel lumbered to its feet which was very scary! There was much hilarity from Ally and Cat when I couldn’t swing my leg high enough and one of the helpers caught my foot and pulled me on from the other side. And then we went for a proper camel ride into the desert and it was brilliant! I felt like Omar Sharif in Laurence of Arabia! The desert was beautiful, orange but with an almost pink glow. Then we went on to our next destination; Quad-biking. I wimped out of this, not because I was scared (I like quad-biking) but because it was very very hot in the desert and I thought that I would fry on the quad bike. I kind of regretted not going because the others had a fantastic time, but I enjoyed people watching in the large tent where coffee and dates (and a large air-conditioning unit) were provided. Although I was very hot, February is one of the most pleasant months to visit Dubai because the heat is not too unbearable; Nabeel told us that Dubai has two seasons: Hot and Very Hot!
We then got back into the car and Nabeel took us Dune Bashing. This is a form of off-roading done on sand dunes in big 4X4 vehicles, driving fast over and around the dunes at quite alarming angles! It was great fun although I was relieved when we stopped to go sand surfing. Not that I went sand surfing myself, too hot again! As the name suggests you surf down a sand dune on a board like a snow board, with foot straps. All good fun but you then have to walk back up the dune again carrying your board! The intrepid James, Cat and Ally all had a go, and had a great time. The surroundings were so gorgeous, with dunes stretching out into the distance as far as the eye could see. What a morning! Back at the hotel we had a lovely lunch outdoors and then went to the beach and swam in the gulf.
Ally and Cat had arranged one more amazing experience for us later on, and this one was very special indeed. Cat drove us for about an hour to the Bab Al Shams desert resort, which started off as an oasis many years ago, and is now a luxury desert resort. Ally and Cat have been there before and it really is magical, its lights shining in the desert. We had a magnificent dinner where I ate far too much, there was so much choice of amazing middle-eastern dishes. After dinner there was entertainment; singers, a belly dancer, a Whirling Dervish. The audience was made up of lots of locals as well as some tourists and they were singing along to their favourite songs, and also dancing! The culmination of the entertainment was a short dramatisation of the history of the Oasis, complete with horses, sword fighting, a camel train, and even a flock of sheep. It was amazing, I loved it. We went for a stroll through the resort and ended up ordering mint and lemon drinks in a bar that was open to the stars, on this warm desert night. Out came a shisha pipe, of which we all tried a few puffs; of course none of us smoke but it seemed appropriate for the Middle Eastern setting. I felt very happy after such a wonderful day.