The silly season

The silly season has arrived, well it hasn't really not in the same way as it does in New Zealand. But winter has arrived. I broke out the merino today, wore several layers to school. It was cool, not quite crisp, but cool enough to have heater on in the car on the way to work. The sunrise was lovely, I must get up early enough on a weekend to capture this although I'm more of a sunset girl, especially on the weekends.

It's hard to believe that it's next year in a couple of days, hard to believe that I'm working through. It doesn't really feel like the festive season but I'm sure that our camp out in the desert for new years eve will be festive. I bought my tent last night, that and an airbed. I need all my comforts. There's a heap of us going, there's a big fire already built by the advance guard so it should be fun. I get to sand drive again this time with Mary-Anne for company.

Christmas day was interesting, talking to the family and missing them, having a lovely brunch complete with bubbles with friends in the same boat. It was a good day all up, a social day where we swapped stories of Christmas' past. Of the family traditions, the foods eaten, gifts given. We swapped gifts, thoughtful gifts that made Christmas more real. It would have been good to have had more than a weekend but at least we didn't have to work Christmas day as others had to last year.

I took another excursion to the camel track the other evening, this time with some friends I met through Di. Lotte is from Berlin and is moving to Beruit and Nele lives in Buraimi, Oman just across the border from me. We met for coffee and ended up going for a drive, me enjoying the company of two interesting and motivated young women. Both speak Arabic and understand this part of the world through their university study and as well as living in various places here. We're going to meet again for a meal before Lotte heads back next week, I'm very much looking forward to that.

The photos are Nele and Lotte on a sand dune in the cool wind, a grumpy camel (I respect him too much to post the next photo of him bearing his teeth and roaring at his trainer) and said camel and his trainer totting down the track. The photo I missed because I was too astounded, wasn't quick enough, was the same trainer releasing his group of racing camels, complete with robots, to race fast down the track. They are really fast, surprisingly fast for such a big animal. And Rau's Christmas tree complete with pressies.