Long week

It's been along week. I went to a work conference on Saturday so it seems like ages since I had a day off. The conference was good, especially good as it was at Yas Island where the F1 race was recently. I could see the track from my hotel room and the flash hotel in the middle of the track. I left my camera on the table, big mistake, so there's no photos to show. The amazing thing was that there were a cluster of large hotels with no one in them. The venue was built for a purpose, nothing has filled that gap as yet. I talked to one of the hotel staff and he said that the F1 week was busy, not now. It was a good venue, if a little difficult to find.

Getting mislaid has been a theme of 2010 and it's only a few days old. Well to be honest, I got lost a bit in 2009 as well. In Dubai especially. I have maps. They don't work in Dubai, the roads keep changing, signs for off ramps get covered and all sorts of mayhem like that. No wonder then that getting anywhere for an appointment causes stress. Many phone calls and stress. I can now get to Al Wasel Rd, I just have to be able to find Sarah and Hayden's new place. Sarah had her baby the other day, wee Olivia. I'm going to visit on Saturday, inshallah.

Another memorable getting lost included driving halfway to Abu Dhabi on the way home from Dubai to Al Ain, yes the long way home. It was dark and I did have a bad navigator with me. We worked out an alternate route and ended up having to stop and ask a policeman. I could see where I needed to be on a parallel road, just didn't know how to get there. I also thought reversing down a 6 lane highway wasn't the done thing and the off road possibilities looked daunting. Many of my friends won't drive in Dubai, I don't blame them. I'll see if I can break the jinx on Saturday when I go to Al Wasel Road then Murdiff.

The photos are of our new years camp site deep in sand dune country, amazing to see just how vast the area was by climbing to the top a a very high dune; a camel track sunset and the long way down.