Return of the Prodigal

As foreshadowed in yesterday’s post, A has made the trip from UK for a Winter Sun holiday. Despite various bomb alerts (all hoaxes fortunately) on some European flights over the last few days (and the somewhat delicate ME situation I also mentioned yesterday), the flight was incident-free and he arrived earlier this evening.

It is always good to see him and his main plan for the trip seems to be to continue his applications for jobs but with better weather! Job-hunting is particularly tricky for Graduates in the UK at the moment so hopefully the change of scenery will also bring with it a change in fortune. 

We are also going to take advantage of his presence to get a Golden Visa for him so he has the medical for this tomorrow and there are various plans being made for a Pub Quiz, BBQ’s and visits to his Dubai based friends over the next couple of weeks.

My participation in the the Dubai fitness challenge continued this lunchtime with another 30 minute walk around the Trade Centre although it was a a little slower (and therefore less sweaty) than last time as, rather annoyingly, I managed - shortly before embarking on my walk - to jar my heel while getting out of the chair in one of our Quiet rooms (these are enclosed areas we can use for phone calls away from the desk to avoid disturbing nearby colleagues and are very constrained in space but given the fact that I have been using the Quiet rooms for over 6 years now, there really was no excuse for my clumsiness).

One advantage of the slower pace was that it made is slightly easier to navigate the hordes of people who were attending what I think must be the last day of the GulfFood event as I tried to stay in the air-conditioned areas  - although there was still a fair amount of weaving and ducking to avoid the delegates as they queued for the free food samples.

Predicting the future

 The last few visits by friends and family to the Sandpit have usually been preceded my a marked increase in regional tensions. I am sure that this is just a coincidence but it does seem quite unfortunate that a slight question-mark has hung over whether or not my recent visitors would actually be able to travel.

Last time this happened, it coincided with the visit of E and  my cousin K and his wife A earlier this year after Christmas. In the weeks leading up to their flight, I was inundated by enquiries as to whether it was safe to come out. Having lived here for over 16 years, a certain degree of geo-political uncertainty has always been present and for the most part, given absolutely no cause for alarm and this was the message that I conveyed. 

As I will explore in later posts, this time my confident response to their enquiries was perhaps somewhat misplaced although in the event they had a very pleasant and successful visit, and had safely returned to UK by the time things kicked off in earnest out here in February  - much to my (and certainly E’s) relief.

However, my son A’s imminent arrival for a holiday has also coincided with an escalation of rhetoric from the various warring parties. I am hoping that the results of the recent mid-term elections will have sent a sufficiently salutary message to the President that his escapades in the region have not been completely successful so I am keeping everything crossed that there he will be dissuaded from further action for the time being and that there will be no last minute hitches.

Meanwhile, in other news I have not only managed to keep up with publishing a post a day (recognising we are only 4 days in to the 30 day writing challenge) but also with undertaking 30 minutes of daily exercise although yesterday’s lunchtime walk around the Trade Centre certainly brought home to me how hot and humid it still is at Noon despite the recent cooling of the weather. My bike ride this morning in the (relative) cool of the morning was definitely the better option.

Channeling my inner Nigella

In an ill-judged moment, I recently agreed to be a judge at our recent annual Office Bake Off competition. As a hopeless baker but keen taster of baked products, I thought that this would be a good way to avoid having to produce my own entry but supporting the cause of inter-office bonding. 

In years gone by, I had also been an enthusiastic viewer of the Great British Bake Off (although not recently but I might take a look at how the addition of Nigella Lawson to the judging panel has affected standards). How hard could it be thought I?

As it turns out, quite hard. There were 10 entries ranging from biscuits of various hues and flavours to some show-stopping cakes and desserts that would not have looked out of place in a restaurant cold cabinet.

I had taken the opportunity to do a little research on what I should be looking out for - my usual approach of going for the creamiest and most chocolatey looking item on the dessert menu discarded in favour of a more scientific (and hopefully, even-handed) approach given that it was the creations of my work colleagues that was being judged.

The internet provided some surprisingly detailed notes on texture, cohesiveness and structural integrity in a baking context which left me slightly concerned about how I was actually going to be able to form any kind of authoritative view on the contestants efforts. Fortunately, another colleague had also volunteered to do some judging and she seemed to actually know what she was doing.

There were four attributes that we were marking; taste, appearance, creativity and a slightly more ambiguous category of Bake-offishness which we took to be how well the three other elements had been combined together.

Due to work related issues, I had not been able to eat my lunch until quite late so by the time it came to starting the judging I was not feeling particularly hungry. There were also a large number of colleagues milling around the table where the bakes had been assembled - some no doubt competitors (the competition was done “blind” so we did not know the identity of the individual bakers) anxious to see how their creations were being received and so trying to cut slices off that were small enough to avoid completely crashing the diet but sufficiently wide in scope to capture all the various layers/textures/ingredients used was quite challenging - as was trying to discuss with my fellow judge our reactions to each of the entries.

In the end, we had to go to a separate room (on something of a sugar-high) to compare notes and reach a conclusion on the top three as the rest of the office descended on the bakes to test them for themselves. 

In the end, it was a relatively easy decision on the top 3 and we were able to announce the results without too much controversy. However, I am still not feeling very hungry and am unlikely to be eating cake any time soon!

Abu Dhabi trip

 As previously mentioned, 2026 has proved to be an interesting year so I will spend a bit of time updating on our activities in later posts but having just made the trip up to Abu Dhabi and back for our annual reception at the annual Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Conference (ADIPEC),  I thought that I would start off with a news on this.

This is very much the beginning of the conference season in the  Middle East as the weather gets cooler and  - notwithstanding the somewhat delicate political situation - there was a decent turnout at our annual reception in Abu Dhabi this evening at the ADIPEC conference. I started the day with a cycle ride to get my 30 minutes of exercise for the Dubai 30 day fitness challenge (as foreshadowed in my previous post) although my previous experience of ADIPEC and the relentless journey through the huge halls at the ADNEC Centre was that getting my steps in was unlikely to be an issue. 

As matters transpired, I was able to catch up with most of the people I wanted to see in a relatively confined area and our evening event was blessed with a cooling breeze in the outdoor area at the Aloft Hotel next door to the conference hall.Even so, by the end of the evening, I think the heat and humidity were starting to take a bit of a toll but it was very good fun and looking forward to next year!

It’s that time of year again……

Welcome to the 2026 edition of blogpost a day for a month (I am sure here was a snappier title for this writing challenge when I first started doing this). 

Some might ask why is it that I do not do a more regular blogpost update during the rest of the year rather than trying to cram everything in to the month of November (and having to try to remember exactly what it was that I was doing in the earlier part of the year). A good question to which I do not really have a satisfactory answer. I guess the challenge of posting every day during a month that tends to be pretty busy from a work context does provide a bit of a focus rather than trying to decide whether particular material from everyday life during the rest of the year is actually worth broadcasting to the internet.

In any event, here I am again ready to educate, inspire and inform about life in the Middle East (or, in any event, recount some of the happenings in our family life over the last year since my last foray in to post a day November).

I arrive fresh from a read through of my blogposts from my very first blog - TaiTamTales .That blog was created 20 years ago when we were living in Hong Kong, to mark the birth of my daughter V. and to provide a way for friends and family in UK to be kept updated on how she was getting on. It rapidly morphed into a periodic (on occasion, very periodic) update of our life in Hong Kong with V and her elder brother A, and their friends (and Em and my friends) and our various adventures. 

Whilst my posts were relatively infrequent, having just re-read them, I glad that I made the effort as it has provided an interesting reminder of what we were all up to when we were living in the Far East. That blog was retired in 2010 when we moved to Dubai and I started this blog - posting has not noticeably improved in frequency (and if I am being honest, in quality) but at least the November post a day challenge has meant that it remains reasonably uptodate.

This year has been more interesting (or perhaps eventful) than most given the current geo-political situation in the Middle East and certainly potentially  provides a little more material than the usual recap of trips to the beach, holidays and major family anniversaries that provided the mainstay of this blogs original incarnation in Hong Kong.

Today also sees the start of the Dubai 30 day fitness challenge where the population is invited to do (at least) 30 minutes exercise per day over the course of the month. As if creating a post a day is not enough excitement, I am also going to try to implement a 30 minutes per day exercise regime and have kicked off with a visit earlier today to Kite Beach where I had a 30 minutes open water swim followed by a 20 minute walk (to be fair, the walk was prompted by a desire to dry off after the swim as I had forgotten to take a towel with me…). We shall see how I fare over the next 30 days.

Misty Sunday morning

 Very nice bike ride at Mushrif Park this morning. 

I had  arrived to the sound of music and an excited compère on the tannoy as it transpired that the Dubai MTB challenge was also being held at the venue this morning. 

The place was packed but the actual race was on a separate course so I was able to use my regular trail with occasional glimpses of the competitors as they flashed by through the trees.

It was a beautiful morning with blue skies and a hazy, misty feel to the surrounding wood land.

After my regular watermelon juice and a cup of tea, my next port of call was Kite Beach down in Jumeriah. 

The water was a little colder than I am used to but nevertheless  it’s as a very pleasant swim, and I came home with the feeling that I had successfully combined both sporting endeavour and some of Dubai’s more scenic attractions.

What’s in a Wordle?

 I suspect I may have blogged about this previously as the word game in the New York Times - Wordle - has been very much part of my daily routine for a number of years now. 

It started as a means of keeping my Father entertained (and for all of us to stay in touch) during the pandemic and currently has both my Brothers in law, my mother in law, Em and my cousins’s wife (as well as on an occasional basis V) circulating their daily scores on our WhatsApp group.

For those unfamiliar with it, the game consists of a 6 by 5 grid of boxes and the idea is to guess the daily word within 6 goes. Each go you are told whether you have a correct letter in the correct place (green) or in the wrong place (yellow).

I managed to get a run of 60 correct daily guesses it grew complacent and missed out a couple of weeks ago so have had to start from scratch. 

When the New York Times bought the game from its English inventor the main concern was American spellings. This has by and large not been a problem. However, given how long it has been going, a bigger issue may be hat they will run out of 5 letter words!