Another short interlude

 A classic Dubai day with a (corporate) visit to the golf at the Earth Course at JGE. Back in the day when my Father was visiting Dubai, we would spend  the afternoon at the 9th tee watching the acclaimed golfers of the day parade past, basking in the glorious winter sunshine.

Despite various pressing work related challenges (including trying to conduct a recruitment interview in the taxi on the way to the course), it was a very pleasant day although sadly I did not see a huge amount of golf but did manage to catch up with various old friends and colleagues.

I also managed to have a chat with the Nottm Forest manager football club who (I assume) was having a break from the rigours of the Premiership so all in all an entertaining day.

A short post

 Work event tonight which involved standing in a large hall listening to various amateur bands belting out (mostly) heavy rock/rap classics (or so I assume as none of the were particularly familiar to me).

Not really my sort of thing but went along to support colleagues who were participating and proceeds were going to charity. In fact had a pretty good time and the band from work were very good - definitely showed a lot of bravery in getting up on stage in front of 500 + people and fingers crossed that they impress the judges!

Summer Round Up - the Road to Killarney (decided to change the title system…)

 We bid the Old Medical Hall a fond farewell and headed off to Killarney via Tim Healy pass stopping off at Uncle K and then Mary - Etna’s in Adrigole (where we caught up with various  members of the US side of the family). 

ME was in excellent form regaling us with stories of her 28 day cycle tour of Belgium and France in the late 1950s and her months long trip around the US in the back of a Buick with nothing more than a small calibre Derringer (kept under her pillow) for protection!

We then headed off to Killarney with a stop off for lunch at a small harbour just over the Cork/Kerry border and a nose around Kenmare and its markets before parking up in Killarney and depositing around 3 weeks worth of washing at the launderette at the top of town.

After picking up some provisions in Dunnes, we made our way back through town towards Muckross and joined K.and A and the rest of the clan at K’s house before tucking into a Chinese takeaway for Tea. After the excitement of the last couple of days, it was a relief to put our feet up and relax!

Summer Round Up (Part 6)

 Our last full day in Castletownbere heralded our traditional trip to Bere Ireland - the ancestral home of the Irish side of my family and where the semi-derelict farmhouse where my Mother and her brothers (including Uncle K) and Sister used to live before they all moved (along with my Grandparents) still - just about - stands with its amazing views across Bantry Bay towards Hungry Hill on the mainland.

As usual boarding the ferry over to the Island was an exciting affair. - particularly in the huge Volvo that we were driving which required much gunning of the engine to make it  - in reverse - up the steep ramp from the landing stage on to the ferry (and then a more delicate touch to manoeuvre the car into the tiny gap between two other cars (including K’s car) already parked on either side of the deck). 

Whilst I successfully navigated this stage of the process through judicious use of the rear view mirror and trying as best I could to follow the shouted directions of the ferry captain, there was no room to open the door to join the rest of the family in the boat’s seating area (they had wisely decided to admire the spectacle from outside the car) so I had a ringside view as the two cars earmarked for the remaining spaces at the front of  the deck  came up the ramp. 

The first car was driven by D.who carefully manoeuvred his car into the tiny gap in front of the right hand side of my car. 

The other car clearly decided that extra power was going to be needed to get up the ramp and so I was very well placed (I would probably say too well placed) to see it suddenly hurtling up the ramp at top speed towards me with much roaring both from its engine and from the ferry captain who sensed - rather belatedly in my view- that the driver had perhaps over-estimated the power required to board his vessel. 

It crested the  top of the entrance ramp at a rate of knots, barely missing D’s car by a matter of inches, and screeched to a stop in response to the Captain’s admonishments a hair’s breadth from my front bumper.

Fortunately the rest of the visit was somewhat less traumatic although disappointingly the former School and now Heritage Centre was closed. 

We were able to have a tour around the Island including into Rerrin where we spent a pleasant 1/2 hour skimming stones and buying Bere Island themed warm weather gear from the village shop before a visit to the fort and then a stop off at the Hotel at the top of the Island for a quick snack before a photo opportunity by the old house and then catching the 2:30pm ferry back to the Mainland.

After stopping off for some lunch at the Buddhist centre (they have now finished the Temple - will try to post some pictures below) and admiring the beautiful views, we drove around the peninsular to Allihies beach where we were able to take full advantage of the sunshine for a walk  amongst the crashing surf.

We were back in CTB in time for Dinner (again at Murphy’s after the success of yesterday’s meal) before a visit to Twomeys bar and then  a valedictory pint in the snug of MacCarthy’s Bar (very much quieter than last night) before heading home at a halfway reasonable time (ie just before Midnight!).

Summer Round Up (Part 5)

 The main regatta day in CTB on the Monday bank holiday started bright and breezy and A. and I joined D. and C for a round of golf at the Berehaven Golf Club (a very reasonable 25 Euros a person). 

Uncle K (who had joined us for our last round at this course during our visit two years ago) kindly lent A and I some clubs which we were told were at the back of his garage - in fact we managed to locate some extremely old, but perfectly serviceable (if a little rusty) sets in a dark corner at the back (as opposed the rather newer set that I had completely failed to spot closer to the front of the garage which I think were intended for us).

By the time we got to the course the wind was still strong but the skies were becoming clearer and, as with our last visit, by the time we were half way round, the views over to Bere Island and towards Hungry Hill were beautiful. Less beautiful was my golfing performance although fortunately A was in good form and the 15 year old C showed us how it should be done.

Once we completed our round, we headed back to CTB and stopped off at Lynch’s On the Pier for Seafood Chowder and enjoyed the regatta festivities (although sadly missed the greasy pool climb and the pillow fight).The place was jumping with people enjoying the sunshine and we bumped into Uncle K and the rest of the family enjoying a quick pint outside of MacCarthy’s while waiting to get Dinner at Breen’s. 

Our own Dinner was at Murphy’s in the overflow tent pitched in the harbour car park so great views across the water and fabulous seafood (including crab for me) on the menu. 

We all ended up at MacCarthy’s Bar for a pint of Murphy’s where we joined by the rest of the clan (including Uncle K who found a convenient perch on the snug next to the band) and we were regaled by much music and dance through the rest of the evening (given how packed the place was it was quite extraordinary how the band could find room to play their instruments -  and for people to dance - clearly they have had plenty of practice of performing in confined spaces!). A terrific evening and another finish after midnight.

Summer Round Up (Part 4)

 Continuing our Summer holiday escapades, and having exhausted all the Adrigole GAA  festivities had to offer, we headed to Castletownbere to check in to our B&B - the Old Medical Hall which was conveniently situated on the road out of CTB heading up to Uncle K’s place. 

The lady running it was also a cake-maker and so our stay was punctuated by the smells of freshly baked cakes  - not great for the diet (particularly when she provided us with some free samples) but really added to the ambience!

After arriving at CTB, we headed up to K & T’s place for the traditional pre-regatta BBQ. They had a full house of the London cousins  and families including R and D with their (now adult) children (A, E and L and various girlfriends and boyfriends), L and D with kids, K, A, D and C with kids, and the unexpected presence of S and H. Together with various friends from CTB and our family there was just about enough room around the huge table laid out in front of the house. 

As ever it was a lovely afternoon and although the afternoon sun disappeared as the day wore on we were able to stay outside until the drizzle started in the early evening by which stay everyone was nicely warmed up for a visit to MacCarthy’s bar in Town.

A and I left E and V in the B&B to recover from the trip (Ona. Promise that we would bring them back some crepes -  a speciality of CTB in the Summer) and by the time we arrived at MacCarthy’s it was jam-packed (unsurprising for a Regatta evening). 

We had a whale of a time including much singing and dancing with R& K and their family along with the rest of the gang and copious amounts of Murphy’s! We rolled back in to the B&B (with the crepes) shortly after 12pm.

Summer Round Up (Part 3)

 After our adventures in Paris, next stop was Ireland. As noted in previous blogs, we head over to Cork/Killarney every couple of years and part of the attraction of  the Rhone cruise was that it allowed us to end up in Paris was the ease of getting from their to Cork.

Our usual stopping off point in Cork (the International Airport Hotel) was not allowing any bookings (even back in April when we started looking) so we were trying out a new destination - the Maryborough Hotel just on the outskirts of Cork City. We arrived in the afternoon in the middle of a wedding but were shown to our rooms despite the smartly dressed hordes around us. We were greeted by sparkling wine and a great views of the woods and manicured lawns that surround the hotel - very pleasant and we had a lovely walk around the grounds before an excellent Dinner in the evening.

The next morning we went back to the airport to pick up the hire car - an upgrade to an enormous Volvo (CX90) was very welcome and 1.5 hours later we were parking up at Adrigole GAA for the sheep and duck racing. 

As with our last visit the weather was kind - maybe not quite the blazing sunshine of 2023 - but certainly very pleasant and Hungry Hill a picture in the distance. 

We met up with the Irish cousins (Adrigole branch) who were manning the food stalls and generally soaking up the atmosphere and K, A, C, and D (plus kids) joined us just in time for the sheep racing. 

Despite cheering our selection on, unfortunately we came away empty handed in terms of our selection but fortunately V and A demonstrated more determination than the sheep in persevering with the huge queues for  the ice creams so we were able to cool down before heading off to Castletownbere for the next stage of  the afternoon entertainment- the annual BBQ at Uncle Ks.

Summer Roundup (Part 2)

 After departing our boat in Lyon, we boarded a TGV to Paris for a visit to one of my favourite cities. When we lived in London, E and I used to hop on the Eurostar to get our fix of Parisian life. That is more difficult from Dubai but we have been reasonably frequent visitors over the last few years usually staying at the Novotel at Les Halles. 

The hotel is very well situated for Central Paris and the main museums and art galleries. This year we arrived just after the conclusion of the Tour de France (we just missed the Mount Ventoux stage in an earlier part of the tour - will have to get my timing better next time!). 

We were in Paris for 3 nights and took full advantage of the nearby restaurants for our evening meal (including a return visit to Le Chien Fumer, a lovely meal at Au Terminua du Chatelet and some snails at L’Escargot Montorgueil - all within about 5 - 10 minutes walk of the Hotel).

In addition to indulging our love of French cuisine, we also managed a tour of the newly reopened Notre Dame and our traditional visit to the Musée d’Orsay and I also managed a visit to the Musée Carnavalet which again was very close by. Next stop Ireland!

Summer Roundup (Part 1)

Keeping with the theme of my travels outside of Dubai, this Summer proved to be particularly active both travel-wise and work-wise. 

Just before the holiday season I headed to Seoul for my regular trip to see various clients. This was somewhat closer to the Summer period than visits in previous years so was certainly hotter than normal although by contrast with the blazing heat of Dubai it was actually quite pleasant. 

I then embarked on a three week trial before immediately heading off to Nice to catch up with the family.

 This was our first stay in Nice (although we had previously past through it on the way to Marseille to watch England play Argentina in the Rugby World Cup) and it had direct flights from both London and Dubai so was a convenient starting point for our trip around France. 

We spent three nights sampling the cultural and culinary delights of central Nice before travelling across to Arles via Aix en Provence (where we visited the excellent  Cezanne exhibition). 

As with last year, we had decided to take a river cruise - this time up the Rhone from Arles to Lyon through Provence stopping at various historic towns along the way as well having a painting lesson in the “style” of Van Gogh in Arles (not sure I was particularly successful in mimicking his style although the rest of the family fared a lot better).

Particular highlights of the cruise included the Camargue and Avignon as well as the town of Viviers in the Ardeche before disembarking in Lyon. Similar to last year, we lowered the average age of the passengers by a significant number of years (or at least the kids did) but we had a terrific time exploring the Provençal countryside. Next stop Paris.

Night Boat to Cairo

 ….and speaking of returns to places I visited many years previously (as I was in the previous post), another recent trip (this time for a work event in October) was to Cairo where I was speaking at a conference. 

My previous visit was on the occasion of my 30th birthday during a period when I had embarked on quest to visit as many of the sites of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World as I could access. Whilst I did not manage to visit them all those I did included the remains of the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus (not a huge amount to see) and the site of Mausoleum at Halicarnassus (Bodrum) both of which were in  Turkey. However, my favourite (and the only one still standing) was the Great Pyramid at Giza just outside of Cairo which we visited during a holiday to Cyprus by taking a cruise to Egypt. 

I do not recall much about that trip other than a epic camel ride up to the Pyramid which provided a great view point demonstrating its impressive size (although the tunnel to its centre was  somewhat claustrophobic and E took some persuading to accompany me).

My visit this time took me through the teeming centre of Cairo. The Government  is building a new administrative capital outside the urban area to try to relive some of the pressure on space but for the time being the highways and byways of the city is a chaotic combination of honking cars and insouciant pedestrians who somehow coexist in the same space without an almost suicidal disregard for each other.

The venue for the conference was next to the Nile which although nearly as crowded as the roads was relatively calm and provided an impressive backdrop to our evening dinner. Whilst I did not manage to get to the Pyramids on this trip, it was a very enjoyable reminder of some of the cultural delights within Etsy access of Dubai.

Is it that time of year again?

 In fact, not only is that time of year where tradition has it that I will blog a post per day, but in fact I am 4 days late to the party having missed the usual kick off on the first of the month. It did not occur to me until today that I had neglected the start date mainly I suspect because I was off on my travels again although not for work but much more importantly to celebrate a major wedding anniversary. 

E. and I met up in Venice for a few days although the actual anniversary was a few weeks ago. This was my second trip, my first coming many moons ago during a youthful inter-railing trip with my mate J. We had travelled through Holland, Germany, and Austria with an extremely optimistic accommodation  budget of GBP15 per day with the  intention that when we arrived in the supposedly cheaper countries of Italy and Greece we could find somewhere suitable for GBP10 per day.

Even staying in the Lido on the mainland, this proved to be a challenge in Venice and despite staying in the cheapest campsite we could find, we were significantly eating into our financial resources.

We were also absolutely hopeless at putting up our tent (it had been borrowed from someone who had neglected to include the instructions so we had a assumed that the rods used to provide the frame of the tent needed to be hammered into the ground - this proved virtually impossible as the sun hardened earth was like concrete and the rods were quite thick so even with pouring our precious supplies of mineral water to soften the earth,  our efforts to create a stable structure were to  little avail and our 2 man tent had an alarming sag in the middle) and tempers were getting frayed when I spotted an identical model to our tent close by. 

That tent, however,  was around twice the capacity of ours due, it transpired when I asked the owner to give us some pointers, to the fact that the rods were supposed to be inserted in the material around the edge of the canvas to give it its shape (rather than being planted in to the ground) and the actual tethering of the tent was by hammering the tent pegs into the ground and tightening the chords. Genius. This transformed our tenting experience.

Nevertheless the cost of the campsite was significantly higher than our budget allowed which left roughly enough to take a vaporetto to St Mark’s square but not enough money to actually go into St Mark’s Basilica and the Doge’s Palace next door. This explained why St Mark’s square looked reasonably familiar but that the extraordinarily beautiful interior of the Church (and the treasures of the Doge’s Palace) rang no bells at all for me - a WhatsApp to J confirming that its was not simply poor memory on my part but a desire to eat last time we were in town that caused us to miss this visual treat.

E. and I more that made up for that this trip and our high step count over the 3 days we were there was testament to our vast intake of cultural delights - we also managed a trip to the Galleries d’Academicia and the Peggy Guggenheim Museum as well as the Opera - a terrific trip and I hope a good enough reason for delaying my participation on the blog per day challenge until today.

2024 Round up

After a frankly quite challenging 2023 which involved the loss of my Father and Father in law, 2024 was a chance to re-charge batteries although it also signalled some fairly major changes in life-style most notably V’s successful navigating her A levels and heading off to the UK to University and E moving back to the England as well to see more of her Mother and to help E to settle in. A also switched courses to doing an MSc, so all change!

In consequence, after the big Summer holiday recounted in earlier posts, I returned to Dubai on my own and - apart from a trip to Amsterdam for work where E and I managed to catch up in November and a trip back for the Christmas holidays spent in Bristol and Kent - it has mainly been about work for the last part of the year with some cycling thrown in for good measure (mainly the Spinneys build up rides and my weekly visits to the Mountain Bike trails at Mushrif Park).

The Summer holiday was obviously a major highlight although the lead up was quite stressful as I tried to plan for being away from the Office for a couple of months - re-allocating cases and reassuring clients that I was contactable if necessary. If that was not sufficient to raise my blood pressure then deciding that given the forthcoming reduction in numbers at home (and the escalating rentals in Dubai generally), we would also move to smaller premises also lent a certain frisson of excitement  to the Summer plans.

It is fair to say that our initial foray into the property market was not very successful (mainly I suspect due to my somewhat unrealistic budget and dabbling with moving back towards the seaside) - the contrast between our last move (some 7 years ago - where we relocated from near to the beach to the desert close to the kids school) could not have been more pronounced - pre-Pandemic there was no shortage of larger individual villas at relatively reasonable rentals whereas now there were plenty of new but very small places with no gardens and eye-watering prices.

In the end, we found somewhere relatively close by to our old place (actually closer to the the kids old school and near to where some friend’s of ours live)  - still expensive but a reasonable size (although as it turned out not sufficiently large to fit in our various possessions even after some downsizing) and in a nice quiet area.

Work wise - and apart from the challenges of reorganising my caseload due to the sabbatical - it has been very busy with expansion across the Middle East - including after much to-ing and fro-ing with the powers that be - into KSA and the first part of the year included a couple of trips to Saudi and my first trip back to Hong Kong for nearly 10 years (which also took in a trip to Beijing). 

The HK leg of the trip was particularly memorable as it coincided with a typhoon which certainly brought back some (dampish) memories of our 6 years there! Not a huge amount seems to have changed in the interim in terms of people although politically it is a very different place than the one I left in 2009.

I also managed a work trip back to London for the first time since the pandemic ended and was able to combine that with a trip to Kent so the Summer period was particularly busy with A levels for V. and moving/sabbatical planning.

In addition to doing her A levels and planning a move to the UK, V turned 18 -  a birthday that coincided with our River Cruise which I think pleased her - normally the timing means we are en route either to or from holiday destinations so at least part of her birthday (as she has continually reminded me over the years) has been spent in the air - the fact (as I remind her) that she usually gets to spend her birthday in two countries does not seem to be of great consolation to her). The added advantage of a birthday on the Cruise was that the staff made a huge fuss (V being by some distance the youngest person on the boat) so her 18th was greeted with cakes and song. 

Relocating to UK and living among students was I think something of a culture shock for V which has taken a little while to get used to. However, she seems to have made lots of friends and is enjoying her course (after much debate and applications to various different courses including Liberal Arts and Linguistics she has embarked on a Fine Art degree) and she also found time to take no less than three roles in the end of term Shakespeare Society production which we all thoroughly enjoyed when we picked her up for the Christmas holidays.

Having decided to switch to an integrated Masters degree, A has also been hard at it this term although fortunately he is studying very close to V so we were able to bring them both back to Kent at the same time for the first part of the Christmas holidays.

A seems to be contemplating a PhD once he finishes his MSc so we shall see where that takes him.

That pretty much brings us up to date - prior to us all heading to Bristol for Christmas with E’s Mother and then  back to Dubai for the New Years,  E and I managed to have a day in London with A whilst we were back in Kent  - in the afternoon we saw the “Monet and the Thames” exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery in Somerset House before we headed down to the O2 Arena to see Paul McCartney -  another very sprightly Octogenarian (there seems to be a theme this year for the live acts I have seen ….) - who absolutely smashed it out of the park in front of 20,000 fans. 

It was my first time seeing him live and although his voice did struggle a little on the higher notes he was absolutely captivating. I have always been a massive Beatles fan and he did not disappoint with a wide selection of old favourites as well as some of his better known Wings tracks including a spectacular rendition of Live and Let Die during which the below pictures were taken.

Summer Tour London to Dubai

 The last leg of our long Summer break involved a visit to London to the Van Gogh “Poets and Lovers” Exhibition at the National Gallery (a chance to see some of the companion pieces to the works we had seen in US and Japan); a few days in Kent including some golf at Leeds Castle and then a trip down to Bristol to catch up with E and V (via Guildford to see Micheal Palin in his “There and Back” tour  publicising his latest book of Diary entries) before heading back to Dubai. 

Considering that he is 82, MP is remarkably spry (although the picture below does not really do him justice) and it was a very entertaining evening. As noted elsewhere on this blog, it was he who inspired me to keep my own daily Journal starting in 2021 (he started in 1969…) which has provided a degree of competition/battle for content with this Weblog but which has provided a valuable reference point for the main topic for this year’s November post a day (now extended in January…).

By way of comparison I also went to see Joanne Lumley performing a similar type of retrospective travel/film/book show when I arrived back in Dubai. Although only a few years younger than MP, JL was similarly lively and engaging and whilst very different personalities, their career trajectories and themes (TV/film/Travel shows) are very similar and of course both now have the status of national treasures.

Probably quite fitting to end the big Summer tour watching two doyennes of the TV travel show genre recounting their memories. Whilst our own trip did not exactly follow the original plan (and hopefully V and E will have a chance to visit Japan again at some point) it was lovely to be able to spend some time with all the family on the river cruise early in the Summer and to have a chance to see so much of A in Japan and the US. 

My last “World tour” with E in 1999 involved a journey in the other direction - starting in Brazil and taking in Ecuador, Peru, Chile and Argentina in South America before heading to New Zealand and Australia and returning to UK via Singapore. This trip was probably less ambitious but just as fun and I cannot wait to do it again!

Summer Tour - New York to London

Our last day in the US was spent ticking off the last couple of sights to see including a trip up the Empire State Building which once again allowed Manhattan to show off it’s photogenic best in the late Summer sunshine.

We were also able to spend a bit of time in some of the less touristy NY attractions including the Horological Society offices (A is big into his watches) which happened to be across the way from our hotel and was located on the third floor of a much more traditional  high rise including  a lift with a metal grate door and less high tech staircase than the ESB.

Also on the same road as our hotel was the Algonquin Hotel - a favoured watering hole for the likes of Dorothy Parker and other luminaries of the NY literary smartset during Prohibition-era America. A and I there enjoyed a couple of cocktails (which NY bar-tenders do very well although at remarkable expense) and a burger amongst the wise-cracking ghosts (as well as taking in some of the feedback from the recent Trump/Harris TV debate) before completing our packing for the trip to London.

I really enjoyed New York despite myself. It was definitely noisy (and had a distinctly “grassy” smell) but undoubtedly had a buzz about it and the Museums and art galleries were definitely on a par with London and Paris - we had managed a quick look around NY’s MOMA on our last afternoon and saw some excellent Dali, Picasso and Mondrian (the latter appeared to have been very much taken to the hearts of New Yorkers during his brief sojourn here during World War 2). Would very much like to return.

Summer Tour - New York Part 3

Coming rapidly to the end of the North American part of our tour, A and I took full advantage of the touristic opportunities that NY offers including a day exploring Hudson Bay, Liberty Island and Ellis Island courtesy of the Statue City cruises.

Having wrestled with the myriad offers of tours around the Statue of Liberty from various providers, we ended up catching our ferry from Battery Park on Manhattan Island on another beautiful summer’s day. 

Despite the airport style security check we were able to board our 11:15am sailing without a hitch and spent a glorious couple of hours sailing across Hudson Bay firstly to Liberty Island where we walked up to Liberty’s crown and explored the two museums telling the story of the fund-raising and construction of the Statue in France before transportation to New York in 1886; and then on to Ellis Island where the Immigration centre had been sympathetically restored and the Audio tour/Ranger tour (which we managed to tag on to) gave a fascinating (and quite moving) insight into the history of America’s role in providing opportunities for a new life for European, Middle Eastern and Asian settlors.

The views towards the shores of the Hudson River towards New York City and to New Jersey were striking and A and I then enjoyed a brisk walk back from Battery Park, via Wall Street to Brooklyn Bridge before catching the subway to Grand Central Station - very much a cathedral among train stations as the below photo shows.

Having braved the Subway once, we then took it again in the evening heading to the Yankees Stadium in the Bronx for the game against the Boston Red Sox. It was our first baseball game and whilst I cannot pretend to be very clear about the rules, the game ended very satisfactorily in victory for the NY Yankees  - terrific atmosphere and an interesting insight into US sporting culture.