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.
