And so it begins…

It looks like we might be moving back to the UK before too long. So the past week has been filled with preparations. After picking up boxes and bubble wrap so that I could start packing, I procrastinated/completed a different project by spending an entire morning photographing everything and anything non-essential that won’t be coming back with us. Then gradually through the rest of the week, I placed ads for them on our local copy of craigslist – Dubizzle. Actually going through the form filling rigmarole of placing the ads turned out to be much more tiresome than expected, which is why it took me a few nights before they were all up – I decided that once I started submitting ads with only a two word description of the item, it would be time to take a break.

As part of the getting-ready-to-leave movement, I’ve had to get a sprucing kit back together which is bringing back not so distant memories of getting the Glasgow flat ready for hand-off. This time though, Olive oil and my trusty magic eraser sponge have been teamed up with black paint from my art kit instead of the previously trusty but now failing black felt tip marker – originally inspired by Julia Roberts’ black boot sprucing moves in ‘Pretty Woman’.

As you can see in the picture, my sprucing kit has also grown to include the laptop mouse which keeps the the stream of ‘University Challenge’ and ‘Mob Wives’ episodes steady – another essential to any housekeeping endeavour.

The Selling has actually been going surprisingly well. After a quiet first couple of days there’s been a steady stream of enquiries and I’ve surprised both Sam and myself with my newly discovered haggling skills and even managed to make a profit on a couple of items!

This morning

Looking out he window just now, I realised that the cute little pile of sand, dust etc. which I’d swept from the rest of the living-room floor yesterday is no longer there.

I know it’s not because I swept it up both since I remember the hurry I was in yesterday to get to started cutting my pattern and because I can see it’s remnants scattered about the place after no doubt having been tromped through countless times yesterday.

Oops.

                          

Pigeon Little

A Couple of weeks ago we had a little baby pigeon hang out on our balcony for a couple of days before he was fully ready to take on the big bad world. He turned up looking bewildered and fluffy and went on to huddle in a little corner, preen his itchy new feathers and stare intently at my carrot shoots before launching himself into grown up pigeon life.

The poor wee thing didn't seem at all amused with this whole life-outside-of-the-nest thing.

This year so far…

Sam and I finally made use of the buildings’ cinema room and hired it for a viewing of TinTin accompanied by some extremely indulgent Baskin Robins treats. After a bit of the obligatory running back and forth trying to figure out what control did what - and where to point it – we had a really nice evening in what felt like our own little private cinema.

I repaired a top that’s had a hole in it for four years – small victories count too!

I got a ‘hug’ from my phone at a very opportune moment.

We were visited by a giant mystery bird of the night who pooped on our balcony rail. Probably TMI but I had to share – with photographic evidence of course – since it genuinely was like a mammoth poop compared to that of our regular pigeon visitors.

And finally, the two little pansy plants I picked up have been going nuts, taking over their previously far-too-large pot and popping up flowers like there’s no tomorrow!

    

Winter in Dubai

When I started this blog I began but never finished a blog post that talked about some things I had learnt to appreciate about the summer heat here in Dubai. It’s now gotten to the point where we are far too far out of season for such a post but it occurred to me this morning that I might just have reached a point where I have enough to talk about for a matching post covering winter in Dubai.

So here we go.

     

Spending time outside – Sam and I have finally started making use of our roof in the evenings and it has been wonderful. I still feel pretty weird though, sitting under a palm tree and looking out unto a pool while layered up in jumper, socks (a novelty these days) and occasionally a blanket. I had underestimated how good it would feel to spend time outside again beyond the rush from house to car and intent to make full use of the opportunities I have to do so before summer hits again.

Gardening – Carrying on in the spending time outside theme, I’ve started a little container garden on our balcony. This is very much just an experiment, I may bee a bit late to have anything fully grown before summer and I’ve never planted in containers before, but I am looking forward to seeing what I can do. I’ve gone small, very small. There is one container with a couple of rows of carrots and another that was supposed to be for strawberries but is now going to be home to my little herb garden – which I should probably be simply referring to as my rosemary plant just now since the basil dried up during my trip to Scotland. The decision to buy strawberry seeds was made in the shop and one I immediately regretted once home and looking up how to grow strawberries from seed. Nonetheless I’m giving them a little try but don’t have great hopes for their survival. The carrots and strawberries I refer to are currently simply hypothetical since I only planted the seeds yesterday but I can report that my rosemary plant is loving life outside and has already perked up quite a bit.

Cosy-ness – Moving in-doors, I have been thoroughly enjoying not having the icy AC blasting constantly. Opening windows and having a cool breeze flow in! I’d forgotten just how great the entire concept of opening a window and it being colder outside than in could be! The chilly nights have also allowed me to start wearing jumpers, snuggling under a blanket on the couch and just to enjoy wrapping up and being cosy instead of sweating like a little piggy just from daring to do the dishes with no AC.

Imaginary Snow – This last one is a little cheeky since it does involve a fair doze of imagination but it’s nonetheless something I’ve been enjoying since winter arrived and not something I think I’ll be able to do once it’s summer again – or at least it would take a whole lot more imagination. Early mornings when the sun is rising, just before the sky turns pink, there is a sort of grey light. Everything is brighter and it’s clearly not night anymore and yet there’s not enough light yet for everything to have reached it’s full colour potential, the buildings and bushes sort of look like grey-toned versions of themselves. And the sand looks white. Wonderfully, gloriously white! this means that when I get up early enough (which to be honest really doesn’t happen very often), I can look out the kitchen window – bonus points if I can make a cup of tea in time – and admire the vast and sumptuous blankets of ‘snow’. The power of nostalgia never seizes to amaze.

                          

Hello again

It’s been a while hasn’t it?

As you may have noticed, I shut down the blog for a while. Life just got a bit busy and having this blog sitting open, waiting for more posts, was using up headspace when I didn’t have much of it to spare. So I decided to close the blog for a while and now that the dust has settled a bit I’m ready to open it again.

I actually wrote that first paragraph (if it can be called that) and opened up the blog again two weeks ago and have no good reason for not having actually posted anything in that time. I’ve been going through a productive streak and yet somehow never felt inspired to blog. I guess having taken such a long break from thinking about blogging has made it easier to continue not thinking about blogging.

I considered abandoning this page, after all,the biggest reason I started this blog was because I enjoyed writing for it and if I wasn’t enjoying writing for it anymore, there would be no point in making myself carry on. I, however, ended up concluding that just because I was struggling to get properly into the swing of writing regularly, that didn’t need to mean I wasn’t still enjoying the writing when I did it.

And I do indeed still enjoy this, chatting to a blank page, the steady beat of construction keeping me company through the window and being fuelled by the hope of bringing a little piece of entertainment to my dear ones when they read this.

The only thing that could make this morning more blissfully perfect would be a nice cup of something hot (it’s getting chilly out here in the desert) so I am off to delve into the delicate game of jenga which is my tea collection – the kitchen cupboards getting organised into a more user friendly system is unfortunately still on the to-do list – and hope to see you soon, possibly in the new year!