One year on

It was a year ago this week that I first got the phone call asking if I would be interested in being put forward for "a great role in the Middle East". I can vividly remember discussing it with Jo and deciding to find out more just for the hell of it. One thing lead to another, and twelve months later here we are, fast approaching the end of our first six months, enjoying our new lives immensely and relishing the challenges and opportunities at work. Life certainly takes unexpected turns on occasion.

It's half term already in the UAE, 2014 is flying past. The kids only get a couple of days off but we are taking the opportunity to explore a bit more of the country having had a fairly quiet January from that point of view. Tomorrow we are heading off to Fujairah for a couple of nights in a hotel. Fujairah is one of the other Emirates which make up the UAE, and the only one with a coastline solely on the Gulf of Oman, and none on the Persian Gulf. More about that when we return.

Flossie was "Star of the Week" last week

Since I last updated you it has been Jo's birthday, the celebrations of which she managed to stretch out for five days, starting with Friday Brunch at the Ritz Carlton Hotel and finishing with ladies night at the same hotel yesterday. I think I can safely say that she has enjoyed herself greatly.

Brunch with friends at the Ritz Carlton

We've also had another sports day for all three children, and Archie has had his swimming gala, finishing second in a couple of races. He also spent his first night away from Jo and I when he hasn't been at his grandma's, when his class had an "Aussie Sleepover" at school. He was very excited in the run up to it, and had a great time, although a week later and he still doesn't seem to have caught up with his sleep.

Sporting activities

Other than the above, the Candy Crush addiction continues, although I've now been stuck on the same level for a few days so maybe this is where I go cold turkey. I did drag myself away briefly to try the Flappy Bird craze but soon gave up in frustration, thank goodness that has now been withdrawn by its creator!

Hope all is well with you wherever you are, and that those of you back in the UK are coping with the wind and the floods.

Thanks for reading as always.

 

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"Daddy, wearing goggles would probably be a good idea in future"

Two weeks after moving into our villa we are still waiting for our broadband to be connected, and it could be days or weeks before this happens so today I decided to invest in a "dongle". I've spent a happy couple of hours playing with my "dongle" to get it working at peak performance, and am now happy to announce that the blog is back (although the calls for its return have not exactly been deafening I have to say!).

Obviously a huge amount has happened in the last couple of weeks. I'll return to all of that over the next few posts, but I should probably spend this post dealing with my "little" accident this week.

I wish I could say someone else was to blame. I wish people would believe me when I say that I knew exactly what I was doing and all I wanted to do was test out the UAE healthcare system. However the simple fact is I was completely stupid.

The background is that Archie has been learning the front crawl in his swimming lessons at his new school. He was keen to show me how he was getting on, so last Tuesday after tea we headed over to the pool for him to do just that.

I was impressed with how well he was doing, and then Flossie insisted on showing me her technique too, which was almost as impressive. Archie then asked if I can do the front crawl. I was honest enough to admit it has never been my strongest stroke, but said I would have a go.

Did I bother putting goggles on? No. Did I decide to swim the length of the pool rather than the width? No again. Did I decide to go slowly given that the pool isn't huge? Another no. Did I stop before hitting the side of the pool head on? Absolutely no. I smashed straight into the wall, and straightaway knew that I had done myself some serious damage.

The next hour or two is a blur. Suffice to say the staff at the gym were fantastic, as were the ambulance men, and the doctors and nurses at the hospital. Jo was wonderful, as was Henry who was left at home looking after Archie and Flossie with the help of a friend Jo has made over here. Archie and Flossie were understandably upset to begin with, after all they were on their own with me at the pool, and there was a lot of blood. But they soon calmed down and spent the evening making "get well soon" posters for me.

Ouch

It was fairly quickly established that despite the amount of blood, and the very odd shape my head had gone, there was no internal damage, nor was the skull fractured. A CT scan confirmed this, and three hours later, plus six stitches in the cut, I was back at home.

The good thing about the incident (!?) is that it has brought our newly developing community together. We were touched by the numbers of offers of help on the night, and the well wishes the following day. That is good, but maybe I could have found a less dramatic way to break the ice!

As I think about the incident again, I do recall being pleased when, as we rushed to hospital, the paramedic peered over my rather large tummy to check something and offered the opinion that I must be an athlete as my heart rate was so good. I'm sure that happened, but then again I was a little delirious...

Flossie summed up nicely how stupid I had been, by announcing on Wednesday evening that she had been thinking about what happened and had decided that it would probably be a good idea for me to wear goggles when swimming underwater in future. Simple idea but absolutely spot on.

The stitches are in there somewhere

Apologies to family and friends back home who I gave a fright to, but rest assured all is well now, and I promise to get those goggles before I dare go near the pool again.

As always, thanks for reading, it's good to be back!

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