Apologies once more

Once again I have to apologise for leaving you hanging for days on end with nothing more to keep you amused than wondering if I’ve been buried under a camel or run over by a sand dune…….. or should that be the other way round…..

Whatever.  The real reasons are two fold.  Firstly, and you may need to make sure that you’re sitting down for this one, I’ve been working…..mostly, and secondly MY FAMILY ARE HERE !  Sorry, didn’t mean to shout, it’s just that I’m jolly happy about it.  I picked them up from Dubai airport at about 1.30am on Wednesday (yesterday) morning and a 3 hour drive through the empty desert roads later, I have them happily bunkered up next to the pool in the Tilal Lima.

It’s lovely to have them here is pretty much all I can say at the moment.  I had a full work day yesterday and then dinner with them so the fun will only truly start later today when I skive off early (it is POETF after all….) and head back for some camels later.

Just to fill you in on the last few days so that you don’t feel that I’ve abandoned you, Monday morning I was up early to go out and see the beginning of the 2^nd Special Stage (350km) of the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge which is essentially another stage of the FIA Endurance Rally Series (The old Paris – Dakar rally is another one).  It generally takes place out in the desert around Liwa which is the next City to Madinat Zayed (50km down the only road)  but they had come North to start this stage which meant they were only 10 mins drive away from the hotel – well you have to make the effort don’t you………..

I do have lots of pictures but they are all on the other computer (I’m writing this at work because I feel more guilty about leaving you waiting than I do about not working……it’s a fine line obviously…..) so you’ll have to wait for another day to see the converted Mini that is leading the Desert Challenge (driven by a 5 times Dakar winner and 8 times winner of the Desert Challenge on 2 and 4 wheels – so I guess you could give him a Robin Reliant and he’d still lead by 14 minutes going into the final day !)

Then if was back to Abu Dhabi for an afternoon meeting which generated 4 days work which I had to have signed off by 4 the next day (I love clearing up other peoples crap !).  Then a long long day on Tuesday which involved 400km of driving (from Abu Dhabi to Dubai and then to Madinat Zayed) and then some more work – there, you’re all up to date.

A big thank you to one of my readers for all the fantastic coffee samples from the largest coffee roaster in the world (details supplied for corporate sales etc.).

I will try and keep the blog thing going whilst everyone is here but please forgive me if there are a few breaks – I’ll make it up to you when they have all gone back I promise………loads of photos of loads of interesting things……..

So until then…………..