Friday 13th Strikes Again

Some of you will know, from other means, that Friday 13^th struck with a vengeance and I lost a filling during dinner.  It doesn’t hurt……more of a nag, but enough for me to think that I’m going to have to find a dentist, in the middle of this little town in the desert, tomorrow, before it does hurt !

Friday had gone relatively well up to that point, well, apart from the hangover that is…….It just sort of crept up on me…….honest.  I didn’t realise I’d drunk that much….even if it was 10 to 4 when I went to bed….

Anyway, instead of getting up and going for a bike ride first thing in the morning before it got to hot (largely because by the time I could actually face opening the curtains – it was already too hot !  So cycling was postponed until the evening.  This meant that I had to find something to do as I’m now exercising twice a day at least 3 days a week (and I’m going to Dubai later this week so there is a very small…..chance that I might not get as much exercise that weekend as I do some other weekends (if you get my drift….).  So I went and subjected my rather fragile body to circuit training.  I survived that reasonably well and spent the afternoon with my feet up before going for a 20k bike ride down and around the camel track………

with my friend Nigel.  Nigel returned the favour today by booking afternoon tea…..

at the worlds most expensively built hotel……

$3b ! (that’s $3,000,000,000………..).  It’s a bit mental inside, and although I’d say to anyone that you must have tea there and have a look around, I wouldn’t rush back.  Tea was great, the service was great, the place is great (and I mean huge as well as every thing else) but it’s all sort of un-necessary in my opinion.

You’d feel frightened to take your kids with you…….

(the woman playing the harp at tea would probably be very grateful…….)

It was all very nice but I think I’ve been designed to expect something slightly less gold……..

It’s a short one tonight because it just is, and the inventory for the last couple of days is quite interesting –

Gym – loads

Alcohol – loads

Money – loads (AED240 for tea and 70 for two bottles of wine on the way home – just in case I need on for medicinal purposes you understand….)

Food – loads

Cigars – bugger all !  We are now into my third week without any and I’ve sailed through the first big test, which was getting drunk in the company of smokers, and especially cigar smokers (foul, disgusting, smelly habit !).  I’ve managed to track down an explanation of why I’m putting myself through all this – I want to take up smoking !  It’s very simple, I want to be able to have a nice fat cigar every now and again and I can’t do that until I’ve properly given up………I know what I mean anyway, and that’s all that counts !

Right, I’m taking my battered and rather sickly body to bed (it was, after all is said and done, an eat as much as you like tea…….so we felt sort of obliged to keep ordering extra sandwiches…….well, it’d be rude not too !)