Another One Down……

As I sit here in my almost empty office, as the tumbleweed rolls across the floor, having endured an unasked for explanation of ISO 27,001 (something to do with IT Security and nothing to do with me……alright, I know, it’s a bit like Health & Safety, everyone has a duty of care blah blah blah……… but if someone wants to hack into the FM Help Desk and see when someone’s light bulb is going to be replaced then frankly, they’re welcome) I am once again finding it very difficult to remain cheerful. 

Yesterday I said goodbye to three more colleagues, one who is going home and I shall miss for the next few days until I go, one who is going and frankly not a moment too soon, and one who’s going on leave and won’t be back until after I’m gone.  I don’t think I’ll “miss” him (I’ve never really managed to pin down what he actually does……) but I’m curious about his future for reasons that I can’t be bothered to go into here (mostly because they’re not that interesting and would need to be accompanied by a bottle, at least, of wine – it’s just morbid curiosity).

Several of my colleagues are out training (or similar) along with their Arabic support workers, one is at Glastonbury, one or two are “working from Abu Dhabi” – whatever that means, as they’re strangely quiet on a Thursday, it’s difficult to actually put your finger on it.  So, in an office with 24 desks, there are 4 of us braving it out for the sake of the client (who probably isn’t in his office either it has to be said….).

The pool and the hotel beckon…….

I think I’ll finish writing this (which makes it look like I’m doing some work), eat the sandwich I made for myself at breakfast and smuggled out – It’s worth digressing a little to discuss that last statement.  As regular readers will be aware, my favourite tipple at lunchtimes was the good old AED 3 falafel.  After 3 months we went a bit mad and started having chilli sauce on them, in an effort to live life in the fast lane, but eventually even that wasn’t enough and we started to experiment……I have watched people eating fried chicken and mashed potato for lunch……from the local petrol station ffs ! 

Personally I decided that as I’d tried every other way to loose weight and quell an ever present issue concerning a green fog at my end of the office (I think that’s more than enough detail actually) that I thought I’d try something else for lunch – looking around my desert city, and the choice isn’t great, makes you realise that the only real alternative is theft and smuggling !  The downside is that I don’t get to waste half an hour at lunchtime walking to the falafel shop and back.  This also used to help with acclimatising to the heat here, but as I’ve only got 3 and a half working days left here, acclimatisation seems a little irrelevant now.  I think the best way to get acclimatised now, is to go and lie by the pool with a book (which reminds me, I must go and raid the “library” for a new book as I finished the last one yesterday – we have a bookcase in the office that people put their old books into when they’ve finished them, so that others can have the benefit of free reading……Thomas Mann is still there I have to report……Philistines !  Hang on a minute and I’ll see what’s there…….right, Simon Scarrow, Young Bloods – something to do with Wellington and Napoleon……I’ll let you know !).  Now where was I ?

Oh yes, sandwich, pool, book, followed by a trip to the gym for a hard work-out.  Today (Thursday) is generally my day off from physical activity, but I was so knackered by the desert run on Monday and then a monster circuits session on Tuesday, that I had yesterday off instead.  I would have been back in the gym this morning but it wasn’t open again.  I did contemplate a quick half an hour run up to the roundabout and back but strangely I found a complete lack of motivation !  I shall be giving myself a jolly good beasting this evening to make up for it, I can tell you !

So, that’s my day in a nutshell.  If it wasn’t for Jango (the on-line music station) and my blog, I’d have gone around the twist by now.  This evening, after the gym, is almost exclusively reserved for dinner, then onto the terrace with a couple of colleagues for a cigar, brandy, then Skype chat with home and bed………followed by two days of more of the same………then three more days at work, a day at head office, followed by a public holiday and a flight home……did I mention that I’m going home next week……

There was talk of a trip to the Moreeb Dune to take some photos, and a possible trip to Abu Dhabi to visit the shops for something (I can’t remember exactly what), and I may tag along for the change of scenery but in the great scheme of things, I’m coasting to a halt ! 

I will see if I can think of something to write about over the weekend, because you’re worth it……and because it’ll fill in an hour between sleeping, eating, sunbathing and visiting the gym……. I can hear the howls of indignation and the cries of “you don’t know how lucky you are” and I accept that at face value it all sounds wonderful, but after 5 months of it I need a change of scenery, a change of routine, new conversations with new people, and some mundane domestic chores (you couldn’t calculate the amount of mental time I have taken up planning when I will take my last load of dirty clothes to the laundry in order to make sure I have enough clothes to last me, and more importantly, I can get it back before I drive out of this town for the last time – sad isn’t it, when you see a man let himself go like this !)

Right, I have to finish my sudoku and the crossword while I’m eating my lunch.