anyresemblance

Something nasty in the woodshed

You know when things are mostly going well but there are some dark shadows which keep flitting by?  That's what my dreams are like at the moment, those dreams in the moments between my daughter leaving the house super early and me waking again.  Some are ok but lots are anxiety dreams.  Or when I woke at 2am this morning and thought "this time yesterday those men were still alive in Indonesia".  I have found the whole thing unbearably sad (and yes, I know, there are dozens being executed in Saudi and the US).

We're sad about our cat.  My youngest daughter most because she is away from home and Marzipan was her cat and she had owned her since she was nearly 4.  She was most sad we did not have her body so we talked about holding a little memorial for her, next to where the old grey one is buried beneath the fig tree when she next comes home.  I'm sorry we never got to say goodbye but so relieved to know for sure she is not coming home.

I got a whatsapp from my boss at 5.30am this morning.  He has just discovered it and was using me as his guinea pig.  I was trying to explain its appeal "it's free and no-one can subpoena your text records, very popular with IS".  I'm not sure that's what he was looking for but he's a game soul and was grateful for the tutorial.  We spent a few days together in Dubai.  My session in Dubai was a wild success and I am basking in the reflected glory for a few days.  It will pass as our work is so fast paced it's immediately on to the next thing but I was happy with how things went.  The things that were not in my control were ordinary but the things I was responsible for were super good.  We had teams from all over Africa, Middle East and Turkey and lots of different perspectives so all good.  

I'm heading to Vegas and Madrid soon but right now I am grateful to be home with kid and dog. 

 

Marzipan

Our little old lady cat is missing.  She'll be 16 this year and apart from her increasing bad temper and thin frame, has not been showing any signs of ill health.  I miss her yapping (I think she has burmese in her she is so talkative) and her insistence of lying on the most inconvenient part of my body.  We've searched the bushes and sheds and nooks around the house.  I've dropped notices in every neighbouring street's letterboxes.  We've registered her with the RSPCA and the local lost pet database on Facebook.  No sign.  And it's so cold at night.  A friend suggested she may just have moved.  She's so very skinny maybe someone thinks she is a stray.  If so, I hope they know she only likes to eat chicken and broccoli and cheese.

Update: someone called the vet this morning to report they had found her on Friday morning, hit by a car, further down our street.  At least we know what happened to her.  The youngest has had her since she was 4 years old and is devastated.  Sigh.  Hard to let go of the pets we love.

Diversity

I'm the last day of the mega event I've been running here in Dubai and I am ready for the end of the day and heading home.   I am staying in the lap of luxury, the food is amazing, the teams are lovely but just ready to be home.

I've been loving the diversity of clothing.  In defence of my colleagues' privacy I won't be posting the creep shots but the girl on the Saudi team had this amazing embroidery of autumn leaves around the edge of her hijab and a Nigerian man wearing what I hear is called a aso ole hat  Even though it is 40 C outside, I am wearing opaque tights and a cardigan as the air conditioning is positively arctic.

From the top

Being awake at 4.30am is perfectly fine if you've had 7 hours uninterrupted sleep before it.  Take it from me, sleep is the single most restorative thing to health.  I took a night time sudofed and slathered my pulse points in This Works Breathe In. (Imagine my disappointment in booking in to the Crowne Plaza a couple of weeks ago to discover the This Works pillow pack was no longer being offered and instead a boring old chocolate was in its place) and hit the pillow.  

This time round I am staying at the Marriot Marquis.  It is large and busy but the room is gigantic.  I have a sectional sofa, a king size bed, a walk in wardrobe, a free standing bath and rain shower and a sea view from the 64th floor.  I can see the sand banks out at sea and building everywhere (imagine, 20% of the world's cranes are in Dubai).

I did an obligatory tour of the Dubai mall (easy way to get your 10,000 steps in), checked out Sepphora as I forgot my cleanser.  Of course, no where has Liz Earle so I had to settle for something infinitely less superior.  I bought a couple of things in H&M - good selection of khaki among the rubbish, rolled my eyes at M&S's terrible merchandising.  I just don't get what all those sub-brands are  but I am still hopeful of that suede skirt appearing on line.  I bought a slip there (also forgotten) but it seemed super expensive so I am thinking of returning it.  

 

On the wagon

Yes, I fell off.  In my minimal defence, three weeks of gruelling travel will do that to you.  It's still going on and I am weak with tiredness but I am trying to keep awake for another couple of hours so blogging is the answer.

I'm back in Dubai.  It's hot and dusty and I have a head cold.  I'm reading dire warnings on the nasal spray packaging and realising I have to go cold turkey with that, too.  Damn it, aren't there any miracle cures?

I watched two amazing films on the plane (as well as the rest of season 4 of GoT.  Take it from me, no need to start from season 1 if you have ever read a newspaper or listened to 30 years of the Archers, you can easily get the gist - dragons, wolfie things, betrayed love, incest, greed, betrayals). 

The first was Dior and I.  I loved this insight into the back room world of couture and was totally entranced by the creative process.  I loved the atelier head looking at the beautiful flowers sent to her by Raf Simons but sniffily commenting they were undoubtedly really chosen by his side kick Pieter.  Anyway, A+ and I would easily watch it all again.  Raf Simons comes over as modest, thoughtful, and a tailoring genius.

The other one was Clouds of Sils Maria with Juliet Binoche and Kirsten Stewart.  Where to start? First of all, beautiful dialogue, fantastic layers of parallel devices, expositions on maturity and ageing, paparazzi, landscape, the practice of art.  But most of all, a film with women characters at the core.  Delightful. A+

And then there was the west of Scotland and Istanbul. I'll get to those later.

The indolent Turk

Is it possible to take too many photos of ancient mosaic? Clearly not, given the state of the photo stream. Istanbul is stacked with history. And delicious carbs. And the opportunity for power rests in between the leagues ganching making me do.

The North

There's been a lot of driving in the last few days. Yesterday I drove from Scotland to heathrow, visited with another baby and headed to ganching's house. Now we're in Istanbul for our mini adventure.

Tunnocks

Wednesday I flew 7 hours from Dubai to London and drive 7 hours to Scotland. That was just about as pleasant as it sounds. Still I watched 4 episodes of season 2 of The Fall, listened to radio 4 including the archers and drank a lot of water.

My brother has a significant birthday and my siblings are together for the first time since my fathers funeral.

We went to Uddingston yesterday to see more family (Tunnocks factory, 5 million caramel wafers sold every week!) and I got to talk to a very beautiful baby in a beautiful sandstone house.