I had a very relaxing break in Dubai and have even managed to pick up a slight tan on my previously English winter white arms. Remarkably I didn’t do terribly much shopping. I did however manage to visit at least 5 souks and in the course of doing so picked up 7 pashminas. Possibly this is quite a lot for one person however I do have an explanation.
Basically the further into the Souks we got the better the pashminas became, so by the time we reached the 4th Souk the fabrics had become less flimsy and to my untrained eye more cashmere-like. Seven purchases later and I have two black ones, 2 grey, red, purple, silver and turquoise. One will go to a friend as a ‘My mate went to Dubai and all I got was this lousy pashmina’ type gift and three of them will remain with me. The Boyf has taken up some of the slack by claiming two for himself (a grey and a black), he thinks they will be perfect to throw around his shoulders in a ‘manly’ fashion on those chillier summer evenings outside the pub. He is a metrosexual you know.
Other activities included sharing the biggest wedge of one of the best slices of carrot cake I have ever had (twice), eating a lot of hummus and choppy salads, drinking in hotel bars (one on the 44th floor), spending an afternoon at the beach, visiting a shopping mall so vast that it contained a ski slope (with actual snow on it), being woke up at sparrows fart by the kiddies, speaking two year old with the youngest (incomprehensible, but cute), trying not to kiss the Boyf in public (not the done thing in a Muslim country), visiting the site of the new Dubai metro (under construction) and hailing many a cab complete with mad driver.
Oh and on the way the Boyf very kindly sprung for upgrades to Premium Economy on Virgin Atlantic. From the sparkling wine on being seated to the extra legroom, better food and less people – it was all fab.
All in all a relaxing break, a shame then that on arrival back to work I am confronted by many, many emails and the news that a valuable team member has quit….
