I was fortunate to be able to go home for a whole month over Christmas and it was so good!
Jill and Merv had organised a full festive programme with the highlight being Secret Santa arriving for Christmas lunch at Tala Square Bistro! I had a new camera and experimented with photographs of the changing sky, in between watching all of the series of Boston Legal (a must if you've never watched it before.)
On arriving back in Saudi I got to see the new villa on our brand new compound, it's excellent, there will be photographs later on. It is quite a distance from the city but the good news is that we have to pass herds of CAMELS! Another photo opportunity presents itself.
On the weather front, you will be pleased to know that Riyadh has been very cold this winter and it's RAINING today, can you believe it?
Finally I'm left wondering if anyone will be bothered to read this after all of this time. Well here goes nothing....

Is it like riding a bike? Will I just start typing and the words will come? Scary, will start tomorrow! PROMISE!

Have I finally got news for you. Elizabeth and I have met again for the first time in nine years (or there abouts)and it was brilliant! The amazing thing was that it seemed almost as though those nine years never happened. Anyway here is part one of my visit.
After the initial greeting (Screams without hugs, we don't do hugs, never have so we were not about to start after nine years, no thank you very much, we'll have none of that!)'Lizbeth decided we were going to have a barbecue. This consisted of Phil and I chopping up bits of wood and feeding them into a bucket with a fire in it! I do have to say we were as happy as two scouts at a jamboree. Then came hours of catching up and a rather good meal with an even better bottle of nice plonk.



...and just look what you can cook in a bucket!

We had to go and get new passport photographs tonight so had to travel into the centre of town. We passed medical clinics of every description but I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw this one:
URANUS MEDICAL CENTRE
Watch this 'SPACE'? No comments please about Black Holes!

Back from a week in Cyprus but we couldn't stay in our villa! Have I told you that we are having massive renovations with extensions and turrets at our Med des res? We arrived and found huge holes in the walls big enough to drive a Paphos fun bus through, a coffee table with a chunk taken out of the top and curtains just thrown in a dirty pile up a corner. And yes, I know they are just builders with all of the attributes of said profession right down to bottom cleavage, but come on would they treat their homes like that?
However, gorgeous friends made the week go with a swing and Singapore Jill can still rustle up a fabulous meal even when her oven packs up half an hour before we all arrive. What a star!

On Friday I went with Phil to drive the buggy while he played golf. It is a wonderful oasis in the land of sand and surprisingly I had a great day out!

I do like this song but can't remember what comes next. Is it ...rains have gone or rains have come? I guess it must be the first but could it be the latter? Just as I can't remember the next words to the song I also can't see very clearly at the moment. I blame the fact that I'm a Piscean. Give me a decision to make and my mind bounces around like a ping-pong ball in a contortionist's pocket! Well I do have a decision to make and it's the worst kind. You know what I mean, the important decisions that have a deadline! Well the sands are running fast and I keep ricocheting from one decision to the next. So as of this minute I have made up my mind. I'm going to stop all of this silly vacillation, throw all of my balls in the air and see where they bounce. Problem solved...isn't it?