Forward and on to Aqaba. We are off to Jordan today for a little R & R. Be back on Friday and prepare yourselves for those holiday snaps.

One moment it's light and then dark descends like a blind has been pulled. Last night I saw, for the first time in Tabuk, a sunset.

The village school where I went to as a child, was fairly basic and the games we played in the playground were quite inventive. We used an old wash-line for skipping games, an empty can for 'Kick-the-Can', conkers was a favourite, a piece of stick for 'Knock-Down-Ginger', a handkerchief for 'I Wrote a Letter to my Love..' and many, many more.
Lessons were basic too. I remember mostly maths and English with a little nature study, singing, needlework and painting.
One day Miss Bourne asked us to bring in a potato for printing. I adored this and my father dug up a whole bucketful from the garden so that we could select the best. My print was lovely and it was put on display on the dresser at home, where it took pride of place.
My cousin Jennifer came that Christmas. They lived in Hertfordshire in a posh house. I will never forget her comment when she saw my potato print. "Oh, a potato print, how common. We use an avocado in Hertfordshire, much better!"
I wonder what they use in Hertfordshire now?

The compound where I live, in Saudi Arabia, possesses the 5 corner-stones of what constitutes a good environment. By this I mean it has excellent health and educational facilities, modern technology is easily accessible, it has a sense of place and community.
Although each villa is identical, most of the occupants have put their personal stamp onto their homes. The ephemeral nature of the occupation doesn't seem to deter them.
What is it that drives most of us to seek expression through our homes? I question that this is a true reflection as we are all subliminally influenced by the media. The buzz word at the moment seems to be minimalism and we are urged to throw off encumbrances and launder our lives. I can appreciate that as our lives are cluttered mentally, to come back to minimalism must be quite refreshing.
I personally like to surround myself with lovely things and things I love. I am a signed-up member of the Aspirational Society. I try to reflect my ideas of perfection in my home. I am not trying to achieve Thomas More's, Utopia. The things in our lives should have real function if only to please the eye and the rules to achieve Utopia are surely unrealistic. Things can never be perfect because people aren't perfect. This will not stop me from plumping up the cushions, rearranging the folds in the curtains and putting down that 'bleeping' toilet seat, yet again! (What is it about men and toilet seats?)

It does happen, especially during half term breaks, that I get so bored that I turn to cooking. It starts with Gary Rhodes who inspires me with confidence to have a go. Those who know me will be amazed at this because they are only too aware that I either order-in from the restaurant or we have one of Phil's famous barbecues.



So here it is, lasagne made from scratch. Preparation time: all morning, cooking time: 1 hour, tidying up time (including the time taken to scrape the bottom of the oven): 2 hours, time it took to eat: 10 minutes. Just take a good look at it, I'm sure it was worth it, wasn't it?

I have held back on this subject long enough and now I just have to tell you all about the state of the humble lettuce in Tabuk.
For most of the year they are hydraponically grown in trays of wet matting a metre off the ground, their little roots never knowing the joy of being immersed in soil. Every (I mean every!) lettuce has a tracery of brown rot at the heart of it's little leaves and so you are able to use only 10% of the actual plant in your salad.
Thank goodness, the uninformed might say, that we are now in the months where lettuce is grown in the soil. Indeed they do look healthy on the outside and are nice and green with no distorted stalk. However, lurking in these species of lettuce are these leaf munching critters who leave massive holes and......what looks like......POOP! Yes, POOP! Not just a little poop but tons of black slimy POOP! Now I challenge anyone to eat any part of this lettuce if they have seen the poop. Tonight I salvaged a few leaves but just had to stop Phil mid-fork because I couldn't get rid of the sight of that ...poooop!
So you don't believe me?

I'm looking at one of the headlines on the front of a magazine that's sitting in front of me.
"Don't Dream It - Do It!"
Well I've been doing far too much dreaming about writing and not actually doing it this week.
One of the advantages of being older is that one has had the good fortune to meet a great many people who are only too eager to part with their hard-earned knowledge. However, my mind just lately, has been a bit like a 'news-stand'. I am accommodating knowledge for a very brief period of time before flitting on to the next thought, the next event, the next news.
I am now on my mid-term break and so maybe I will pause and reflect and have more time to put down my thoughts. You never know some might even be interesting to you.

You go for months at a time here with sheer monotony and then out of the blue, quite literally, the Red Arrows drop into Tabuk to pay a visit and give the most incredible display I have ever seen in my life!
We parked on the airbase perimeter fence and you could almost touch them as they came over the wire. The goosebumps came out and chest swelling I felt like belting out God Save the Queen. When the Brits do something like this they are supreme, the very best in the World. Tonight I am so proud to be British.
Between the oh's and the ah's I furtively took photographs.







I have reduced them considerably but you get the idea. And no Ed, they are not Airfix models!

Every Sunday the BIG topic of conversation in the staffroom is: "So who's gonna be next to go on Fame Academy?"
Now a few colleagues have actually found out the winner on the Internet and they have been told, in no uncertain terms, that we in the dark, do not want to know.
Tonight has seen the demise of Simone. Now I have never rated her so that's not an issue for me. So who do I think will win? Here we go:
Alex will win with Caroline and Paris coming second and third.
Now although I don't want to know, am I close, have I got any right, will Louise stop missing that oh, so famous boyfriend, will Barry EVER stop crying, will Peter impale himself on the microphone stand?
Whoops, just seen the time. Phil will be ringing from Riyadh airport wanting to know who has been voted out. I keep telling you, we have such sad lives.

It's not that I have lost interest but more to do with computer and server problems and yesterday was one of those days.



* The Ministry of Interior has issued a new directive to all hospitals. No woman is to be admitted for delivery unless accompanied by a male relative.

* Local security forces have confiscated 70 buses that transported female students because the drivers, although male, were not over forty years old.

Think about that today girls as you pop down to the shops in your car. Oh, and if you see any Ryvita, Crackerbread or rice cakes get some for me would you?

All of my creativity has gone into work this week.





Thanx to Miss L for the Clarice inspiration and No, I didn't model for the scene from Macbeth!

I hope it will be back to normal tomorrow. Inshallah!

That's about it for today. We've been back now for six weeks and so everyone's starting to wish away the days until half term next week. Unfortunately Phil has to work but we are booked into an (English language is strange) hotel in Jordan for a weekend break. (Yippee)
Ramadan starts soon so the shops will be stocked with better and fresher food. One year they put a pen in the centre of the supermarket with a flock of sheep in it. The idea is you pick out one for slaughter and then give it to the poor. A lovely idea which I believe has merit. Imagine a needy family close to you and give them a sheep for slaughter. You can imagine their genuine look of surprise, gratitude and pleasure at such a thoughtful gesture. Banners in Sainsbury's would say, "Get your slaughtered sheep, they're a baaa... gain!"

Back to blue skies today.

I have recently been subjected to the persistent whisper of waves on the far shores of my home country. Let me explain.
This morning I was awoken, as usual, by the raucous racket of cicadas who seem to announce dawn even while it is still dark. I decided to take a much-needed coffee outside on the deck and watch the sun come up. Eyes skywards, I was delighted to see whisps of fluffy white clouds. This is a rare occurrence in Saudi Arabia as skies are normally bright, blue and clear. Any fluctuations in weather patterns are a wonderful respite from the monotony of days, which are the same.
I would never have imagined that I would long for the weather that I experienced whilst I was growing up.
The village that I lived in as a child was not big in size but was especially big on ‘cold’. Each day my walk to school took thirty minutes and this was done alone and in all weathers. On the worst days frost glittered over the branches of trees and chill winds howled down narrow streets lined with miners cottages.
On dark grey winters days, when light faded rapidly or when fog oppressed the tiny mining community, I dreaded the walk home from school. My journey took me past a row of derelict Victorian houses. Fog would curl out of gaping windows and doors so that each one looked like some ghostly apparition. In my imagination they were elongated human faces that breathed out smoke from staring eyes and grinning, gaping mouths.
They say that you only remember the sunshine of your childhood. I’m surely not the only exception to the rule.

Some of them I'm quite proud of, others could be better. The links may be tenuous in places and please note the last link is water and not colour. Special mention to Ed who masterminded the design.

Connect 8

Well I have and the link will be up.....tomorrow night!
I am delighted to report that I am considered to be the best camel photographer around at the moment. What can I say? I guess it beats traffic islands and chickens. (You have to be a regular reader!!!)

Last week was very busy at work and so I have had an extremely lazy weekend. Oh, I did do a few lengths of the "Olympic Size" swimming pool and tried to use goggles! After a lot of Flipper impersonations and realising that just because you have goggles on, doesn't mean that you automatically acquire gills, I gave up.
Do you have the same problems as I do when you climb out of a swimming pool, you know extracting soggy, dripping, clingy fabric from up your nether regions? And just as you coyly grab hold of a handful of fabric to cover your exposed bottom, that is the minute when you hear, "Hi, Mrs Scates," shouted by what must be, every single child in my class!

Just because camels make me laugh! This one was definitely having a bad hair day.