An unexpected day in Al Ain. 25 years ago, Anne and I packed our bags, and our children, and headed for an adventure in the tropics. Perhaps this was the start for a couple on the run? I’d taken a job in Papua New Guinea, and it was there, in Lae, where we met Geraldine. She was lecturing at UniTech, the same university where Anne had secured a job, and we became friends.

Much has changed in the 25 years since we last saw Geraldine.  We are all older, greyer, and hopefully wiser. Geraldine is living and teaching at the University in Al Ain, 120km south east into the desert from Dubai, and on the border with Oman. In the tourist literature, Al Ain is called the Garden City, because of its greenery, but to the locals, its referred to as Sand Pit City. A stopover in Dubai was not in our original plans, but the devastating earthquakes in Nepal caused us to amend our itinerary, and as a consequence, we spent 4 extremely hot days exploring some of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Anne had reconnected with Geraldine through Facebook a few years ago, and on realising our Continue reading →