Another one where the verticals are doing a lot of the work. He looked pretty keen to get on the train that was coming: so was I, as it was the first leg (well, second, if I include the five-minute walk there from the hotel) of my journey home. I might be back next year… I might not. I probably wouldn’t come to Dubai on my own account but it’s not a bad place I suppose.
Last day in Dubai. Taking a picture of attendees at the course I’ve been teaching on while here (undepicted…) there was a frisson of excitement as I pulled out my ‘vintage’ compact camera, as if usage of such things is simply anachronistic in 2026. I have tried taking photos on the phone, though, and it just doesn’t work as well when it comes to zoom and focus. I doubt this pic could possibly have been taken on a phone, not the combination of detail in the foreground and the soft-focus of the background, not from the distance at which I was standing, anyway. And it’s that combination that I like here. When this camera finally does die — and it won’t be long, I predict — I will try to get another one. And another, until we’re all so anachronistic that we’re not here any more.
Not necessarily the kind of thing one expects to see on opening the curtains in the morning, but I guess that’s what happens when one’s room overlooks the gym of the hotel next door. This is the first time boxing has been depicted on the blog actually in progress, but the tags allow me to connect this with a group of Albanians seen some 12½ years ago…. whither them I wonder?
A small, but nice thing about coming to work somewhere else is that it changes my commute to ‘the office’, or in this case, ‘the hotel in which the teaching is taking place’. Instead of sitting on a Northern Rail cattle truck in the February rain I get, for a couple of days, to take a 10-minute walk in the sunshine. I can’t just walk through the park though, as currently it is occupied by a food festival, the gate of which can be seen behind the sign. Maybe I’ll have time to check it out on Sunday, but not today.
Yes, I know, the skyscrapers are somewhat on the slant; but it was either them, or the sign. Such is the impact of cheapo gear. I’m impressed my camera still works, in fact: it’s reaching the three-year mark, which has been the historic limit for them since I started taking pictures every day.
Welcome back to Dubai, for my third trip here after 2019 and last year. Purely for work, well, except today when I had a day off thanks to teaching all of the weekend that is to come. Dubai Creek is why the city is here, being the inlet of the Persian Gulf around which the original settlement was founded. These days it’s just another part of the big shopping mall that the city has become, albeit with cuter buildings and some cats. Oh yes, and lots of seagulls.
Today I was up in the air for the first time since April (my return from Ascension Island), heading somewhere warmer than the UK is at the moment — and also warmer than central Turkey is at the moment too, by the looks of this. I don’t know about you but these are not conditions I would normally associate with that particular country. However, see for yourself…
I have noticed down the years that one thing that can be guaranteed to astonish foreigners about Britons is the ability of some of them to walk around in clothing that is, manifestly, inadequate for the temperature. I have to say that in this, I agree with them. I could not believe that this guy was wearing only a T-shirt today. It was, to put it bluntly, frigging freezing this afternoon. I was in two T-shirts — a jumper — a big coat — and a scarf, and it was still chilly. Is his blood formed of antifreeze? How does he tolerate this? Words fail me.
I do not know exactly how many people have appeared on this blog and subsequently died, for I cannot account for all the strangers who have been in shots. As of today, though, there are certainly at least six such people among friends and family. Steve Cooper — always known in the pub as ‘Little Steve’ (not that the other Steve is particularly large) had appeared three times, most recently on 28th March 2025. He passed away on 6th January aged 63, today was his funeral and then wake at the Railway, where it had to be. Other members of the crew are pictured looking happy, which is the main reason I pick the shot — as the booklet on the table announces, it was meant to be a celebratin, not sorrowful. But Steve will be missed, as will all friends when they are no longer with us.
The players of AC Soulseek ponder the 45 minutes that are to come, though not without unhappiness, as they are 3-1 up at this point. Wasn’t I here basically a year ago? Yes, but I cannot honestly think of a more agreeable place to spend a Sunday morning in London — as long as it isn’t raining.
The Hindu religion seems quite into its animalistic deities and idols, so I am sure that Ganesh and all his colleagues are quite happy that this superbly kitsch temple facade in Walthamstow has clearly become home to a number of pigeons.
Being 42 