Robbie

We’re not big concert goers but when Robbie Williams comes to the Du Arena in Abu Dhabi you get tickets. Us and just about every other British ex-pat in the UAE. Mind you, when I mentioned we were going to see him at a recent coffee morning I got some very odd looks from the American contingent and “Robin Williams? I thought he died?” It seemed hard to believe to us Brits but they’d never heard of Robbie.
As for me, well, when he walked on stage last night I screamed like a teeny bopper (remember them?). This man is Mr Charisma and when he says Let Me Entertain You he means it. He had the audience in the palm of his hand from the first chorus, singing our hearts out. As he put it “Your a**es are mine for the next two hours”.

What a show, what a performer. Yes, we had the hits and yes, there was a bit of swing but there was also the unexpected. This chameleon effortlessly swung from touching to raunchy (and sweary!) in a tribute to his young daughter and son and also brought his father on stage for a duet of Better Man. We all danced and sang with gusto for the entire performance before he returned for a stunning encore of, believe it or not, Bohemian Rhapsody as the original Queen video played on the screen behind him. The effect was stunning. This led smoothly into Angels, of course, a final chorus sung totally without backing, Robbie the only one left on stage. Unaccompanied, that is, except for the entire audience. He left us singing.

Heating Up

The thermometer hit 41 degrees Celsius yesterday. That’s nearly 106 degrees Fahrenheit in old money. It looks like summer is well on the way particularly with the humidity also starting to rise. I’m told this is early and that you can usually count on still being able to be outside until the end of April. We’re doing our best but lunch al fresco may well have to wait until November now.
The strange thing is that the rise in temperature seems to have taken place almost overnight. I’d just started trying to get a bit of exercise by hobbling around the pool area for a couple of circuits. This time last week it was still comfortable to do this about 9am. Yesterday it was pretty sweltering even at 7 but at least there is still some shade at that time. Maybe it’s just a blip? Joellen’s phone predicts it’s going to drop back to below body temperature. Fingers crossed.

Sand Cloud

As I’ve mentioned before, breeze is not unusual here in AD and is generally very welcome but sand can get swept up in higher winds. Last Thursday’s dust cloud was something else, though, with the sand being blown in from Saudi Arabia in very specific weather conditions. Visibility was forecast to be reduced to about 1000 metres but in the event is was nearer to 100 metres, forcing everyone indoors.

The sunrise was a distant haze as the growing dawn revealed only dim shapes of the closest buildings. Within a couple of hours they had disappeared altogether and everywhere was lit by a strange, almost luminous, orange hue. By mid afternoon the cloud had passed over the city leaving newly cleaned windows coated in sand, dimming the shiney glass towers. More work for the amazing spider men of Abu Dhabi.