East meets west

The last four days have been spent in that enigma of a city, London. The places always brings a slightly cynical smile to my face as the insane reality of life here becomes apparent to me and I begin to remenice of times gone by. As I walked the winding roads, in the grey, windy, damp afternoon I began to feel a sense of longing for my time here. Of post work gym sessions and salmon dinners with Nick, of green curries and trifles with Farah, peaceful, thought/music filled walks to work in the cool English winter mornings (no music on walks in Dubai as I could get hit by a car/truck/bicycle/Indian Dude), self destructive binge drinking sessions, evenings of two or three cigarettes in cold, dark lonely places, coffees on Portobello road on Saturday Mornings including full English breakfasts.... Well you get the picture that memories were running through my mind over the past few days....

But far be it from me to write a post without trying to make a broad brush stroke generalisation about the world as a whole and the odd, relatively hairless, bi-peds who call it home.... London really is a pretty good city in the big scheme of things. If it was a person I would describe it as a 57 year old man who is about to retire, spent his whole life serving others, most likely single as a result of being widowed and hence a little lonely, a heart of gold, passionate about many good causes but sensing they are powerless to change anything.... and as a result of this a full blown alcoholic.... But this is London on a Saturday night. That is the beauty of this majestic city, layer upon complex layer of human involvement. Such a dense population combined with an extensive history leads to a London that one cannot help but love, even if you have been hurt by them in the past, you know that they are more than worthy of your love and affection... Hey and London will always be the city where my life turned an important corner... I met my future wife here and because of this I am forever in the debt of London :-)

The more I think about London and how, despite its many faults, I love it I cannot help but reflect upon Dubai.... Dubai is a 5 year old in comparison to the maturity of London and being so young it would be unfair to apply the same measuring stick to the depth of character that Dubai has displayed to date. With this in mind you can't help but think of Dubai as a child prodigy, albehim slightly autistic and narcistic. Dubai has out performed to date but, as a 5 year old, lacks a meaningful personality to which we can relate. But with the right parenting he could grow into a great man and be a shining light of Arab civilisation into the 21st Century. The only problem here is that the parents are happy to benefit from this prodigy's natural talents and sell his value like a circus freak attraction on the world stage without providing the love, education and nourishment he so desperately needs. Time will only tell what will become of this young city, but with all its "friends" and relatives just trying to get their piece of the performance and jumping over each other to do so the future is far from a certainty of happiness...

On a separate note: Farah is getting time off in March so she can come to Dubai... YES! So we will finally get to explore a left field location together.... I must get into my Arabic so I can impress here with my skills in the souqs of the East... It will truly be a sweet adventure.

Also: Wedding plans are starting to take shape... Looking like August in the subcontinent somewhere, with vows re-given in Bundanoon on 1st Sept and Toronto 8th September 2007 respectively.

General Mood: Positive. I feel like life is starting to take shape and with all the talk about the environment and the like I believe that a paradigm is about to shift in the west that could come just in time to avert disaster (e.g. http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/business/article2166820.ece). I am fast realising that it is in this movement to holistic business/finance operations that my future lies. Also spoke in Spanish to strangers twice in London today.. Love this great big world of ours..