Urban oasis post script

For my new follower, Hibiscus Bloem, thanks for joining and here is my very own hibiscus bloom. Photo taken this morning in my new front garden!

Urban Oasis

Most houses in Bahrain are surrounded by high concrete walls; not for security (there are few break-ins) but for privacy. After all, if you're not supposed to wander the streets uncovered, the last thing the locals want is for everyone in the neighbourhood to be able to peer at the women in their family over the garden gate.

And while it is useful at times to be totally secluded, after two years of living behind these walls, I began to feel a little, well, hemmed-in.

So last week we moved to a compound just round the corner. Normally I wouldn't be one for compound living, but this place is different. It's still in the centre of town, the houses are older and, in estate agent-speak, ooze colonial charm and best of all, they have large, mature gardens. I've had my name down for months and someone finally left.

Yes, I know. A voluntary house move - madness. And this week I've been knee, no, waist-deep in boxes, dealing with unreliable phone/internet/gas and electricity companies and wondering why I have put myself through moving hell yet again. Nine times in fifteen years, no less.

But then I walk outside and see this, which I think you will agree is infinitely better than my old view of sand-coloured concrete.

I can't tell you how uplifting it is to look out onto trees and flowers every day. The grass seed is being delivered tomorrow and with the help of my new gardener, Joy from Kerala, I am well on the way to creating my very own urban oasis in the heart of Manama.

Beware what lies behind the veil

I settled down last night to enjoy the last episode of Series III of the Tudors, Hollywood's take on the life and times of King Henry VIII of England. And if you can put aside the historical inaccuracies and the fact that the extremely handsome actor who plays Henry never seems to age a day nor add any weight his washboard stomach, it makes for good viewing.

Series III culminates in the annulment of Henry's marriage to his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves. Henry had never seen Anne before she arrived in England for the wedding, relying only on an overly flattering portrait by Holbein and the untrue reports of his ambassadors that she was a beauty. They had, in fact, been prevented from seeing her face properly as she was always veiled in their presence.

Upon setting eyes on her, Henry famously likens her to a Flanders Mare. "I like her not!" he declares in the manner of a petulant child. He refuses to consummate the marriage and demands an annulment. Anne is played by Josh Stone, who isn't at all plain, but there you go - that's Hollywood for you.

Anyway, this morning I was skimming through the local paper - the Gulf Daily News - and the following headline caught my eye: "Surprise stubble ruins wedding."

It seems that an Arab ambassador in Dubai called off his wedding after discovering that his bride-to-be, who had worn a niqab (face covering veil) whenever they met, was in fact bearded and cross-eyed. After the marriage contract had been signed, the ambassador attempted to kiss his bride-to-be and discovered she had facial hair and a pronounced squint. He was understandably disappointed. I'm sure Henry would have sympathised.

Like Henry before him, the ambassador claimed he was tricked into marrying the woman after her mother had shown his mother photos of the bride's sister instead of the bride. And the sister presumably didn't have stubble and could see straight.

He went to court and had the marriage annulled. But the court did allow the woman to keep the $136,000 worth of presents he had already showered upon her, so she didn't go away empty-handed.

Belly dancing

I love Pilates. I love that it's a workout for body and mind, I love that it keeps me both strong and supple and, most of all, I love that it's kept my muffin-top at bay. So I was disappointed to learn last week that my twice weekly classes had been cancelled for a fortnight as the instructor was jetting off to New York to do her Masters under the tutelage of one of the world's Pilates gurus. Still, at least I'll know that the torture she'll put me through on her return will be cutting-edge.

Her classes have been replaced by belly dancing. And in a bid not to slide into too much of a morning-coffee-and-six-chocolate-biscuits habit in the interim, my friend Sarah and I decided to give it a go.

"You'll be rubbish at that!" snorted Ian when I told him of my new fitness plan. "Don't you need a belly and a bum? Anyway, you're English and English girls have no rhythm."

With this fabulous spousal endorsement still ringing in my ears, I entered the studio on the appointed day with some trepidation. Sarah was already there, sheepishly tying a colourful scarf adorned with bells and beads round her non-existent hips. She is also a belly-less and bum-less Brit, so at least there'd be two of us making fools of ourselves. Maybe if the humiliation became too great, we could just revert to British girl type and simply put down our handbags and self-consciously shuffle round those instead of partaking in all this uninhibited foreign hip-wiggling nonsense.

Apart from the lovely Iman, our Egyptian instructor, the class consisted of three other ladies of infinitely more suitable physique than ours and who also spoke Arabic and could therefore sing along to all the songs. Such an advantage; I always find it easier to dance to a song if I know the words. Oh, and a few large glasses of Sauvignon Blanc help too.

Sadly both lip-syncing and alcohol were out, so I'd just have to relax my inhibitions along with my hips if I was to have a hope of not embarrassing myself. Sarah smiled nervously at me and we took up our positions at the back of the class.

And do you know, we weren't half bad. After mastering the walk - toes should be turned in and you put one foot in front of the other while dramatically swinging your hips from side to side - we moved on to the basic arm movements and side steps. We even managed to follow Iman as she put some moves together in a short dance. OK, we looked more wooden puppet than snake-hipped Arabian princess, but it was fun. And isn't that what exercise is supposed to be?

Birthday

Yesterday was my birthday. 42 years old. 42.

I can't believe I'm 42!

That's only 8 more years to the Big 5-0 and only 18 more years to my pension.

How depressing!

I've been going all out this week to stem the tide of middle age and am now sporting a new haircut (shorter, bouncier and - hopefully- more youthful) and extremely white teeth (birthday bleaching to get rid of decades of caffeine and red wine abuse).

But, even if I've become a bit of a bah-humbug about these things, at least the girls still enjoy the occasion. Olivia came bounding in yesterday morning clutching a swathe of homemade gifts and a card with 42 hugs and kisses because, as she gaily informed me: "You're 42 today, Mummy!" "Yes, darling, so I am" I replied, smiling weakly.

I unwrapped my next present: a short, sexy nightdress from a girlfriend with great legs and still-pert breasts. Another bout of depression. My chicken legs and sagging knees will not do it justice.

Then Isabelle comes to the rescue in the way daughters should. "Wow, Mummy!" she said. "That's lovely. See, someone other than Livvy and me thinks you're still beautiful!"

Tolerance

I've been sorting through my holiday pictures and wanted to share these with you. They were taken at Bahrain airport just before Christmas and, to me, represent all that is good about this tiny Gulf kingdom.

Political correctness in the UK seems intent on stifling the Christmas spirit. Cards sent in December should now read "Festive Greetings" rather than "Merry Christmas" and people are asked by their local councils to tone down Christmas lights on their houses for fear of offending neighbours of other religions.

Yet here in Bahrain, a Muslim country, it appears the Christmas spirit is alive and well. The lady in the picture below was clapping along to "Jingle Bells" with her toddler and loving it.

And why not? I love learning about other cultures and religions, and so do my kids. It helps promote tolerance and understanding.

Bahrain has residents of many ethnic backgrounds and I have found people here are generally inquisitive about the differences between them rather than wary and mistrusting.

Yes, as residents we are expected to observe certain rules, particularly during Muslim religious festivals, but in return we are allowed freely to celebrate our own festivals, such as Christmas and Easter, whether that be through putting up decorations at school, performing plays at church or organising carol singing or Easter egg hunts.

All of which goes to show it is possible for a country to have a strong religious and cultural identity and yet still be tolerant and accepting of others.

The Return

I can't believe I haven't blogged for a whole month. My excuses: Christmas, overseas travel, scant internet access and, for the last two weeks, a total preoccupation with baggage tracing.

Let me explain the baggage tracing bit. We left Bahrain in mid-December for a Christmas trip to the UK and a week of skiing in France. All went swimmingly until we left the slopes for Geneva to catch the first of our flights home. The following few days went something like this:

Geneva airport, January 3rd: arrive 3 hours before departure time for Swiss Air flight to London Heathrow via Zurich.

Check in 3 bags, 1 ski boot bag and 1 pair of skis (belonging to my sister who will meet us at Heathrow to collect them).

Airport manic due to it being busiest day of the year and the baggage handlers having been on strike. Spend nearly 2 hours in queues for check-in and security.

Most flights delayed due to snow throughout Europe. Flight to Zurich leaves over an hour late. No-one can tell us if we will make our connection to London.

Zurich airport, January 3rd: arrive to find London flight has left without us - one of the only ones to leave on time that day. Bummer. Join massive economy class queue at transfer desk to be put on another London flight.

Told no seats on any flight to London from anywhere in Europe that day. Busiest day of the year. First on wait-list for next London flight.

Wait. Wait some more. Drink some really bad coffee. Go to gate.

Told by attendant we are no chance as we are a family of four. Then see him hand boarding passes to a family of four also on wait-list. Restrain husband from decking smarmy attendant. Go back to transfer desk.

Economy queue even bigger than before. Wait. Wait some more. Restrain narky children from decking each other. Get wait-listed for next flight to London.

Wait. Wait some more. Go to gate. Get told we are no chance as we are a family of four. Jealously watch passengers board.

We have missed our connection to Bahrain. No seats now until January 6th.

Return to transfer desk. Even longer economy queue. Bolshy husband marches up to first class desk and demands hotel for night and flight to London for the morning. I cower. He succeeds.

Spend night in airport hotel.

Luckily I'd packed our toothbrushes in our handluggage.

Zurich airport, January 4th: Board flight to London. Blithely assume our luggage does too.

Arrive London. Luggage does not. Neither does that of most others on the flight.

Stand in long queue to fill in lost baggage claim.

Spend night at my father's house.

Luckily I'd packed our toothbrushes in our handluggage.

UK, January 5th: Snow forecast. May even be the wrong type of snow - the settling Alpine "flocon" which grinds UK transport system to a halt rather than the more typical British slush. Decide not to risk early morning journey to airport and spend night in Heathrow airport hotel - same hotel chain as in Zurich. Maybe I could get a job as their inspector?

Heathrow airport, January 6th: Oh God! It's snowing Alpine flocons. Gatwick airport is closed. Luton and Stansted are cancelling flights.

Check in is quick as only have one remaining bag.

Board early. Spend over an hour on the stick while ground crew desperately attempts to de-ice wings. Pray. Pray some more.

Finally we take off. Treat myself to some duty-free to get over the stress.

Abu Dhabi airport, January 6th: Arrive late. Find connecting flight to Bahrain is from another terminal. Grab kids and run.

Take a leaf out of bolshy husband's book and barge to front of security queue manically waving boarding card. Startled Arab security man lets me through. Board plane with minutes to spare.

Arrive Bahrain. No luggage.

Fill in lost luggage form.

Luckily I still have our toothbrushes in our handluggage.

Bahrain, January 7th to date: lost count of the number of hours spent trying to ring baggage tracing at London City Airport. Number permanently engaged.

After 5 days, tracing is transferred to Swiss Air. Ring them. Customer service only open between 8am and 10am Swiss time. What kind of service is that?

Finally get the right number. Am put on hold. For ages. Long enough, in fact, to note their surprisingly apt choice of "on-hold" music, namely: The Three Degrees' "When will I see you again?" (yes, when will I see my Chrissie presents?); Barbra Streisand singing "We have nothing to be guilty of" (yes you bloody have - you're guilty of never answering the phone); and finally Oleta Adams singing "I don't care how you get here, just get here if you can". Quite.

Post script: had a call from Bahrain airport yesterday. One of the four missing bags has arrived. And guess what - it's the skis. Now I have to figure out how to get them back to London!