Ensuring a work/life balance

Despite the hectic schedule in the working environment we do try very hard to make sure we always have some personal life to remember about our time here.
We had planned a trip to Qasr Al Sarab to take Mum and Jo to the desert so John and I went on our own and it was as lovely as ever though it's getting pretty hot now for desert trips. I do think that the rooms there are the very best I've ever stayed in - they all have fantastic views over the desert landscape and the Wadi (a dry valley where the migrating Oryx are supposed to come and drink at the watering hole though both times we've been there I guess it wasn't a migratory time of year for Oryx!) But the rooms themselves, in terms of lovely comfy beds and amazing bathrooms with walk in showers and baths the size of swimming pools just have to be experienced. The first night we ate in the buffet restaurant, which was disappointing compared with some of the buffets in Abu Dhabi but we had lunch in the little restaurant by the pool and dinner at the rooftop Suhail which are both fabulous. Due to the heat we mainly lazed in and around the huge pool which certainly beats working. If I wasn't such a workaholic with a burning desire to contribute financially and intellectually I could spend lots of days lazing by pools but it just wouldn't feel right! We went back via Liwa and Madinat Zayed and John drove to I got to see a lot more of the country though there were hardly any camels on this particular route.
Last weekend we had plenty of jobs to do in Abu Dhabi so we found ourselves at the Mall and rushing around stocking up and generally ticking off a large number of items on the 'to do' list. However, we managed to enjoy lunch on Saturday at the Japanese restaurant at the Royal Meridien with some great sushi and we tried the Italian at the Millennium on Saturday night which was great once we'd persuaded them that we'd come for Italian a la carte and not the barbecue buffet! We were finally able to use one of 'buy one main course, get one free' from the Entertainer guide that Isobel bought us for Christmas. It's a tremendous idea this book, stuffed full of these vouchers and should save loads of money. However, I manage to find it a huge responsibility and never remember to take the vouchers with me or go to restaurants which aren't included so we've now got to May and haven't saved nearly enough money yet!
This weekend we had a short break in Abu Dhabi and went to the Fairmont on Friday afternoon through till Saturday afternoon. We've eaten here before but never stayed over as they have a Marco Pierre White Steakhouse and a Frankie's Italian. John is a regular visitor to the buffet restaurant Elements and waxes lyrical so I was keen to try it. We had a lovely break - the hotel is a wonder of modern architecture and sculpture with amazing water features. The room overlooked the creek with floor to ceiling windows and a 'wet room' with huge bathtub and shower in the middle of the room as well as separate loo and washing area. After dinner on Friday at Frankie's where the food is suberb, we enjoyed Saturday morning by the pool - huge and beautifully chilled and the staff were constantly bringing cold towels, fruit juice and fruit kebabs. It was like the nicest kind of holiday hotel though really strange to look out and see GHQ and the Armed Forces Officers Club - both places I have to visit for work. Out of the other window you could see the Petroleum Institute, where John works. It feels odd to be in a holiday location with holiday weather next door to your working environment - I can't imagine ever taking a weekend break in Hale or Solihull! After this I was able to sample the Elements buffet myself and John was absolutely right about it - great sushi, prawns and crab's legs followed by curry and an array of desert. He reckons it's even better in the week when it's less crowded but I thought it was great. We headed home after this and tried to catch up on the rest of our weekend jobs but it made a great break in our own city. Essential to try these places out so we can recommend them to work visitors or for corporate events. The Fairmont is rightly popular with expats, visitors and with Emiratis as well. So we do manage to keep sampling the best of what the city has to offer, crammed in between the endless tussle with an alien working culture.
We also discovered that on this unusual general election our time zone was best placed to watch the excitement as the results came in. By getting up at 6.30am (3.30am in the UK) and with it being Friday which is a day off for us we watched the BBC all the way through. It was also a great treat to get proper BBC talking about what was happening in the UK. BBC World tries very hard to cater for a global population by not giving precedence to UK news but I wonder just how much of its audience is expats like us who hunger for news from home. However, they broadcast election special in full which was great. We'd managed to arrange for a proxy vote and my Aunty Brenda nobly fronted up in central Manchester to cast our votes (and had to queue for half an hour which is not something I've ever had to do - how amazing in the UK). I really needn't have worried as our labour man had a majority of nearly 11,000 so I suppose a couple more or less wouldn't have worried him too much. Disppointing overall for the labour party and the lib dems but encouraging to know that despite everything, the economy, Iraq and expenses scandal the Tories still couldn't command a decisive majority. We watch with interest from our expat distance which, in my case anyway, leaves me just as interested in UK politics as ever.