A fierce wind. Stony beach. Seaweed. It could only be the Great British Seaside. Last week, on a complete whim (well, it was decidedly hot and humid when we set off), we loaded up the car with buckets and spades and drove down to the South Coast - to a place called Climping, just up the road from that infamous British seaside resort Bognor Regis. My Dad had been reminiscing about our childhood trips to this particular beach - yet, try as I might, I could not recall these seaside sojourns. Wondering why I’d blanked outings to Climping from my memory, [View Full Entry]

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When I mentioned to my mother-in-law that I thought Dubai was like Las Vegas, she laughed and said, ‘More like Las Vegas on hormones!’ It was time to find out for myself. Here’s what I discovered on my trip last week... Barat the Builder Dubai is still being built. A quarter of the world’s cranes are in Dubai and construction is absolutely everywhere. This means road directions are rendered useless and it’s all too easy to find yourself going the wrong way up a one-way street because the No Entry sign is hidden behind hoardings. Everywhere you go there are signs [View Full Entry]

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Having just made a solo trip to visit my long-lost husband in Berlin, I find myself writing about air travel yet again! You’d think that getting to and from Berlin from here should be a piece of cake after my trips across the Atlantic with The Toddler, but travelling with easyJet always adds the element of unknown - including mysterious delays and the strangest noise on arrival at Gatwick, like someone was sawing off a wing. EasyJet’s boarding policy is basically a free-for-all with no assigned seats - like going to the cinema - and this, I decided, brings out the [View Full Entry]

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Deplaning after more than eight hours squashed into a seat that didn't recline with the Toddler on my lap was a wonderful feeling. We could have landed anywhere and I'd still have been euphoric. In fact, at one point it looked like we might have to land somewhere else. A male passenger developed chest pains and, sitting in the back row right by the bathroom, I heard the flight attendants talking in hushed tones and witnessed them reaching for the medical equipment in the cabin above my head. Thankfully, our fellow passenger must have had indigestion and visions of an emergency [View Full Entry]

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With just a few weeks to go, moving is now a reality that can’t be ignored or dodged. Yesterday, we organized our container, which will be filled with our belongings and shipped off to the United Arab Emirates. According to the customs information, prohibited items include alcoholic beverages and anything of Israeli origin. Religious material needs prior approval from the Ministry. Since a large part of our shipment will be made up of the Toddler’s toys, books and his Thomas the Tank Engine table, I’m pretty confident that our container won’t raise any suspicions at customs (though they may think that [View Full Entry]

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The Toddler’s social calendar is busier than mine. Much busier, in fact. While I’m rather pleased these days to get to the supermarket unaccompanied, the Toddler has gym membership, a wide circle of friends he sees regularly and a chauffeur to ferry him to music class, the zoo, library and children’s museum. Organizing his diary - and getting him to all these activities wearing clothes, clean and on time - is no small feat. Excellent time-management skills, the negotiating skills of a presidential candidate and the strength of an ox are required. Loading the car with all his paraphernalia - his [View Full Entry]

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Today it’s so cold it hurts. The temperature has plummeted to minus 25 degrees, making going outdoors - even walking from the car to the supermarket - feel like an Arctic expedition. The bitter air whips right through you, permeating every single bone and even taking your breath away. At its coldest, this weather means that if you threw a cup of water in the air, it would freeze by the time it hit the ground. Yet at the same time, it’s like living in a winter wonderland - blue skies without a cloud in sight, snow-laden scenery and frozen lakes [View Full Entry]

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