Dubai in the middle (in pictures)

In the middle. Neither here, nor there.

My last few years in the UK.

Below follows a tale (in pictures) of a life between London and Dubai – two worlds intertwined. It is a tale that involves first class flights every few weeks from the one to the other, a dedicated driver in both cities, a villa, an apartment across the street from Hyde Park, an Arabian Royal family, desert dunes and afternoons with an autistic girl that stole my heart. You will not read about what I saw or felt or decided or wondered while getting a first hand and a sacred insiders view on a culture so very few can really get to know.

Invite me for a coffee and I might tell you about the time I had to decide to fly into the unknown. When a limo picked me up in London and another was waiting on the landing strip as the plane came to a halt in Dubai. I might tell you about an envelope of cash I received as a gift and I had no idea what to do with. So I bought my dad a watch. And a watch for my mom. And for Christo. Did I try to stop time? I might tell you about the doorman. And maybe about the staff. I might tell you about a lady in a desert hunched over a pot of cooking rice. About the desert farm and a 24 carat bracelet in a red box. And the overwhelming scent of perfume. And new shoes that fitted perfectly. And I might tell you nothing at all.

It was (once again) a decision that some might have thought I was crazy to make, a crazy chance I was happy to take. Another chapter that makes it a wonderful, rich story in the thing we call life.

You will not know their names 0r see their faces. You will only know their influence.

The story is not about the skyscrapers and shopping extravaganza that is being marketed to the world. But the culture that is touched and changed by it.