As Fate Would Have It

I have a little sister; Jaki who I really miss. These days we are very close, though that was not the case 5 years ago. And wouldn’t you just know it, all those years we lived in the same country we didn’t get on, a couple of years before I leave Blighty we become great friends. Anyway, Jaki was my second guest; I was feeling a bit homesick so bought her a ticket to Dubai as a birthday pressy. Towards the end of October 2004 I collected her from the airport; I’d been waiting there 90 minutes! She arrived during Ramadan so no booze was available until after sunset, not that that spoilt her trip! Yet more chatting and sun worshipping was done, and the normal tours of Dubai… At the time I was driving a hire-car and was rather proud of the fact that I’d only once driven on the wrong side of the road. On that occasion I was incensed at a driver coming towards me on my side of the road, I held my ground and made him move! Only when he passed me did I realise that it was in fact ME on the wrong side, not him. This is not a safe or clever thing to do in Dubai as the roads are perilous; I’ll post more about the roads and driving here on another day, it’s an epic! Where was I?... Oh yeah, so with Jaki in the car and me ‘bragging’ about being such a good driver, what do I do? I pull out onto the road and automatically go to the left (you drive on the right in Dubai). Jaki fortunately notices so no harm done, but I found it really odd that this occurred in the exact same place as my previous driving error. I now avoid that stretch of road.

It was Jaki’s last night in Dubai so we head to the only place to go during Ramadan, the Long Bar, so named as it has a really long bar! There we spend the evening propping up the really long bar, drinking gin & tonics and putting the world to rights. Happy hour comes and goes, and as the empty G&T glasses mount so does our hilarity. People watching in Dubai is great fun, and Jaki and I had ourselves jolly old time deciding what our fellow patrons did for a living etc. Though we had spoken to a few of the clientele, it was our last night together and we weren’t really in that sociable a mood. So when a kind gentleman beside us offered Jaki a light, she accepted, said thanks and turned her back on him. Not to be deterred, the gentleman pursued a conversation with us. So it was quite a surprise that 3 hours later we were still chatting with the bloke. Though by this time I was drinking coffee; no more booze could be had without me sliding off my stool into a heap. He told us his name; Alain, that he was French Canadian and lived in Dubai. Now that much I could remember, the rest of the conversation was a bit of a blur; but I know I gave up way too much information about myself, as did our Jaki! Alain was on the wagon as he was driving and kindly offered us a lift, which we accepted. The next day having been safely delivered and now nursing hangovers, Jaki and I discussed the previous night’s events. How 2 northern British birds a little worse for wear didn’t scare off a sober as a judge Canadian I’ll never know. The colonists must be hardier that I thought ;-) Anyway, Alain was alone here, as was I, so we agreed to meet for dinner; 15 months later we’re married! Thank you sis……