I've moved house. And I'm not just a few tube stops away. I've upped sticks from our little flat in Aldgate East and moved even further east. 4, 500 miles east, to be precise - to Dubai! I'll be here for the next six months while on secondment with my law firm. Two weeks into the experience, I think that if I were to describe this place as a brave new world that would be an understatement, because Dubai is unquestionably one of the craziest cities I've ever been to - an insane mash-up of Vegas, Hong Kong and New York on speed. Everything here is excessive - the extravagant Friday brunch parties start at the breakfast table and often end up in the club hours later, the Burj Khalifa glitters on a horizon littered with insanely high skyscrapers, and the road below my building, screamingly loud at all hours of the day and night, is so long it stretches all the way to Abu Dhabi.
Lukas came to stay for the weekend a few weeks ago to explore the city with me and help me settle into my flat. It was a bittersweet trip. We celebrated his 26th birthday with excellent, cheap Pakistani food at Ravi's. We hit Kite Beach, a clean and - amazingly for Dubai - free public beach, for pistachio and strawberry ice creams and a cooling dip in the Persian Gulf. We ate an excellent Levantine dinner at Bait Maryam, a hidden gem tucked away in a residential area surrounded by skyscrapers and deep, black lakes. We learned about the history of the area at Dubai Museum and found a buffet lunch in Bur Dubai at Rangoli's, even more excellent and even cheaper than Ravi's at a mere £5.50 per head, our large metal platters filled generously and repeatedly with vessels of curry, buttery rotis and sweet, sticky halwa. We caught a 20p abra across Dubai Creek to see the bustling souks of Deira, crammed with spices and diamond rings so flashy they made me screw up my eyes.
But all too soon, we were crying on a pavement outside the airport, unable to even hug goodbye due to strict public decency laws. Smiling bravely, Lukas packed me into a taxi bound for the office and I craned my neck to gaze out of the back window, watching him recede into the distance until he was just a speck on the horizon, as the taxi driver silently passed me a box of tissues.
I can't deny that the last few weeks have been hard. Of course they have been. My love is halfway around the world, remaining in our flat and the city I've lived in for over 25 years. My amazing support network of family and friends has been snatched away from me. But I am slowly settling in, learning to live on my own again for the first time in four years, with all the independence (and terrible eating habits) that that entails. It really is thrilling to be living in a different country for the first time. And my loved ones are, after all, only a Skype call or a Whatsapp away.
I'll be here for the next six months on secondment with my law firm, and can't wait to get to know the whole region while I'm here - so if you're planning a trip to the UAE any time from now until the end of September, drop me a line!
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