Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible...

We're flying back to Dubai tomorrow, arriving on Friday morning at some unearthly early hour as all flights into Dubai seem to do.

We're on a non-stop Emirates A380, nearly fifteen hours.

It takes an hour longer going back to Dubai, obviously because to get from down here in Australia to the Northern Hemisphere it's uphill all the way.

I'm not sure how long after I get back it'll be before I get 'Life in Dubai' back to a normal posting schedule.

It's not just the fifteen hour flight, you have to add to that the time it takes to get to-from airports, to check in hours before the flight then sit around the terminal, then wait at the baggage carousel...it'll add up to nearly 24 hours in all.

Then there's a seven hour time difference that throws the body clock into total confusion.

I'm thinking I'll be unjetlagged and untravel-tired around March some time.

As you know, I like to include photos in my posts where I can, but after a couple of weeks here when I was able to post a few photos my little digital camera decided to throw a tantrum. When I tried to fix it it got really annoyed shut down all together.

I have to take it back to the dealer in Dubai to get it repaired and I'm not holding my breath for that to happen in a hurry. Being photoless will affect the postings schedule too I'm sure.

Still, I'll try to get back into the routine as soon as I can.

King Parrot

Unimportant in the grand scheme of things I know, just a close encounter with a parrot, but I enjoyed it.

I walked into the lounge and sitting on the rail of our balcony was a King Parrot. They're gorgeous birds and it's the first time one has visited us.

By the time I found the camera and got it ready to shoot he flew off, so here's a shot of one from www.wiresnr.org. photo by Serena Hershon.

Scammers using snail mail.

E-mail is the way they arrive.

Offers to make me a squillionaire. They always come by e-mail.

I get plenty of them. I bet you do too.

Millions of dollars are sitting in a bank account and in return for helping liberate them you get to keep a large amount.

Today I had a very different and interesting approach.

By snail mail. Personalised.

A stamped envelope containing a typed letter on headed notepaper (remember them?) arrived in my mail box.

It's from a firm of lawyers in Madrid with an address, telephone number, fax number and two e-mail addresses.

The stamp says it's from Portugal (is that where Madrid is now?) and it cost 80 euro cents.

The writer identifies himself as a barrister, personal attorney to a deceased gentleman with the same surname as me.

The bank of the late gentleman has issued a notice to the barrister to contact next of kin, otherwise the the account will be declared unserviceable and the money diverted to the bank treasury.

That would be a shame because the sum involved is "Seven Million Five Hundred Thousand Euros Only".

Barrister Santino tells me that "so far all my efforts to get hold of someone related to my client has proved abortive."

His suggestion is that he presents me as the next of kin,'"...since you have the same last name...", so that the proceeds can be paid to my account. He will of course provide the bank with "all the legal documents to back up your claim as my client's Next of Kin..."

The deal?

A nice touch - 10% of the money is to be shared"amongst the charity Organisations". The remaining 90% is divided equally between myself and barrister Santino.

Another nice touch - ïf this business proposal offends your moral ethics, do accept my sincere apology."

It's a new one on me. A correctly addressed snail mail letter, personalised by surname, the cost of a stamp, the cost of the paper and envelope...

Hello, anybody there?

Actually, it seems that many of you have been here more often than I have over the past couple of months.

I've been away much longer than planned, been TBTB, but I see from the tracking meters that people are still taking the trouble to visit Life in Dubai. Thank you.

I'd planned to be be back in Dubai November 23 but, without boring you with the details, I had to change the flight back three times. It's now booked for December 30, no more delays on the horizon so I'll be back in the City of Dust on New Year's Eve.

I've tried to keep at least a little up-to-date with what's going on in the UAE from reading my blogger colleagues' postings and from the online papers. It's very different from being on the ground though so I feel quite out of touch.