Sunday, November 07, 2010

As I said very succinctly when updating my status on Facebook, it feels as if I have only been away from Abu Dhabi for three days, not three years.

Basically, dear readers, it's about the lines you choose, the queues you pick to stand in. Yesterday it was the check-in queue at the Etihad desk at Munich airport... then the line at the security point... on arrival the surprisingly fast-moving line at immigration... and hardly any wait at all at the baggage claim.

So those are the lines I chose. Given that I was seriously underemployed in Munich, the alternative choice of line was the long one at the Social Welfare office... a patient queue that I may one day be obliged to join... but I'm in no hurry.

Far preferable seems to me to be up for another Sandlands adventure... with my eyes wide open... with few illusions... but with the conviction that it will be less stultifying than simply waiting for the occasional translation or voiceover assignment as cold winter darkens Bavaria.

Did I mention that today's high will be thirty-two degrees, cooling off overnight to twenty-four? My early morning stroll to the office was indeed a pleasure. And to be warmly welcomed by former colleagues was a real pleasure. More unexpected was the greeting handshake at the cafe next door where I was told that my absence had been duly noted!

Inexplicable remains the overwhelming feeling of "coming home"... I wonder how long that will last?

1 comment:

nzm said...

That's wonderful Malcolm - you are the second blogger on my blogroll who has returned to the UAE in recent weeks.

Go for it!