Landed in Bahrain before 5am this morning, some 50 minutes earlier than scheduled after a very fast trip from LHR. Thx for looking after us so nicely Gulf Air – edible food (in fact I’d go so far as to say the lamb dish was yummy, lots of cinamon and fall-apart tender), hot coffee, wine and cosy, fleece blankets plus smiling, happy staff who want to make your flight as pleasant as possible – such a contrast to Saturday nights flight with grumpy Continental. And no excess baggage charges (again unlike Contintental) despite two heavy suitcases, two solar panels (taped to become one box) and four albeit small, carry on bags. We’ve definitely joined the long haul crowd.

An impromptu car hire at the airport got us home and to the super market, though Kevin later organised a longer term rental starting tomorrow with a Saudi permit. At 5am Elite’s airport branch (2 men in a tiny cubicle) were in rent-a-wreck mode but it’s got wheels so will do until tomorrow. We probably won’t even go to the garage to put some much needed air in the tyres and certainly won’t be cleaning the ashtray out.

When we left the terminal building, bleary eyed, the humidity hit us. It was the same temperature as an Austin afternoon but almost foggy, instantly everything was damp. A quick drive back to the flat.  Everything in the living room was a bit disordered, the rug rolled up. We soon discovered why. During our lengthy absence the humidity had brought mould to our un-aired flat despite the fact that the aircon and extractor fans were left on. Oddly only the living room and kitchen have been invaded.

The Belvedere staff had fought the mould as best they were able at intervals over the past few weeks, apparently serveral flats, even occupied ones are suffering due to the high humidity. I wiped down photo frames,shelves and ornaments, then threw away the t-bags and the coffee. The latter was a solid block in the jar and the former green – yuk! Someone spirited away my collection of cork and woven table mats whilst we were at the supermarket at lunchtime… presumably to give them a scrub as they’d all grown fur coats. Even the iron in a kitchen cupboard was looking a little fluffy. Will have another go tomorrow and take all the books off the shelves etc. Too tired to worry too much more about it today.

Having flown on three airplanes since Saturday lunchtime and now 8 hours ahead of Texas my brain wants to sleep and my stomache thinks its breakfast. We did sleep on the long haul legs but it obviously wasn’t enough. Feel like I’ve just finished a Fastnet and been partying all night!

Have stepped on the scales…was dreading this as waistbands were feeling a more than a little tight in recent days. Despite a month of eating out Texas style (ie obscene amounts of food) I seem to have only put on a couple of kilos. Not certain why my clothes therefore feel so tight! September resolution: eat less and exercise more for the next month or so. Started with a few laps round the rooftop pool this afternoon then feel asleep on the sun lounger. The Bahrain Mall fitness programme sounds like a great idea, circuit training before the shops open in the cool of the air-conditioning, and its free! Meanwhile there’s the pool, the treadmill and the exercise bikes upstairs to keep me occupied until Wednesday morning if I can stay awake.