Kevin is away travelling this week for the first time in several weeks and as often seems to happen circumstances have conspired to make a punishing schedule. He is not complaining, it’s his job and he loves it.

This time though the reality of living and working outside of Europe is seeping into our lives a bit more than usual. He left yesterday for a long planned trip to Egypt, a country experiencing more unrest but nothing to really worry either of us. He’ll be back late on Tuesday night, in fact it’ll probably be Wednesday by the time he walks in the door. Then due to visa difficulties a week or so ago he sets off early Wednesday morning to a delayed set of meetings in parts of Nigeria where he is required to have an armed escort. Recent reports of kidnapping and shooting in more northern areas are worrying but he is confident about the arrangements made for his safety. The itinery is airports, hotels and government offices in a couple of major cities along the coast so hopefully pretty low risk .

[Meanwhile the Gulf Widow is amusing herself with more mundane things like housework, making some Christmas presents (yes really!) and a coffee and craft morning on Tuesday. Having said that I don’t miss the travelling I used to do when working. I too enjoyed it but brief sojourns in airports, offices and hotels can’t be said to introduce anyone to the culture and people of a nation.]

After his rather unscheduled trip to Nigeria, Kevin will return to Dubai for another brief overnight stay before flying to South Africa for our Eid vacation week followed by a week and a half of work there. He will have clocked up a good few thousands of air miles by the time he lands in Jo’Burg on Sunday lunchtime. The good news is that I get to spend almost three weeks with our granddaughter Lilli (and her parents) as I am flying out to Jo’burg as originally planned on Friday at four o’clock in the morning. I might even return to Dubai on the same plane as my husband unless of course his travel plans change again over the course of the next three weeks!