Sharjah (and RAK) to the rescue

Have been happily reminded that it's the arty time of year in the UAE. First I got an email from a friend in Sharjah asking if I could do a quick edit job. Then completely out of the blue, another friend asked if I could do a job related to a RAK event. So have actually been doing some work for a change which is brilliant. It's good to be involved in this again too and it reminded me to start checking out the coverage of Art Dubai, the March Meeting, Al Bastakiya Art Fair, Tracking the Emirates and all the other stuff that happens around this time. I just hope that there are a lot more reviews this year than there used to be because obviously I won't be writing any! I will definitely miss being there for all this though, it was the highlight of my UAE year.
Other than these bits of work, I have been mostly on nurse and nephew minding duties after my sister got kicked in the head by one of her horses.  Not nice. 19 stitches, crooked neck and two black eyes. I'd stick to smaller and more predictable animals if I were her. I'm not willing to risk anything more serious than a kick in the head from a tortoise.

Sick of being sick

This is going to be another moanfest so if you don't want to know the score look away now....

I am really feeling the effects of my first winter in 2 years. The snow was great and then some more snow was nice but now that the cold and the wet and the grey are going on and on and on and on, my body is having problems coping. I have been ill in one way or another since the beginning of 2010 and the last straw came this weekend. On top of the 3 week sore throat and bizarre cough that only strikes once a day at precisely 3.10am, I suddenly got gout. Yes gout!! What is going on?? I thought this was a disease of overweight, rural, port drinking old money landowning types and bon viveur farmers? Apparently not. It seems that my complete absence of lifestyle is contributing to extreme dehydration. ie. continuous cold symptoms plus continuous central heating plus zero physical activity which results in an apathy that makes putting water in a glass and drinking it seem too much like hard work.

On the job front there was an announcement last week that the Cultural Olympiad (cultural programme to accompany the 2012 Games), had been quietly dropped. So no more prospects there then! Since my last post I have filled in two proofreading tests for a part-time job on a school leaver's salary, applied to work freelance for an online business that proofreads (?) student essays and sent desperate emails to various people trying to generate some interest in my unique skills set. Resounding silence all round so far.

It's grim. Reminds me a bit of Thatcher's 80s which is doubly disturbing. I managed to leave the country for much of that but leaving again now is out of the question so I guess it's payback time. Rather appropriately the Linton Kwesi Johnson song, 'Inglan' is a Bitch', has been thrown up on random a disturbing number of times recently. Unfortunately no one I've come across seems to quite relate to that sentiment. Everyone has their own more specific bitch - the immigrants, the politicians, the banks. In some cases I've been the bitch and  have already offended several (now possibly former) friends by culturally ill advised comments relating to burn up on re-entry to this sceptred isle. Maybe I should stay in more...

PS.   If anyone in the UAE still reading this drivel is considering coming back to the UK in the near future, DON'T!! 

Double dips

I am still unemployed but am becoming rather more philosophical about it now. In fact am considering myself fortunate for being able to retire in my 40s. My social life has definitely improved and although I don't have the lifestyle that I would like to accompany my early retirement, I do have a PhD in living well on a budget so it's not too bad.

I will of course continue to tout my ass around the market place even if it is just to reassure spouse that I still have earnings potential to contribute to the marriage. However, my prospects are looking grimmer this week because the UK is apparently in danger of a double dip recession. I know all about double dips. Having not had a cold for 2 years I am now getting double dip colds all the time. One ends and within 24 hours of leaving the house that telltale sore throat is with me again.

Apart from double dips the other main conversational trends in the UK these days seem to be migration (more hysterical than 2 years ago), the 'broken society' (political shorthand for election on the way) and paganism (challenging Islam and evangelical Christianity for the fastest-growing-religion-in-Britain prize). Of course some things stay the same and the old favourites as always are the weather, sport, paedophiles and the property market.

Tony Blair's appearance at the Chilcot enquiry caused a conversational ruffle even though everyone knows it's a waste of time and public money. It is very interesting to see just how raw the Iraq issue still is and how much anger it still generates.  The appearance and subsequent press coverage meant there were about 24 hours where it felt like the last 8 years hadn't happened which was very odd.

On the art front I gave a talk this week about the UAE art scene which was fun and have a couple of potential shows - one in May and one in October - so those should keep me occupied. I really need to risk the triple dip cold and venture out into the wilds of London exhibition land too....

In the meantime, here's a pic that encapsulates the contemporary British weekend....

No news but snow news and still no job..

It’s the coldest snowiest winter for decades and the whole country has ground to a halt as has news reporting about anything else. I don’t care because I am loving every flake that falls. After two years in the UAE getting a winter like this is an absolute treat. Of course if I had to do anything, other than the 5 min walk to the gym or the supermarket, I am sure I would not be enjoying it quite so much.

However, I am starting to get very frustrated about my unemployed status. It seems that my last two years of experience in the UAE is completely irrelevant to any job I apply for here. The cultural and arts sector in London is huge and I am sure that most jobs advertised are oversubscribed. So I assumed that some recent international experience covering policy, production and publication would actually give me an advantage but of course it doesn’t work like that. Employment seems to be on the basis of committed insularity which means that potential employees know how best to operate within the UK network. I know this makes sense and it’s the same everywhere. All that really changes is the size and depth of the pond but this experience of coming back to the UK is markedly different from my two previous re-entries.

On returning from Japan it was easy to find work, partly because I spoke Japanese but also because there was a big Japanese community in London so there were plenty of places to look where my experience was likely to be valued. When I returned from Jerusalem it was also easy to find work. I was there during an interesting period and had also managed to pick up a whole bunch of very useful new skills. As is usually the case with the Middle East I had also met people who knew other people who made sure that I met the right people when I got back to the UK.

This time, however, there is really nowhere to go. There is such a strange and complete disconnection from the UAE. It’s as if it only exists when you are physically there. It feels like I dreamed the whole thing and then woke up with some new but completely useless knowledge that I cannot apply outside of that environment. The UAE embassy doesn't even have a cultural desk which is quite ironic given the amount of energy spent promoting it over the last two years!

I just hope something comes up soon otherwise I can see myself heading to the refuge of the eBay shop. By the time I’ve flogged all the stuff I’ve accumulated from everywhere over the years, I’ll probably be in the market for an environmemtally friendly eBay coffin.

Missing Dubai..

Got back from the US trip a week or so ago and London has been pissing down with rain ever since. Combined with the inevitably dramatic next episode of the family soap and the slight matter of having no job and thus zero income ... yep... reality is kicking in big time!


Luckily my mind has been slightly taken off all of this grimness by the kind of drama in Dubai which is really making me wish I was there! First, people one wouldn't have expected to lose their jobs did and then it was revealed that Sheikh Mo didn't buy any new racehorses in Kentucky this year.... er.... I mean that Dubai World can't pay its debts as scheduled. The news was mostly covered in the UK in the usual slavering and hysterical fashion and I lost count of the glaring factual errors even in the so called quality press (FT being the honourable exception). I also lost count of how many times I read 'playground of the rich', 'desert sands shift' and that old favourite 'dark side'. Will somebody please rescue British Journalism?

Anyway.... what all of this means is that the exchange of gossip, rumour and speculation in the UAE right now must be absolutely unmissable.... and I am deeply sorry that I am missing it. It was what made living there most worthwhile! Well ... and the weather in winter. And the art of course....

Beaches, bays, seals and sunsets..

The Pacific horizon seen from the dramatic, rocky beaches of a 1000 mile (ish) coastline with mountains behind is a combination that makes the central Californian coast unique and special. Add loads of wildlife, the Big Sur River, creeks, waterfalls, pine, redwood and eucalyptus trees and it really is a mega fix for nature junkies. This is the fourth time I’ve been here and it is still as beautiful although the effects of last year’s wildfires and subsequent landslides are still visible. A lot of the trails in the parks are still closed and there are repairs and reinforcements along the coastal Route 1.

This part of the trip was really easy. We know this road so well we didn’t have to think about it and we spent a lot of time just walking on beaches, looking at rocks and sunsets……

Or sitting by the Big Sur River…..

We also spent time with the elephant seals near Gorda Springs….

And the sea lions, cormorants and herons in Monterey…..

We also went on a boat trip out of Monterey Bay where we got to see a humpback whale, a bunch of dolphins, zillions of jellyfish and a sun fish. 

Arrived in San Francisco and went out to celebrate the fact that we’d made it across the whole of the USA from East to West without any major problems and amazing weather. Apart from a few hours of rain in Kansas and three days happily watching the world not go by in snowy Denver, it was sunny and clear for the entire two months of the trip.  Now sitting in hotel in Newark, New Jersey right where we started after flying back across the continent from San Fran.

Avoiding cities and interstates made this trip pretty relaxed most of the time and staying in small towns made it a much more interesting experience. In the middle of the country almost everyone we met seemed to vote Republican including one woman who actually said ‘Fox News is the Truth’ and a lone Democrat who assured me ‘There are no liberals in America’.  We also found some of the quackest (and creepiest) TV religionists in the middle too, some of whom seem to think the Bible was written by Nostradamus.

I was intending to see and write about a lot more (presumably still) ‘liberal’ art on this trip but it didn’t happen. This was partly because we were on the road and not spending much time in towns except to sleep and eat (and canvas political views in motels, restaurants and bars…). However, I think it was mostly because the spectacle and enormity of the landscape was so all encompassing it seemed to become the art itself or at least make human creation temporarily redundant. So I guess there will have to be more art ..... on the next road trip! We could start in Boston and head west from there taking the Northern Route instead ......

Zion to Vegas to SLO ...

The drive from Bryce to our next stop of Zion National Park was on the two scenic highways of 89 and 9 both characterised by mountainous scenery, intermittent plains and occasionally an arc h to drive through.

Zion has solid, vertical rock faces that seem to go straight up to the sky, very different to the delicacy of Bryce. The only way of entering the park from the East is through a dark, narrow, mile long tunnel going straight through a mountain. The tunnel is illuminated by carved ‘windows’ in the side of the mountain and although going through it was pretty freaky, it was amazing looking back at the side of the mountain and seeing the windows from the outside.

After the solitude of Bryce, Zion seemed quite hectic. There was a constant stream of traffic on the park driveway and a lot of people on the mostly paved trails including two busloads of Chinese tourists and a high school busload too. So we didn’t really do much except stare at huge rocks, sit by the river and get rained on by Weeping Rock where droplets of water cascade gently from an overhang.  Outside of the park, however, there are several other hiking trails so we took one long, and very hot hike through a backcountry desert area surrounded by mountains.

One of the most enjoyable things was actually just chilling in the town of Springdale which forms the western entrance to Zion. There are of course lots of motels serving the park but they don’t take over because Springdale is a really pleasant and funky little town with a lot of personality and some great restaurants. This was a marked contrast to the horrendous tourist town creation of Ruby’s Inn at the entrance to Bryce which we studiously avoided by staying 10 miles down the road in Tropic.

From Zion we left on Route 9 and then joined the I-15 where we drove through a corner of Arizona for about 15 miles before crossing the Nevada state line. We were heading to Vegas baby…..

The last time spouse and myself were in Vegas was nine years ago and we had lots of fun. We stayed two nights at the Hard Rock Hotel then so we stayed two nights at the Hard Rock Hotel this time too. The difference was that last time we got married so this time was an anniversary celebration. The Hard Rock Hotel is truly wonderful for musical obsessives like spouse and myself and after six weeks of cheap motels, staying in a huge corner room with glass walls on the 11th floor was absolute bliss. We had lots of fun this time but it’s pretty easy to have fun in Vegas. It’s such a wacky town all you need to do is sit with a long, cold drink in an assortment of locations and just watch the wackiness go by. I gambled a whole dollar in a slot machine at Caesar’s Palace and promptly quit after getting 6 dollars back so don’t suppose I’ll ever develop a gambling problem.

From Vegas it was a short whizz through the desert to California and a night in Bakersfield which brought us back down to earth with a crash. The town seems to have tripled in size since we were last there and we drove around for ages in rush hour with no map frantically looking for a motel. When the ‘Americas Best Value Inn' sign suddenly appeared amid the exhaust fumes I almost wept with relief. The evening then improved dramatically when we discovered Pizzaland. Bakersfield may have grown but it still seemed like the whole town was in there watching the football, drinking beer and eating good pizza.

From there it was a relatively short hop towards the central Californian coast and having been to California on three previous trips this part of the journey was very familiar. Pulling into San Luis Obispo (one of our favourite towns on the planet) felt like coming home but it also felt a little sad because it meant we were entering the last stage of the trip and we don’t want it to end…. ever! Can’t we just drive around seeing cool stuff until we just drop dead by the roadside???

Bryce Canyon

The next morning we were back on Route 12 and pretty soon arrived at a destination that almost everyone we spoke to had advised us to visit – Bryce Canyon.  There are no adjectives, in English at least, that can begin to convey the jaw-dropping awesomeness of Bryce Canyon. The first day was amazing enough and that was just taking the Queens Garden and Navajo loop trail around what is called the amphitheatre.

 Bryce is characterised by hoodoos which are vertically eroded limestone formations. The old Indian legend is that the people who lived here were bad and so Coyote turned them into rock and there they stand (or sit) to this day for all to see. There are two types of limestone but other minerals and anomalies of geological history combine to create not only shapes but a subtle and beautiful harmony of colours.

On our second day we drove the whole 18 miles of the park stopping at overlooks like the Natural Bridge and hiking the short and easy Bristlecone Loop at the southern end. This was just a warm up for the magnificent Fairyland Trail at the northern end of Bryce. It’s quite a tough trail over 4 miles which switches elevations so it goes up and down a lot before ending at a feature called Tower Bridge.

There is an alternative return route but Fairyland was so magical we walked the whole 4 miles back as well. Partly because it’s a tough trail and partly because of the season we only saw another two people over the entire 5 hours or so it took us. Most of the time our only other company was the ravens and even they disappeared for much of this trail so it was like being the lone explorers of another planet at times. In fact the whole experience was pretty much out of this world.......

UT-AWE

The first night in Utah was spent at the Green River Budget Inn which was an old independent motel in the town centre. Green River was a perfect example of a phenomenon we have noticed in a lot of these small US towns. As you enter the towns there are a whole cluster of newish looking chain motels accompanied by fast food places and in the town itself there are inevitably several derelict independent motel buildings and restaurants. Visitors no longer need to go into the town itself and this has a really negative effect on the economies of some of these small towns. 

The manager of the Budget Inn told us that people don’t trust old looking motels any more either. This is such a shame because independent motels always have more character, are generally cheaper, have thicker walls and are downtown so you can actually walk somewhere to eat and get to meet a few locals at the same time. It also means you get to see bizarre things like the real missile placed ornamentally in the park opposite the Budget Inn.

From Green River we slightly backtracked to the national park of Canyonlands before heading west again. This was a nice stop with views over canyons and mountains and a great view through a big natural arch.  There was actually another park nearby full of natural sandstone arches but we spent so long in Canyonlands we decided to give this a miss and move on.

We spent that night in the tiny town of Hanksville in a rather pricey (but swish) motel called the Henry Mountain Hideaway which seemed to be the only accommodation in town. We actually had to telephone the manager who then drove down to the motel to take our money and give us the key. The whole transaction was completed inside the only store in the town which he also seemed to be the manager of. We needed some food for dinner so he got some more of our money. I guess this explains why he was driving a Bentley.

The journey through Utah was stunning from the start. From the I-70 we took, highway 24 south and then continued south on Highway 12. There really isn’t very much in this part of Utah except small towns, big mountains, multicoloured rocks and desert landscapes. Occasionally there are some cows or horses but that’s about it apart from the moon which seems to be visible for most of the day as well as night.  We passed through Capitol Reef park and had a couple of nice stops. One where we just parked in a layby and walked around a rocky desert area with the Henry Montains in the background and another official trail through a very echoey steep sided canyon.

When we got as far as Boulder we stopped and stayed at the Circle Mountains Motel which will be our smallest and cutest motel experience for sure. It was actually one of three rooms in a building next to the owner’s house and had obviously been decorated personally and with great care. As much as I like motels this was a nice change from the format and a restaurant serving classic American 'home cookin'he town was just a short walk past the ranch as the sun set .........

The perfect storm..

Coming into Denver, Highway 285 magically turned into route 30 which couldn’t have been better because we were visiting an old friend of mine who just happened to live off route 30! I hadn’t heard or seen anything of this friend for almost 25 years and then a few months ago he found me on Facebook. There are people from my past who I would really not want to find me on Facebook, but I was absolutely delighted to hear from this guy so Denver was a must.

The weather was fine when we arrived but a snowstorm started later that night and the next morning everything was under 8 inches of snow. It snowed for most of that day and all through the following night and all we could do was grin as the car disappeared under a thick, white dome. It was absolutely fantastic. We did nothing that first day except sit around in my friend’s lovely, peaceful apartment, listen to music, attempt to remember what happened 25 years ago and generally catch up with each other’s lives.

The next day, my friend had to work so spouse and myself decided to go downtown. We couldn’t actually move the car so we headed out on foot looking for a bus. In the end we found a cab which got us to Nine Mile station and we took the light rail into central Denver.

 The seats on the platforms were the only colour other than white for most of the journey and even Denver’s giant blue bear was a little snowed under.  We took a bus down to Colfax (which has got to be Denver’s greatest street) and spent a lot of time in a music store called Twist and Shout where we found some vintage concert posters as well as new (and old) music. Walking back up Colfax we saw a lot of interesting looking places and a rather impressive icicle display …..

When we got up the next day, the sun was out and the snow was already melting. The perfect storm was sadly over so after checking that the interstate going west was clear, we rather reluctantly got back on the road.  We went part of the way back via the eastern end of Colfax where there are a lot of interesting old motel buildings and two old theatres, the Fox and the Bluebird, which are now regular Denver music venues. Next time we'll go to a gig..... or two....

Normally interstates are pretty dull but the I-70 crossed through part of the Rockies and it was breathtaking. The mountains towered above the road on all sides and there was a particular section as we exited a tunnel that is one of the most beautiful natural sights I have ever seen.

We spent that night in the small Rocky Mountain town of Eagle which had a lot going for it. Fantastic location, good restaurant with excellent food, views and a huge log fire. The mural painted Eagle Grand Motel was in spitting distance too. Unfortunately our room was freezing cold with a crap heater but what was infinitely worse was being next door to the resident loony. He had the TV blasting all night while he was crashed out, presumably after taking his prescription meds which he had informed us about earlier. When he was awake he was either running a manic monologue about Bible College or singing disjointed fragments from late Neil Young and Fleetwood Mac albums. From his age and appearance we concluded that he had probably taken too much of the brown acid and didn't get his memory back until the 1970s.

We got up the next morning cold, tired and homicidal but the beauty of the I-70 that took us the rest of the way out of Colorado meant that we were feeling good again as we crossed the State Line into Utah accompanied by Townes Van Zandt…..