Unmoved in Abu Dhabi

February 15 seems a long away when you have been waiting for the completion of a flat found in November and theoretically due to be completed before Christmas.

To my untutored eye, as I walk a shaky gangplank into the building and poke around an interior that seems to have months of work left to do, it begins to look absurdly close.


Everything has a distinctly unfinished look, from the doorless rooms and piles of rubble to the curious absence - so far - of any door leading on to the terrace. Meanwhile, the one man obviously working is on a ladder, coating a wall, while another makes pleasant small talk and a third lies fast asleep on the rooftop.

But mid-Feb, I am assured, is when my flat, on the top floor of this impressive building close to the palace of Sheikh Mohammed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, will be ready. Inshallah.

Add to inshallah the need to organise such trivial considerations as electricity supply and you are already pushing back any hopes of occupancy to, possibly beyond, the end of the month. I prefer to look on the bright side, however, and enter what I hope is the closing phase of my homelessness with optimism and even a little excitement at the prospect making a new home in a far-off land.

There is no need to get carried away with the exotic aspect of this adventure. We may be 3,500 miles from the North Circular, but one of the first ports of call when handover of keys is finally - and dependably - imminent will be the premises of that well-known purveyor of Eastern furniture and fittings, IKEA.