First steps

Abu Dhabi is as warm as I'd expected.

By that, I mean that it feels, at 36 degrees C or more, very hot indeed when you've just arrived - not, in my case, from the blue skies of the French Riviera that were mine until recently but from a grey and often wet London. The more seasoned of my new acquaintances were doubtless thinking of wrapping up against the chill.

The photographs allow you to share the view from my 11th floor hotel window - a window that doesn't open, as the quality of the image may indicate - along with one classic juxtaposition of Europe and Arabia and another picture showing how the place looks from the first of the prospective apartments I inspected.

But initial impressions of Abu Dhabi, if you leave aside the new-kid-in-school pangs that affect many people, whatever their age, when landing in unfamiliar territory, are positive. There was a jolly quiz night to help ward off jet lag, and early progress in the search for a game of badminton.

My future colleagues are a talented and friendly bunch and I have already made one small discovery that sets the place apart from the UK (though not France).

One of my last acts before leaving Heathrow was to pop into a shop that calls itself Welcome to Glorious Britain to buy a reminder of "home" for someone who has been providing invaluable help and advice.

The so British tins of tea looked ideal. But while they came in threes, each was sold as an individual item. Could they, I asked, be placed together and gift wrapped? I have clearly spent too long in France, since the shop assistant seemed surprised by my ambition. Eventually he produced some thin tissue and tried inexpertly to enclose the tins within it.

By the time I reached Abu Dhabi, it was a sorry mess. He'd also left the price tags on the tins. The gift was handed over unwrapped, in a small plastic bag as if the tea was the product of a trip to the corner shop.

Lizzie, the recipient, was understanding, and assured me that every shop worth visiting here will cheerfully offer the Emirates equivalent of le paquet cadeau.

When you have become used to such small gestures as natural, however modest the purchase, it tends to matter when they are just as routinely unavailable. But what amazes me is the failure of Welcome to Glorious Britain to seize the obvious marketing and sales tools of using appropriately designed gift wrapping in the first place.


There are a lot of formalities to overcome before I can regard myself as properly settled, but I will offer more thoughts as opportunities arise.