Life in the desert is inspiring. The sort of things that live here are focussed; they seize every chance—act on every opportunity. That behaviour stands in sharp contrast to my own life since I became a smartphone owner nearly twenty years ago. Desert-dwellers do not hear a beep, read a message, follow a link and […]
When I arrived in the Emirates, I saw the giant desert dunes as surrogates for my beloved Norwegian mountains and was happy. Here I could walk to my heart’s content and enjoy the silence and tranquillity unique to the desert. The Emiratis were also happy about their dunes, but for a different reason; one that […]
Winter, unless it comes with plenty of snow and cold, crisp, sunny days with blue skies, isn’t useful for much. The worst type of winter is the one that offers near-perpetual downpour, grey skies, short days and around-zero temperatures. That, incidentally, is the type of winter we have in Belgium – and indeed in most […]