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 […]
One of the first issues I came to face when I started working in Arabia was that something was fundamentally wrong with the working week. It ended on Thursday—which was good. But then it started on Sunday—which was less so. Until then, I cannot in good conscience say that I knew what a Sunday morning […]
The United Arab Emirates have mountains, too—not merely sand-dunes. These are mostly in the north and the east—but there is one in Abu Dhabi Emirate too. One. That ‘one’, is Jebel Hafeet—the ’empty’ mountain—located on the border between Oman and the United Arab Emirates near Al Ain. Jebel Hafeet, with its 1 249 m.a.s.l, towers […]
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 […]
Not even as a failure had my misadventure been complete. My walk had yielded several photos of the mountain I had wanted to climb with which I was pleased. And, the sunset had been—as is the custom of sunsets—faultless. But… to every silver lining, there is a cloud, and that cloud was now on my […]
Bilete teke ein sein kveldstime fredag 3. August 2007 på Håholmen ved Averøya.