RUB A DUB DUBAI...

kay, so I have been bad. Work has been insane... Life even more so. But we're starting to get hatemail over pictures promised and not delivered, so here goes, instalment number 2. Non-chronological, but seriously, are you really fussed? This one's the furthest from the first it can get - Pete's (21st) birthday pitstop in Dubai on the way back home. Shall not even venture to try and describe the state we were getting in, but needless to say, we didn't let it get in the way of hitting the dunes hours later (literally). Thanks to the Reuben and the gang at FTC, we were kitted and sorted before we could say "cure". Kinda appropriate then that we were stuck in a GMT time warp between St Patrick's Day and Pete's Bday because we had every excuse possible to be somewhat trippy yet gagworthy when we were coming down a slope at a 180 degree angle in a four wheel drive (I have new respect; note to Dermot and Mary from Pete: 4WheelDrives can do more than cart home truckloads of groceries... Really!?!). The. Dunes. ROCKED. Okay, so I will admit I got a bit green. Pete did too! But of course, the biggest challenge to our egos was Rajveer, the 6-year-old that belongs to Reshma and Ranjit (our ex-neighbour and single malt-kaki), who came along, and was COMPLETELY unfazed by 12-storey high dunes that had me begging for the mercy of anything or anyone who would listen... Sighs, to be young and fearless. I was too roughed up when we got back to the desert camp to brave the quad bikes, but I had a great time with the camels while I waited for the boys. Wait. That sounded very wrong. Ho Hum. But really, it was awesome (and would have been even more so had we not been completely hungover and jetlagged). Pete's already booked himself for a trip back... next week preferably, he says... Caught up with long lost cousin Mehirr and his fiance Amna, as we already mentioned.... It was really really great fun, especially since the last time I saw him was when I was 12 (which was, like, oh, maybe, erm, less than a decade and some ago....).... Very very strange but also oh so cool. Hit the city two nights in a row, had great food, good drinks, bought brilliant spices. And before the nights were through managed to find ourselves on national radio (one of half a million things he does).... They played a couple of songs from Kal Ho Na Ho (to anyone who was at our wedding, it was, like, the recurring theme - the songs the kids all danced to) dedicated to Ravi (Pete's, erm, Indian name) and Arti Williams... It was utterly hilarious. Okay, so enough of the rambling. Here's a peek into the mayhem.... Much more to come in the next 48 hours... Really! No, really! Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com Hugs, Art