Well firstly, a big thank you. My blog reached it’s 5,000th hit this weekend, which I have to say, feels like a great achievement. When I started writing, I didn’t have a particular plan in mind but I certainly didn’t think 500 people a month would be reading what I had to say! It is very gratifying that so many people are interested and keep coming back for more of my random ramblings.

After all, there's so much to say about living in the desert...

I have had a passion for writing for a long time. In college I wrote poetry for some reason – teenage angst I think – and although I have no doubt it was awful, it started a lifetime habit of expressing myself and my feelings through the written word. I take enormous pleasure in writing. In my twenties I dabbled in fiction but I quickly realised that I find it easier to get creative when I write about reality. For me, sharing my experiences, ideas and opinions and writing them down for someone else to read is just as exhilarating as being up on a stage in front of an audience. Knowing that my blog has attracted and retained a readership that stretches way beyond my nearest and dearest is extremely rewarding.

I have written a lot about where life is taking me. Living in this temporary expat bubble can often feel like marking time. Indeed, if you read my earlier blog entries I have often expressed my opinion that there is little point in starting something if you never know when you will have to finish it and move on. In my time in Dubai I have not only applied this to myself in terms of career but friendships too. I have also, for far too long, held the belief that having a baby has somehow diminished my capacity to achieve. Not only is this complete rubbish (surely raising a child is the biggest achievement of all, for starters!) but it has also been to my detriment, I realise now. I have ambition and have stifled it because I have been too busy wishing my life different. However I’m pleased to report this train of thought is shifting, finally. Through writing this blog I have been able to think a little more clearly about how I might change things for the better in spite of my circumstances, or even because of them. It has helped me to discover how my ambition might shape itself in the future, and for that I am thankful, that I have been able to write my way to a better place.

Keep reading.