LAST WEEKS IN DUBAI

 

Buffalo NY at the head of Lake Eerie and gateway to the canal that gives shipping access to the Atlantic. This is where the Larkin soap factory and mail order business was located. The admin building was Frank Lloyd Wright's attempt to adapt his prairie house style to a commercial building.

Vertical circulation and services are expressed very clearly as rectangular masses. Air conditioning is a primary source of design expression as he grapples with his version of Modernism, so different from the European interpretation.

My Revit model is "getting there" a productive week for me despite the sudden invasion of our lives by IRGC missiles. I stand firmly with the UAE which has been so kind to me this past 22 years. There are things to quibble about of course, but there is such a positive vision of building the future, not destroying rivals but welcoming workers and tourists from everywhere. Just my opinion, you may disagree, I'm not here to argue.

I wish you all well.

 

Time is accelerating as I prepare to leave Dubai. Scanning the last of my little diary notebooks, the one with a big heart on the cover.

Goes back to May 2005 when I first got my hands on Revit. Initial reaction as a long time Autocad user... Shock at the file size. But full of enthusiasm. Getting to know Reference Planes, trying to internalise the distinction between type and instance.

Somehow these notes bring back the taste of my life more than two decades ago, beginning to build a life as I moved into my second year in Dubai.

 

The pink heart notebook contains sporadic diary style entries across 2006 & 2007. It took me a few years to distance myself from 23 years in Mugabe's Zimbabwe. The first ten were great, then there was a steady decline, gradually picking up pace until the last five descended into nightmare.

I met Mugabe a couple of times, lived next door to his sister for a while. Seems so long ago now. The office band helped to keep me grounded. A motley crew, and my job was to bring coherence and life to the venture. Wonderful memories.

I early 2007 I was flat hunting, intending to rent but ended up buying. That was a momentous decision. Next week I will sell it on. Then tie up loose ends and fly back to the country I left 45 years ago.

The place has changed almost as much as I have.

 

Could be my last visit to American Hospital Dubai. So many doctors, nurses and support staff found a place in my heart over the past 3 years. In my book, it's not about public v private, although I have benefited greatly from the latter while it was on offer. It's about the people really.

Hoping for a positive experience with the NHS as I move back to blighty. They just have to take over my cancer treatment. It's firmly in remission thanks to monthly injections and daily meds. In this pic there is a little round plaster on my cheek. Checking for skin cancer, but probably fine. I don't normally see the paper, but in the waiting room I appreciate the positivity of the Gulf News.

The Western Press may be freer to criticise, but I can't help feeling that it's slipped over into morbid negativity in recent years. A bit of national solidarity wouldn't go amiss. But what do I know? Bags are packed (almost) Flight booked. Car and Flat sold.

22 years slipping through my fingers like the fine sands that Dubai is built on.