Boy is sick...

DH has been moaning about how late we go to bed considering how early we have to get up ( well how early he has to get up!) so last night we were in bed and asleep before 11pm ( unheard of for the nightbird that I am!)

1105pm my mobile rings - in my dream, I thought but no it continued - after knocking into everything bar the blackberry on the bedside table I answered it to hear a very sad, little voice "Hi Mama"

My poor baby boy was ill at school and in the sick bay and I am a 7 hour flight away and there is NOTHING I can do :(

Pilates, Swimming, Walking.....

So this week I decided to start my fitness drive (drive, now there's a funny word - no driving here for a woman!)

Our week starts on a Saturday as the Saudi weekend is Thursday and Friday. So Saturday morning was my 1st Pilates Class with Cynthia at another compound about 30 mins drive away.  (In London I did a one to one pilates session on the reformer machine 3 times a week - Very spoilt, hugely expensive but saved my body and soul from the madness of being a working Mum.)  Cynthia teaches a mat pilates class to 4-6 ladies maximum and Saturaday's class was to be an hour on the stability ball ( I am so unco-ordinated I usually fall off!)

Luckily I LOVED it - my friend Joanne and I have now signed up to go twice a week.  As you can see from the photos we look pretty odd for going off to do some exercise - In Saudi women MUST wear  an abaya ( a long black cloak-like dress with ZERO shape) whenever they leave their house ( or Western Compound) -

As you can see the compounds in Riyadh are very fortified with barbed wire, high walls, security guards and LOTS of concrete bollards!

Weirdly you soon get used to handing over your passport to get into various compounds to visit friends, take a class etc

So that was Saturday morning - Even better was when I got home our fabulous cook VeeJay had baked a Gluten Free Banana cake - it was still warm and had to be tasted - surely an hour of pilates deserved tea and cake on the verandah?

        Only the crumbs left on the plates!

Forgot to mention I also bought a copy of Hello Middle East Version!

I'm digressing - back to fitness.... So Sunday I was to swim in the pool at 730am when DH left for work - OK I fell off the wagon on Sunday and stayed in bed!!  So when DH eventually came home from work Sunday evening I forced him to walk the "compound walk" with me - basically we walked the circumference of the compound at dusk ( compound is 1km square). Not much to look at whilst you walk - all the houses are pretty much the same!

        
     I may look pregnant in this photo I AM NOT!!!!

So Today is Monday and I went to Pilates with Cynthia again so I'm doing pretty well 2 days out of 3!

Have considered taking up yoga in order to........

Weekend Brunch in Riyadh

So this morning we had to visit the Gold Souk near Masmak Fort ( sorry Ladies you can only go inside on Mondays and Wednesdays!!!) 

We needed to collect M's birthday present necklace that was being made up - gorgeous Amazonite pendant on white gold chain - very fitting for a 13th birthday present!

The Gold Souk is in the old part of Riyadh and is made up of lots of small shops - shops is rather a grand word really they are stalls but they sell the most amazing pieces of jewellery - 18 and 24kt gold and white gold are the main metals plus LOTS of diamonds! 

Diamonds are big business in Riyadh and so much cheaper than London - you basically pay for the karat weight and clarity and don't really pay anything extra for the design or workmanship ( the same applies to the gold - all priced by weight!) Years ago (12 to be exact!) DH bought me some diamond ear studs after daughter was born ( he bought them from the very same gold souk in Riyadh) and I have pretty much worn them every day since then.  It seems I am a very lucky lady as he decided I needed an earring upgrade and fortunately Unit 27 had just the ones I loved!! ( Remember readers it is our 17th wedding anniversary in 2 days and my birthday in 8 days - February is hugely expensive for DH) 

LUCKY, Lucky, Lucky ME!!! Diamonds really are a girls best friend!

After I'd wiped the sweat off his brow at spending so many Saudi Ryals in one hit when we have just paid 2 lots of school fees, flights and builders in Norfolk it was time for late brunch.... Luckily we bumped into friends ( also shopping at Unit 27!) and they took us to eat at Cafe Bateel in Riyadh Centre (there are a few of these cafes throughout Riyadh - we went to the one at 235 Tahlia Street bizarrely it is also called Prince Mohammed bin Abdulaziz St.!!!!)

Unusually for Riyadh restaurants all the tables in the Family Section ( single men cannot eat with women and children so if you are just Ladies you go in through the doors for Families, if you are with your husband you go into the Families section also ) were open plan and not sectionned off into booths with curtains surrounding the table and a little bell to ring for service... it was just like being in a Lebanese/European Cafe - so light and airy with great service and delicious food.  Having only eaten a slice of Gluten Free banana bread for breakfast I was HUNGRY - I had chicken and avocado sale which came with a great balsamic dressing. I will definetely been coming back to Cafe Bateel! DH had a seafood risotto and agreed it was delicious.  However, the best was yet to come....

Coffee and Teas were served with the plumpest juiciest coldest dates I have ever eaten - pure deliciousness.  So we had to visit the shop on the ground floor selling dates and chocolates...

Dates with Orange Peel

Dark Chocolate with Strawberry cream

Beautifully Packaged

Plump and Juicy... there are numerous varieties of dates. The Bateel groves in Saudi Arabia produce more than 20 varieties of premium dates and these are sold in the Cafe - some are fresh, some dried some stuffed
 (the best I tasted were stuffed with caramelised almonds!)

We ended up buying a mixed kilo ( who knew we needed that many!!) of plain and filled dates and I'm still eating them as I type this!! Thank god I am off to Pilates on Saturday morning!

Happy weekend from Rainy Riyadh

(Some images courtesy of Bateel.com) 

I LOVE British Airways!

So this is it - Flat in Notting Hill gone after 6 years , Children in boarding schools, air freight enroute to Riyadh so it was time for me to get on that aircraft.

I have been dreading this trip - the first time I will leave the babies in UK.  

However, DH is a very clever man ( I know he doesn't read my blog so he won't get big-headed!)
He made the trip with me AND made sure I was travelling in Business - the champagne helped my sadness no end - HUGE thank you to the 2 lovely ladies on the top deck on Monday (28th Jan) to RUH who kept the bubbles flowing

Six and a half very comfortable hours London to Riyadh 

Just before landing I morph into this....

Tired but ready for a "whole new world"

S N O W & Storage

Who knew that so much snow would fall just as the removal trucks arrive?

OMG so cold and nowhere to put everything ( wish I was in Riyadh - not helped by Darling Husband sending BBM's quoting the weather temperature (22c-24c most days!) whilst sitting reading by the pool!)

Our beautiful Studio, almost attached to our House in Norfolk, that we have been building for the past 18 months in now almost finished - looks fabulous or rather it DID look fabulous until it became floor to ceiling storage !! Amazing how much stuff you can store if you think about it - not sure we need most of the stuff ....clothes, books, more clothes, more books - they really do take up a lot of boxes! And beds we seem to have a lot of beds but even more mattresses!

The Studio was originally garaging with an outside loo and was all falling down and in need of total repair - Now we have a stunning studio room with huge high ceilings with 3 pendant lights hanging from between the beams.  We kind of ran out of money so our builder came up with the idea to use old scaffold boards on the floor - once sanded and stained they will look brilliant - and a fraction of the cost of a new wood floor. We've had double French style glass doors handmade with hinges that open back against the wall to look out onto the courtyard ( ah this is the dreaming bit - the courtyard is currently a carpark and dumping ground for the builders! It looks like we need another skip!)

The shower room in the studio is my fave part - for years we have only had an upstairs loo 
( this has been quite tricky especially when the kids were potty training!!) and now we have an amazing travertine tiled walk in shower which has been fantastic over the summer - no more sand in the house, no more Norfolk mud-riden children.  They all pile into the showeroom together ( enjoying the under flloor heating!) and even the chores of rinsing out wetsuits and life jackets have been transformed with an outside tap and butlers sink!

We've had this house for 10 years and we always new it would be a "work in progress" but it does seem never ending sometimes....our bedroom currently has no ceiling, but there's another blog post!

Last Day in Notting Hill...

OMG our flat looks so horrid without furniture ( and very dusty!) the removal guys have been here for 3 days packing and loading ( wasn't the simplest move with a quarter of our stuff going air freight to Riyadh and the rest to our house in Norfolk!)  They have been A M A Z I N G considering we live on the 4th floor and our lift has been under refurbishment for the months ! Four flights of stairs is hard work when carrying the Tesco shopping but HELL when carrying a rowing machine, chest of drawers or wardrobe!!

It is rather fitting that although it is cold outside the sun is shinning and Notting Hill couldn't look prettier!

Farewell for now we will return but 1st we have an Arabian adventure ......

By the side of the road...

Who knows what we might find by the side of the road .... in Riyadh

Our compound is on the outskirts of Riyadh out in the desert - locals can be seen at sunset on Thursdays and Fridays (our weekend) pulling off the highway into the dunes for a picnic or a MAD off road drive on a quad bike - initially something that our boy was very keen to try - luckily he got wise and noticed how dangerous it was - no helmets no insurance no idea!!!

Our drive to anywhere seems to take about 40 mins minimum and there is a camel souk along the highway and Bedouin tents (black/dark brown with cream stripes) selling fresh camel's milk by the cup....we haven't tried it yet! There are also dozens of Hay sellers  - whose would you choose ? Green hay? Dried out hay? Who knew there was so much choice...

     Check out the axle on the pick up truck on the left ...

 
     I'm quite fond of the green hay - not sure which the Camels and Donkeys prefer but I will find out!

So we've seen the camels, we've seen the Hay and we will try to milk at some stage....

Alittle further along the Highway there are a number of shops and petrol pumps ( remember this is the land where oil /gas are cheaper than water - everyone has a car or truck, everyone drives and most vehicles only have 1 person in it) - the traffic is terrible (worse than Central London) and the driving is so so bad ( check out the truck driving up the verge)... anyway I digress... further along the Highway is an area where the men hang about looking for work ....

 
     I think this guy may have actually parked like this - do that in RBK&C and you would be clamped !