A Canadian in Abu Dhabi, UAE

When I visited the Louvre Abu Dhabi this week for a preview before it opens to the public this weekend (and boy is this a gorgeous building) I was particularly looking forward to installation commissioned from the American conceptual artist Jenny Holzer, titled, aptly, For Louvre Abu Dhabi. Although she is often known for using neon light, most recently seen in her current exhibition, Softer, at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, Holzer’s Louvre Abu Dhabi piece features something much different - and she is not messing around with the details.

Go here to register for this 8.5km track along Abu Dhabi's Corniche on Friday, January 19. See you there!

I just returned from another trip deep into Mussafah, Abu Dhabi's industrial area, after taking my car into the Volvo dealership. It was to be a routine service, but as they delicately explained, there is something wrong with my engine. Gulp.

So I left the car, ordered a Careem, and am back at home expecting a big bill - or maybe having to decide whether I even bother fixing the car. But I'm also facing next week without a car, when I really need one, because the technician already warned me this was going to take awhile.

And here's where if I had to do it over again, I wouldn't bother buying a used car in Abu Dhabi. I would go new.

I bought my 2008 Volvo C70 back in 2013 because it was a) a convertible and b) a good price. And although I have loved that car more than any other in my life, it has had some major problems over the years. I once blew a radiator hose on a trip back from Yas Island, which damaged the engine (and which I suspect is the source of today's…

I've been meaning to try standup paddle boarding for 5 years now. During an interview with an expat website literally five years ago, I indicated that I was going to be trying standup paddle boarding imminently. 
And the thing was, I meant to. I really did. I don't know where the time goes on these things, but I guess it's the same gaping hole that swallowed my book and my screenplay. But you can't really compare something that would take two hours and is a five-minute drive from my house to something that would take hundreds of hours to complete.