It's the Brits who have to worry

Ever since the UK high commission announced yesterday that its expats in the UAE needed to be on high alert for a terrorist alert, I've been joking about how glad I am to be a Canadian. Because not being British, of course, makes me perfectly safe.

Only the British and Aussie governments have issued such a warning. Apparently the British embassy here has been phoning British people and actually telling them to be careful. A friend heard it on the radio and asked if I was going to be sticking around. (Like I have the nerve to announce to a roomful of hardened journalists that I am hightailing it back to Canada over some unspecified "threat")

I am not sure how one is to respond to this. How, exactly, should I take care to avoid a terrorist attack? Should I skip brunch at the British Club? Avoid The Captain's Arms at Le Meridian, where they serve really good fish and chips I have learned to like, though I had to get over my initial disappointment the green stuff was mushy peas and not tartar sauce? No lurking around the British Veterinary Clinic?

I have no idea how to be careful. I do know this is what terrorism is, isn't it? Making people scared of some vague, specified threat so they alter their lives and have trouble sleeping at night?

You could get hit by a car tomorrow (and in the case of Abu Dhabi's wide, six-lane boulevards, this is actually quite possible) so why worry? Plus, may I remind everyone the Brits are the reason we have to force all of our toiletries into an absurdly small plastic bag when boarding planes?

Is Alberta in Calgary?

Yes, I laughed hard too. That's what my Aussie colleague - a well-travelled fellow who has worked all over the world - asked the other day. In all seriousness.

Makes you think though, about how the place you thought was the centre of the universe really doesn't matter very much to the rest of the world.

A wrong number in Abu Dhabi...

...is nothing like in Canada. This morning my phone rang. I knew it would be a wrong number. Why? Because everyone I know here - aside from the front desk staff and the ladies at the coffee shop down the road - I would see at work in a couple of hours. Or they would just text me. Texting is huge here. Even bigger than it is back home.

This is how the conversation went, for WAY too long.

Me: Hello?

Male caller: Allo?

Me: Hello?

Caller: Allo?

Me (hanging up): Argh!

Ooops...

...so the Abu Dhabi Nomads blog is password protected. You would think I would know that, as I am posting to it. I will advise as soon as it is opened to the public.

Funny how you can know someone a short time

My friend is leaving Abu Dhabi tonight. She is going back to London. She doesn't like the city, was making the best of it (and though I'd argued its finer points to her all week, Abu Dhabi is no London) until she found out a friend was really ill.

She was one of the first people I met here, and one of my favourites. Always up for a laugh and a good time. (Actually, my liver is the only part of me that is in a good mood right now) I just said good-bye to her and we were both nearly in tears.

I know I am in the middle of the desert and far from home and still in culture shock, so am probably a little sadder than usual, but I just did not expect to have to say good-bye to someone I really like - so soon after leaving everyone else I really like back in Canada.

Check out the National's new blog...

... Abu Dhabi Nomads. It will be written by a few editors (one of them is me!) and reporters here and just started yesterday.

I have tried camel milk, but did not find it Camelicious

I feel compelled to drink camel milk here, in this place that is really no friend of the environment. Cows are cranky, and require much air-conditioning to produce their milk. Camels, on the other hand, are unaffected by the heat. Camel milk is more nutritious than cows milk too, so what is the holdup?

It's just...that it's camel milk. I picked up a small bottle a couple of weeks ago – yes, it is called "Camelicious" and it comes in chocolate and strawberry. I tested it by using it in coffee. It was fine. I took a sip - different, but good. Then I left the bottle sitting on my desk all day, used it in a cup, and got halfway through before I realised it had gone off.

As I now have. Of camel milk.