The Swan

Gracefulness has been defined to be the outward expression of the inward harmony of the soul

William Hazlitt 

I have had a love of swans since my childhood when I adopted a Bewick swan, Moppet, from Slimbridge Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust and followed her annual migrations with her mate, Money. Swans are graceful and elegant. Watching swans gliding on the water instills a sense of peace and calm. Swans are strong and defensive of their young, being said to be capable of breaking a man’s arm with a swipe of their wing. They are also loyal mates, partnering for life.

As children, we spent a lot of time on the water, and were taught to respect the beauty and strength of the swans. We learnt to watch them from afar, bobbing about in our rubber dinghy and throwing our bread crusts for the coots and mallards.

I am now a swan in Dubai, trying to appear calm and graceful, protecting my family and elegantly gliding along when, under the surface, I’m frantically paddling to stay afloat!

Driving in Dubai

Some beautiful paths can’t be discovered without getting lost

Erol Ozan

It was the taxis that made me think that driving would be impossible here. We used them a lot in those first few days and I sat nervously in the back, watching the tall buildings rush by and witnessing manoeuvres that I knew I would never attempt. I was aware that the longer I left it, the more impossible it would seem, so on the third day I hired a little Chevrolet Spark, buckled the children in the back and set off to see if I could drive to the local supermarket and back without incident.

Now, hundreds of, not uneventful, kilometres later I feel quite at ease on the roads of the Emirates. These are my tips:

Drive on the right, unless you are a gardener on a bicycle.

Sat Nav, Google maps, Waze or all three at once.

Mirror, mirror, mirror, signal, mirror, mirror, mirror, manoeuvre

Be a middle lane driver on the highway

Don’t be in a rush

Take the wrong exit and expect to have a 12km detour to get back on track

A decent stopping gap will be filled by a car, or a bus

Consider joining all the SUVs skipping the traffic jams by bashing across the sand

Keep the fuel tank topped up

Keep calm