I have tried for you: living in Oman. Chapter 1, Muscat is not a city, it is a motorway.

So big news, I have moved to Oman, but everyone knows this already. Oman is a smallish (same size as the UK!) country, in the Middle East, on the coast. Capital city is Muscat, where I live, which is a 4 hour drive from Dubai, and a 7:30 flight from London. A whole different world.

I have moved pretty much without notice, and essentially without any preconceived ideas, which is quite rare for me. I had in mind that I was going somewhere new, somewhere hot, somewhere where Arabic was the main language but where English was widely spoken. And indeed, I was going to that somewhere for a work mission that sounded awesome - luckily, it turned out to be exactly that, so all in all there was not much space allowed for pondering the decision. The Muslim part, I had blocked out almost completely. How have I done so, I can't explain to myself, but again, less than 2 minutes were enough for me to answer "yes" to the question "Do you fancy moving to Oman for a bit?", so fair enough, i guess.

I had pictured Muscat as a seaside Marrakesh type of city. Wrong, very wrong my dear. Muscat is a seaside motorway. The city is spread between 2 busy 4-way roads, spread over a good 1:15 drive, from the marina at the South (Sidab) to the airport up North (as Seeb). From what I have seen so far, the concept of pedestrians - or pavement, for that matters - is pretty much nonexistent. Oh, and as for the picture - notice anyone walking? No. This is not a pavement, it is a road ornament, duh.

Good news is, I don't have to drive for 1:15 everyday as I live in Azaiba,  10min South from the office. I hardly ever have to go all the way South to the Marina during the week. My longest drive on a normal day would be 30min, one way.

Bad news is, I have to drive at least twice a day, every day. As I said, there is no walking in this country in the summer.

Bad news, why?
Well, to put it mildly they drive like Italians around here. And don't we all know what that means.

I have this great new game called Russian Roulette Roundabout.

I play it every day, it is a lot of fun. I'll have to tell you more about it next time.

Roger and out for today, missing you all !