“Night falls. Or has fallen. Why is it that night falls, instead of rising, like the dawn? Yet if you look east, at sunset, you can see night rising, not falling; darkness lifting into the sky, up from the horizon, like a black sun behind cloud cover. Like smoke from an unseen fire, a line of fire just below the horizon, brushfire or a burning city. Maybe night falls because it’s heavy, a thick curtain pulled up over the eyes.”
Margaret Atwood
Thursday
It has been a busy week.
A parent information night that takes us past 7.30 pm.
As we walk out in the darkness the school takes on a completely new perspective—the quiet desert is wrapped in oppressive heat and humidity. The school in darkness is an oasis.
Home and bed.
A big week capped by a long evening.
“I have always loved the desert. One sits down on a desert sand dune, sees nothing, hears nothing. Yet through the silence something throbs, and gleams…”
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Friday
Gym.
Sometimes I feel like teaching in the UAE is like being in an open relationship and both my partners are hormonal.
I am in and out of love with one or the other at any time.
The desert can be stunning, but the heat is so unbearable you cannot enjoy it. Where we live offers no beauty, none. If there is an uglier industrial estate in existence, I am yet to find it.
And then the weather cools and we paddle the oceans and drive to Hatta. Or the holidays come around and we are a five hour flight to Rome or Budapest.
Love and hate.
Then there is the school. Work. At times, when I cannot stand Dubai any longer, the school is what I love. Teaching, the staff. It is a good school. And yet it has its moments when I cannot stand to be there.
Love and hate.
Then there are those dreadful times when you hate both.
But I have Shell, and no matter how much I hate the desert or the school, she is enough to bring me joy. If she is here, I will know paradise.
“What is a Wanderess? Bound by no boundaries, contained by no countries, tamed by no time, she is the force of nature’s course.”
Roman Payne
Nothing to do but read.
Saturday
“There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book.
Books are well written, or badly written. That is all.”Oscar Wilde
Gym.
I have finished Statesman by Plato—a winding argument of what makes a good ruler and politician.
“In which, if any, of these constitutions do we find the art of ruling being practiced in the actual government of men? What art is more difficult to learn? But what art is more important to us?”
Plato
He is damning of the Sophists, yet it is clear the dissembling, argumentative self-gaining political personalities common in all governments today are pure Sophistry.
I enjoy the way Plato writes. With dialogue and characters, it is a play more than a narrative.
I moved on to some of his essays; Timaeus, Critias, Sophist, and Philebus.
Articulate work on breaking down the Sophist and establishing the traits of leaders and political players.
I will move to Political Dissent in Democratic Athens: Intellectual Critics of Popular Rule by Josiah Ober.
I hope the text is not as intimidating as the title.
I am hoping it will lay the foundation for my move to Aristotle. Plato had no time for Democracy, arguing it was susceptible to corruption and resulted in self-serving tyrants.
I find it hard to disagree.
I spend the afternoon watching the America’s Cup.
“Hark, now hear the sailors cry,
Smell the sea, and feel the sky,
Let your soul & spirit fly, into the mystic.”Van Morrison
Sunday
There is tension at work. I am indirectly involved, not involved, but it permeates out into my wavelength and makes me want to avoid work.
Conflict does not bother me. The indirect tactical posturing and cover-up games are nauseating.
“Integrity has no need of rules.”
Albert Camus
I prepare my meals for the week ahead.
Things are falling into place with my nutrition and training. I will pull up the pre and post-holiday images in a few weeks and see how I am traveling.
I have not longed for wine this weekend. I am not sure if the terrible hangover last week is still haunting me or if I am back on track to not craving alcohol.
I have turned this into a ‘dear diary’… How embarrassing.
Work tomorrow.
💕