Not love at first sight….yet

Posted on August 11, 2008 by Helena

So we’re here. The flight was good, despite Olivia’s fury that we were not “in the best bit” of the aircraft. Having prepared myself for seven hours in the air with my children by drinking a glass of Barolo at the Rhubarb Cafe in Terminal 3 I fell asleep as soon as we took off. I woke up three hours later to find the girls happily eating, Rupert ordering Whisky and Leo snoring away with his bear, Connaught.

So far so good. Then we arrived. I have to admit that so far I am not overwhelmed. Abu Dhabi seems a little like living in an oven, but possibly less attractive. Actually that may be unfair, we are in a total dump of a hotel apartment but drive ten minutes to The Corniche as it is called and things get better, greener, more elegant. Sadly there is no way we will be able to live there as apartments rarely come up for rent and when they do you need to be an investment banker to afford them.

Lovely...

We looked at a villa this morning on the other “new” Corniche. When they say “new”, they mean not yet constructed, so apart from a little bit where you could walk, the rest was a building site.

This is as far away from any place I would ever choose to live; there are no walks, no nature, no little side streets with designer clothes shops tucked away, no charming Italian bistros. It is a little like Florida, although the people are a lot thinner and I have to say universally charming.

But here’s my hope. I am hoping that after a long flight and being stuck in the worst part of town and getting used to living in steam room conditions (my glasses actually steam up when I go outside – it’s not a good look) that things can only get better. My hope is that in a week or even a few days I will be writing to tell you how marvellous it all is. How many friends I have made and how much I love the highways and impersonal shopping malls and how I never want to drink fine French wines again.

But for now it all feels a bit grim. Although I am encouraged by one fact I read in my guide book. There is an M&S. It could be my salvation.

Back in the real world

Posted on August 9, 2008 by Helena

It is tough being back. No calming lake, no one bringing me food every meal, no massages, no doctor monitoring my progress. But I am trying my best to keep up the good work I began. The enemy lurks around every corner in the form of alcohol, chocolate and Pringles. It is also difficult to stick to eating certain things at certain times and dining before seven pm.

Last night instead of waiting for a late dinner with the friends we are staying with I ate a bowl of cereal and then watched as they tucked into a lamb stir-fry and red wine. Was I jealous? Did I want to grab the bottle of wine? No, oddly enough I didn’t.

This morning I woke up bright and early while Rupes slept on (clearly digesting all that lamb and red wine) and tried to do some yoga but was interrupted by Leonardo jumping on my back. I am wondering how easy it will be to carry on the routine once we get to Abu Dhabi.

We leave tomorrow – the Friday flight was full so we have had to wait until Sunday. We fly overnight and land at 07.25am local time. From the airport we take a taxi to the hotel we will be living in for a month. I am thinking about writing a book about it all, starting with the flight and ending, who knows where.

Yesterday we went somewhere that was about as far removed from the Arab world as you can get. It is a shop called Abercrombie & Fitch near the Royal Academy which my husband took me to. You are greeted at the door by a man with a naked and rather impressive torso. Inside it is practically dark but light enough to see that every member of staff (male or female) probably model for Ralph Lauren in their spare time. The place is crawling with gorgeous young men asking if they can help you at all. “Well, now you mention it, you probably can,” I was tempted to reply.

Needless to say I was totally seduced by the whole scene and bought jeans, two jumpers and some little dinky vests, even though a subtle voice inside was telling me that this is really a shop for people under the age of 25.

Despite that it was an extremely anti-ageing experience and I recommend it to anyone who wonders what it is like to be in a room surrounded by young men you have only ever seen on the cover of a magazine before now. And just in case you’re wondering, it felt great. It has certainly given me something to think about on that long flight to Abu Dhabi.

Chick-Lit for grown-ups….

Posted on August 6, 2008 by Helena

Tomorrow I leave this delightful haven that is the Viva Mayr clinic. I think everyone should come here, at least once. I have discovered several important things about my health that will change my life.

First the reason I have always had a pot belly is not because I am built that way but that I have an inflamed small intestine. So my tummy has swollen up to protect it, just like your arm would swell if you fell over and bashed it. The good news is, it should be gone within two weeks. So if I am allowed to wear a bikini on the beach in Abu Dhabi, I will be doing so. Second my doctor has told me that due to my body’s reaction to stress (throwing calcium at it to reduce acid levels) I will almost certainly develop osteoporosis unless I start taking supplements (and avoiding stress). This is particularly emotive for me as my mother suffers from the disease. Finally (and also linked to stress) I am exhausted and have to allocate one hour a day to myself, along with one day a week and FOUR WEEKS a year – this is going to be the most difficult thing to do.

I don’t feel exhausted, I feel great. I have been working hard but also enjoying massages, saunas (to prepare me for Abu Dhabi) and lots of reading. I am almost at the end of A Thousand Splendid Suns which has been a huge international best-seller. It’s a really lovely book, totally gripping and a great if horrible insight into the plight of women in Afghanistan.

I have been trying to define it. It is not great literature, nor is it pure chick-lit. But somewhere in between. I would say, and this is no way a criticism, it is chick-lit for grown-ups. It is compulsive reading, the characters are well drawn but I think one of the differences between this and say F.Scott Fitzgerald is that here we are told things and with Fitzgerald we are shown them. There is a scene in The Great Gatsby where he describes Daisy Buchanan and Jordan Baker sitting on a large comfortable sofa, their white clothes being gently lifted by the wind, the view from the window and the billowing gauze curtains. In that paragraph he tells us more about the characters and their world than any passage that is purely descriptive.

Talking of chick-lit, a spa would make a great setting for a chick-lit novel. Maybe my next one could be set here with a cast of characters including: The attractive and successful female City executive deafened by the sound of her biological clock, looking for someone, anyone, to silence it. The gruff owner of a Premier League football club and his wife who share the exclusive suite at the top of the clinic, but what goes on up there? The brooding Spaniard, a man who seemingly has everything, but who is riddled with sorrow. The aristocratic playboy with a dark childhood secret…..I could go on. A good excuse to come back next year.

The power of the pen

Posted on August 4, 2008 by Helena

Alexander Solzhenitzyn, the Russian Nobel laureate and former prisoner of Stalin’s gulags, has died in Moscow aged 89. I can’t pretend to have read any of his books, but I have at least heard of them and I am aware of what a huge impact he made exposing the cruelty of the gulag system despite harassment from the KGB and then eventually twenty years in exile.

Sarkozy (keen to get on on the act) has called him “an heir to Dostoyevsky”. The letters on the BBC website all talk about how he changed people’s lives, what an inspiration he was and one even says that A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich showed him the power of literature to change the world. Solzhi, as he was known by friends in his adopted America, would probably agree. One amazing fact I read this morning is that in the gulag they were allowed neither pens nor paper, so he memorised everything and kept it in his head until he was free to write it all down.

I think every writer secretly dreams about changing the world, either with a huge scoop or with a great book. But maybe at slightly different levels and obviously linked to your circumstances. Were I living in Afghanistan, for example, I like to think I would write a book that would help the plight of women there. But as I’m not I am quite happy helping women in my world lose weight, discover matching underwear and feel better about themselves. Possibly not as ground-breaking or as important as Solzhi’s epic work, but it suits me.

Something to chew on….

Posted on August 1, 2008 by Helena

Although I have at times been tempted to eat my lip-gloss due to extreme hunger pangs, I am really loving the Viva Mayr Clinic (www.viva-mayr.com). It is very different to Renew Retreats, much more medical and not a mention of matching underwear, but as I have found it’s a good place to have a sore neck (massages and relaxing treatments guaranteed to ease the pain). And despite the medical angle it still offers that essential element of time to be totally and utterly selfish and focused on one self, which is something I enjoy thoroughly.

There are of course tough decisions to be made; such as do I go to the sauna or the steam bath, but I’m learning to cope.

Actually I’m learning a lot of things. I am here as I explained to write The Viva Mayr Diet Book, a diet book based on the philosophy of the clinic and the man that runs it, Dr Harald Stossier. His theory is that not only what, but more importantly, how we eat is the key to a healthy life.

Get healthy the fun way... The more I learn, the more it makes sense. For example one of his big things is that we have to chew our food well. When he says well, he means around 40 to 50 times. Try it. It’s not easy, but I promise it gets easier. And when you look at the benefits, it’s worth it. It eases the pressure on your digestive system, giving you more energy and generally avoiding digestive problems. It means you get the best taste and the optimum nutrients out of your food. Dr Stossier told me that if you wolf down an organic salad and properly chew a Big Mac, you will get more nutrients from the latter. Most crucially it exercises your jaw muscles so is incredibly anti-ageing because you don’t end up with that jowly look. And on top of that it makes you lose weight because you are chewing more so sending signals to your brain which says you have had enough to eat. What’s not to like? Don’t wait for the book, get chewing…..