Things are, as Leo would say, much more better. It is a strange thing, but getting to grips with life here is notoriously difficult. When you tell people you have been here for a day, or a week or even a month they look at you as if you are recovering …

I have just finished a book called Burned Alive by a woman called Souad. She was a teenager when her brother-in-law poured petrol over her head and set fire to her. Her crime was serious in “honour” killing terms among Palestinians; she was pregnant. B …

Here is the first of my special guest blogs, it is an email from Bea, aged seven, to her grandmother……. dear mormor i hope you will com to see ous in abu dabi i will com to see you soon if my sister in italy abu dabi is nice but its hot but it dasent m …

It is a well-known fact that no one outside Sweden speaks Swedish. I have found this particularly useful when it comes to dealing with the children. To outsiders they seem seamlessly polite, with their pleases and thank yous and please may I get down f …

This is the conversation the children and I had in Suda’s car yesterday. “Are you all happy to continue our adventure, or would you prefer to go home?” I asked. “I’m happy to continue my adventure,” said Olivia. “Abu Dhabi is my best village ever,” sai …

Here I am again in the middle of the night wondering why I am awake. Yesterday was not a great day. The flat fell through. I would have wept but was unsurprised by the inevitability of it. Rupert, as always, looked on the bright side. He suggests we us …

Proof, if it was needed, that my neural pathways are well and truly blocked comes from the fact that I am finding it impossible to get my head around Sunday being Monday. Today (Monday), for example, feels like Tuesday and I woke up thinking about all …

I am hoping I have hit the low point. After yet another night of no sleep, a bean-bag exploding all over Amanda’s flat and no response from my high-powered contact, I was told the ballet class I wanted the girls to go to was full. I did what any normal …

So the international conspiracy to keep me awake has now reached ridiculous proportions. I leave the hotel room next to the mosque to move into my friend Amanda’s flat while she is away. But now instead of the mosque I have the combination of four cats …

When a publisher first wrote to me offering me a book deal after my first Sunday Times column, I assumed it was a vanity publisher, keen to make a fast buck. This morning I had an email that I read four times before I was convinced it wasn’t my best fr …