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The Big 4-O

29th November 2011 by Helena 3 Comments  

No, not me you fool, the country. The UAE, the country that has been our home for the last three and a bit years turns 40 on Friday. It is odd to live in a country that is younger than me, and of course it does make me feel rather old, but I am trying to get into the spirit of things.
The streets are lined with flags, the houses are decorated and the cars, well, the cars are a sight to behold.
I think this outpouring of national pride for National Day is rather lovely, and I wish the Brits had more pride in Blightly. But what I find fascinating is the fact that the population of this nation made enormously wealthy by oil, shows its affection through its four-wheel drives.
One of the main events is the National Day Parade. Unlike parades in Red Square, for example, this involves locals in their elaborately decorated vehicles driving around the part of town where the F1 circuit is.


The rest of them will be driving around the centre of town beeping their horns and throwing streamers. The traffic will be almost stationary there are so many revellers. Last year I made the mistake of leaving the tennis court at 6pm to drive home, it is normally a 15-minute drive max. Three hours later I was still in traffic. But the girls made plenty of new friends along the way.

I think this year we will be on a boat with some friends and watch all the celebrations from the relative calm of the sea. It will be interesting to see what effect turning 40 has on the country. Not much I should think. A bit like humans.

Copyright: Helena Frith Powell 2011


Filed Under: Abu Dhabi, blog -->

3 thoughts on The Big 4-O

  • Pascale says:
    29th November 2011 at 11:00 am

    Sounds awesome! You must post lot’s of pictures from your place on the sea – will be a fantastic viewpoint! We don’t have anything like that here, I don’t think…..

  • jose says:
    3rd December 2011 at 11:41 am

    Thank God we don’t have anything like that. Are they all out of their minds?? Have you been away too long?

  • jose says:
    18th December 2011 at 12:57 pm

    What did you actually think after all the celebrations you were able to watxh from the boats? Noisy or what?

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Helena Frith Powell was born in Sweden to a Swedish mother and Italian father, but grew up mainly in England. She is the author of eleven books, translated into several languages including Chinese and Russian. She wrote the French Mistress column The Sunday Times about life in France for several years. She is a regular contributor to the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, The Times, Daily Telegraph, Tatler Magazine and Harper’s Bazaar.

Helena has been the editor of four magazines, including M Magazine, a supplement for the Abu Dhabi based National Newspaper and FIVE, a high-end fashion glossy, also published in Abu Dhabi. Helena was also editor in chief of 360 Life, a quarterly glossy magazine published with the Sports 360 Newspaper in Dubai, part of the Chalhoub Group.

Helena contributes regularly to UK-based newspapers and magazines and holds a Masters in Creative Writing from the University of Cambridge. Helena is also working on a thriller called Thin Ice that will be published in spring 2021 as well as a novel about the relationship between Virginia Woolf and Katherine Mansfield called Sense of an Echo.

Her latest non-fiction work Smart Women Don’t Get Wrinkles came out in hardback in 2016 and in paperback in April 2018.

Helena, who was educated at Durham University, lives in the Languedoc region of France with her husband Rupert and their three children.

Bibliography

More France Please, we’re British; Gibson Square 2004

Two Lipsticks and a Lover 2005; Gibson Square (hardback)

All You Need to be Impossibly French; (US version of above) Penguin 2006

Two Lipsticks and a Lover; Arrow Books (paperback) 2007

Ciao Bella Gibson Square; (hardback) 2006

Ciao Bella Gibson Square; (paperback) 2007

So Chic! (French version of Two Lipsticks) Leduc Editions 2008 (also translated into Chinese, Russian and Thai)

More, More France; Gibson Square 2009

To Hell in High Heels; Arrow Books 2009 (also translated into Polish)

The Viva Mayr Diet; Harper Collins 2009

Love in a Warm Climate; Gibson Square 2011

The Ex-Factor; Gibson Square 2013

Smart Women Don’t Get Wrinkles; Gibson Square 2016

The Arnolfini Marriage; Amazon Kindle December 2016

Smart Women Don’t Get Wrinkles (paperback); Gibson Square spring 2018

The Longest Night; Gibson Square spring 2019

 

 

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