We headed up to Dubai yesterday to visit our boarding-school girl. She had a heartbreaking wobble when we first arrived but things went from bad to truly wonderful.
She is a joy to be with and already seems so grown up. I fear though that she may be in the company of some rather wayward lassies. She tells me a few of the girls are there because they need “discipline” and seems to have picked up some new words like “bloody” and “bugger”.
“I could have taught her to swear for half the price,” said my friend Noch.
We went to Dubai Mall to get the boarder a phone and look around. It was while we were drinking green tea at the bookshop cafe when I realised that she really is settling in to school.
“Mummy,” she said, grinning from ear to ear. “There’s a boy in my class that I REALLY hate…”
Here they all are, reunited.
Copyright: Helena Frith Powell 2010