....and Finally

As I fully expected, the weekend is fixed up for me, place to place, full of enjoyment meting people and seeing interesting things.

I soon realise why I loved Abu Dhabi so much and still do. It’s the way they are trying to build a great society here, not just flash buildings. Not that the buildings aren’t flash! Lots of people saw what had been built for the F1 Grand Prix last November. And we are seeing one more use of the money to bring people here to do interesting things.

Many years ago, I used to go around Saadiyat Island, just to the east of Abu Dhabi Island, to survey the marine waters there. It was basically a sandbar with a few mangroves on and nothing much else. There are now plans for a dozen hotels, a Guggenheim Gallery, a branch of the Louvre and a performing arts centre, all built by top class architects. We have come here to see the opening of a perfect links golf course in the seaward side of the island, every hump, hollow and pool constructed.

The course has been designed by Gary Player and he is here to give it a soft opening with a few other circuit pros and some celebs as well. Boy wonder Rory McIlroy is there and so is Darren Clarke. All the tickets have been given to the Abu Dhabi golf community and there can’t be many more than 200 here.

There are supposed to be degrees of security here to keep the relaxing golfers away from the spectators, but my hostess Anne starts to work her charm on the guards, all of whom she seems to know by name, doors open for us and we’re in, even to the extent that I share a toilet with the Great Man. I told the ladies, to great laughter, that I had asked Gary to sign my tag, which was hanging from my belt at the time.

The next day we take a trip with husband Dick to see the development on Reem Island, just to the south of Saadiyat and much the same as Saadiyat in character. Dick is the environmental consultant to the developers, so he knows every nook and cranny of the place. It’s a giant construction site at the moment but in 5 years time it will house 200,000, and have its own golf course. The only things on the island now are two giant tower blocks and a branch of the Sorbonne, fully functioning but at the moment with more staff than students.

So, no lack of ambition here. But unlike Dubai, they are trying to build a society, concentrating on the needs of all its people. I for one can’t wait to go and see the Louvre when it’s built.

My weekend ends with a dinner and wine tasting, and Dick and Anne have tried to get together all the people I had known well in Abu Dhabi during my years there-a nice gesture. Too much wine was drunk, with the result that breakfast, and the drive up to Dubai for the flight home was a more than usually quiet affair.