swimming Archives - Circles in the SandCircles in the Sand

In my 20s, I had no clue it was possible to finish the weekend so tired! I might have thought I did – what with all those lie-ins, long lunches and pub trips. On Sunday night, as I flopped onto my cream sofa in my single-girl London flat with a take-away and a pile of magazines, I thought I was exhausted.

I was wrong. Oh, how little I knew then!

Fast forward a decade, and my weekends look nothing like they used to.

The little people in my life call the shots. But my tiredness tonight – a happy tiredness I’m glad to say – could also have something to do with the fact that we spent much of the weekend swimming.

I’m also grateful that we’ve moved on from our early days in Dubai, when BB was terrified of water and would rather roast round the edge

The highlight was a pool party – very popular here for obvious reasons. There’s a certain amount of trauma involved, ie, running after two overexcited boys in a bikini – swimming boobs jiggling – in front of at least 20 of the mums and dads from BB’s class. But, pool parties are great fun, especially when they’re catered by a company called Splash ‘n’ Bounce.

A pirate ship bouncy castle had been installed by the pool, with a slide into the water, and inflatables such as a Wild Rocker (which lived up to its name), 4-seater dinghy and kind-looking killer whale were provided to keep the kids amused. Amused is an under-statement. The kids went crazy.

Imagine a water-based episode of the comedy game show ‘It’s a Knockout’ for under 6s and you’ll be thinking along the right lines – the pool wafted by lush palm trees and the mums wearing an array of flatteringly cut swimwear and slipping into pretty, linen dresses in all the colours of the rainbow as the sun went down.

So, whilst I might only have enough energy left tonight to wash the chlorine from my hair, and my fingers started resembling raisins this weekend, I’m feeling pretty lucky that we have such great pools here in Dubai – along with the sunshine to use them (until it gets too hot and they actually have to chill the water!).

Once LB learns to swim too, I’ll be hopping onto a sun lounger and taking the plunge only to frequent one of Dubai’s swim-up bars!

There we were enjoying the sights and sounds of the countryside when all of a sudden the peace was shattered.

A buzzing helicopter was hovering in the air. Circling around our valley as though looking for something. Then coming down to land in a next-door field of cows, its rotor blades whirling round at high speed and stirring up the grass and cow pats.

The police, maybe? Had English looters crossed the border and started raiding Welsh holiday homes now? Or perhaps a celebrity arriving by helicopter for a quiet break in an interior-designed shepherd’s cottage?

Our valley and the scene of the helicopter show

As it took off again, a flare was dropped, setting off what looked like a fire, and we concluded we were in the middle of a search-and-rescue training exercise. How exciting, I thought, enjoying it even more than the boys (in my mind I’d decided it was Prince William, you see – I’ve heard he rescues walkers in these parts).

While all this was going on, BB was surprisingly quiet, which really doesn’t happen very often. Most of the time, he’s exceedingly noisy and asks thousands of questions. I have to admit we’ve struggled to answer some of the things he’s pondered this holiday, like: Why are there no trees on the mountains? Why are the cow pats so big? (is it because cows have two stomachs, or is that camels?) Did the chicken or the egg come first? Where’s the swimming pool?

I chortled at the last one and reminded him of our whereabouts, ie, far from Dubai, then, to my surprise, had to eat my words a little later that very morning, when we stumbled upon, of all things, a Welsh swimming pool. Sorry if I sound so amazed – I honestly didn’t think it could ever get hot enough here for outdoor pools (but, then again, I have become a complete cold-water wimp since moving to Dubai).

Here’s the spring-fed pool – my two boys and their cousins loved it, despite the freezing cold water. Apparently, if you’re really lucky you get to see a brown trout swimming through. Now that you don’t get in Dubai.