'Yes'... and four years in

So another year has drawn to a close and we're back into deepest, darkest January again... although with an average temperature of 24 degrees C here I shouldn't complain.  2014 ended in a flurry of activity: starting the new job, which I'm enjoying and is going very well; birthday brunches and Christmas parties; and then the weekend before we left for the UK, me getting down on one knee and proposing to Becky.  Incredibly, she said yes and of course we are both over the moon and very much looking forward to our wedding.  I'm still not sure if Becky is more excited about the ring or the prospect of getting married though...  It's somewhat daunting having to arrange a UK wedding from overseas but we're doing pretty well on the planning so far and I hope that continues.

January also marks the anniversary of my move to Dubai and later this week I'll be starting my fifth year here.  Most people in such circumstances would tell you they don't know where the time has gone but I absolutely genuinely have no idea where the past four years went.  Living and working here continues to be brilliant, challenging, hard work and good fun all at the same time (the 'holiday every weekend' analogy I've made before still holds true) and we are enjoying it all while we can.

It was fantastic to catch up with everyone at home over Christmas and this year being another year of weddings, we'll be back there more often which will be great.  We saw in the new year watching the Burj Khalifa fireworks (for the first time), and from our vantage point at the top of The Lofts in Downtown, it felt like we were almost 'inside' the display.  Incredible.

The engagement party selfie...

A few things I wanted to blog about at the end of last year fell by the wayside unfortunately (trips to Egypt and New York especially), but I'll pick up on those over the next few weeks hopefully...