In Dubai...

Hello from a very tired NoVisibleLycra blogger. Up this morning at 0530hrs, out of the house by 7am, on the 0722 from Sanderstead and then on to Gatwick and now, after six plus hours on the plane (Emirates) I'm here in Dubai and I'm a little cheesed off. Why? Because there was so little time to catch my connecting flight to Doha that I missed it and now, as I write this, it's 11.33pm – four hours ahead of the UK – and I've got to wait until 0215hrs to catch the next flight.

So, I'm sitting in a virtually empty restaurant within the airport eating a mushroom risotto and drinking a glass of Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon. It sounds nice, but I'd rather be in Doha, relaxing in my hotel room. Still, can't have everything.

The trouble is, I'm dog tired. All weekend has been characterised by lack of sleep, especially on Saturday night, when I stayed in the house alone and seemed to wake up at every strange knock I heard. This restaurant, by the way, is called The Hub. It's dark and woody and a bit pricey (£8.60 for a glass of wine).

I can't put my finger on it, but Dubai is a bit, I don't know, a bit flash.

I could really wish this further, sitting here like this, waiting for an early morning flight. Mainly because I had that whole 'international' thing you get once you've crossed over from civvy street to the land beyond passport control. You know what I mean, where the car to aspire to is a Ferrari, where culture always leads to The Blue Man Group and where Toblerone rules the world of chocolate.

I can't stand airport shops. Who buys stuff from them? Soft toys, tee-shirts (here with 'Dubai' written on them, although I'm guessing that, I haven't seen any yet) and expensive watches, perfume and spirits. Horrible. Anyway, I've got time to kill but I'm running out of power so I'll have to sign off.

My next post is liable to be a shot of my hotel bed, if I get there.

The flight over was fine, by the way, little in the way of turbulence, a nice lunch (roast chicken with a glass of red wine) and, well, it was good.

I'll probably say nicer things about Dubai airport when I've had some kip. Here's hoping!