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Haven't posted in a WHILE. Mainly because the last 3 weeks have been spent all over the world - in a literal sense: I am an extremely lucky kid. I've been messing around a bit with this tumblr instead as I got a bit tired of ole blog and thought I might change it more into a space for comment on all things changemaking/social enterprise, but I've missed it and it lets me upload REALLY large photos so alas I'm breathing life into it again. Also - name change. After a while I started to turn my nose up at 'Shut up, Meg' so for now I'm adopting as the title a nickname I shared with my Grandma Helen. NB I won't actually be posting anything to do with space travel. (Famous last words, bet I get a job at NASA after this).
These snaps were from a quiet explore of Barsha South during call-to-prayer. With Dad living in the Middle East I’m lucky enough to visit a couple of times a year. This visit was probably my favourite: a week’s worth of sleeping off Trini-adventure (still to be documented online) ending in a big family party, and a night out with friends of mine from primary school. (I was schooled in the UAE until 11). Dubai has changed a lot since I lived there and I’ve been steadily building up a nasty impression of the place it is today, casting judgement on the haphazard and sprawling hyper-development and drawing a line through the possibility of ever coming back to live there. However, my Dad's moved house out of a commercial compound (where every house looks the same) to a stand-alone in Al Barsha. Spending a week drifting in between my bed, the supermarket and the living room, I grew to love Barsha, and a night out at a sports bar with childhood friends changed my view of Dubai. They’re the same old people, incredibly grounded and immune to the greed and attraction to a lavish lifestyle that newbies to Dubai seem to succumb to. My friend Ruaridh pointed out, “if you’re from Dubai, you’re always from Dubai” and I can indeed see myself fitting back into that scene I left over ten years ago. People definitely make a place, and I think the Dubai the rest of the world knows is certainly different to the one I grew up in and (maybe) want to go back to.
These snaps were from a quiet explore of Barsha South during call-to-prayer. With Dad living in the Middle East I’m lucky enough to visit a couple of times a year. This visit was probably my favourite: a week’s worth of sleeping off Trini-adventure (still to be documented online) ending in a big family party, and a night out with friends of mine from primary school. (I was schooled in the UAE until 11). Dubai has changed a lot since I lived there and I’ve been steadily building up a nasty impression of the place it is today, casting judgement on the haphazard and sprawling hyper-development and drawing a line through the possibility of ever coming back to live there. However, my Dad's moved house out of a commercial compound (where every house looks the same) to a stand-alone in Al Barsha. Spending a week drifting in between my bed, the supermarket and the living room, I grew to love Barsha, and a night out at a sports bar with childhood friends changed my view of Dubai. They’re the same old people, incredibly grounded and immune to the greed and attraction to a lavish lifestyle that newbies to Dubai seem to succumb to. My friend Ruaridh pointed out, “if you’re from Dubai, you’re always from Dubai” and I can indeed see myself fitting back into that scene I left over ten years ago. People definitely make a place, and I think the Dubai the rest of the world knows is certainly different to the one I grew up in and (maybe) want to go back to.
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