I managed to time my drive home from Dubai perfectly today. The whole way back to Abu Dhabi I followed the sun as it set in the western skies. It started out as a pale yellow ball suspended above the sand dunes of Dubai and by the time I was driving over Saadiyat Island in Abu Dhabi it was a huge orange disk sliding off the edge of the horizon. What made the experience all the more surreal was the soundtrack. The United Arab Emirates is currently in mourning over the death of Sheikh Ahmed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, brother of Abu Dhabi’s ruler.  http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100331/NATIONAL/100339943/1001&profile=1001. To show respect in this time of mourning all local radio and TV broadcasters have ceased regular programming and are playing suitably somber instrumental and classical music instead. So on my drive home I was listening to something sad and beautiful and watching the sun go down and I had one of those surreal moments when you feel like your life is a movie. I was imagining my movie as something like those desert scenes in The English Patient; dramatic, windswept... and then I remembered how BORING those scenes were. I look forward to the return of regular programming in 3 days time to save me from my daydreams.