Sitting at breakfast this morning, looking over the Bahrain museum and the road junction immediately in front of it, it finally felt that relaxation had come to us. The massage yesterday afternoon and a good night's sleep were no doubt contributory factors in the equation. Not that this mattered much, we had to check out and head back in this direction - yes, we're back in Riyadh, a place full of unhappy people according to last night's taxi driver. He had worked there for 5 years a while back doing something finance related. Odd then that he preferred his life back in Bahrain as a taxi driver rather than have the money Riyadh probably gave him. I could empathise with him.

At the check out desk were a pile of leaflets advertising Christmas at the Diplomat. Christmas lunch, the reindeer choir singing your favourite carols and The Boxtones on live - sounds ideal. The older I get, the less inclined I'm becoming to want to be back in the UK. If it weren't for the expectation heaped on you, probably unknowingly, by family, I'm fairly certain both AM and I would much rather head off somewhere warm to relax. The UK is too cold, too wet, too dark and too damned depressing to want to spend time there during the winter. Not only that, but it seems a never ending round of driving from place to place - time dutifully killed behind the wheel of a car. Not that our own house would be much better. Since buying it seven years back, we've barely spent any time in it. As tidy as it is, it's never been given the opportunity to become a home for either of us.

More than once this weekend, we've toyed with the notion of staying just that extra day, but that's a slippery slope that could lead to a very expensive hotel bill to be repented at pleasure. So we'll content ourselves with a couple of nights and wait until the next time. Talking to the receptionist as we departed, it would seem that we will be expected...

We are now in Bahrain, have been since 12:00 or so to be more accurate. Smooth passage across highway and causeway, can't complain really.

The day has been spent, as ever, browsing round the bookshop in Seef Mall, buying books, buying magazines, drinking coffee at Caribou, buying undies and skirts (latter not for me I should add). Heavy stuff, I think you'll agree. Aside from the traffic along the corniche, the day has been one of relaxation and idleness personified. The lounge has served us with a bevy of fines wines for an hour or two, after which it was on to the Fiddler's.

I have mentioned The Boxtones a couple of times (1, 2 & 3) now and they were on again tonight. Just for a change I was more than happy to see the band.

It's an odd thing you know, the difference between how the Boxtones come across on stage, and how we were beginning to look. Gary & co look absolutely effortless, whilst we were struggling to put single songs together in any sort of coherent manner. It really is a joy to see a band put heart and soul into something and all the while make it look effortless, like they've barely fallen out of bed and thought "I know, that's what we'll do today - for a bit of a crack and maybe some beer money", but it's what they seem to do. They've been out here, doing sets most nights, and still look fresh as a daisy and not a care in the world. Not too sure how it's done to be honest.

Tonight's set included, a Beatles medley, Jason Mraz (again), Lynryd Skynrd's "Sweet Home Alabama", Green Day's 'Basket Case', GNR's "Sweet Child of Mine", a Foo Fighters track the name of which escapes me right now, and others. What slightly threw me though was seeing them with an audience demanding an encore, something they duly obliged with a Rage Against the Machine track from their first album. Now it wasn't a piece of music I knew, but the sheer gusto that it was performed with and the reaction of their audience had me laughing, not from amusement, but with out and out enjoyment. To see both band and audience enjoying themselves so much was wonderful.

Talking with Gary afterwards, I gather they have now has their contract extended until next August they like them so much. I'm quite delighted at this news and hope to see them on more than one occasion between now and then. The only downside of this is that they are not allowed to have guests on the stage, much to my chagrin. You will not be seeing me on stage at the Diplomat any time soon - I will get my day though.