Of late I've been a little quite, but no mind to that, I've got some time I can spend here safe in the knowledge that everything is prepared and safely dealt with ahead of being relocated temporarily to the other side of Europe - the side I was born on.

I sit waiting until it's time to go and hop on the transport bus across to the airport. Nothing fantastically exciting in that, but the nerves have steadily built throughout a busy day. Have I got everything done I need to do in the office, do my charges know what's expected of them, have I got my tickets, why won't it let me do the on-line check-in (AM had no problem), is everything packed, have I remembered everything AM asked me to bring with me, is the fridge cleared of perishables. It's these things that play on an already hyperactive mind - for once...

It's done though and now I wait, 40 minutes till I have to depart and park up outside the compound supermarket where the bus collects. Waiting inspires the idle mind to wander seemingly directionless.

Directionless is how I feel anyway. It's been an odd year all round...

• Career progression - FAIL
• Health matters - FAIL
• Band - FAIL
• Golf - FAIL, FAIL and thrice FAIL
• Photography?

...not quite fail, but I think the status quo has been maintained. I know what I'm doing, when I do it, but there are distinct overtones of aimless here too.

You'd think it couldn't all be bad and you'd be right, as there are some ups to show for the year

• AM and I visited Hong Kong which was great fun
• I got my Canon 5D MkII and a bunch of 'L' series lenses
• I'm now the tech admin for The Photo Beat
• I completed my 10 years in KSA, which equates to a significant financial enhancement when I finally choose to depart this place
• I can now pay the mortgage off should I wish to do so
• The garden over here finally got planted up
• Last but by no means least, AM got her degree under her belt

On balance, I guess you'd say things evened themselves out across the year. No real reasons to complain as far as I can see, yet it's not sitting comfortably with me at the moment. I know what the problem is, I feel the need for a change of scenery, not geographically or emotionally you understand, but more on the work front. It feels too easy despite the many bear traps and 'IT!' Lets be honest here, I'm absolutely bored shitless of it all...

I'll be back for more next year though, in the meantime, I'd better go get that bus.

Yet again, I find myself writing with less than an hour of the day left, with the minutes clocking down towards the point where actually I've not succeeded in completing a post for the day. You'd think that someone whose normal finishing time in the office is 16:00 and with a villa not 5 minutes from that office, might manage to come up with an assortment of words before midnight on a reasonably reliable basis. This is never quite how it pans out though...

1. I don't always get out of the office until later than intended - today was around 16:45
2. I spend some time talking to AM about our respective days
3. I catch up with the personal email
4. I'll sit on the sofa with AM and, as happened this evening, we both doze off for a good half hour or so, arms wrapped around each other
5. then tea has to be made, though I'd be lying if I said I do much of it, though I am capable of it, as AM often reminds me
6. whilst tea is being prepared, I'm trying to do a test install of a piece of open source software on my LAMP server
7. we eat, whilst watching Sky Sports News
8. I'll do a drink
9. Inevitably I'll end up watching CSI with AM, though it seems the most ridiculously signposted stuff imaginable
10. It's now 21:00 and I make my escape
11. I'm back at the PC doing the same install on the new webspace for the forum I'm doing some tech admin stuff for - it works
12. Now I'm doing an FTP download from the old webspace...
13. ...and then uploading the file into the new space
14. AM heads off to bed
15. A tap on the study window tells me I have a visitor - he wants to drop something off with me before he flies back to the UK, and we chat about work for half an hour
16. It's now 23:00 and I've not written, I've not been for a walk, I've not explained to the forum owner what I've been up to

Finally I start this post and I've not a clue what my topic should be - did nothing of note happen today? I'm sure it must have, but it all passed me by in a blur of near frantic effort somewhere along the line. I know, I'll do a list, lists are always a safe bet...