I applied for Olympic games tickets last year, and was unsuccessful in the ballot. Today the Olympics ticket Website offered those who were not successful in the 1st series of applications to reapply for Olympic Games tickets.

I tried first to get tickets for athletics, I did try and get Olympic tickets for the athletics final day which, due to the amount of people who would probably be trying to buy tickets for the Olympics, was probably not a good idea. I kept trying and trying but still got the message nothing available, then I tried for rhythmic gymnastics and diving in the hope that I would get to see Tom Daley compete and although there were diving tickets available, at £350 for each ticket for 1 hours competition I thought it probably was not worth our while.

However, I did attempt to get Olympic tickets for the Grand Prix freestyle dressage in the equestrian arena in Greenwich and much to my surprise, I was successful !!

So, now I have 2 tickets for the Grand Prix freestyle dressage event which also includes the victory ceremony. I'm so excited about this and hope to go with my daughter, so at least we will get to experience the Olympic atmosphere even though we probably will not be able to move in London because I'm sure the London transport is going to be jammed up during the Olympic Games.

Totilas, the prancing black stallion.

For those who don't know me, during the 15 years that we lived in Bahrain, Middle East, a huge part of our lives was spent competing in equestrian events, mostly show jumping and  dressage.

I'm looking forward to spending a memorable day at the Olympics with my daughter, knowing that it will be a once-in-a-lifetime event.

This is a link to the Olympic Games schedule.

We started with a trip to the viewing gallery on the 124th floor of the Burj Khalifa Tower. VERY IMPRESSIVE !

Very well managed, well organised and quite spectacular when you get to the top, nowhere near as scary as I thought. As a person who is 'not that fond of heights' it was a case of 'Feeling The Fear and Doing It Anyway'
( There's a great book by that name by the way, one of my classic reads)

We followed this with lunch at the Dubai Creek Golf Club followed by a lovely stroll through the old traditional gold souks and the spice market. I LOVE the spice market, the aromas are diverse and fragrant and for me, SO reminiscent of my years spent living in Bahrain.

A lovely day, for me, a day  truly 'lived' !

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It's a bit 'tongue in cheek' really, the 'spot the skyscraper' title, just a bit of fun as the area I was walking in was dominated by the amazing Burj Khalifa Tower, great for photography!

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Dubai Fountains

This is the 'view from my window' again.They show dancing fountain displays every night from 6pm to 11pm, every half hour, each display lasts about 3 minutes and are SPECTACULAR.I haven't managed to capture the sound very well as I'm taking the videos from my hotel room window but the visuals are FANTASTIC !

'The Prayer' Andrea Bocelli and Celine Dion

Stunning visual display, not sure what the music is

Tribute to the late, great, Whitney Houston
"I Will Always Love You "

Burj Tower Dubai

Have a lovely view from my room at the moment, of the Burj Tower and fountains in Dubai.

It's nice to feel a bit of warmth after the cold weather in the UK recently although the weather even here is a bit strange, a bit cloudy and hazy with a storm threatening.

I'm hoping we DO get a dramatic thunderstorm, photos from here could be spectacular.

WATCH THIS SPACE!

On the other hand...my first experience...in Kuwait of all places......25 years ago was perhaps a foretaste of things to come !

Was it inevitable?

Well, it probably was, I saw how my kids were doing it, it all seemed too good to be true, but, they were happy and all seemed to be going great for them, but that was at least 5 years ago and STILL I didn't believe it could happen to me, I was too set in my ways.

The first crack came last year, I just wanted to TRY it, so I did, just a small one, it couldn't hurt, surely!

In fact, it didn't hurt at all, it was really quite a pleasant experience, I kept waiting for things to go wrong, to stop me in my tracks, to infect me or paralyse me in some way, but nothing ever went wrong, I just couldn't believe it.

I guess the writing WAS on the wall, I quite liked the feelings I was getting, peace, tranquillity, no hassle, everything just worked, like a well oiled machine!

I don't know what actually pushed me over the edge and made me want to do it, I probably got tired of the struggle, the waiting, the endless little circles spinning round, I just couldn't take it any more, I wanted to move to a better world!

It was TIME!

So, I did it, I went out the next day and actually did it, I'm going to make the change, go for the WHOLE experience!

All the way home I kept thinking that my kids would never believe it, not ME, who was NEVER going to change.

My friends, have been telling me for YEARS, there WAS a better way, I didn't believe them, until now.

So this is it!  I've finally done it and I haven't looked forward to doing something quite as much as this in YEARS!

Today,....          is a new day  ..when I finally .....................

Click here to find out WHAT   ????!!!????

What do YOU think?

The three Iles du Salut (Islands of Salvation or Health), off the coast of French Guiana are lush, tropical isles of abundant foliage, great views and open to visitors. Once however, they were the site of the infamous Devil's Island penal colony, called the Green Hell. Ile Royale is now a resort destination for visitors to French Guiana.

The islands are located about fifteen miles off the coast from Kourou, which is now the center for the Space Center, but was earlier the mainland administrative center for the penal colony.

According to the book and the movie, Papillon, Henri Charriere , was the only person ever to escape from Devil's Island, the penal colony was notorious for the location of the island, which was surrounded by deadly sharks, rocks and a treacherous current. However, according to our French Guinan guides,, the book was fasr from accurate andalthough Papillon DID escape, it was not from Devil's Island, it was from Cayenne, a nearby island.