It started as all great adventures do - by getting lost, there were roadworks and suddenly the junction was there and I'd missed it. I know I know the palm is visible from space but you know it's actually not visible from Sheikh Zayed road (That's the main road between Abu Dhabi and Dubai).
But anyway I got there and got to the right place and had the valet park my car all without any problem.
The place is amazing - the carpets are full of designs of sea shells, fish, water etc, the ceilings are painted too - it's stunning!
The event was the Jebel Ali Racecourse end of season gala dinner. They had Jebel Ali Racecourse spelt out in ice letters - each letter was about 1 foot by 2 foot by 3 foot, also some horses head like chess knights the same size. Amazing!
The ballroom was laid out with tables, candles, so many glasses the whole place twinkled! There was quite a big stage with twinkly lights on a black fabric - the whole effect was magical!
Then reality set in - we had a quartet rehearsal then a full orchestra sound check - then we were still practising and some guests had arrived early and they wanted the quartet playing NOW - we weren't even changed! So anyway we rushed out and got ready and started playing, we'd barely finished that when we were led off to get ready to go onstage - we must have been waiting behind the stage 20 minutes! I think the speeches went on a bit! Anyway we played our pieces, Die Fledermaus, 3 songs with a lovely singer then Radetsky March (they all clapped along in the right places!) and off we went. Getting my car back one of the staff muddled up our valet tickets so I nearly could have left with a rather more expensive car than I arrived with but anyway got my car back and had to by a coke and listen to Bon Jovi on the way home (singing along) to keep me awake!
So whilst enjoying the luxury and opulence of the whole thing (seriously who hires a whole orchestra for their end of term party!) I couldn't forget about the people of Libya, about the people of Japan, about the 2.6 Billion people who don't have access to a toilet, over three billion people — live on less than $2.50 a day, do these things make this kind of event wholly wrong?In fact the problem as I see it is injustice and inequality - which we need to do something about and yet the beautiful things, the creativity, the care taken over each desert, the enjoyment of food - these are all things given to us by God, he wants us to enjoy them - he wants us to be creative and make beautiful things. One day in the new heaven on earth when poverty is consigned history we shall be able to make ice sculptures and paint ceilings and use all the gifts he has given us, to hold lavish banquets and huge parties with orchestras to entertain us and we can truely enjoy it because the injustice of it just won't be there!
