Walking around the old town in Dubai proved to be quite exhausting for the Rykersaurus. This was soon fixed with a taxi ride to the Dubai Mall, a huge, air-conditioned shopping complex with over 1000 stores.

Amongst other spectacles, the Dubai Mall contains an ice skating rink, which provided us with much entertainment. Most enthralling was one particular teenager, who simply could not stay upright, causing mayhem on the ice with his dramatic attempts to keep balance. Amusingly, he would often bring others down as he faltered and then inevitably fell. I haven’t laughed so much in ages. I should say that we were high above the rink at a cafe, so the poor, uncoordinated skater was not aware that he was being watched. Still, I feel a bit guilty about the amount of pleasure that we all got from his lack of prowess on the rink and did admire his tenacity – he was determined not to give up. A lesson for us all.