An Ex-expat Vibe (i.e. More Visits)

There must be an ex-expat vibe going on at the moment as we found out this week that another couple of friends from Planet Expat were travelling locally, and they came over for lunch on Sunday.  

We spent our last evening in the Middle East with Mike and Kim.  They drove us over the Causeway to Bahrain, and then treated us to supper at Senor Pacos - a great Tex-Mex restaurant. Senor Paco himself (or the equivalent) came out to load us with pressies and drinks on our last visit, as we had been there many times with friends over the years.  I never usually drink before or during a flight, but on this occasion I did sink a few margaritas.

Not only was it quite something to be leaving after 25 years, but also we had had a bit of a stressful moment on the Causeway as we left Saudi Arabia. We came through Saudi Customs and Passport, but the young lad at Passport Control had not seen an Exit-only Visa before and was not prepared to let us out.

The ramifications:  We could not go back to Saudi as we had no Entrance Visa anymore, and we could not progress to Bahraini customs - tantalisingly in view - until Saudi Customs let us out.  We were in No-Man's Land.  Col and Mike went off into an office with the young lad and after about 20 minutes came back with an older man who had no problems, stamped us out and we progressed to the next border.

Some years before that we had been to Mike and Kim's wedding in Jo'burg, my first and only visit to the vast continent of Africa.  We then travelled on down to The Cape to spend two weeks with Roger and Anne.  The Cape is one of the loveliest places we have ever seen and the photo that heads the blog is one that Col took on the strange and beautiful Tabletop - the top of Table Mountain.

And then on Saturday who should ring but Roger himself. We haven't seen him since before lockdown but  he is coming for lunch today and will stay over.

If they had all arrived on the same day it would have been an Aramco reunion.

I am wondering who might turn up next?!  And if we can maybe arrange a get together with Julia the next time we are 'oop North.  We are all getting so old now. Well, apart from Mike and Kim that is. They are still young.

Time rushes on frighteningly fast. I am now the oldest one left on my side of the extended family, and both the girls I shared a flat with my in my student days, Diana and Penny, have gone over that edge.

Damaged children of disobedient Adam that we all are, our lives are so short now, so quickly over.  And we feel the tragedy of it because, as the Bible says, Jehovah has "put eternity" into our hearts. We were made to live forever.

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has even put eternity in their heart; yet mankind will never find out the work that the true God has made from start to finish. - Ecclesiastes 3:11

The size of the Milky Way came up in the fascinating last talk the Circuit Overseer gave us, and I cannot get my head round the amount of time it would take to explore that, to find out about it. And yet is only a tiny part of the Universe.

Isn't that why we need eternity?  And even so, we will never find it all out.  It is amazing and wonderful beyond comprehension.  Jehovah truly is the Grand Creator.