Two days from launch. The place is buzzing, and not just with the mosquitoes. Abu Dhabi is about to have a national daily newspaper, and I hope and believe that it will be a very good one
Preparing for this event has been the most invigorating period of my professional life. For all my moans when American and Canadian colleagues lapse into the use of words and phrases that have no place in a paper that has chosen a British broadsheet style, it is remarkable how well people from various corners of the world have risen to the challenge of expressing themselves in broadly the same language.
Some excellent work has been done already in the dry run pages we have been producing, and everyone's efforts will seem all the more impressive once we are writing, editing, photographing and designing for a real audience: the newspaper-buying public.
So Thursday will be a massive day for me, and for all my colleagues at The National.
It is worth noting, however, that news from Britain has brought sharp reminders that there are rather more important matters than helping to build a newspaper from scratch.
On the same day that The National appears for the first time, one of my dearest friends will undergo an operation for breast cancer.
Other close friends will be at the funeral of their father, Patrick Sheehan, a wonderful old Irishman I had known for nearly 40 years. His wife, who died a few years ago, was one of the loveliest women I ever knew. Between them, they made much of their lives in England - "this country's been good to me," Paddy would tell me - and produced a great family.
So good luck Joan, and bon courage Mick, Kathleen, Trish, Margaret and Eileen. My thoughts will be with you.
And then, they will turn to the forthcoming visits to Abu Dhabi planned by each of my daughters. One of them, Nathalie, is carrying my first grandchild. These, if I am to be honest, are the truly important things.
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