In the early hours of tomorrow, Salut! takes wing for a fortnight back in Europe.
A day in London, an awayday to Middlesbrough for the wedding of my nephew Andrew and his fiancee, Sarah, then off to Gothenburg and - heureusement - the south of France. 
People here, and back in Europe, react in different ways to our break. Some are envious, others advise us to make the most of the chilly weather before we have to face the fierce heat and airless humidity of our introduction to Arabian summertime.
A colleague who preceded me back to the UK writes from Shropshire: "It is boiling here. Nearly 50f. Phew."
Then, he amplifies the bulletin: "Pours every day and is freezing cold. Spent as much in petrol in four days as in eight weeks in Abu Dhabi....."
The wife of one of the ambassadors I have met here says simply: "Enjoy, and save your energies for the return....it will be your first summer in Abu Dhabi."
There are unlikely to be many opportunities to send website postcards from my travels.
But as I have said more than once, newcomers tempted to explore Salut! further need only explore the sidebars, left and right, to find links and archives taking them to scores of earlier items. They and more regular visitors can also look at the articles listed at the top left, from The National's website.
If all that seem like too much trouble, and there is nothing in the Salut! bookshelf or at Salut! outposts - Salut! North, Salut! Live or Salut! Sunderland - to entertain or interest you, come back on my return to the Middle East towards mid-June.
And in the meantime, I may try to fix the counter that appears on this page. Do not believe the displayed figure of 83,000 for a second. The evidence behind the scenes, at Statcounter, the service I use, is that since launching in Oct 2006, Salut! has received more than 130,000 visits.
Even that tally is slightly conservative because Salut! was running for some days before it began counting. You are in good company.
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