I've previously reflected on my past stripped-down working life. I liked it that way and my employers did too as it meant that no domestic chores distracted me from giving my full attention to their business affairs.
My work was my life and my office was my home, and there was little else besides. "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" was how I coped with life in the world's largest sandbox (aka Saudi Arabia).
It travelled the world with me for many years
Not that there was much to play with: the television reception consisted of little more than re-runs of Walt Disney's "Bambi" and so-called 'newsflashes' of members of the royal family travelling to or returning from the fleshpots of the West denied to their own citizens. As for alcohol, there was none but you could get stoned anytime.
My hotel room was equally spartan, trimmed down as it was to the basics of sleeping, eating and work brought back from the office.
It was a room with no view and the only diversion was the men-only swimming pool, as long as the scorching sun had set behind the Red Sea and the hot desert wind didn't sandblast the skin off your face.
All up, it was an assignment that came at a huge personal cost to me and yet it contributed to what I am today. Thanks for the memories!
