Here it goes...

In late March 2014 I moved from the UK to Oman for 3 years. Before departing I floated the idea of keeping a diary / journal / blog of my time here. The friends and family I asked were enthusiastic about the idea; "you would be mad not to" said one.

I have never kept a diary, written a journal or started a blog before, and my experience of writing is limited. Creative writing was never my strong point at school although some history essays I recently uncovered did have a small degree of fluency in their arguments. At work I have to be matter of fact; short sentences, small words and punchy bullet points are the only way to guarantee readership. So I apologise in advance if my first few posts read like an Economist article.

My aim is to write about the history, geography, culture, language and people of Oman. I will focus on writing it as an informal diary, but for my friends and family as well as myself. I am taking some inspiration from Wilfred Thesinger, the eccentric British explorer who criss-crossed the Empty Quarter in the late 1940s and wrote a fine book about it. Another enjoyable read has been Travels in Dictionary Land by Tim Mackintosh-Smith.

In doing this I will try to stray from publishing long monologues (like this), they end up never being read and more time writing is less time exploring. I will attempt to keep my posts punchy but descriptive, and perhaps include a few photos along the way. Also I am here for work after all and cannot spend every day discovering forts, wadis, mountain villages, camel races, and writing about it. So I anticipate publishing two or three posts a month.

My first weekend begins tomorrow. It has been raining for the first few days, apparently a phenomenon for this time of year. The locals keep joking I brought the bad weather from England and I have to agree with them (although 20 degrees is really not cold). However the clouds are clearing so I may have the first opportunity of doing some proper exploring.

Setting my alarm for 6 in the hope I will see a sunrise over Muscat, so I will sign off for now. Hopefully I will be back on here in a week or so. In the meantime thank you for reading, and see you soon.

Jon