As you were

Avid watchers of the countdown monitor (on the right) will have noticed that it has magically jumped back from 99% to 80%. This has something to do with Paraglider's acceptance of one more one-year contract in Doha. Not without regret. The prospect of returning to Dubai was appealing. But the brief fact-finding mission was none too encouraging. Not too many green shoots in that particular desert. So, for the coming year, Dubai will remain a visa-hop destination, and the Paranormal an occasional pleasure. Perhaps that's how it is meant to be. But if I had been asked to put money on it, I'd have bet on the true Paranormal falling down before its sister hotel in Deira. It shows there is a God after all. A Chinese one.