It took, I remember, five days to spot a cloud in the sky when I arrived in Dubai for the first time in early November, 2003.

Every morning I would open the curtains in the bedroom of my 16th floor apartment, expecting the worst -- I was born and bred in Wales where the meteorological default setting is wet and windy. So to look up and see the same pristine blue that one might find in a tropical lagoon for almost an entire week – not even the faintest brush-stroke of a cirrus cloud -- was something that struck me as bizarre, if not unwelcome.