So we're getting to the end of this ridiculous November that I mentioned (belated about) all the way through the blog this month.
If you read this when it is published at 6 p.m. on Friday, I will already be finished speaking at the ITI Middle East Education Day in Muscat, Oman.
I was asked earlier in the year to come to do this; I think it was the second thing I'd accepted to do in November after my Aesthetic Masterclass and before my Learning from Failure lecture and the trip to Edinburgh for the Lothian Independent Dental Practitioners.
This talk, though, was similar to that for Lothian, a similar one to a group of 50 dentists in a football stadium hotel in my home country, but it was a billion miles away.
I arrived here via two very fancy planes: Emirates from Birmingham to Dubai on the Airbus A380 (Business class, lucky me) and then transferring to the Emirates trip Boeing 777, again in business class for a 45-minute, Yes, 45-minute flight to Muscat in Oman.
I got on to the 45-minute flight from Dubai to Muscat somewhere around 2 a.m. in the morning Dubai time, although to me it was 10 p.m., by that stage, I had no idea whether I was coming or going. I'd been fed and watered and looked after amazingly well, as I think only a few airlines can actually do on the way from Birmingham to Dubai, and then again, I was offered to eat and drink for 45 minutes on the plane to Muscat (I declined).
I ride to one of the best hotels I have ever seen (and I've been to some of the fanciest hotels in China) and to some of the most extraordinary customer service and just general service that you're ever likely to see.
First of all, after we landed and I was collected at around about 3:45 a.m., the taxi driver was extraordinary.
It has recently been Oman's national day, and so the whole country is lit up red, green and white; many of the buildings have red, green and white projected onto them, and the trees down the main boulevards are covered in lights to mimic the national colours of the flag. This is a nation that is proud of its heritage, identity, and leadership.
Our taxi driver explained to me that Oman is the Switzerland of the Middle East, always remaining neutral and never involved in conflict. It is quite strictly culturally controlled in terms of how it abides by Muslim law, but that does not extend to the resorts or the hotels where there is some relaxation of the rules related.
I found this a little bit difficult to navigate because I never wanted to upset someone, so I was not sure whether I could walk down the beach with my knees showing or not but then a long discussion with one of the waiters in the hotel (again brilliant) explained to me, but no one really minded, and everyone was pretty relaxed.
The point is that it is a totally different place; it's a long way from Tynecastle in Edinburgh, and I'm presenting the same concepts that I presented there, although in slightly abbreviated form because seven hours of teaching reduces down to four hours of teaching and then you have to decide what to leave out.
Invariably, I will have too much to say, and I will have to freestyle during the day (I'm writing this before I speak, and I hope it's gone okay).
As part of the deal from coming here, I had a little bit longer here. So I was sitting on the gym bike in what is a pretty extraordinary hotel gym, looking through a glass wall down onto the main reception, when I saw the ITI guys arriving for their leadership meetings on a day when I was not required.
And, so Alexander, the CEO of the ITI turned up (I wasn't expecting him) and all of a sudden all the work that we've done on the ITI Digital Dental Entrepreneurial program and the course for the ITI group's global consumption will be laid bare in full effect and on show really for the first time since I met Alexander by accident, 18 months ago when he asked me to apply for a job for the ITI.
At times like this, the day before, when I'm writing a blog wondering how it's going to go, my imposter syndrome will take effect massively take hold, explain to me that I've got no business being here, I'm no good and no one will understand the material and then I opened the minibar (Yes, mini bar binge time) and I saw Heineken and Budweiser and Pepsi and Snickers and Bounty and all of those things that you would expect to see in any minibar.
I went for a walk down the front. People were playing football on the beach, eating ice cream, drinking coffee, and spending time with family.
I opened my laptop to check BBC Sport to see whether Celtic had done okay in the Champions League game, and they were advertising fancy Watches.
Muscat is a million miles away from Edinburgh and exactly the same all at the same time.
Blog Post Number - 4006
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