Ellissa’s island life

With the Beast from the East causing the coldest start to spring in the UK for five years, schools, roads, rail and air were deeply affected by the extreme cold weather and snow.

Photographs hit social media when children took advantage of the frosty weather to make snowmen and to go sledging. From a comparatively balmy 27C the white blanket across the UK looked magical. However, as the cold persists, thousands of people remain without power and motorists and rail commuters face severe delays.

It’s this time of year when most of our family and friends want to exit the long winter in search of sunnier skies. And this often means, visitors … and lots of them. Welcome to the Visitor Season.

We love having visitors, especially family. I like to play host and it’s a chance to see Bahrain again through a tourist’s eyes, doing more than just driving up-and-down Budaiya Highway to get from A to B.

It’s the chance to show the fabulous spots you’ve discovered, the infamous brunches and an opportunity to pretend as though you are on holiday too.

My next visitor is my mum, which means the kids watching their P’s and Q’s, improving their table manners but it also means ‘Grandma time’ with cuddles and stories, love and laughter.

Some of our visitors like to stay up late and sleep in, spend mornings by the pool which can be tricky if they come to visit during school time as work is still going on.

But Grandma who is coming during school time, likes early nights and early mornings. My youngest son, whose body clock starts to function at 5.30am most mornings always finds it fascinating that Grandma is often up before him.

The emotional seesaw of having visitors is that when people come to stay they remind you what you have left behind. You are able to fly back for the wedding or Christening but you miss the build up to the Big Day, you miss meeting the baby when they are first born.

You miss the Sunday lunches, the girls’ nights in. When my mum flies back she will certainly leave a gap but luckily a few days later a dear friend and her two sons are coming to visit.

This particular friend lived in Bahrain for more than 20 years, so not only is she coming in the school holidays but I also don’t have to turn into a de facto tour guide or chief organiser. We shall visit all our favourite places, and laugh at the highs and lows of living here as expats in Bahrain.

Visitors are generally excited to fly out and visit you, they can create amazing memories between you and your friends/family and if it’s a particularly good visit, you’ll probably be talking about it for years to come.