The British winter can takes its toll on the hardiest of spirits. Scientists (at least, that’s how they are described) have come up with the concept of ‘Blue Monday’, a day in January which is supposed to be the most depressing day of the year. This year, the date was Monday 23rd January. Christmas is now long past but the winter still has plenty of darkness and misery to throw at us.
So, it makes a pleasant change for such a date to be associated with warm winter sunshine and temperatures in the twenties. Blue Monday was the opening day of the Arab Health Exhibition in Dubai and Lorne Laboratories were there to meet the world. We were there and so were our competitors - companies involved in the world of blood screening, blood transfusion - well just about anything to do with blood diagnostics. Mind you, that was not uppermost on my mind as we arrived in Dubai. A blast of winter warmth and a dazzling cityscape fringed by the Arabian Desert was the initial captivating facet of the trip.
Dubai is at once spectacular and absurd. Glistening skyscrapers - including the world’s tallest, the Burj Khalifa - rise out of the parched desert on this piece of coastline. The Emirate is proud of its achievement, turning the last of its oil money into a tourist legacy and nearly bankrupting itself in the process. A jewel in its crown is the Dubai World Trade Centre, a vast complex of ultra-modern exhibition halls playing host to the most grandly-scaled and ambitious of exhibitions.
Anyway, back to the blood screening and all that jazz. There were just short of 3000 exhibitors coming from more than 75 countries. Just finding your way around the place was a task in its own right. Fortunately, those companies associated with blood screening and blood transfusion were largely clumped together and we had many familiar faces staring back at us from the stands in our hall. Having a presence at such exhibitions for a company like Lorne is so important. The world may notice you if you are there but it will definitely notice when you are not. We were there to fly our flag.
In the end, we were able to speak to so many of our distributors. And those wanting to be distributors. The collection of business cards grew and grew and the pile of my own cards dwindled until I had run out. Conversations about credit terms, distributor agreements, reagents, blood transfusion products, squeezy stress toys, pens and catalogues went on all through the day until the public address system announces the close of play. The exodus begins and we join the torrent of human traffic making its way to the taxis, buses and metro. We emerge outside and are reminded where we are. The skyscrapers are brightly lit and the traffic is four lanes thick of bumper-to-bumper cars. The night-life beckons for those prepared to taste its offerings and the business cards are put away for another day.