Street talk: Enjoying the sun, sand and the sea

Dubai - Karen Beaumont retired from work in the UK, and moved to the UAE

"I have two struggles: I've retired, as well as moved here. I've lost work colleagues and I've lost purpose."

Anyone who's worked in the Emirates for most of their lives knows well that when you retire in the UAE, you don't retire to the UAE; you go back to where you came from.

Karen Beaumont has had something of a reversal of fortunes, if it can be called that. The former medical secretary from Nottinghamshire, England retired from work in the UK, and moved to the UAE. Her husband works here (he loves the sun). Karen shuttles between the countries. She's been visiting Dubai back and forth for two years - the duration her husband's been employed here. In the months that she is here, she has large swathes of free time to do with as she pleases. "Never would I have imagined some years ago that I would be spending my retired years in Dubai."

She has a word of advice to the many women "who have been plonked here because of their husbands", or even to the many single ladies - get out there and join a community of expat ladies. "My life has been saved by the expat ladies coffee mornings". She says, "You can end up being very lonely." The ones with kids here, or the ones with jobs at least have a preoccupation. But the likes of her, Karen says, have to reach out to people because "somebody isn't going to come to you. of course, you have to be selective about who is going to be your friend."

As a retired expat wife with grown-up kids (and even a little grandson) back home, she's doing what she can to fill her days with purpose. She's joined volunteer work. This Monday was her first day of volunteering at Al Noor Centre for Children with Special Needs. She even did a trial run of the bus route.

Karen also appears incredibly fit. The spring in her step hopping on and off a green patch to pose for a photo is one clue. Every morning she unrolls her yoga mat on her balcony and follows a 30-day yoga regimen on YouTube and with her bluetooth plugged in. "Fitness is very expensive in this country! I don't know why it should be," she says.

The morning that I go up to speak to her she's just left her building to go to the World Trade Centre (where the 12-week indoor sports event Dubai Sports world is taking place) to figure out if her badminton court bookings have come through. "Booking systems in this country are not very user-friendly." So she's on the metro to go there in person and figure it out. Her husband and she play badminton. And often on weekends, they hire a boat for half a day and get plenty of sun, and their weekly dose of the sea.

The boat life and the sea are just one of several aspects she loves about the city. Karen's even found beauty in the concrete buildings. "They may be concrete, but they're beautiful inside!" The multicultural nature of Dubai is another thing going for it, in her book. As well as the transport system, the facilities, the accessibility - to the beach, to the building's free gym and pool -"I know we pay for it, but even then. It's not how it is back in England."

Karen also loves the supermarkets in Dubai. Like which ones? Doesn't she think they're overpriced, I goad, and the fruits not worth what you pay for? "Food is slightly more expensive here than back home, yes", but she loves Geant and the markets in Deira, especially the fish market where she goes once a fortnight and stocks up her freezer. "If you look around, you can get some pretty good deals."

She's grateful for a lot, and aware of the privilege - the good boat life on the weekends, trips taken and planned to Oman and Sri Lanka, all the travel that being in Dubai enables them to make. At the same time, she's uncomfortable with the discrepancy in pay scales, in the very different kinds of lives led in Dubai. From the luxury if you're on top of the ladder, to the lack of it if you're in a job that is less of a walk in the park - one in which you can't afford to bring your family here, jobs where employees who only see their kids once every two years, other realities like not everyone having days off in a week. Her issue of missing the green hills of home then doesn't quite compare, and she knows it only too well.

nivriti@khaleejtimes.com

• UAE