Due to popular demand … well, one of you asked … a list of 10 ideas/concepts/events I like about living in Abu Dhabi:

(And I also get to do a list, and everyone likes lists.)

10. Indian food! Really good Indian food (chicken kurma and nan bread; yes), inexpensive, easy to find. Unlike SoCal, where you have to work at finding Indian, and then it’s a big-ticket item.

9. Lulu’s. The store with fruits and vegetables you have never heard of, from countries you have never heard of, that also has an aisle devoted to “pulses and ghee” … but also sells grandfather clocks, cricket bats and luggage. Sort of Woolworths meets Stater Bros.

8.My very own soccer team. Al Jazira, a leading club in the UAE Pro League, plays in a stadium down the block and across the street. When they turn on the lights there, I can read in my living room. And they charge no admission. So it really is like it’s my team, because I never have to pay to see the lads play.

7. Sun! Sun! Sun! It’s never cold here. And I mean, never. I think the low this winter might have been 59. (Of course, come May-June-July-August-September I will be rooting for clouds! clouds! clouds!)

6. Cabs that will take you from one end of the island to the other … for $4.

5. No sales tax. None. A TV that costs $500 … costs $500. Not $500 plus 8 percent, or whatever. You could get used to it.

4. Diversity. The UAE is like a mini-U.S. … but only if American citizens made up only 15 percent of the population. It’s kinda cool, with so many people from so many places. I’m not going to knock on doors, but I bet people from at least 25 countries live on my block. Wouldn’t surprise me if it were 50 countries.

3. Another country, same language. I’m halfway around the world, and I’m still getting along in English. Almost every roadsign, business sign and menu here … in English. How cool is that?

2. A work environment without the sapping threat of layoffs/going out of business in the equation. People get laid off, but it hasn’t swallowed up the country, unlike you-know-where … where millions of us could feel and see that ax hanging over our heads.

1. No income tax! No … income … tax. I don’t lose 25 percent (or whatever) off the top to the federal government. No income tax. It’s like the sales tax thing, above. If I make $1,000 a week … I make $1,000 a week. No withholding. No SDI. No Social Security. No income tax. Take your current salary, and add half again what you take home. Can you imagine? I live here, and I hardly can.