The future is bright, the future is bleak. Who knows what tomorrow will bring? Plenty, say the pundits who have talked to hundreds of people in the UAE and the region to gauge consumer confidence.

Many are very positive about the future and many are not. Asians have been found to be more buoyant about their prospects than their western brethren and even as salaries have not kept up with inflation people are still planning to invest in property, buy new cars and go on a holiday of a lifetime.

So what is it with some people who stay optimistic through thick and thin? Why is it that sometimes even when the sky is falling on our heads and the US is getting ready to play war games in the region’s waters do we stay sanguine?

I stepped out of the office recently in the hope of buying presents for my better half. The nearest mall was a short drive away and as I browsed through the shops I heard a commotion at the nearby pharmacy.

A noisy gaggle of mostly North African women were pushing to get inside while the Indian manager of the shop kept pushing them out.

I slipped into the shop and found the cause of the commotion. His name was Ahmad, a slightly built Emirati man with a long greying beard and the kindest eyes I’ve ever seen.

“Traffic is killing my social life,” said a friend who recently moved to Dubai.

In my two years here I’ve seen the situation go from manageable to difficult but it didn’t strike me that road stress has resulted in no life after work.

Don’t get me wrong, this is not yet another moan about traffic woes; but the more I asked the more I was told people were too tired to go anywhere once they got back home from work.

The heat is on and all around the world people are being asked to “cover up” or are being accused of a “cover up”.

Not a very nice command or accusation to receive. One way or the other, however, it will happen, that’s life.

Last week Venetian authorities deployed “Decency Stewards” in their elegant St Mark’s Square to ensure half-naked tourists with a penchant for littering do not destroy their “drawing room of Europe”.

When we are little we constantly think of what we will be when we grow up. We study, go to music and sport lessons, learn how to eat properly and are chuffed every time a parent or teacher comments on how charming or well mannered we are.

As we grow, we have other aspirations… The best university, the nicest car, the hottest companion, a great job and oodles of money.

Some of us make it… get it all or almost. Some just don’t, no matter how hard they try… life just isn’t what they aspired it to be.