On my last day in Davos, I approached the world with a slight spring in my step. It was like the last day of term when I was at school, with a delicious feeling that tomorrow I will not still be chasing all these eminently worthy ideas and people.
As I walked through the town in the early morning, the police had already started to take down the barriers which have made the place so difficult to move around freely.
The earnest-looking forum participants in their jackets and security tags have started to give way to the skiers in their multi-coloured suits.
In fact, some clever participants who planned ahead have arranged to stay on for a day or so, and take advantage of the stunningly beautiful slopes above the town.
Back in town, one man scored brilliantly in getting around on the slippery ice while retaining his sense of correct dressing by buying a set of small chains which he fitted over his smart black shoes by slipping over the toe and heel, giving his leather soles the essential grip that allowed him to stay upright.
Apparently such devices are around to be bought, and if I had found them I might have abandoned my boots which I have used every day despite their inelegant appearance. However, I did not want to follow Shimon Peres' example and crash to the ground.
Startling change
In the debates there has been a lot of well intentioned agreement, so it was a startling change to attend a session in which there was no agreement at all. On the final day, the Iranians and Americans took part in a panel on Iran's nuclear plans.
The session failed completely as a dialogue, with both sides talking right past each other. Neither gave an inch nor seemed willing to look for any way through the crisis.
New ideas
Several ideas were floated on how the US and Iran might find a compromise to their disagreements. Some of these ideas must be part of a resolution in the future, but that will have to wait for a different political atmosphere. No one was saying anything about compromise here.
The ultra-cool Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad represented the United States and stuck to his lines without wasting many words. However, the Iranian side got very determined in putting forward their position at great length. In fact, the Iranian Foreign Minister got so heated and explained his country's insistence on their rights to a peaceful nuclear programme.
After an hour of talking in Persian, he tore off his headphones, abandoned the increasingly hysterical translator, and switched to English, so as to make his point all the better to the audience. In fact, his English was so good, I do not know why he started with the translator.
Corporatespeak
The weight of the jargon flying around has sometimes made it hard work to look underneath and to find the good ideas which undoubtedly exist and which we all probably would want to support if we knew what they were.
A bewildering mix of phrases like corporate social responsibility; global corporate citizenship; corporate social entrepreneurship; sustainable and scalable energy efficiency; inclusive partnerships of government with civil society, the private sector and faith groups; have been floating around and help make my mind glaze over till something jolted me back into realising that they are important.
Most companies in the UAE and other Gulf states have yet to wake up to the importance of such schemes, and they have yet to become integral to most people's working life.
But large multinational companies, which have attracted the attention of activists, have adopted these various causes very completely and they know full well that any successful future means getting very involved in what traditionally have not been the concerns of corporations.
