A few weeks out of Bahrain and I’m appreciating how easy it is to get things done back in the UK. Need to contact my bank? Just give them a call and everything is sorted. No need to drive down there just to request a new pin number or change my address on the credit card. The same applies to getting together with friends or planning a project. It gets done.
After a year in Bahrain, I was getting very tired and demotivated. Don’t get me wrong, there are things I love about Bahrain but one aspect of life that was really winding me up was how long it took to get anything off the ground and how demotivated people are. There were always excuses for this not happening and that not happening and it began to rub off on me.
No doubt I will feel fatigued once more as I try and organise networking opportunities when I get back but I will persist!
So say the majority or Geant shoppers when they heard that they would have to pay 20 fils per plastic bags. Yes, Bahrain is well on its way to putting itself on the map as the worlds most enviromentally unfriendly people. Even the citizens of Dubai have reluctantly embraced the move towards ridding the world of plastic bag scum. So whats up Bahrain? Nobody likes to fork out more money when things are tight enough as they are these days but you don’t have to dig deeper into your pockets if you
A: Buy a ten or so ‘jute’ bags which you keep in the back of your car ready for every shopping trip. When you’re not using them for shopping they can be used for other things too. And they very strong..
B: If you don’t want a jute bag then why not use the same bags you used for shopping last time. When you (or your house-gimp) unpacked the shopping, where did those bags go?
I would love to see one of the complainers wake up one morning to a house full of plastic bags.
So why are plastic bags so bad?
The bags can take between 400-1,000 years to break down, and like all forms of plastic they do not biodegrade. Instead they photodegrade, breaking down into smaller and smaller toxic bits that contaminate soil, waterways and oceans, entering the food chain when ingested by animals.
Many plastic bags end up as waste on our beaches, streets and parks. When a plastic bag enters the ocean it becomes a harmful piece of litter. Many marine animals mistake plastic bags for food and swallow them, with painful and often fatal consequences. Nearly 90% of floating marine litter is plastic.
It’s time that the government of Bahrain did something about this. If the supermarkets are too scared of implementing change then its up to the government to legislate against free plastic bags so the retailers have no choice but to toe the line.
Okay, okay. As you can probably see from the abundance of greenery in this photo, this wasn’t taken in Bahrain. What you are looking at is a shameless publicity stunt for a shamefully bad film.
‘Lady Godiva‘ is a vanity project from a young director answering to the name of Vicky Jewson. She can’t direct for toffee so how the hell did this project ever make it to the silver screen is beyond me.
These days talent does not count for everything. Connections and good old fashioned gift of the gab does. What this woman does possess is pure bare-faced confidence and a few connections thrown in. However, when I found out that the film cost 1.4 million pounds to make I couldn’t help think of other ways this money could’ve been spent.
Go and have a look at the reviews. Anyone with a skin thinner than a rhinos would be crying their eyes out. Instead, on the release of the DVD today, Jewson staged a publicity stunt that would make Jordan blush. She found fifty women to ride through Hyde Park starkers. Disguising the whole thing as a charity event, she promised to donate to 5 pounds to a cancer charity for every woman who rode. That works out at 250 quid! Wow.
I wouldn’t be surprised if her film career is over. However, there’s probably a very good job waiting for her at some PR company. Sorted.
It seems that I could call myself and electrician here if I wanted to. The thing is, even I know Electrics 101. Things like: water and electricity do not mix, do not overload circuits, switch off the supply before pissing around with the wiring, don’t put the wrong kind of fuses into plugs etc.
The worrying thing is, the guy that came over today to fix bodge my wiring didn’t even know these basics. I give him not much longer on this earth if he carries on like this.
Now where can I find a qualified sparky on this island???!!!!
I will end this post as I have a horrible feeling the power will go any minute n
You knew it wouldn’t be long before my return, something would wind me up and I’d be back on here again. Heck, all it takes are a few bad drivers (of which there are many on this island). I’m even thinking about starting a ‘name and shame’ blog about bad driving in Bahrain. I still ask the question “Bahrainis, on the whole, are charming, kind, hospitable people that put us Westerners to shame when it comes to manners so why, oh, why does it all change when they get behind the wheel???!!” I know I’ll upset a few people with that one but it had to be said.
Todays rant is about expats though. Many of my fellow country men and women seem to be some of the most shallow, narrow minded, materialistic bunch of people I’ve ever had the pleasure to meet. Yes, many of them do have more money than me and no, I’m not envious. Friendships are formed on the basis of who has what and seeing as I find it hard to have conversations about my yacht (I don’t own one) or my latest holiday to the Maldives (I haven’t been), I haven’t made many friends here.
However, I do have a handful of genuine mates in Bahrain who would chose to save me over their Gucci handbag if their villa caught fire with me in it. Thanks guys.
Someone summed it up very well on a messageboard I just read: Would you cross a busy road blindfolded? So why would you drive fast in thick fog? Why would you not slow right down and put your fog lights or if you haven’t got those, your headlights on? Why was there a 200 car pile up on the Abu Dhabi-Dubai highway this morning leaving 8 3 12 dead and 141 injured? (this is at the time of writing).
I know I go on and on about how much I hate the bad driving here in Bahrain but seriously, I really fear driving on the roads in the Gulf and I’ve seen some dreadful dangerous driving every time I’ve taken to the roads. If there was another way to get around, I would take it. I don’t like putting myself and my family in danger like this and it makes me angry.
These were featured in a free catalogue that was dropped under my gate. I wonder how they would do down in the UK but here it seems that nobody seems to mind.
Despite the convenience of not having to do the school run myself as well as the environmental benefits of using a bus, I’m still refusing to put my child on a school mini bus. It’s a Toyota Hiace just like this one (but older) has no seatbelts fitted and is driven by a moron. For further confirmation that I have made the right decision I only have to look at the way these buses and vans are driven on the roads of Bahrain. The drivers have no regard for their own lives, the lives of their passengers and the lives of other road users around them. A friend of mine was almost hit by one the other day when she was on a roundabout. The idiot behind the wheel of one of these deathtraps pulled onto the roundabout without slowing down and almost went into the side of her. To add insult, he proceeded to beep her rather than use his brakes. It was only down to the fact that her car can take off with a slight pressing of the gas peddle that she managed to get clear of him otherwise he would’ve hit her.
Do these drivers have to take a more advanced test to drive these buses? I doubt it.
To all the mothers, this is your day. Maybe we should think about Mother Earth too and one of the best ways to start is by saying no to plastic bags. The damage these things do to our environment goes way beyond the twenty or so minutes of convenience they give us to get our shopping home from the supermarket. I feel that they are literally thrown at us in Bahrain, each time we buy anything its wrapped in a plastic bag and when we go to the supermarket very often individual items are wrapped in a bag and then put inside another one.
Please buy some reusable bags and always keep them in the back of your car so you’re never without them when you go shopping. If you buy a single item, refuse the plastic bag and hold the item in your hand.
If I still haven’t convinced you then just a walk along one of Bahrain’s public shorelines will show you where these bags end up. If you’re still not convinced take a look at this:
and in the meantime it seems that Manama Municipal Council is hell-bent on the continued rape of our beautiful natural heritage:
Environmentalists on Saturday slammed plans to rip up a coral reef in the way of the $2.5 billion Bahrain Bay development, claiming the kingdom risked losing its natural habitat forever.
The Environment Friends Society (EFS) called for a public enquiry into the decision last month by Manama Municipal Council giving developers the go-ahead to remove the reef. (From Arabian Business.com. Read it here)
It’s sad to think that one day the only memory of the Lost Paradise of Dilmun will be a water park named after it.
From the blogger formally known as Al Ain Taxi.
THEN:1992 Nissan Sunny. Pink seat covers, no rear seat belts, jangly chain on gearstick and plastic roses on parcel shelf. Loves many things in life but hates egocentric people.
NOW:1992 Nissan Sunny (yes, it did pass its inspection..just). Red seat covers, huge Bahraini flag sticker in the rear windscreen. Meter is broken, don’t ask me to switch it on. Listens to Radio Bahrain in morning and thinks 'The Fish' is the funniest man to hit the airwaves. Still hates egocentric people and (w)reckless drivers*
*private joke between me and anonymous commenter
bahraintaxi@gmail.com
Idiot Driver of the day
Nissan pickup driver who so desperately wanted to turn left at the Bahrain Map intersection that he squeezed himself in between two container lorries. Why can't these huge lines of articulated lorries be restricted to moving around at night? Or at least not until 9 am when the rush has quietened down a bit
