'Love Birds' Divided

I went to the ‘Post Office’ at the Bahrain Mall today to renew my driving licence which expired 3 days ago. Finally!

While I was standing in the queue waiting for my turn, I looked around (as usual) eyeing anything that moved just TO KILL TIME. My eye caught sight of a man with a rose in his hands. ‘Wow, there is something going on there’, I thought, so I observed secretly, looking at the counter then turning around from time to time; like a ‘Bird Watcher’ looking at a exotic bird ritual in its natural environment; in this CASE it was a guy waiting for a girl.

When I next turned around, I saw the girl approaching the guy, he was holding the rose in his left hand which was to his side, ‘Humm’, I thought, ‘You’d usually see the hand stretched out waiting to greet the girl with the rose’.

They must have been feeling awkward because they were looking around to see if anyone was looking at them, I immediately turned back towards the counter.


When next I turned around, they were holding hands and were about to sit on the bench opposite the lifts. The girl sat down and laid the rose on the bench next to her, the guy sitting on the other side, they were still holding hands.
They began to talk.

I continue to look at them thinking, ‘how hard it is in our culture for young ‘lovers’ (used loosely) to meet & get to know each other before contemplating marriage’; my thoughts and views on the subject will the contents of another blog.

Anyways, I turned to look at the counter again as It was now one person away from being my turn. I glanced back to look at them and my eyes met the guy’s eyes; pretending to be looking around, I did not immediately turn back but rather continued to look around, up and to the side. I looked down at my phone and fidgeted with it, pretending to make a call.

When I next turned their way, they were gone.

Alas, the love birds had flow the coupe and it was all because of me. The stopped feeling like a ‘Bird watcher’ and now felt like a predator that had just let it prey get away.

Just missed the bullet.

Yesterday (Saturday, 28th April 2007), I left home at 5:00pm on my way to a 5:30 appointment at my barber shop, for the monthly hair cut.

So I got into my car and started to drive, I passed one traffic light and then another, then I noticed that the traffic flow in front of me was slowing down dramatically.

‘What Gives?’, I thought, ‘It’s definitely an accident’, something that’s frequent on our roads.

I patiently sat in my car, one hand hanging out the window and the other on the steering wheel, lazily looking around (as I always do) trying to kill time, which I had a lot off since it was only 5:05pm and my appointment was at 5:30pm.

The traffic slowly began to ooze forward, sometimes a couple of feet, other times a good length. I finally reached to the point where I could actually see what was causing the commotion.

‘Damn!’, the traffic police have setup a check point; It must be the end of the month and the government needs money to pay their salaries, as is the norm.

I felt confident of not being stopped as I was abiding the law by (a) wearing my seatbelt, (b) not speaking on the phone, etc.

Unfortunately, as soon as I saw the first copper, he signalled me to the side.

‘What gives’, ‘This is not good’. I am in deep doo doo; reason being that my licence had just expired 2 days back and I still had not gotten off of my fat @ss to go and renew it.

I was desperate, so the only thing I could do was;

I parked on the side on the road indicated by the officer, put on the hand breaks, turned the car off, and got out.

I walked to the officer, with my hands raised in disbelief, “Wash sayer, ana maa sawate shay ghallat” (what gives, I have done nothing wrong).

He raised his eye brows and looked at me angrily, “ana askari, wa min hagee awagaaf ay wahed” (He meant he was a government official and has the right to stop any one he want to). I had no arguments there, but, I needed to get out of the situation fast, it should not get worse or I’m screwed.

Immediately, I said “Amee, mub kasdee shay, ana bas gaed asallak leanaa maa sawate shay ghalat” (Sir/uncle, I don’t mean anything except that I don’t believe I have done anything wrong)

“Laa”, he said, “Traeegtok galat, ana askari…..bla bla bla bla” (he said that my behaviour was wrong and I should not argue with him since he represents the government ……repeating some of his previous comments)

Anyways, he told me that he stopped me because the digits on my car’s number plates were not visible; which was caused by the long 5 hour drives that I had driving to and returning from Qatar in 2004/2005 (I’ll blog about it sometime in the ‘Down memory lane’ section). Again I had not moved my fat @ss to get them fixed, up to now I was using a marker to colour them blue.

Had he booked me I would have been given 2 citations, unbeknown to him, I was trying to weasel my way out of the situation without showing him my licence.

And I succeeded, he turned out to be a nice guy, thought he did not look it. I got off with a warning and was told to go to the Traffic directorate, to get new number plates.

“Inshallh, bacher barooh almoroor hag tasgeel sayartee wa batlob lee rakum gadeed” (what I meant was; ‘Yes sir. Thank you very much, I will be going to the traffic directorate tomorrow to register my car and will request a new number plate’).

My tactics worked, I missed the bullet this time, now it’s only a matter of getting off my @ss and doing the needful.

Oh yah, I should be registering my car this month, there are still 2 days to go.

I hope to renew my licence at the Post office at Bahrain mall today, then my insurance policy in the evening and, ‘ooh sugar’, I forgot, my right side mirror has been broken for the last three months, I don’t think my car will pass the traffic directorate’s examination without it.

I have yet to get it fixed. Aaah mann!

Weight Loss Diary

I have decided it is high time i start that diet, ahem ahem, changed in diet that i have been contemplating for so long.

My pants do not fit anymore, my belly has popped out and i weight more than i should for my height.

Therefore, i will be POSTING my daily diary, exercise routine and food intake here. I will also be weighing my self every 15 days......

My height: 5 foot 7 inches
Weight: 94 kg
Waist:
I aint giving my but size!

Starting from 26th April and for the next three months, ending 25th July 2007. The ideal weight for my height is around 70 kg. I don't thing i will reach it exactly but my aim is to get as close as possible.

My philosophy is to reduce the energy intake (not completely stop), and then consume the utmost energy possible via exercise.

I don't follow anyone's diet schedule except mine, and this is how it is; First i exercise daily, i cut out all bread and rice; cut our fizzy drinks, sweets, chocolates and cakes; well actually i try to. There are going to be tough times ahead but i will persevere in the end.

SO,
============================
26 April 2007 - (Day 1 of 91 days)
Breakfast: Chicken Breast Salad
Lunch: Missed Lunch
Dinner: 3 Hamour (fish) fillet
Exercise: 5k jog, 3x20 sit-ups, 2x10 push-ups.
Liquids: 1.5L water, 3 orange drinks
Notes: The food intake was ok, there exercise torture, i was able to run the 5k with minimal discomfort.
============================
27 April 2007 - (Day 2 of 91 days)
Breakfast: Missed Breakfast
Lunch: Half a Grilled Chicken
Dinner: Medium size cut of Water Mellon
Liquids: 2L water, 2 orange drinks , 1 Pineapple Juice
Exercise: One and a Half hours of playing basketball, 1x20 sit-ups,
Notes: The basketball game was a good exercise so i did not job. I may do both later on but i need my body to get used to the daily exercise routine first. Skipping the junk food was not a problem as i was asleep one third of the day and busy the other two.
============================
28 April 2007 - (Day 3 of 91 days)
Breakfast: Missed Breakfast
Lunch: 6 hot dogs
Dinner: 4 hot dogs & a medium size cut of Water Mellon
Liquids: 1/2 L water, 2 orange drinks
Exercise: 1x20 sit-ups,
Notes: I was unable to exercise today because my ankles hurt from the previous day's game. This is not good. I must push my self not to skip my exercise routines.
===========================
29 April 2007 - (Day 3 of 91 days)
Breakfast: 3 scrambled eggs mixed with onions (Bade wa bassal)
Lunch:
Dinner:
Liquids: 1 tea & milk, 1/2L water,
Exercise:
Notes:Today i read the label on the Orange drink and saw that it had 150 calories, sugarrrrrr, so I have decided to stop drinking it. There goes one of my incentives.
============================
30 April 2007 - (Day 4 of 91 days)
Breakfast:
Lunch:
Dinner:
Liquids:
Exercise:
Notes:

VIP or RIP?

On my way home yesterday night, I was stopped by a red light at the ‘Al Khareeta’ (The MAP) traffic lights, it was 9:40 pm, and I was heading towards Manama from playing Basketball with a couple of my friends at the Gulf Air club.

To pass my time, I looked around, at the ads on the large screen, at the ‘McDonalds’ logo (thinking of a Big Mac), I turned around and noticed a Traffic police car blocking the cars coming from the turn from the Manama freeway that leads on to the highway going towards Isa Town.

I realized that a VIP was probably headed our way, coming towards us from the Mina Salman port highway, my suspicions were confirmed when all the traffic lights turned red and no cars were moving.

So we sat and waited; at 9:44 pm, I saw the flashing lights slowly appearing from the distance, I braced myself and eagerly peered over trying to get a glimpse of the person in the on coming car. With no warning at all, the Traffic police car moved on, and a Range Rover with a Special Forces unit took its place, WOW, What’s going on here? Who’s THIS VIP? Is it a VVIP, or maybe a VVVVVVIP?

And when it did pass by I was shocked to see Lorries carrying containers, with ‘Special Forces’ in pursuit. This is not a blog about what was in the containers. My question here is much more important, so;

I got to thinking, these were only containers and we were made to wait for 4 to 5 minutes at least, NO VIPs, WHAT then would the REACTION of TRAFFIC POLICE have been had there been AN AMBULANCE STRANDED IN OUR LANE with its LIGHES FLASHING and its HORNS HONKING and a POOR UNFORTUNATE SOUL in the back with an EMMERGENCY, fighting for his life? What is Bahrain's Traffic law on something like this?

Truly best friends

Do you know who your best friends are?

I bet if you really think about it, all the friends that you have do not really fall under this category.

So who actually is a best friend?

To me, it’s someone who understands you and knows what you want even before you do; someone who you can share your darkest secrets with and not be judged by; someone who you can discuss your dreams and desires with and your lives become stories that you verbally piece together, like a lego set; Someone you can talk to continuously for long periods at a time, even into the late hours of the night, just small talk; someone whose presence is enough to comfort you even if no words are exchanged; Someone who listened to you when you need to be heard; Someone who will go to great length to ensure that you are not discomforted in awkward moments; someone who will stand with you and comfort you when you break up with your first love; someone who will willingly do a favour and does not ask for anything in return; Someone who will share his breakfast with you when you forget to bring yours to school.

I had friends like this, but as faith would have it, they have all moved on to bigger and better lives, many of them are now in other countries; leaving me behind, alone. Don’t get me wrong; I have lots of friends that I talk to and go out with, but they can never replace the presence & comfort provided by being with your ‘best friends’.

Now a days, the word ‘best friend’ is used loosely to describe any and all the people we know. This is not so. True best friends are mostly made when we are young, in our school years and our neighbour hood.

In my school days, I had six best friends, each in a different period of my life, and they have all moved on;

1) Mohsin (Bahraini); my very first best friend; this was in my Junior 1 & 2 years. I remember days when I went to his house or when he came to mine, times when we played at school and the day he stopped talking to me for no apparent reason, that same year he transferred out of our school and I never heard from him again; and never have since.

2) Ali (Bahraini) ; Junior 3 to Junior 7, I met him when he first transferred to our school, I remember our class room door opening, he and his mother standing in the door way, the teacher giving him the empty seat next to me, and the rest as they say is history. We were very close, went out together, we were inseparable, weekends, holidays and special events. He left, for America to complete his high school and then went on to college. He later came back, worked for three years and returned to the US, he is now works there; is married and has a daughter, Layla. I have not spoken to him for the past two years but I still get news of him from his brother.

3) Ramzi (Bahraini dad /British mum); Junior 4 & 5, I once chipped one of his front teeth during a friendly skirmish. After school, we used to walk to his grandmother’s house, in Manama, wait till his dad picked him up and then I would continue on and go home. Ali, Ramzi & I had formed a play group and called ourselves the ‘Panthers’. He left after Junior 5 and I never heard from him since.
4) Jim (Seychellois); Junior 3 to 5, His father was a cook and worked at a Sheikh’s house somewhere in Zallaq. He always came over on weekends and we used to spend hours walking in the Manama souq. We used to read a lot of comics, and we always trying to see who was better at this or that; two events that come to mind are playing bean bag and a shop listing incident that I am not too proud of. He too returned back to his home country with his parents.

5) Nadaav (Indian); Junior 6 to Senior 1, we clicked from the first time we met, we were inseparable; anything and everything would get us giggling and then we’d burst into all out laughter. We gave names to all the teachers; our favourite was ‘Rat face’. We joked all the time and made fun of everyone. Alsa, he left with his family who were immigrating to Sydney, Australia.

6) Meraash (Sri Lankan); Junior 6 to Senior 5; We used to sit for long hours and discuss our dreams, what we wanted to do and what we would do if certain things happened, we shared our sadness and rejoiced in our happiness. He left for Sri Lanka when we graduated from high school; and later got a scholarship to a college in NY, USA. He loved reading comics and his favourite character was ‘Wolverine’. He was very talented and had an unbelievable ability to drawn fantastic sketches.

When you revisit certain memories in your life, one usually finds flaws in them, or remembers them differently than they actually occurred; I want to remember my best friends the way they are in my mind now.

I thank them for the good times and the bad; I will cherish the memories for all eternity. The moments that were shares together have made me the person that I am today; the visited we had gave me the confidence I have today, the discussions and ‘constructive’ arguments we had allowed me to aspire to bigger and better things.

I now have one best friend, my loving wife.

Labourers LAWS should consider more changes.

In the past week, the Government and the filthy rich Businessmen has been at each other on the matter of transporting their labourers in unprotected, open top vans, trucks and Lorries.

Well I would like to point out al least three other points that they should be discussing as well;

a) A dedicate residential area only for the bachelors. They should not be allowed to live in residential areas where families live and children play. There is some discussion but not solid action yet.

b) The transport vehicles dropping the labourers off at the end of the working day should STOP at the bus stops not in the middle of the streets or roads.
Pictured below







c) Businesses should not allow their employees to take the trucks, Lorries, and other heavy load transportations home. This takes up a lot of scarce parking lots in residential areas.

MORE points & pictures TO FOLLOW

Designer Souls

What makes ONE wants to own expensive goods, is it just to show off. I’m not talking about the desire to own and flaunt luxury goods such as cars, boats etc……The BIG STUFF ……….for the big fish!
I am talking the average Joe (and Jane to be politically correct) and their desire to own designer accessories; bags, sunglasses, wallets; and EXPENSIVE clothing necessities such as pants, shirts, etc..

Watches
Fendi, Gucci, Cartier; does a Rolex worth BD 4,000 or more tell time better than a BD20 or BD 40 Citizen or Casio watch?

Wallets & Bags (Prada,Chloe,Dolce & Gabbana, Fendi)
How about a Guess or Gucci wallet or bag, is the money held in such a wallet worth more than the notes in an ordinary BD 5 wallet, purchase power wise. I am aware some smart ass out there will say some thing in the area of “Huh, my Designer wallet holds more money in it then you make In a month”, to that I say, “Maybe”, or “Maybe you’re full of SHIT”.

Women have been known to squander their monthly salary on designer bags worth BD 200, 500, 1500 or more. What the hell is wrong with these people?

When one of them is asked to donate money to help the needy and poor or contribute anything to charity, ‘boingggggg’, they freeze up and the stiffs might actually give less than BD 1 ($ 2.65), only in shame.

But then when they see that must have X or Y, ooooooohhhh mamaaaa, sell the babies and mortgage the house cause I’m gona get some tonight.

Presto, just like that the Visa card pops out from thin air and SWISH, it gets swiped and the goodies are their to take home.

PENS
Gold & Silver pens worth hundreds; I know for a fact that my handwriting sucks no matter what, whether I write with a 50 fils ($0.13) pen or a BD150 ($380) one. It just sucks!

This phenomenon is in both women and men.

Millions are dying of war, famine, hunger and malnutrition; just imagine how many lives a Designer bag can save.

ME;
I got my watch in Melbourne, Australia in 1999, a CITIZEN for AUD 100 (BD 25 then [$66]). I love it.

I get my shirts from MAXX (Sitra Mall) for between BD 4 to 6 (Thanks to a good friend who told of the place when it opened). Why the hell not, its good quality and I go through them every two / three months. Why should I buy a shirt that costs BD 20 or 30.

My pen, actually pens, I go through two to three a month, you know me, big shot and all, writing all those big cheques, heheheh hehehe, seriously, I choose to write with the 50 fils ($0.13) pen; sometimes some worth 250 fils ($0.66).

The point is if you have lots & lots of money, then indulge yourself a little but don’t go over board.

What are you trying to compensate for?
‘Ching’, ‘Swish’, You just sold your soul for designer goods. Hope the attention you get is worth it. Come again……AND HAVE A NICE DAY..

Maid for Abuse!

It has become common place for GCC nationals to abuse their maids/ house boys, and apparently even more so in Bahrain, a country known for its friendliness and hospitality. Not a day goes by without hearing of another incident or reading a news article published on the subject, usually describing the despicable and inhumane treatment by employers against their maids. These atrocities are being committed against innocent human beings.

Where is big Brother now?
How can the governments of the GCC states keep quite when such crimes against humanity are being committed in their own back yard? This I know is not comparable to genocide or slavery, but a crime is a crime is a crime.

This is physical, mental, emotional and financial abuse.

Hope;
They come to our country with the hopes of improving their children’s or families’ lives, leaving them behind for long periods of time. Some maids have been known to leave their new born children soon after they have given birth.
Others leave several children behind, hoping to earn an extra income to better their lived and give them a change in this miserable world.

This is the way we welcome them into our lives? Is this the type of people that we have become? How can this be acceptable?

Mistreatment;
Some are sexually abused or raped (to me they both have the same meaning but are different words, nothing more) by the dirty scum that we have living amongst us. If they do not concede with the B@$&&&&S requests, they are beaten and sent back to their countries without being paid their dues. One has to be pretty low on the human evolution scale to perform such despicable deeds in the same home that their wives and children reside.

Some of them do not get paid their wages for months on end, sometimes even being short changed when they are finally paid.

Others are beaten for no reason at all or maybe for for not doing a proper job or just wanting to sleep early because they are tired.

Yet others are being used as punching bags by abusive spouses (both Husband & Wife) who themselves are in a troublesome relationships.

There is much, much more;
Maids enticed and brought here under the pretext of finding good paying jobs but then forced into prostitution, etc….

Nothing justifies beating your maid, this is against our Religion and culture. What have we become?

The other side of the Fence;
There are always two sides’ to such an article; so as a sign of respect to mistreated and abused, I will post the other side in another blog.

$on of a B*%@&! Oh! HI, it's you!

Have you every been cut off while driving on a freeway, highway, a narrow lane OR anywhere else for that matter?

I have, on many occasions i might add and I don't like it. It infuriates me to the extent that i just want to ram right into the other car and then flip the person(s) the middle finger; but i refrain from doing so as i am civilized (what ever that means). Though, i do call them a$$@@@@, b@$^&*d, $on of a B*%#$, and any other 'good word' that comes to mind, this goes for both guys and gals. I don’t discriminate between sexes; equal opportunity and all that.

Alas, it happened to me today (18th April 2007), AGAIN. I was on my way to work, late as usual and in a hurry to swipe my card on the Car Park entrance machine by the 7:30 am mark so as not to be tagged late, AGAIN. I was driving on the freeway that runs from Salmaniya to the Pearl round-about, past the first traffic light. On approaching 200 meters from the intersection leading to the round-about, this copper coloured 92 Ford Lincoln came right at me from the left, trying to cross over into my lane, i immediately put my foot on the breaks to reduce my speed & avoid hitting the jack ass. He swerves & pulls back just in the nick of time, twit.

I keep my calm and continued driving until i stop at the junction, i'm pissed off but because I'm almost late, i turn the other cheek; all this time I am still observing the @$$h&&&; I had one eye on the road and the other on the left-side mirror, he was in it. He then begins to drive around me from the back; I got sight of him in my rear view mirror, and finally the right side one.

From the corner of my right eye, I could see his car pulling by my right hand side window. I got ready to turn around, grouped my eye brows together in an angry motion and was ready to turn around and give him the stare. As soon as I turned, I recognized him. He was one of the guys at work. (This is not the first time an incident like this has occurred between me and someone else I know, and I don’t believe it will be the last)

He smiled and waved; I smiled back and waved, and nodded my head in recognition.

We moved on...

Had it been someone I did not know, we would probable be at each others throats, waving fists, grunting, and swearing; and of course the universal sign for hello, how are you, and UP yours, the 'middle' index finger.

What do you do in an awkward situation like this?

I swiped my card at 7:33 am, AGAIN!

Visiting the Treasures of Ancient Egypt;

On Monday, 16th April 2007, my wife & I went to the Bahrain National Museum (BNM) to get a glimpse of the King himself. The ‘buzz’ around Bahrain was that he was residing at the BNM and was admitting visitors.



Wow, I thought, his royal highness ‘King Tutankhamen’, right here in our back yard. It’s going to be so cool to see artefacts thousands of years old. I was sadly disappointed.

We walked into the museum entrance and stopped at the reception to get our tickets. “Salam u Alaykum” (‘Peace be upon you’ or ‘Hello’) I said. There were four men standing behind the counter (reception). They responded with ‘Alay Kum Al Salam” (‘peace be upon you’ or ‘Hello’).


“Tad karatain low samaht” (two tickets please).

We were told that the local BNM exhibits cost BD -/500 and the ‘PHARAOHS’, the exhibit that we were here to see cost BD 5/- . It has been publicised that just bringing the ‘Pharaoh – Treasures of Ancient Egypt’ exhibit to Bahrain has set back the Government of Bahrain around USD 1.5M. (I do not know if there is any truth to this) but I know that the government of Egypt would never lend its exhibits for free, this is a cash cow that they have been gleefully milking for years.

My wife’s eyebrows rose, “What? How Much?”

One of the guys behind the counter smiled and jokingly said that my wife probably thinks the BD 10/- that I going to pay would be better spent by taking her out to the dinner.

Hum, there’s a thought; Dinner or thousand year relics, “which one should I choose?”. This was a no brainier, I thought; I should have listened to his advice.

I paid for two tickets, got them and we walked into the museum’s hall way. A special section had been setup to the immediate right which led to the entrance of the ‘PHARAOHS’ exhibits.

Even before you walk into the entrance, the X-ray machine which has specially been brought in for this exhibit can been seen in the door way. My wife places her purse on the belt at one end, and it comes out the other, not beeps.

We walk in.

As soon as I took my first step, the guard standing at the entrance cries out “Mamnooh al Tasweer”!

“What the Hell? No Photographs!”
Only then do I see the side on the wall that reads ‘No Photographs allowed’, both in English and Arabic.

My wife and I are dumbfounded. To visit an exhibit like this but not be able to take photographs.

Aaaaahh the BD 10/-, Mother F&%$^&!

Too late to change our minds now, so we continue to walk in and the immediate thing that comes to mind is, ‘It’s rather dark in here’!

The lighting makes it difficult to read the labels below each exhibit, so I had to squint a lot; and not all the pieces on show are worth mentioning; there were some tiles, a large chunk from some pillar with hieroglyphics, some rings, earrings, necklaces, etc.

Out of all the items that were on display, the mentionable ones are;

1) The statue of a man sitting down with his legs folded and a baboon sitting on his head. [I do not know the name on the label],
2) The rather large statue of a pharaoh from head to elbow, with a long slender face and pop out ears, and a long gotee; wearing the usual CORBRA pharaoh wig, it was cooooooooool, a shame that I could not take a photo,
3) The Cover of a ancient toilet – toilet seat (yuck, I wonder who sat on it, maybe Cleopatra, heheheheheh),
4) A pharaoh’s Pet Cat’s grave,
5) King Tut's sarcophagus, the coffin was cool, but I wanted to see the King Tut himself,
6) Some beaded necklaces,
7) A wooden bed (it was OK),
8) And the Golden Mask, Niceeeeeeeeee…

We do the rounds, both downstairs and up and then walk out, not completely satisfied.

So the question here is, ‘Why is the exhibition so low key?’
I am sure that there are much more better pieces out there that were not brought with the exhibits.

Sheikha Mai definitely intended on exposing the Bahraini community to some of the greatest Egyptian artefacts and treasures, and I thank her for that. I just wonder what went wrong during the discussions for the Egyptain government not to want to bring all the other goodies, was it more money? Was it the Security?

Overall, my wife and I still enjoyed the exhibit.

I wonder if we can convince the Egyptian government to lend us the SPINX, maybe a PYRAMID or two, just for the three day F1 in 2008, hummmmmmm.

The 4-mulla is here!

“The 4-mulla is here”, shouted out a colleague of mine as she gleefully waved the F1 ticket that she had just won, lucky b$*%h.

“Well, So what?” I said, pissed off that she won and I didn’t.

“Huh, I don’t need a ticket anyways cause I work at the BIC as a volunteer and have attended all the F1 races (and some other events) held in Bahrain and will be doing so this year as well”.

So there!

It’s actually true; I am a volunteer Marshal with an official badge and all. I wanted the ticket for my wife whom wants to attend and watch the awesome cars as they wizz & zoom by at ear shattering speeds.

[Note: The word is Volunteer; we do not get a cent from the BIC for our services, we get fed twice and are provided with lots of fluids. NOTHING ELSE! (For an event like the F1 there over 500 volunteer marshals assisting at least.]

I am not sure what the very senior marshals who have FIA badges and uniforms get, if anything??

Anyways, I along with hundreds of other (multinational) volunteer Marshals will be working our a$$e$ off this weekend making sure the event goes underway without any glitches (Inshallah); we have a reputation to keep up. We won an award for the best F1 in 2004 and lots of praise from Bernie Ecclestone (owner, promoter, and president) for our performance during all the previous F1’s.

We have to prove to the world that we (as Bahrainis’) are up to any challenge, SO BRING IT ON BABY.

It’s going to be hard work as we standing for most of the days and perform our assigned duties in the gruelling hot sun, resting only during the little gaps between races or practice / qualification runs and the prayer break. Every one does his or her part, from the volunteers who direct traffic; to the logistics team that ensure our tools, food and fluids reach us; the boundary riders, Scrutineers, the trackees, communicators, Accident and Emergency professionals and yes, the area where I work as well, good old ‘Grid & Pit’.
[The grid being the starting line where the race cars start from and the Pit being the Garage area where the cars pit in for refuelling and other…]

I personally perform two tasks; I hold the position of ‘Pit Exit One’, you will see me standing at the pit exit with my communications kit and a clip board in my hand noting down and reporting cars that violate certain rules. My second duty is ‘Grid Marshal’, I be standing next to one of the cars with a yellow flag in my hand, eyes focused on the my assigned car and driver as he rolls onto the starting line in anticipation of the of the green signal that initiates the ‘warm up’ lap. When they the cars complete one circle around the track and head back to the starting line, you will notice number sighs being held by marshals behind the pit wall, yes, one of them is yours truly. After which I will return back to my post as ‘Pit Exit One’. Sooooo Coooooool.

Alas, the F1 and its presence in the Bahrain have sparked a lot of criticism. Some quite valid, others not so.
The one I am most concerned with is that the least expensive tickets are around BD 40.000, the race is being in our country but 80% of Bahrainis can’t even afford to attend. That sucks! The tickets must be made affordable to Bahrainis’, a maximum of BD 10 for all three days, no more; foreigners can still pay the hefty sum that the BIC wants, that’s tourism.

I know the F1 is in the RED, things are amiss, contracts are being unfairly offered to suppliers / contractors without being auctioned off to the lowest bidder, etc. Also, the UAE and Qatar will also be hosting F1s’ within the next couple of years, as the news goes – There goes what little business we have…had....But that and much more are all another subject and another blog…….. (So wait for my Blog titles, ‘F1 or F them all’).


Anyways, Bahrain nu naaaa………

Crime against children - Justice the old fashioned way.

This is the one (and only) thing that I side with the Taliban on.

Saudi Arabia & Iran also have the right punishments in mind;

Warning:
THERE IS A LOT OF ADULT CONTENT AND VULGARITY IN THIS ARTICLE, I HUMBLY APPOLAGISE FOR THIS AND REQUEST THAT MINORS DO NOT CONTINUE READING.

I’m talking about paedophiles, the bastards who Sodomise, rape, molest and sexually abuse children; teenagers or any one else for that matter. There is too much of this shit going on around us and a lot more injustice in the way the penal system reprimands the guilty vermin.

For instance, I want you to turn your attention to the article in (bottom right corner on page 6 of) yesterday’s (April 08, 2007) Al-Ayyam (Arabic) news paper. [The story has now been published in today’s (April 09, 2007) GDN; here is the link -http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Story.asp?Article=177168&Sn=BNEW&IssueID=30020]

The article in question describes an incident where seven (GDN states eight) youths kidnap two young boys (minors) and take them to a stable to sodomise them. One of the boys succeeds in escaping in the commotion and is seen running naked & crying in the streets attempting to reach his home. At home, he tells his family of the attempted violation; the family members immediately rush to the scene of the incident only to find that the stable in question has been vacated. There they are told that the youths have another stable that they frequent and might have gone there. The police are then informed. I do not know what happened next as the article does not state anything else. (The incident described in the article in the GDN is a bit different, but the fact remains the same).

What the Fuck is wrong with these disgusting perverts?
I want justice, No, I demand justice!
This has been going on for far too long. Not a month goes by without us having to read about another repulsive incident that has occurred. We (parents) do not and should not tolerate such behaviour in our society and must be heard.

Unfortunately, our penal system has left a lot to be desired; there is an existing sodomy law in Bahrain but I don’t believe that it is adequate for this day and age, Our residing Judges hand down lenient punishments (I believe its a maximum of five years) to the offenders and request them to pay meagre fees of, Say BD 50 to 200. WHAT THE FUCK!

I have seen many other articles mentioning such incidents that have appeared in the local news papers in the past years, so the above article is just one of many that occurred here in our “Pearl” of the Gulf. I am sure there are many more cases that we are not aware of, these could be because they are not made public to protect the identity of the victims or (mostly) for the fact the victims are so fearful that they do not report the incident.
I for one am sick of the filth that resides here with us. Enough is enough. It is time to make a stand, a time to demand that the Government change the law regarding this ugly behaviour in the filth that is the human psyche and behaviour.

I can only try to imagine what goes through the Childs mind when something like this happens; The scars are left on them for life and for that I demand that the MPs immediately put forth a proposal to change the LAW and make it a “criminal offence punishable by death”, no other punishment will do.
For once our MPs should think about other (the defenceless children) rather than the very important task of getting themselves a pay hike and the other mediocre topics that they discuss. Get your priorities straight, you loyalty should lie with the people not your pockets or what's below your belts.

The government is not doing all that it can, educating the children and public is just the first setp but not enough http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/arc_Articles.asp?Article=173943&Sn=BNEW&IssueID=30003, the punishment for the crime must be made severe. We need to make examples of the offenders so others conspiring to do so think twice.

Note to those who ask for compassion towards the offenders;
Firstly, FucK you, leave your comments somewhere else, I do not want to hear your bullshit. Secondly, the punishment would justify the crime if you or your children were the victims, you’d think the same.

The filth of humanity that carry out these crimes do not deserve to live on the Planet we live on nor breathe the same air.

The chickens come home to roost

THE BIRD FLU VIRUS

Facts;
A) The H5N1 pandemic has so far caused some 166 (correction: Now 184) deaths of humans; Indonesia (63), Vietnam (42), China (14), Egypt (12), Cambodia (6), Azerbaijan (5). Turkey (4), Iraq (2) and Nigeria (1), according to the World Heath Organization.
B) Globally at least 200 million birds have died or been slaughtered because of the disease.
C) It is said that “The avian flu virus dies at 70°C,” so well cooked chicken is safe to consume.
D) "A person can contact bird flu if he is in direct or close contact with infected or dead birds, and will show symptoms like fever exceeding 38 degrees C, chest pain or respiratory infection symptoms like cough,"
E) The European Union and some other countries clear out infected farms by "slaughtering" the chicken on the farm and clear out the surrounding farms within 50km (at least) as well and burn the chicken in special furnaces.

I wonder if the GCC countries will implement measures that resemble anything close to what these countries are doing, i predict "Rebranding" and sale under different names. i.e here is a news article on an incident that occurred in Kuwait [i lost the link, sugerrrr, i will find and link it later on].


Self explanatory news clips:

• March 29, 2007 - Egypt Seeks to Bar Live Bird Trade Over H5N1 Fears - (Reuters); CAIRO - Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak (Telfone Omomee) proposed a law on Wednesday to bar trade and transport of live birds to help prevent the spread of the bird flu virus that has so far killed 13 Egyptians, state media said.
  Since the outbreak of bird flu in Egyptian poultry in February 2006, 29 Egyptians have contracted the H5N1 virus. Most of those who fell ill were reported to have had contact with sick or dead household birds.
  
• March 24, 2007 -
  Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Agriculture is dealing with an outbreak of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu at a farm in the Eastern Province, reported the Saudi Gazette. The ministry carried out tests on turkeys, parrots, peacocks and ostriches on the farm and found evidence of the virus, after which all the birds were culled and the entire area sterilised. Investigations are underway to trace the source of the outbreak.
  
• March 31, 2007 - Bird flu far from safe (Kuwait Times)
  KUWAIT: Despite assurances from the Minister of Health, Maasouma Al-Mubarak that there were no human infections with the bird flu virus, the situation was not as safe as announced, reported Al-Rai.
  The Chairman of the Board of the Public Authority for Agricultural Affairs and Fish Resources, Eng Jassim Al-Bader disclosed how serious the situation actually was in the infected Wafra farms, saying, "We already have over 65 teams comprising 400 employees working on fighting the virus and burying all the infected birds in a large trench," adding, "over 1.1 million birds have already been buried." He also urged all citizens and expatriates not to transport live birds into or out of Wafra until official notification.
  
• April 08, 2007 - Dead Pigeons Cause Panic – (The Saudi Gazette)

DAMMAM - RESIDENTS here are afraid that a recent rash of dead pigeons is because of bird flu, the Arabic language daily newspaper Al-Madina said Saturday.
Many pigeons at the Iskan buildings in Dammam are sick and cannot fly, residents said, while others died starting several days ago.
However, Dr. Abdul Jaffar, administrative head of bio-security for poultry farms in the Eastern Province said on Tuesday, “There is no cause for alarm over these reported deaths.”
“The bird deaths reported are about pigeons and sparrows that are highly resistant to the bird flu strain. The reported are due to other diseases” that don’t affect humans,” he said.

Hogwash! I don't claim to be an expert, but it's a bit suspicious that the incident occurred not very soon after the H5N1 virus was discovered.

Informative Sites:
1) Out Ministry of Health has a dedicate web site:
http://ai.moh.gov.bh/BahrainPlan.asp

What's weird here is that it the site explains what actions will be carried out when an infected bird is discovered in Bahrain, its a reactive measure rather than a pre-emptive one. What gives? Is the MoH stating that the disease will be duped by first allowing it onto our land, then surrounding and overcoming it by the sheer number of our armed forces. Aaaaaah, maybe we can get the chickens to cross the road all at once, SPLAT, that would surely do it. Scratch that.... I suggest you read what’s on the site and come to your own conclusion.

2) The International Hospital of Bahrain has a web site that provides a lot of information:
http://www.ihb.net/contents/avianflu.asp

3) A Blog that is tracking the H5N1 virus.
http://crofsblogs.typepad.com/h5n1/


My Action Plan for Control and Prevention of Bird Flu
STOP eating the chickens, i think they are pissed off. They don't seem to like being fried, roasted, grilled, filleted etc ... (drooll, drool yummy).

On a serious note,
The disease seems to be getting closer to our shores and we urgently need to be educated on the subject matter to enable an efficient prevention and eradication measure. We also need to be more cautious of what we eat, from where and how we eat (I mean the food), hygiene is of the utmost importance.

We should be asking questions like;
1) Have there been any incidents in Bahrain yet?
2) Are the Health and Emergency services adequately trained?
3) Is the government doing enough?
4) What do i as a citizen have to do?
and , and, and.......

The Government of Bahrain must exercise complete transparency on this matter; there should be educational programs on TV advising us on the dangers, the do's and the don'ts. We need to know the facts and the most responsible party in this matter should be our Government. This is not the time to cover up (not that they are doing so, but from past....). SO, Answers pleessseeeeeee.

Wouldn't it be cool if the only side effect of the virus was that people ran around clucking like chickens and laid eggs thus eradicating world hunger?


[ I suggest you guys google the word 'cluck' and see how many weird sites you get]. sheesh!

Employment for Sale

Yesterday (4th April 2007) , an article appeared in the 'Bahrain Tribune' under the heading "Health agreement with Manila today - (Kingdom will hire 1,000 professionals to boost services)" and today (5th April 2007) another article on the same subject has been printed in the GDN titled "MoU boost for nurses".
This is in addition to the 1,000 already being employed. There goes 1,000 good jobs that could have been given to capable Bahrainis’.

Lets get one thing straight, I agree that the health Care employees in the Philippines are better trained, not only because of the up to date education system but for the very fact that their population is around 72 million (1998 figures) and as such each and every Doctor / Nurse continuously get exposed to hundreds of different ailments and diseases leading them to become experts just by the sheer fact of being repeatedly exposed to the many diseases and ailments.

Who is getting the better end of the deal here?
"We are, as an immediate step, looking at sending Bahraini health professionals, particularly nurses, for training to the Philippines," said Dr Hamza.

"In the near future, we would also look at further augmenting the nursing strength in Bahrain by recruiting more professionals from there."

Say what?
If we are going to send our nurses (must be Bahraini of course, of course) to get trained in Philippines, shouldn't we just pay their Government for the educational services and 'on the job training' which they will providing rather than offering them the vacant positions which should go to the Bahrainis' being trained or the new students that graduate each year.

Where are our MPs now?
Is this not an important subject?

I guess not solely based on the bloggs i've read today, polygomy comes to mine.

I wonder if they are distributing queue numbers, huhh!

Ah well, who listens when the winds blow (i don't mean the wind that blows when we eat gaseous food) the leaves off of trees?

NATION OF TRAFFIC LIGHTS

The global markets have just announced that there is a shortage of 'Traffic Lights' (TL) in the worlds supply due to the high demand from a small island in the oil rich Middle East known as the 'Kingdom of Bahrain' (KOB). Apparently, the 'TLs' are now more in demand than the local currency and is being used as a means of barter/exchange for high quality goods and services.

For god sakes!

Now a days, every which way you turn you are bound to drive on to a road that has a lot of 'TLs' installed on it, distributed every 2/3/4 hundred meters. It’s just mind boggling and it just sucks!

What’s the big idea? Does anyone in the Government ('Big B' - Big Brother) actually consider performing studies to verify the best solutions for solving problems or do they just fake it? Apparently it’s the latter.

The introduction of more 'TLs' to replace redundant 'roundabouts' is not the answer, it just adds to the problem. The fact of the matter is that there are just too many cars driving on Bahrain's roads and the road system have not evolved to cope for the demand nor has 'Big B' learnt from past mistakes, this is apparent in the way the new road systems are being planned. I don’t expect this to change any time soon so the same blueprints will probably be used to plan future road constructions.

The Solution: Well, there never is one specific solution to a problem; the best solutions I believe are always a combination of things (changes / alterations or implementations). Someone out there must have heard of an over head (I think that’s what they’re called). An excellent solution to bottle neck causing TLs as junctions, don’t you think? All our highways must have these built on/into them? (you understand what I mean). Hey, even Saudi Arabia and Qatar have them, I wonder WHY?







(Picasso was on leave so you will have to make due with my artistic impression)






I am certain this would be the solution to at least three bottle neck TLs that lead to heavy traffic pile ups daily;
a) one being the TL at the cross-road junction on the highway that runs from the Mina Salman to the Saudi Causeway at the point where the Map of Bahrain resides (i.e. the Al Khareeta – The Map traffic lights), dividing Manama and Tubli
b) the second is the TL at the cross-road junction that immediately succeeds the ‘Al Khareeta – The Map traffic lights ‘, dividing Manama and The Sitra Causeway,
c) A third, the Bahrain Financial Harbour TL which has caused huge traffic pile ups that reach far back as the Seef High Way (Coubry) and beyond.

You can probably point out hundreds of other TLs that have given you nightmares.

The trick is getting someone at the ‘Big G’ to listed and implement. Hello, anyone out there………