Car Chronicles

Now that we cruise around in relative safety, I have started noticing more and more about our new home. The following short "postettes" chronicle some anecdotes and observations:

1. Impromptu Drive-Thru. I wish I could clearly communicate what it is like driving around so many Land Rovers, massive Mercs, and Land Cruisers. They are EVERYWHERE. That said, one Land Rover in particular is the subject at hand.

Now that it has been three months, I must admit I have my favorite coffee shops. One of them is in the swanky, European part of town (in reality there are many Gulf Arabs here too). This coffee shop is on a corner of a small street and major street, with a wide sidewalk on both the front and side.

I am sitting inside enjoying my coffee when I hear a screech--a Land Rover has just pulled up to the door, via the curb and the sidewalk ! With a local woman inside. She beckons the coffee-counter person, who comes dutifully running out.

Now this is a coffee shop. Not a drivethru Starbucks like we have in the US. It has windows, a normal door, and people WALK there on the sidewalk. But not today. The coffee-person makes the drinks, runs them out to the woman in the car, takes the money, runs the change back out. And the woman screeches off the sidewalk, through the parallel parked cars on the street, and on her merry way.

2. Jamal al-Junera. This same neighborhood is known for its white ladies with rich husbands who spend their days shopping. These ladies are affectionately known as Junera Janes. ( We live in a less-swanky part of town but Harry calls me Bur Dobby Betty). But this area has another, less advertised feature. It is also the hangout of Gulf Arab men, driving really nice Mercedes and SUVs, and wearing their crisp white Kandhoras. There are so many of them here that it's hard to find parking. So Harry and I have affectionately named them Jamal al-Juneras (the Al prefix in Arabic functions as "the", which is then used to form an adjective).

3. Landing up in La-La-Land. A most unfortunate feature of driving in Dobby is the frequent risk of starting off with a destination in mind, missing the one turn for that destination because you are in the wrong lane (even if you thought otherwise), and finding yourself in another emirate or city before you can turn around. For example, the neighboring city (about 15 kms away) is Shanda. It is on the other side of "old" Dobby. Shanda is not a destination. It was big in the eighties, but due to conservative social and business practices, has fallen far behind Aboo and Dobby.

However, twice for Sadie and once for Harry, Shanda has become an accidental destination, replacing the original destination of our favorite, Ikea (although it is NOT on the way or even nearby). At first we felt really frustrated, and a little ashamed about these terrible mix-ups. Then in the course of chatting with others we discovered landing up in Shanda has happened to everyone. At least once if not more. And it could be worse--one poor chap was on his way to a mall right in the center of Dobby, but ended up in Al-Ein, a tiny city about 100 kms from here.

So now we have perspective (and a new threat)--at least we have not ended up in Al-Ein!