Friday, January 2, 2009

No man´s land between holiday and ordinary time. Sale signs have begun appearing in shop windows, some advertising 50% off, interesting in itself as sale times used to be controlled by legislation. But most shops have not reopened yet, extending the New Year´s holiday. Even the supermarkets are still closed J finds. I pass a large flower bed shared by snapdragons looking sadly tired but still faintly aromatic and three dark green artificial Christmas trees.

The Dubai television chanel, which usually features the most vapid American programming imaginable, along with brief and superficial local news reports and the occasional film, now has several hours of a robed man in a chapel like room mournfully chanting from the Koran. Have we failed to remember an important Moslem holiday? Is this a lament for the fate of Palestinians? No, it seems a council member has died and displaced regular programming. But the dirge continues for enough hours that we begin to speculate on possible arrangements for bathroom breaks. How does he manage?