Horny taxi drivers.

The great thing for me about Ramadhan is my working hours - they're reduced. The bad thing is my workload, it increases. Which will undoubtedly have an impact on the blog, and hey it's a hobby so it's going to play second fiddle to work, as always, so advance-apologies if the blogs slow the next few weeks.

A few observations today though:

1/ Traffic accidents. Here we are, on Day #3 of Ramadhan, and I've already seen 2 accidents, one fender-bender and one nasty-looking T-bone at a junction. Both were in the afternoon around 3pm. Keep your eyes peeled.

2/ Horny taxi drivers. In conversation with a friend of mine, she told me the adventure she had on Thursday night. After working late, and taking a taxi back to her house around 10pm. This cabbie apparently took a liking to her and placed his hand on her upper thigh - and would'nt remove his hand! So another case of the horny taxi man groping their female fares. This story, however gets worse - the woman opened the door and jumped out of the car while it was still moving as her fear was that great of this obvious sexual offender - thankfully another car was coming and the taxi slowed down to a near stop allowing her to jump out. Quite rightly, she called the police and reported the taxi driver, and gave the plate number, and this is the most alarming part of the story. Are you ready? The ROP sent a female officer to see the woman (who had made her own way to a police station) who advised her to withdraw her complaint against this man because he was the sole earner for his family. What?! With that logic applied, it's a miracle rapes are not more common here, or maybe they are? Have you experienced wondering hands from a taxi driver, or someone else? I'm just blown away that the ROP asked someone to withdraw a complaint on a taxi driver for sexual mis-conduct - in Ramadhan. It's just staggering.
le fin.

And it begins....

The moon was not sighted yesterday, which means that Ramadhan starts tomorrow, Thursday 12th August. If Ramadhan lasts 30 days, Eid will start on Saturday 11th September, which is nice, especially for me as I appear to have gambled and won on my Eid vacation!

While we're on the subject, I'd love to have the business card for the person that chairs the moon-sighting committee. Imagine that card?

Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohammed al Salmi, Minister of Awqaf and Religious Affairs, Chairman of the Ramadhan Moon-Sighting Committee.

Do you think the card is longer than normal, or in a smaller print?! It's a bit of a mouthful anyway!

The official announcement (in English) is here.

Also, read here for the official word on Ramadahn hours - essentially Muslim staff only need to work 6 hours a day (up to 36 a week), and non-muslim staff are at the sole discretion of the employer.

Do you have any Ramadan month tips? I'd say survival tips but that's not necessarily the case for all of the audience here. My top-tip is this, for non-muslims: Try to avoid having meetings before 10 and after 12 = before 10 it's highly likely some people won't make it, and after noon people have their eye fixed firmly on 2pm, and bed!

Enjoy the weekend everyone, and Ramadhan kareem!

le fin.

Bootleg DVD Rentals & Oman Blood Test

Weekend one of Ramadan now completed, I feel like I need another break!

Wednesday evening consisted of a spot of physical exercise for a few hours, and then I went to a friends house for a social gathering. This friend of mine had decided to buy one of those huge inflatable water slides from Toys R Us and subsequently decided to throw a party for the kids, and parents. By the time the wife and I rocked up at 10pm the kids were a bit thin on the ground, but apparently the water slide was a big hit :)

On Thursday I saw a big car accident. Nothing new there. The 18th November St - Wizarat Road car crash count stands at 9 separate accidents that I've counted so far.

Thursday evening saw a nice bbq near the beach in Azaibah with some friends. A local fishermen sold us a Kingfish and it was fantastic :) It's a shame all the best catches go to Dubai. Doesn't anyone realise that there is no one left in Dubai?! Also we had some great beer-can chicken!

Beer can chicken is pretty much what it looks like: Get a chicken, stuff a half-full beer can into the hole and then whack it on the bbq for a few hours. I was of the opinion that the Diet Seven-up chicken was actually better than the beer ones, but diet-seven-up chicken just doesnt have quite the same ring to it, does it?

One night last week, the wife and I went to go and see a friend of ours and hang out, have dinner and watch a movie. Our friend had joined a DVD rental place next to the VKool store in Al Khuwair / MQ boundary. She paid RO 35 one time fee and could rent 25 movies before needing to re-charge her rental card. Not bad she said, until I saw the DVD - it was a fake! RO 35 (thats US$ 91) to rent 25 movies ($3.64/movie) is not too bad when comparing to Blockbuster or similar. But these movies are bootlegged, and skipped a bit towards the end. So, if you're going to rent movies, maybe give the Video Club near V Kool a miss - those movies they are renting out cost all of 100bz to produce, they're just raking the cash in.

In other news, it's that time for me, 2 years gone already, I had to go to give blood today at the Infectious Diseases Examination Section in Darsait. It's situated here and it looks like this:


So I turned up this morning at a little after 8:30 to be presented with the usual chaos that ensues when there's lots of people all trying to get the same thing done. The Omani ringmasters did a great job and I emerged 3 hours later clutching my stamped bit of paper and a bit of cotton wool stuck against my arm. I'll go for my labour card later this week I guess. To anyone interested to know what they test for, they test for: TB, VD and HIV. So all you naughty people who are fans of THC will be just fine.

le fin

Ramadhan Kareem

It's been called, and Oman is in sync(!) with the rest of the Muslim world for once!

Three other news items of note:

1. Oman school term is to start on September 26th.

2. The Rembrandt art work display, the first of its kind in the Middle East, opened at the Grand Hyat's Afrah Ballroom last Wednesday. It's on until the 19th of September. 100 pieces of art are on display. Well worth a look, I'd say. NOTE: It is only Etchings works, no paintings, that are on display. Still, well worth a look.

3. H1N1 - The MoH reports two deaths in Oman as a result of the virus to date. There has been one death in Salalah and one in Muscat. Both were patients with other chronic diseases. One was 39 years old and had a weak heart. The other was 60 years and a diabetic with high blood pressure and chronic liver infection. This does not correllate with what Dohfari Gucci blogged about last Monday August 17th, where she reported at least one woman had died in Salalah from the Virus.

More traffic deaths and statistics.

Rather alarmingly, 26 people died and 143 were injured in the week between 18th and 24th of July. Of these, 59 collisions were between vehicles, 34 involved collisions with fixed objects and 21 were run-overs. The accidents also saw 23 vehicles roll off the road. The highest number of deaths recorded was in the interior with ten deaths. The worst accident was near Jebel Akhdar. A vehicle collided with a fixed object and resulted in the deaths of eight people and injury to two people. The vehicle was badly damaged in the incident.

....... In one week.

Ramadan starts at the end of next week.... I'm more than a little worried. Take care out there, especially if you're driving in the interior. As usual, the mad dash for the Khareef seems to have resulted in more people getting into accidents going from, or to Salalah.

On a more entertaining note, Dhofari Gucci has blogged again. About cows, again. hahaha :P

Her blog is a great read and I suggest you take the time to stop by her blog if you have some time.

Additionally, I highly recommend this 15-picture gallery on The Daily Telegraph - Amusing pictures of animals that got stuck in stuff (they all got out ok). I especially found the cow picture amusing :)

le fin

Just a quickie: Irish Night

Busy with work today, but Muscat Confidential has blogged, so you can get his latest piece of juicy news today!

There is an Irish Night planned at the Dolphin Village on Thursday night, if anyone is interested. It appears that there is no cover charge, and there is a special on beer - buy two get one free. So it's the pre-Ramadan piss-up season then.

Below is the blurb:

IRISH NIGHT
Dance to the tune of the Latest & ‘Oldies’ Irish music on Thursday 6th August 2009!!!!
Special offer on Bottle Beer
Buy 2 get 1 free!!!!
& Special prices on Ciders
10% discount on all alcoholic beverages!!!!
Mouthwatering finger bites will be served in the bar area after 9pm

le fin