Hazardous…..

I went for a long walk last night.  Actually it was much longer than planned as I managed to geographically embarrass myself.  The idea was to walk a large rectangle but somehow I missed a turn walking a considerable distance not knowing where I was.  Of course I could have flagged a Taxi and been returned to the apartment, but that would mean admitting I was lost.  Eventually I saw a MacDonald's sign in the distance and realised I knew where I was.  Unfortunately it was a different MacDonald's! <oh dear>  Along the way I noticed a couple of interesting signs.

Does this one look familiar?

Yes…. It’s Burger King!

Across the road was a Pizza Hut.  Now that would make a change from Kebarbs.

Unfortunately it’s also considerably more expensive!

Not far from Burger King was a Jarir Bookshop.  It’s a combination bookshop and electronics/computer shop.

My bad sense of timing resulted in my arrival coinciding with one of the five daily prayer times when the country grinds to a halt.  All the customers had to leave during prayers and I wasn’t allowed in for 20 minutes.

This morning I went for another wander around the city going west this time to the Riyadh Avenue Mall.  The following is a typical Riyadh suburban street scene.

It’s an ‘inwards’ focussed society.  Homes have an intercom and door on a wall with no ground floor windows.  I glanced through one ajar door and noticed an inner courtyard.  Rubbish lies everywhere and a constant cleaning force is out picking up littler and sweeping the roads.  Well more sweeping the centre of the road.  The edges don’t get swept!  There is NO graffiti and there are no dogs.  Muslims don’t like dogs!  Cats wander everywhere.  Most seem very skinny and can be found picking through the rubbish bins.

Rubbish is disposed into skip bins which are strategically placed around the neighbourhood.

Notice the bag of rubbish didn’t quite make it into the bin!  Many of the locals just wander around dropping their rubbish on the ground.  I guess they believe they are keeping the cleaning teams employed.  You know when it’s prayer time on Friday because the roads look like this….

You cannot but help it notice the difference in attitude towards safety.  These workers were four stories up on scaffolding two planks wide with no fall arrest harnesses or safety rails.

<wrong move….>  Oops.. splat!  “Abdul we need a replacement migrant worker!”

Great idea to “green” the city but the trees make the footpath impassable for pedestrians who are forced to walk on the adjacent road.  Moreover the hole around the tree hasn’t been covered and is a hazard.  Of course 90% of the time you must walk on the road because the footpath is uneven and covered with hazards like the following.

This was on a street corner.  Some person has seen the protruding bolt hazard and created a second hazard with the piece of concrete.  I’ve seen numerous similar instances where a signpost has been removed and the mounting bolts just left behind.

I have to be very careful with the traffic.  they drive on the wrong side right side other side of the road.  I have to keep reminding myself to look in the wrong other direction first to avoid a confrontation with a vehicle!

At 10pm I went back to the laundry to claim my clothing from the surly Bangaldeshi.  What a transformation.  He was all smiles and promptly found my freshly laundered clothes.  Even to socks and undies have been ironed (fortunately not starched).  Why the transformation… well I tipped him 5 Rials (90p) when I last collected my laundry.

He saw my old pentax and wanted his picture taken.  Then he wanted to converse in Beng-english about cricket.  I tried to explain it was a game invented by the English which is normally played for 5 days and usually neither side wins.  Somehow I don’t think he understood!

Well that’s the second weekend in Saudi Arabia completed.