Small’s

Yes the locals do wear small’s and I’ve managed to purchase a pack of three.  You can have any colour you like… as long as it’s white!  I guess that makes sense when you wear a white Thobe over the top.  And some of my missing clothing has re-appeared.  the Bangladeshi laundry boy had included three pairs of socks and some underwear in the package he had wrapped around the hotel towel which I’d had laundered.

Meanwhile, I have been separated from my passport as it heads off for the Saudi business visa to be renewed for another 30 days.  Instead I have a photocopy of the passport and a letter (in Arabic) with a company stamp.  I guess it tells the reader that I work for the company and my passport is away for a visa renewal.  As you would have guessed, with my luck Galeb (my driver) and I had to go through two police checkpoints on the way home last night.  Fortunately they checked the car in front of us on both occasions and we were able to slip through; albeit slowly!

My birthday suit is finding the new sheets on the bed rather itchy/scratchy so I decided to do another load of washing when I arrived back at the unit last night and launder the second set of bedding ready for the weekend.  This second lot of bed linen went into the machine along with all my other dirty laundry.  At the end of an hour I found I now own a lovely pale pink shirt and pink undies.  The latter won’t be seen so it’s not an issue.  However I’m not sure what the locals with make of my pink shirt?  But at least the new sheets have been washed and dried.

It was rather late by the time I made it back to the unit and I wasn’t in the mood for cooking.  This is where the microwave comes in handy.  I tore the top off a tin of ‘Texas Strawberries’ and then realised I didn’t have a container to microwave them in.  Eventually I decided on a dessert bowl.  The new toaster worked <hooray>.  Then I microwaved three turkey frankfurters which had been on special at the supermarket.  This was followed by a couple of poached eggs.  I wasn’t clever enough to do all this simultaneously so the meal was a drawn out affair.  Anyway, they all get mixed up inside!

The following photo provides just one small example of the challenges faced by this country.

The country has two different electrical systems (American 110V and UK 240V).  The compound was built for Americans and fitted with 110V sockets.  but Saudi Arabia has recently decided the sole system will be 240V.  All my appliances are 240V and fitted with a 3 pin UK plug.  To get them to work each power socket requires an adapter which does NOT have an earth pin.  Consequentially all my appliances are working without an earth.  Not as safe as I would like!