I spoke about fasting and Iftar earlier this week. Ritual fasting during Ramadan is one of three types of fasting (Sawm) practised by Muslims. Sawm is one of the five pillars of the Islamic faith. The other four pillars are:
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I had a rather frustrating, and completely fruitless, conversation with a customer service person today on the phone. Unfortunately, as entertaining as this conversation may have been for you to read, I cannot share it with you. According to the law here it is illegal to “name and shame” companies that give bad customer service, in fact not only is it illegal but you can be prosecuted for libel and go to jail (I would guess HelloPeter is probably not eyeing the Middle East as his next target – more’s the pity).
Perhaps even discussing this law would be a bad idea, so all I can say on this matter is that had a very pointless conversation with a customer “service” representative and then I gave up in disgust, hanging up on the person I was trying to speak to. I am not proud of this behaviour, but it was either that, or swear at the individual. I chose, I think, the lesser of the two evils.
My mounting irritation, and my mood in general, was not helped in any way by the horrible weather today, extremely hot and sticky with 85% humidity.
I hope your National Women’s Day (in South Africa in any case) was good.
See you soon.
image source: CanStock Photo
The desert, as the name would imply, is a pretty hot and dry place. Dubai in the summer months (like at the moment) is an oven. Highs some days over 50°C – often combined with 50 or 80% humidity – makes it a tough place for life. And it’s especially hard for stray animals, and gardens.
We had an Arabian cat move into our garage about 2 months ago. A lovely, friendly little guy with a massive purr, one of several displaced from the labour camp nearby when they tore it down and moved all the labourers away (his friends and carers). So he arrived with a humongous appetite. We fed him and took him to the vet to be sterilised, and he seemed quite happy. Every time we did our kettle-bell class in the garden he would follow us, meow a little and purr a lot, happy to have some company.
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When you think of the desert you kinda imagine miles and miles of rolling sand dunes, and little else right? But the reality is a little different. Whilst it is dry and dusty there are still plants that manage to eke out an existence on what little moisture they catch from morning dew and days of high humidity. Of course in the oasises (oasi? what is the plural?) there is a lot more water, and thanks to a clever system of irrigation trenches, or falaj, more foliage is concentrated here. And most commonly of all you will find the date palm. In fact you will see these plants (trees?) all over the place here.
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When you travel in Europe you have probably noticed that often the largest and most lavish buildings (historically) are the churches and cathedrals. In some cases you can even see where the style of the building has changed over its years of construction, sometimes a couple of hundred (like the Cathedral in Toledo Spain for instance). The inside of the building (originally) would have been decorated with the finest ornamentation and craftsmanship of the period, sadly in some cases this has not stood the test of time, or been impervious to vandals and invading forces. But nevertheless, the idea was to offer a glorious place of worship for the masses. Well that and probably to show off a little bit in some cases, but “if you got it flaunt it” right?
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