Afterward I produced a small bottle of apricot oil and she gave both me and the client the most luscious massages. If I hadn’t enjoyed it so much, I would have been jealous of her skill. I gathered my clothes from the rooms while she pummelled and kneaded his back.

Belle de Jour

She just won the Guardian’s Best of British Blogging, and I’m wondering after reading a few posts if she’ll coach me to become a call girl! She’s a sinful beast, not because she’s a call girl, but because she’s having way too much fun at it!

You go girl!

After decades of neglect, Sitra gets a new mall that promises to raise the residents’ standard of living, thanks to the efforts of the king and the crown prince.

It was an unbelievable sight just three short years ago the number of locals in Sitra who greeted the king in their streets. There was no space to move, and probably disregarding his own personal safety, the king appeared through the sun-roof of his car and talked, touched and felt the love the people of Sitra showed him.

Let me put that into perspective for you to understand what a courageous move that was on the king’s part:

Sitra is a small island off the eastern coast of Bahrain. In it you were hard pushed to breathe. It is filled with factories, the Bahrain refinery, main oil export terminal, a fantastic beach resort, a yacht club, live-stock holding pens and a few fishing villages which has suffered for decades of bad roads, ill health, a couple of schools for some 30,000 people and a single dilapidated health centre.

You should have seen the oxymora of this island by now, filled with the richest trappings of Bahrain and the main sources of its revenue (oil and industry), yet the worst living conditions and poverty in the kingdom.

One must ask why? Sitra has been at the forefront of the rebellion witnessed in the 90′s and has been a beacon of struggle since the 50′s. Its people felt no affinity to Bahrain nor its ruling establishments. They have been swept under the rug and forgotten. No jobs, no education, no health, no future.

So what rekindled their nationalistic passion by greeting the king so?

February 14th, 2001 is one of the most sacred days in Bahrain’s ancient history. On that day I happily voted affirmatively for the National Action Charter together with 98.4% of Bahrainis. It promised sweeping reforms, release of political prisoners and transparency. It brought back the popular participation in politics which has been shut down in 1975.

The people of Sitra as is the case with the rest of Bahrain felt empowered. At last they might be able to get their voices heard. The proof of the new era was soon evident. While dignitaries from other areas of Bahrain which the king visited heaped platitudes and flowery poems on the monarch, in Sitra their chosen representative stood before the him and laid out the islanders demands: we’re unhealthy because of the unchecked pollution emanating from the factories on the island, we’re unhealthy because we have a disfunctional health centre, the vast majority of us are unemployed, our roads are filled with potholes, a large number of our residents are political prisoners, there is no trade which benefits the people directly in Sitra, the local police are brutal and many other hard-hitting complaints.

The king just sat in the ma’atem (shi’a place of worship) and listened without interruptions, his face did show the pain he felt when he heard of all of these complaints. At the end of the speech he astounded the gathering: he told the speaker that he can go to the prison and get the prisoners out the next day! There was stunned silence followed by roars of approval and happiness. He instructed the Minister of Health to update and construct a new hospital, he instructed the Minister of Housing to build council housing for the needy families, he instructed the Minister of Works to fix the roads and the list goes on.

A few months passed and he stunned the Bahrainis again by dedicating 30% ownership of the largest shopping mall in Bahrain (Seef Mall) to the needy families! He’s done it again in Sitra where he instructed that a similar mall be built there, and 30% of its revenues will be disbursed amongst the people of Sitra!

The crown prince laid the foundation stone of the Sitra Mall yesterday.

Some good is happening pioneered by the King and the Crown Prince. We can see that they’re trying. They’re very active and they listen. Their visits to the various areas of Bahrain – especially the poor ones – brings reality home to them. They’re no longer insulated from the people and their suffering. The examples here are plenty; the crown prince visited a few villages and saw for himself from the squalor they live in. He not only gave his instructions to the government to get their act together, but continued to follow up on their performance.

The crown prince was also very instrumental in getting the Formula One to Bahrain, and although the British Foreign office as well as others are trying to sabotage the event by warning of a high possibility of terrorist action at the event, I think it will be successful.

Terrorism at an event like Formula One is equal in all parts of the world as terrorists’ main aim of course is to bring notice to their cause, and that means any gathering of this size (major concerts, sporting events, etc) are all targets.

True that one might think that as Bahrain is Muslim and an Arab country the western mind would think that it might rank higher on their target list, but that’s just stereotypical. As in any situation, it pays to be vigilant.

Bahrain will do its utmost to curtail and lessen the possibility of terrorist attacks, they’re already hiring security experts for the track and filling it with hundreds of closed-circuit security cameras. I would say that it’s as safe as Sepang and Sozuka and there is no need to overly worry. Be vigilant but don’t give in to terrorists.

A lot of people just don’t want the Bahrain F1 to be a success. They would like to see it move to Dubai or even maybe Riyadh, but these are the pessimists who could never see the good side of things.

Bahrain is on the right track. We have many folds of freedoms compared with even a few years ago. We have two young leaders with vision who genuinely want to raise the Bahraini standard of living even though they are shackled somewhat by the �old guard’. We know that. And we will work with them to make this island an example to be followed.

So it’s not all bad.

We have a lot of work ahead of us… we’re not afraid of work!

It was some Christmas this year. Santa was very generous, and Christmas dinner was one of the best ever shared with good friends.

The kids are much older now even when compared to last year. Their Christmas lists are a lot more specific and their expectations grander. Amna wanted a drum-kit, Hanan requested an electric guitar while Arif’s wish was a “proper” basketball hoop. Not to mention mine: Bahrain F1 tickets! Frances of course had no idea what she wanted – at least she wouldn’t tell me so I had to squeeze my brain again to try to get her something that she should like… damn! So on to the jewelers to get her a little something. (Hint: if you’re lost as to what get your wife or girlfriend something, getting them jewelry always seems to work!).

We all got what we asked for! Thank you Santa

What made this Christmas so special to me personally was having Muneer – my childhood and best friend – and his family over with us.

Muneer emigrated to Canada with his wife and then very young son 9 years ago and this is the first time that they all came back to Bahrain, now with two more children. Although their visit to Bahrain was unfortunately forced upon them because Muneer’s father passed away last month. A very sad situation, but I think everybody was happy that they are back and they got to see Muneer, Zuhra and the children after such a long time.

Now that this is over, I’m looking forward to our regular New Year party! I can’t wait for this year to end as it was one of the worst (business wise) that I’ve had for quite a while.

Here are links to some pictures if you’re interested: