heartofdarkness

Norsk..can't agree more. This is no time to let your guard down. There are 3k people who have lost there jobs, there families are in jail. What the hell do they have to lose? They are not going through the boot of every car in the trade center for no reason...Good article in NYT today won't post the link cause its rather anti-govt

Tockalosh

slightly and temporarily less green last night. Scared the outlaws to death lol. No problems here tonight though. Plenty going off in Sar and Barbar though. Can make out that pleasant pop poping in the very far off distance.

I am with Bartowel here. Nothing to worry about and no places off limits

Tockalosh

oh and after months of drivel on the UK embassy Bahrain facebook about lost kittens and the price of a burger in the Brit club; seems that ppl are writing about tear gas again

Dont believe any of it, its all anti government shit stirring. I know because the GDN said so

norsk

i don't think places are off limits and i don't think there is any need to be overly concerned, but i do think that it is naive to think that everything is all good amongst the shia. however, it may take years and maybe even decades before it kicks off in a big way again. in the meantime enjoy life in bahrain...

Ronnie Biggs

Hi Norsk, hope Dubai is going great. As you know, I live very close to where you used to live and last night when I took the dog for a stroll round the compound at 11.30pm I got a face full of teargas (or whatever it is.) It gave me a nose bleed when I got back so I berated my nose for it's weakness and it's since promised to man the **** up. For any animal lovers reading this, the dog seemed absolutely fine.

Last week a similar thing happened while having an al fresco pint at the rugby club. Not wishing to sound alarmist but all this "it's a bit funky in places" stuff is understating what seems to be going on. I think it's now time to be very careful where you go at night and plan your route to avoid certain areas, Saar Village and the entire Budaiya Highway immediately springing to mind. I haven't been concerned for a while but now I'm having those "should I really have my family here" thoughts creeping back in - maybe teargas in the back garden is my red line (I was wondering where it was....)

P.S. - I should add that the area we live in is in the "green zone" and thought to be one of the safer areas when we moved there to avoid the troubles in our last area! The green zones are getting smaller and smaller....

Tockalosh

Mark and Ronnie, you guys are quite correct.

Whilst it is true that white expats expats aren't being targeted at the moment, but **** knows who the gas cylinder bomb was aimed at the other night; it is far too easy to end up in the wrong place at the wrong time and unless you purchased the rock repellent paint and tear gas filter options when you bought your Lexus; then you could be in the shit. There is nothing clever or hard about being caught in a bad place and no one with a sane head should come out and laugh it off or dismiss it as run of the mill, there is **** all run of the mill about the situation at the moment.

At this end of the island we are less affected than other less fortunates and Mark is living the life of Riley in Juffair so thank God for small blessings.

After ploughing through the shit last time and not receiving the promised "stay behind" bonus; my company can kiss my ass if it deteriorates further and I will just ship the family and me out.

I shall leave the die hards to play bridge at the Dilly whilst breathing tear gas. Once is OK but to experience it twice is just plain dim.

Ronnie Biggs

Agree with all of that. I also stayed last time around, mainly because where we were living (just by Barbar) it became more dangerous to get to the airport (wth a couple of little fellas in the back) than to just stay put and listen to it all going on around us. As you do this kind of thing for a living, do me a favour and let us know when you think it's time to abandon ship for a week or so....

Cheers. (And love and peace to all inhalers of teargas on the island of smiles.)

Tockalosh

Hi Ron

if I do leave this time then it wont be for a week; it will be for good mate. I have the Mrs looking asking me for my registration fees for St Chris's for next Sept and I cant even guess if we will be here for year end. Having the new baby and a 2.5 year old means that a quick ship out to the airport with a buggy and a case is no longer an option. Now an evac is a major logistical operation

The elections will be an interesting time and should give us an insight into what is to follow.

Plenty of work in my field at the moment in more stable places where I will feel happier paying school registration fees for Sept 2012 so as much as I like the villa and next Aprils bonus which I already have in the bag; it will not take much to swing the balance into shipping out.

Just been looking at the photos of the funeral in Sitra before the authorities contained the enthusiasm of the attendees. They are estimating 150,000 were there. Cant verify that from the pictures but there was a jolly lot of them and all full of enthusiasm.

Expect a return of the same on Monday afternoon after 3 PM as its the end of the 3 days of condolences.

Mark, repeat after me, no late meetings in Sitra on Monday

pamela7

Hi to all :-)

I'm splitting my time between BH and UK. My husband is working there, in Manama. I've been keeping an eye on the demonstrations. He's lucky, he's in Juffair and up until Friday night had not seen anything. I'm not sure if things are going to escalate with the upcoming elections and the verdicts on the doctors who were imprisoned? I was going to move there, but am just waiting to see what happens. A concern I have is that my husband has to go to site meetings and doesn't know his way around. Today he missed a turn-off somewhere and ended up in some village in the Sitra area. If that had been the other day, could have been a hassle. It's making me a bit nervous. It seems important to know alternate routes.

Other than that, I like it down there and look forward to exploring a bit more. It was Ramadan during my first visit so I didn't do much.

Hope things improve!

flares

I was in Bahrain for a few hours last night. Causeway down to Adliya and back.

A few police around but didn't stray off the beaten track.

Stay safe you all.

markinbahrain

Hi guys,
I noticed this in GDN this morning for this Wednesday.

Being advertised as a "Bahrain blockade", it is specifically targeting roads in Manama, Exhibition Avenue, the King Faisal Causeway and the Diplomatic Area - some of Bahrain's key trade hubs.

Organisers are calling on people to take part during rush hour traffic from 7am to 10am on Wednesday, but have not announced timings for protests on other days.

They say they want an elected government, more powers for parliament, new electoral constituencies, a more independent judiciary and combating of discrimination.

However, rights activists say the fact that the protests coincide with by-elections suggests they are intended to prevent people from practising their right to vote.

Tockalosh

It was lively in Sitra yesterday PM. Round the back near the water tanks

This slow driving malarkey is just going to be another pain in the ass. Its taking me an hour to get from the green zone to our office near the Toyota dealership in Sitra every morning as it is. Today is the last time I am using the causeway road and will instead take the very much longer route via Awali.

If they are starting this now then what will they be up to on election day

Tockalosh

Pamela, this is a very small island with very big roads on the transit routes so am sure hubby will get his head around things fast so no worries. I have only been temporarily lost once and that was when I got diverted at the far end of Jidd Haffs into these tiny little streets with no logical way out. It was like entering a world I never knew existed. The fortuner only just fit down some of these streets and nobody looked particularly friendly. Was very happy to eventually find my way out of it

Good decision to see how things pan out but bear in mind that the Juffair residents are still in denial that February ever happened as it was total busienss as usual down there so an alternative is to put the blinkers on and head straight out. Half the island could go into melt down and it would still be ranch size burgers and a cold beer at Riks.

Tockalosh

Traffic chaos tomorrow (Weds) due in Manama as a drive slow demonstration takes place 0700 - 1000.

Circuit taking in all major routes (top road past BFH), down to Juffair and including exhibition avenue just for fun, down to Mina Salman, all the way out to the switch back near Isa town and back into town

Going to be a ball getting into work tomorrow morning if they set their alarms

Lots more planned for election weekend. Happy days

markinbahrain

Have just got back from Costa coffee in Food Street, and everyone talking about protesters are fighting police in most villages. Police are trying to stop thousands from making their way towards Pearl Roundabout this afternoon.

Their is also trouble in Manama and Sanabis the police are shooting with live shotgun pellets and teargas again!!
Keeping the car of the road this afternoon!!