Brit.Loz

Thanks trojan, noted.

And thanks para, internet here isn't capable of playing the video but I will watch when I get to ME.

I'm definitely not up for doing anything that could bring me any trouble in KSA.

Brit.Loz

Arrived in Bahrain last night for the first time, and nearly 24 hours later I am pleased to report that all is good, no sign or sound of any problems where I am. So far I only ventured out (by foot, late last night) to the local supermarket for some essentials, so hope it continues to be as nice as this.

Hopefully sometime soon I can get to know some of you local expats, (especially if any of you are football or sports fans) possibly even with a view to 'commute share' in the future.

Paracletus

I remember having a 56kb/s internet in Africa...Well, officially anyway.

Bahrain internet is pretty terrible, KSA has superior infrastructure for such things.

Brit.Loz

Well, I just watched the video link you put up Para, with no breaks or cuts. That would have taken weeks or months in Africa and I would have missed 90% of it.

If this is 'pretty terrible' internet, Saudi really must be the magic kingdom!

Video was a very real reminder of what not to do. Actually that is a cracking series and I used to watch on TV, but had not seen that one so thanks for the heads-up.

Paracletus

Caught it when it aired on nat geo..I do prefer the original series when they used to follow people rotting away in jails in far flung places with usually little to no help. Personally, I have little sympathy for them though..but I guess the allure of money can blind people.

I recall my old man being approached about bringing some ivory out of Africa..or the amount of times he was offered cars in parking lots at hotels in Swaziland..full with papers and transported via a hole in the fence on the SA border. Good times..I would have been loaded by now had he not been such a law abiding man.

Brit.Loz

I think for any of us expats living overseas, fear of a foreign jail must remain one of the uppermost thoughts in our heads in most actions we do.

Paracletus

Had a friend who got arrested for a rather silly offense, completely un-necessary..One does not simply walk through security at airports with drug paraphernalia in ones pocket and expects to walk away. Lucky for him, our mutual friends included some of the richest families in the country, so 3 weeks in jail and 1 year without a passport to leave was his punishment. All respect for him is now gone.

Brit.Loz

I'm a law abiding citizen in UK and multiply that x 1000 in another country. It's just not worth it, whatever the action.

Temptation, weak willpower, and greed = recipe for disaster.

Paracletus

Drunk driving in Kenya was my forte. T'was only a 5 minute drive..but I didn't consider it crime, more a necessity and means of survival. I don't think I ever went over 10mph though.

Brit.Loz

Drink-driving is common where I was too, just across the border from Kenya. But the locals could never understand why I refused to drink and drive.

The reasoning that 'just because you can get away with it, and pay a bribe if you get caught' doesn't make it safe or healthy or right, and this concept was lost on them.

Add that to the fact there are no street lights, bad roads and a quality of driving that is abysmal...drink is the last thing that you would recommened before driving

You were brave, even 5 minutes at 10mph

Paracletus

Well, having spent some of my formative years in an African country during civil war, I guess it sort of changed my perspective on life from an early age.

norsk

One of my acquaintances used to drink and drive all the time in Kenya/Tanzania (as do loads of people). Anyway he was unfortunate enough to smash into a lorry which had been left in the middle of the road for the night one late evening and burnt to a crisp...

Brit.Loz

Oh yeah, plenty of abandoned (and generally unroadworthy) vehicles left like that. Without street lights you never knew what you might hit - vehicles, people...

Many times you would find a vehicle ahead with no lights, or see a one light 'motorcycle' coming towards you...only to find out it's some massive truck and you have to virtually dive off the road at the last minute as you make a late adjustment to it's size! As for the dala-dala's (matatus), no lights, no indications, over and under cutting...

Anyway, we digress. Happy to be in ME now, and looking forward to the new challenge.

norsk

by the way there are plenty of lunatics saving petrol by not turning their lights on at night in bahrain as well...

Tockalosh

Are you a missionary who has come to save all the poor souls here ?

Temptation = potential of great nooky, staring you in the face

Weak will power = the inability to resist the potential of great nooky

Greed = the need for more great nooky

= Great nooky or divorce, Herpes, HIV, visit to solictor

Two sides to every coin