Today started with the golf as usual although it was the two course "Green and Brown" event where we played nine holes on the greens at Riffa where the professionals played recently and nine holes on the "browns" at our club Awali. We got beaten in our match and Awali got thumped 10.5 to 1.5. Hmmm not too good there then. My team only got beat a wee bit (2 and 1 for those of you who understand) but a miss is as good as a mile as they say. Some pairs got a sounder beating than us (5 and 4).
After the golf we ventured off to Amwaj Islands. They are the man-made islands off the north east corner past the airport. There was a craft fair on at the marina there and we have never visited the area. Good idea? Read on!
Well we arrived safely in the process driving right past the Pearl Roudabout. We saw the demonstrators who have camped there and took a picture. I'll upload it tomorrow, I have left my camera lead at school. The craft fair was a mixture of car boot sale and craft work with nothing too impressive and not that many stalls. There's a new Waitrose store opened recently in Amwaj so we went there. It wasn't any more impressive than the craft fair. It was lovely weather and a pleasant change. After a walk round a new (but not fully occupied) waterside shopping complex we set off for home. All was going swimmingly until we got close to the city centre. The traffic seemed to be going at a snail's pace and we thought we could see people in the distance. We were right, and there were thousands of them. Only problem was that we were on a dual carriageway with nowhere else to go. We followed the cars right into the middle of thousands of protesters. It was interesting (and VERY pleasing) to realise that they were all in celebratory, party mood, waving flags tooting horns, standing out of sun roofs and STANDING on the roofs of MOVING buses. Our route home was to take us along this dual carriageway that passes back past the Pearl roundabout, through the centre of town and out the other side. We decided after about 400 yards and 45 minutes that an alternative might be desirable. We came to traffic lights so I did the most popular Bahrain manoeuvre, a U turn. We decided that battling our way AWAY from the main centre of the protest was infinitely more desirable that towards, no matter how happy the mood. It was like driving through a sea of football supporters making their way in or out of a stadium. It took us some time but we eventually managed to get back into flowing traffic and take the long way home.
The fact that you are reading this let's you know we made it safely. It is fair to say that apart from the disruption we never felt in any kind of danger at any time. In fact MOST of the protesters were probably women with a liberal helping of children. One car we saw hat a wee tot hanging out of the window giving a Winstion Churchill V sign with both hands. It looked really cute, I have to say. I wish I could have taken a picture. What it does show though is the fact that this protest is far from over but as long as the protests stay that peaceful then surely a solution will be found. I get the feeling that it will have to be major concession though. They wont paper over the cracks of this one. I am not sure how many people there were but there were lots.
By the way Amwaj is a beautiful area and would be a great place to live if the commute across the island was not so busy. We would never contemplate it but it is by far and away the nicest bit of the isalnd we have seen so far.
OK coffee time.
David and Sheila
