Expats Run More Red Lights
This is from today’s Kuwait Times.
KUWAIT: The Interior Ministry defended a new policy of deporting expatriates who run red lights by arguing that “the highest percentage of traffic violations are committed by expats, adding that this constitutes a hazard on the lives of motorists,” reported Al-Jarida.
The ministry in a statement said it had the legal right according to the Foreigners Residency law to deport expats for such offenses. And added that the ministry used this right as it is its administrative right according to the law. (sic)
I am blown away that they can say this with a straight face.
No Fone No Fine?
From today’s Arab Times, a dilemma for police enforcing the new no-mobile-phone-use-while-driving-law:
Mobile-user leaves cops baffled; Porn decoder seller nabbed
KUWAITI CITY : Police are reportedly confused because they don’t know what to do with an Egyptian motorist, reports Al-Watan Arabic daily.
The man was talking on a cell phone while driving and when he discovered police were chasing him, he threw out the cell phone from the car window.
When police stopped him they failed to find the cell phone. The daily added the man might have realized that he would be fined KD 50 while his phone cost KD 15 and the sim card KD 5 so he decided to get rid of the phone.
Sunrise May 13, 2008
The sea is as flat as old glass, a little ripple here and there. You can squint your eyes up and see all the way to Failaka Island, all the big freighters puffing up and down the gulf, the Coast Guard boats heading out to interdict a drug runner or some illegally immigrant, a few little speed boats.
The temperature is 75°F / 24°C and the high expected is in the low 100’s. It looks like another warm glorious day in Kuwait.
Safat Favors Blogspot
I’ve been checking Safat; so far it seems they are only picking up Blogspot yesterday and today. No WordPress!
Sunrise, 12 May 2008
Just in time! As I was trying to take the photo out my dust-spotted windows, clouds came in from the south and created a dramatic light and dark contrast. The temperature at 0600 is 86°F / 26°C and the forecast for today is “clear” LOL!
It looks to me like we could have some rain; the clouds coming in are thick and threatening.
No WordPress on Safat?
I was just checking Safat – none of my posts are there for today. None for any of the WordPress bloggers I follow. Has WordPress been banned from Safat?
NBK Shines
We complain about our banks and we write about all the goofs and stupid policies, so it is only fair, when a bank does something right, to share that side of the story, too.
I was invited yesterday to the Mother’s Day celebration benefitting Operation Hope and the Animal Friends League. I used to do fundraising, so I am always interested in just how much of the ticket price will actually benefit the charity.
It was a glorious event, from start to finish. More than 160 gathered to celebrate Motherhood and to support Operation Hope and Animal Friends. During the meal, hostess Sheryl Mairza from Operation Hope announced that because NBK had stepped up to the plate and covered the cost of the breakfast, the entire cost of every ticket would go to benefit the two charities.
WAY TO GO! It is every fundraiser’s dream to find generous corporate sponsors, so that not a penny is wasted and every – oops – fils can go toward the intended charity. Bravo,NBK! I don’t know if banks get tax incentives in Kuwait, as they do in the US. In the US, we know that most major corporations have designated charitable funds and it is our job to encourage them to donate those funds our way. It is by far more difficult to get corporate sponsorship in a country where there may not be such significant tax benefits. Again, Bravo NBK. Thank you for sponsoring Operation Hope and Animal Friends, and for covering the cost of the breakfasts.
Sunrise Mother’s Day, May 11, 2008
The Qatteri Cat is not celebrating Mother’s Day. He was awake, on and off, all night, miowing miowing and making a total pest of himself.
What I think is that he couldn’t find his baby. He made the sounds me makes when he is looking for his baby. I got up and looked, couldn’t find the baby.
I found it this morning; it was on our bed. We might have thrown the covers back over it, I don’t know.
Fireboat Practice
Who knew? Who knew the Kuwait Coast Guard – or the Kuwait Fire Department – now has fire boats? These look pretty new, and we are guessing they are having a practice, out in the Gulf on this beautiful Friday:

Fire boats are fairly specialized pieces of equipment. Once you buy them, you have to learn how to operate them. You don’t want them learning when YOUR boat is on fire, you want them to have had some exercises learning how to use their equipment efficiently. Bravo, Kuwait fire department.
Abandoned Baby
This is for my friend, Mrm, or Mirim the Mirim, a blogger friend with a fiendish eye for the sublime and the ridiculous. She hasn’t blogged for a while and I am concerned about her absence. I am hoping this photo, dedicated to her, will lure her back into the blogging world.
Actually, AdventureMan spotted the baby sitting on a garbage bin, but it was I who whipped the camera out and shot a photo.







