Ramadan Kareem

Ramadan Kareem everyone, this goes especially out to my Muslim friends.

So, last Friday saw the start of the Holy Month of Ramadan.  During this blessed month Muslims all over the world abstain from food, drink, and other physical needs during the daylight hours. It is a time to purify the soul, refocus attention on God, and practice self-sacrifice (for non-Muslims like myself, its a chance to get to leave work 2 hours earlier each day). 

For those people who do actually fast, I hold my hat out to them (especially as I'm now back on the Cambridge diet and 3 packet meals a day is not enough for anyone).  It must be really hard to go 12 hours without a scrap of food or drink touching your lips.  However, I do believe that some people are selective as to when they fast.  It was only the second day of Ramadan and already a friend of a friend had broken her fast because 'she was working with two British women and it was hard'.   Hmmmm, not much will power going on there then is there?  Anyway, each to their own, they either do or the don't it's not my problem.

In public areas its it forbidden to eat, drink, smoke etc until after sun set when 'Iftar'.  Iftar is the evening meal when Muslims break their fast.  Almost anyone and everyone are offering special deals on Iftar meals at the moment here in Dubai (however, hubby and I will not be partaking, due to my Cambridge diet commitment). 

I've also done my bit for charity and purchased a number of Iftar meals for the labourers in Dubai. Basically, I paid for them and some charity will serve them up to the workers. 

Some people complain about the rules, but to be honest, Dubai is a lot more liberal about Ramadan then I ever expected and when I lived in Abu Dhabi it was a lot more conservative.  There are loads of places people can eat but they are usually hidden by some type of screening.  To be honest I can't understand why anyone would complain. They are in a Muslim country, they should abide by their rules (and if they don't like it, then they know what to do).

The weather is boiling at the moment with each day averaging about 45/46 degrees.  At the weekend, hubby and I managed to 'drag' Charlie around the lake twice, but he wasn't happy.  It was the first morning of Ramadan and I took a bottle of water out with me for the walk.  Needless to say I immediately remembered I wasn't allowed to drink it and kept it for Charlie.

During our walk, as always, we saw a number of ducks waddling about the area.  Whilst Charlie was having a sniff in the bushes, he saw a big duck which sort of hissed at him whilst its friends quacked like mad in order to frighten Charlie away.  Needless to say, Charlie hardly raised his head to look at the duck and just carried on sniffing at something more interesting on the grass.

My hubby has managed to ponder around the garden in the heat all weekend, I on the other hand have managed the odd half an hour here and there until it has become unbearable once more.

And finally, I now have a new set of sparkling white teeth.  I had my permanent teeth inserted last Wednesday on my return from Qatar.  Thankfully, final visit to the dentist wasn't as traumatic as the last one and in little under an hour my new teeth were in. 

This was after I went into the men's bathrooms and only realised when I saw the urinals (may be I should have been visiting the optician, not the dentist).  Then, just before the dentist put the permanent teeth in, I asked if I could see them.  Typical Mandy style, I dropped them on the floor and it took, me, the dentist and his assistant about 5 minutes to find them.