المروج

sorry, had to open with that, for shock value; and for the fact that just behind where these guys are hanging out one day when I visited Al Muruj were some other guys hanging out, but it was lunchtime and they were sitting on the floor cross-legged, sharing a lunch of flatbreads and rice dishes, curry colours, which is what you do, whether you're in a butchery or on the pavement or at the wadi. Sit in a circle, around some food, sharing. About which, it is customary to honour the food by not making a toast. . . what would you be toasting with, anyway? some sugary fizz pop?

let me tell you about the first time I went to Al Muruj. . . nah, but know that I go there for Dia Bakeries, the best grainy bread I've found, most advertises its grainy branny substance but has none, is as light as fluff. And for fresh dates, which at the time I'm writing this, seem to have packed up shop, the arcades around the market zone have emptied out, radically, shattered glass and broken shop fittings on the tiled pavements outside them. A box was @NZD equivalent of $7.00, with enough for a week. Traditionally served to guests with zippy Arabic coffee, which is spiced with cardamon, each family has its own recipe, the dates are dipped into a bowl of water to remove spray residues.

note the breads, not the grainy ones, these are served with fish from the fish market which is also here, a lunchtime location, that's what the guy's doing in the silver car, eating lunch. Not the crunched-up car. That's simply road litter.

Here's some guys, since I'm using this word today, on the metro, and then home; they were, the T-shirted, discussing smoking weed in their respective countries, in English, and how children get into it; and how things are very different in the Kingdom; notice how they are perched up on the luggage rack, this is because on the way home, the singles carriages are at the front, and perched up there, since the metros are driverless, is where you get the best view, a front-row seat (I'm perched opposite):

love from Riyadh,

حب من الرياض

Simon