Unemployed benefits

My newly made lady of leisure friend, who I went to Jordan with, has been busy this past week with her inlaws in town. I've been hearing murmurs and rumours that a few stores now have even more Christmas decorations ready for sale, so I have been waiting for her to be free of her shackles so that we can take to these shops. So, yesterday in anticipation, I sent her through an agenda. 1. 8:30am bacon and eggs on my verandah, 2. 9:15am depart for Satwa to the fabric shops to get a few things made for christmas, 3. depart Satwa at 10:30am for IKEA 4. Depart IKEA at 12pm for The Daiso. She accepted all items on the agenda and rang my doorbell promptly at 8:30am. So off we went, Satwa first stop. I was picking up something from my tailor and she from hers, who co-incidentally was next door to mine. Apparently her Dubai is starting to become quite similar to mine. After a few pleat alterations and handing over some of my latest designs to be crafted, we made our way back to the car to fulfill item 3 on the agenda. Satwa, which I think I have mentioned before, is an Indian area with heaps of fabric shops, tailors, locksmiths, window tinting and car art shops. When I first arrived in Dubai I kept seeing cars with pictures of the Sheikh that took up the whole rear window and wondered who was making a business of it. Well, I found them in Satwa. On 2nd December it will be National Day, and the decorations are starting to go up here there and everywhere, but I am told, all the locals get really into it and decorate their houses, cars, wear the national colours and paint the town red, green, black and white...quite literally. Can't wait to post some photos soon. Imagine if we all painted Kevin Rudd heads on our cars for Australia day. One thing is for sure, they really love their Sheikh and are incredibly proud.

After getting my friend to stop the car so I could snap up that four wheeled baby above, we headed to IKEA. We saw it all today. Things that don't really require an explanation, but I had my camera at the ready to document it all. Have you ever seen so many stuffed toys and let alone so many in the back of a Peugeot 307? This side of the world never got the memo about the rear window being a place where you look out of when you need to change lanes. Hilarious. One of the other things that fascinates me are the jingly trucks on the road. There must also be a man somewhere that 'pimps' an old ute or work truck and transforms it into a colourful jingly jangly truck of beauty, specialising in butterflies and complete with wind chime dangly bits as mud guards. When you spot one of these on the road its like gold or more like 'punch buggy'. Even more hilarious. (Click on the picture so you ca see the finer detail- its worth it)

So finally we arrived at IKEA, returned a few things we had bought frivolously the last time we were there, found the amenities and prepared ourselves for our IKEA quest (which has nearly been a fortnightly occurrence since she quit her job). We took a little longer than expected at venue 3 on the agenda as they've mixed the showroom floor up a bit. At first we were a bit peeved they had taken the liberty of changing things around without seeking our approval, but then realised it opened us up to a whole new IKEA, as we found things we'd never seen before. Adrenaline kicked in again, excitement, pure joy, then we realised we were running behind schedule and had to head to The Daiso so my friend could be back before 3pm.

The Daiso was essential today. On the way, we contemplated stopping off at this Travel and Tours shop pictured to the left to nut out our next travel adventure. Funnily enough I'm actually watching "Dude Where's My Car" on cable- I think they would have also found this quite humorous. There are a few other places I might like to check out before considering a holiday on Uranus.

After a few giggles and hearty laughs, we tried to remain focused and headed straight for The Daiso. We were delighted to find that The Daiso has now opened a Christmas section. I quickly scanned the scene while my friend went through each and every christmas decoration with fervour finding more and more things he could spray paint gold- its one of the symptoms of becoming a lady of leisure. Everything turns into a 'craft' opportunity. We moved on to the main store split up at the entrance and took our time scouring the aisles. We were lost in the world of unnecessary tid bits and excess packaging... again. This photo somewhat captures the Daiso. That's an entire aisle of sticky tape- all types you could think of. Imagine this for almost every single one of your stationery, storage, kitchen, garden and plastic miniature food magnet needs. And that, my friends is a whole shelf of reading glasses with every different type of magnification you could think of. Below are also just a few photos of some classic Engrish on ordinary products, which ordinarily do not need any sort of prose, let alone Engrish. Less is more people and pastel colours don't ever need a comfortable breeze... just an fyi. But by far, today's best find was the sleeve cuffs found in the kitchen section so that you don't get your sleeves dirty when cooking. Ah! The Japanese are on top of everything. No Sushi clocks though. It's telling me is sashimi past tempura, so its getting late.

A few weeks back, this same friend of mine knowing well that I love a supermarket shop introduced me to another supermarket that I would never have known existed. If you saw this building on the side of the road with a massive lobster on it and sand on either side, would you know? All my dreams came true because its actually an American supermarket with all imported everything. For the first time, since learning about them in movies such as The Sandlot Kids and The Goonies and Stand By Me, I saw the chocolate covered goodness in the flesh. Goodness that goes by the name of Twinkies, Baby Ruth, Twizzlers and so many types of aerosoled food stuffs. As you all know, I love a good line extension (not to be mistake for Daytona 'time extension') and I quite enjoyed this Baskin and Robbins one. I mostly enjoyed it because I found it in the health food aisle next rice cakes.

So thus marks the end of our adventures for now. And these, all of them are the benefits of being a lady of leisure, but perhaps it will not be for long. Stay tuned.