Winter clothing in hot weather / Mad bloke

:-) Buying coats for winter
We all went out shopping this morning to buy winter coats, for our upcoming Christmas visit to the UK. Some people would be jealous of the almost continuous hot and sunny weather we have here in Saudi, but the English climate is actually one of the things I really miss. I always looked forward to winter more than summer, and love wearing warm and wolly winter clothes, so it was great to go out this morning to try on something other than T-shirts for a change. The air-conditioning in the shops -- and later at home -- made it comfortable to put them on, although at 35 degrees centigrade outside, in the house is the only place we can wear them at the moment.
What's funny is that the stores here, including UK chains like Debenhams and Marks & Spencer, stock a full range of winter clothes: coats, hats, scarves, gloves and boots. Sure, some expats like us buy them for our trips to colder climes, but the main reason they're there is for the Saudis, who start to feel the chill in Riyadh as the temperature falls below 25 centrigrade (how the heck to I type that little "degrees" circle on the keyboard? I keep having to write 'degrees centigrade' longhand!).

Looking forward to going back to the UK for Christmas!

:-( Deathwish
We were driving down Olaya St. this morning, when Karen noticed something frightening as we rolled to a halt at a junction. Pulling up alongside us was a Saudi family in a large white American saloon (or sedan) car; the mother in the passenger seat and three small children in the back seat with not a single seatbelt between them. But even worse, the father in the driving seat had another child -- a three-year-old girl -- on his lap, and she was steering the car!!! We gave them a wide berth as we followed them into the shopping mall's underground car park.

I hope Allah saw fit to get them all home safely...