I havent taken a wheel in SL during the past 5 years and hence am not truly aware of how the driving ethics have improved or disintegrated from the old days. When I first came to Saudi and saw the maniacs on the highways here I was mortally destroyed wondering how would be able to set out on the asphalt and, moreover, seated on the left side of the vehicle too. I learned the hard way without any major scratches and have now settled down to having eyes behind my head in addition to my glasses, rear view and two side mirrors too. In recent days I am seeing vehicles with rear fitted cameras to help these jerks to see their bumpers behind them. I think its a great idea, especially for protection from reversing into a lamp post or a wall.
One of the ironies of the roads here in KSA that I could never fathom, or never will be able to in the future too I am confident, is why a dude stays behind me on the extreme left fast lane on a 6 lane highway and has the balls to flash me from behind when he actually intends to take the next exit on the right 5 lanes away? And this too when 3 of those lanes are totally empty. Search me and let me know if any of you guys could conjure up what Freud or Jung would put a finger on that one.
Then there is a other sect who come racing into the highway when you are on the slow (extreme right lane making an attempt to exit with your signals on but wont let you pass until he creeps up on your right and then puts his bloody jalopy on to the next left lane in front of you. Baffles me outright.
Another wonderful phenomenon we see here is that N ONE wants to use his signals when he intends to take a turn. Why, I wonder? They pay for the car with the signals and dont use it. manufacturers would do well to offer cars without signals at a lower cost for such bastards who could save some cash in opting for those models. They just DONT want to use their signal. Even God wnt be able to answer that one? Not sure how it is in SL though?
Then we have the lane makers. OMG, those buggers are the limit. We are now driving on a 4 lane motorway road which is heavily jammed with traffic. Give them a few inches between two vehicles and lo and behold you will find him creating the fifth lane with your side almost mirror kissing his. Jeezuz Christ, how and why they want to do that blows my mind. The vehicles are all stopped at the lights and we have to wait for it to turn green to move, yet he wants to be at the head of the line by hook or by crook. If I dont use the damn F word here for them you would probably call me a Bishop, like the Rev Roger Adrian Heft, who I think still uses it effectively within his own closed circles.
Coming to the stupid sons of bitches who drive in from a side street on to a main road. They just dont slow down or even look. Zoom, out they come and into the 2nd lane. Not even to the slow right lane. The accidents one sees in such instances are so many. And the bastard will smile with all his 32 date infested teeth showing saying "MALESH", meaning "NEVER MIND" and following it up with "KULLU MIN ALLAH", meaning "Everythings from God". Fooking Hell, God Must Love Accidents! Wonder whether He is playing with his SONY Playstation with Satan up there?
Finally, the intersections (cross roads) with no traffic lights. This is the ultimate suicide crossing. No one slows down, stops, or even stretches forward and tries to look right or left. ts one straight Zoom at the same speed one enters the intersection.
Phew!
How I have managed to stay alive to reach 64+ is a miracle even God cant duplicate.
I am sure Graham and Muthu would also have had a taste of this during their sojourn in the sands and would confirm my own experiences here? lets hear of your stories too.
Amen!
Grahams comment: I remember once driving from Muscat, the capitol of Oman, to Dubai and noticed many a car gone off the road onto the sand dunes and the Arab drivers crawling out of the windows, dishdash and all.
ReplyDeleteIt had rained and the road with a slight cover of sand made the surface very slippery and It was pretty evident that the Arabs were certainly not used to driving around corners in such conditions.
They press down the accelerator so hard on their American vehicles and don't consider the turn that is ahead until they are actually on it . laughable.
Initially, I had difficulty in getting a driving license in Saudi. When I presented my Sri Lankan driving licence which during that period was the small blue book, the Saudi official scrutinized the book and asked me "what is the expiry date ?'. Of course the blue book had no expiry date. When I told that to the official he threw the book onto the sand and said "Allah said everything has to die. go away" . They treated Asians like shit in those days....now it must be better,I hope.
And Muthu chips in: Simple answer Mate,these buggers in Saudi hv more money than brains.When God made Man he didn't gv him more than what was required.So Saudis were born with less brains,similar to Muthu.
ReplyDeleteFazli: My personal experience also tells me that in all of the three cases the person responding is trying to avoid the issue 100% and trying and deviate the question to something that he/she can control or be free from committing.
ReplyDeleteIn the case of question #1, the dude is certainly not interested or able to respond to the question and, therefore, takes the line of least resistance by putting up a question to your question, which can be extremely annoying for a decent, honest, and open conversation to take place. I stay away from such idiots. What would be expected and appreciated is that he answers the question first and then put forward his answer.
In #2, the dude seems to be pretending that he doesnt know the answer and, like Graham also mentioned, is playing for time to conjure up a decent response that will not implicate him or put him in a compromising situation. These guys are total CROOKS! You just cant trust them at all.
In #3, its usually the very suspicious and cautious, who tend to take this approach, feeling that they do not really need to answer the question at all based on their own personal whims and fancies. here again it would be much better for his to respond by saying " I do not wish to answer that question" rather than ask "why the question is being asked?"
Human thinking is mind boggling, huh?
Faz