I was so lucky 2 weeks ago Alhamdulillah.
It was wednesday 2nd May 2012 and I had just finished my morning duty and was on my way to get some lunch and had the snack list for the office with me (we take it in turns).

My office is outside a very busy and at times dangerous road. Quite a few people have been killed on the crossing, so we are always careful. The crossing has two parts both with the red/green man to let you know to cross safely or not.
I got over the first part and then reached the second part and as I reached it, the road that side was empty except for one car waiting at the traffic lights. As the green man was about to start flashing I waited a few seconds, saw the car was still waiting and started to cross (as soon as you put your foot on the crossing when the green man is either static or flashing, the pedestrian has the right of way). As I reached almost to the pavement the car suddenly shot out.

I turned and knew he was going to hit me and my first thought was my daughter who was at school. Everything happened in slow motion, the car hit me and I got thrown almost 6ft up the road. I remember laying in the road on my side and the driver was standing over me in total shock, I also remember a woman on her bike trying to cycle around my sprawled out body as she shot me a dirty look to say "Get the hell out of my way".

I managed to sit up and put out my hand and asked the driver to help me up. I must of been in shock as he told me he was calling an ambulance and I started scrabbling around in the road trying to pick up my shoe, bag, phone etc and then I told him "No dont do that I am ok I need to go shopping", I then began shaking and crying as it hit me how lucky I was. For some reason I told the driver to get me in his car and drive me round the corner which he did.
The young driver could not stop apologising, he was in more shock than me. He had been on his way to university which is near my office and just saw the lights change and pulled away and he said he never saw me at all on the crossing.
Then the pain began to hit and we called my office and two of my collegues came running round to see what happened.
Despite my objections and despite the fact my chest and arm were really hurting I still refused an ambulance being called (I dont like drama) and did not want the police called as I felt so sorry for this young man (crazy I know) my collegue then went back to the office to get his car and came back and drove me to the A&E

I think the woman on reception must of thought I was a nutter, as I stood there with my handbag and said "I have just been hit by a car and thrown up the road". She looked at me as if to say "Really are you sure" lol.  I assured her I really had and I also had no idea how I was able to walk into A&E unaided.

I was seen my the doctor and had a couple of x-rays and I had no broken bones Alhamdulillah. I ended up with 2 broken toenails, 1 ripped shoe, all over body bruising, one badly bruised and grazed leg and some tenderness in my chest area. I was so lucky Alhamdulillah. The doctor said it was probably because the car was not going too fast and the fact I do carry some extra pounds.
I had 2 days off work and then went back last monday.

I have let the driver know I was ok and although it may have been silly not to call the police, I still feel I did the right thing (my collegue did get his details incase I had suffered serious injury) as he was about to sit his final exams at the end of his 3 year degree, he was on the way to Uni to study and just made a mistake by putting his foot down before looking in front of him. Hopefully it shocked him enough to always check first before hitting the gas.

To clarify a number of judgemental issues raised in a second comment regarding my hooker post from the same person who likes to be anon who I left a post for in answer to her first comment. I was always taught to defend myself, infact answering these comments actually lets people who read my blog know a little more about me. I always have been an open person and as I said before I have nothing to ever be ashamed about. But I need to answer the comment because it insults the memory of O and everything he stood for and that upsets me.

I did not come to UAE way back in early1990 to grab a rich man. Infact I first met O 3 years prior to coming out to the UAE when I was working and I continued to work and finance myself until I came out to UAE 3 years later. O was based in the UK during that time and he knew how much I was facinated with the arab culture and had been since a small child.

When he left early 1990's he asked me to come with him to see if I liked living in a Middle Eastern country so I did and that is how my life began in UAE. You may presume our relationship was a dirty little affair and I am no better than a hooker, but in our culture boyfriend/girlfriend scenario can not be compared to what Hookers do. Most foreign wives married to Emirati's started out their relationship as  boyfriend/girlfriend, so are you saying anyone who married after having a relationship first is the same as a hooker? In my culture this is an insult to compare the two.

And as I said before not every relationship/friendship involves sex. There are many ways to love and support someone even when your not married.
O was a very sick man, many times in the UK I had to rush to the hospital because he was seriously ill and sit by his bedside until one of his family could come over. This continued in UAE, for the first 4 years he was rushed to hospital at least once every 3 or 4 months, so if you would like to presume my relationship was full of lust/sex, then think again. One of his issues was a form of epilepsy and I knew when he was about to have a seizure, infact he had quite a few while I was driving him somewhere and it was horrible but I knew what to do to help him until we got to a hospital and thats one of the reasons outside of the home and work he liked me near him. I could tell he was going to have one at least 5 minutes before it started because his face would change.

In regards to the businesses, he already had a business (he had it for years) that was going down the drain because of terrible staff management so he asked me to take over it. I moved its location, changed the staff added the beauty part to it, painted the whole damn centre myself (yes up ladders with paint and a roller, it took me 12 hours a day for a week), I drilled the holes for the blinds and curtains, fixed the mirrors and shelving on the walls myself (to save paying someone to do it). Negotiated payment plans with the equipment companies and I did that all myself. I ran the business and worked in it every day, the profit paid off the equipment in 6 months so I guess you could say I also financed this business because A) I saved him a ton of money doing all the work myself and B) I worked in the business, was good at what I did and I earned the money to pay everything for the business incuding my staffs salary.

The restaurant he bought himself, it was not something I was interested in and neither did I want but he made me a partner and I had to run it after the beauty centre was closed in the eveing and often at weekends too, I also managed everything about the staff, ordered the stock, did the accounts and PR, even drove the staff too and from work, so in reality it was me that did everything and me that made the money to pay the bills. It was not an easy ride let me tell you, I worked damn hard. When we sold the businesses I did not take one single penny from the sale and those that know me in UAE can vouch for that fact despite having worked hard for a number of years
My graphic design business was 100% mine, financed by me (very small finance was needed, just a computer to be honest, yet I made excellant money).

So if you like to presume I was out for all I could get then thats your choice. If  I was that type of woman then I would have sat back on my backside ordering staff about and going shopping on the profits rather than plouging them back into the business to make it even more profitable and continuing working very hard.

O was my bestfriend, my family, my soulmate, we enjoyed each others company, he loved the fact he could talk for hours about the old UAE days, about the history of his family and that I was happy to just drive into the desert and sit listening to very old khaleeji music while we discussed UAE political issues, problems with friends and family. He loved the fact I was not a self centred woman only interested in money, going shopping and material things. That I always put myself out to help people when he asked me to even his own wife and children. My relationship was something you could never understand and you insult me and his memory in your judgemental and very very wrongly assumed comments because it was so far from what you suggest. When I converted to Islam in 1999 I stopped going out alone with him and doing the things we used to do such as going for dinner with friends, camping in the desert and me just driving him around talking and I know that upset him but he understood that as a muslim now It was not acceptable.
He has been dead 6 years this year, and I still miss him dreadfully and I always will and I know he loved me right up until the day he died because I was one of the only people in his life that really understood him.

This will be my last post on this matter.

I absolutly love Falcons and I remember many times I asked O if I could have my own one.
I was fortunate to have been taken into the desert quite a few times by O's cousin Hazeem and was shown how to hunt (Hazeem used to help train the late Sheikh Zayed's falcons many years ago and also travelled with him when he went hunting) .

They are such a majestic bird and Falconry (Al Qanas) was a favorite activity of Sheikh Zayed and many of the Sheikhs and UAE locals and is still a very traditional sport today.

I remember sometimes on  flights to and from Qatar that young locals and Qatari's would get on the flight with their falcons and would sit with them on their arm as the plane was in the air. Im not sure if that is allowed today, but back then nobody flinched when birds were in the passenger section of the plane.

There are two types of falcon used for hunting in UAE "Saqr" which is the most popular and the Peregrine.
The male Saqr is called  Garmoush and the female is called Al Hurr. Believe it or not the female Saqr is used more often due to it being larger and more powerful than the male. The same goes for the Peregrine, the female (Shahin) is often thought a better hunter than the male (Shahin Tiba).
The Saqr is more favoured by the Emirati mainly due to the fact it is well suited to desert hunting.

You need to have a lot of patience and courage to train a falcon to be ready to hunt. Trainers are known as Saqqar's and they have the skills to teach the bird to hunt and return to its owner.

The little cap the falcon wears is know as Al Burgu and it is made of decorated leather and covers the falcons eyes. This is due to the fact the falcons have very sharp vision acuity and the Al Burgu helps the falcon to be slowly adjusted to new environments. The trainer or falcon owner will also have with him a canvas bag known as Al Mukhlat which inside often has pigeon or houbara wings so that he can use the contents of the bag to lure the falcon back. The lure of the falcon is know as Milwah or Tilwah.

If you have ever seen photos of falcon hunting you will see the bird often perches upon a seat type thing. This is known as the Wakir and it is normally a very ornamated long wooden stand with a flat padded top so the falcon can rest his claws.
When the bird sits on the trainer or owners arm, the arm is protected by the sharp talons of the falcon by a covered cuff called a Manqalah. This is made from material often stuffed with straw or some type of cloth.
The owner needs to restrain the falcon especially after a catch so they use light but strong tethers which are fitted to the falcons ankles. These are usually stong and flexible braided nylon around 30cm's long known as  Subuq and are then tied together to make a shorter cord. this is then attached to a swivel, both cords and swivel allow the falcon some freedom of movement.while not allowing it to actually fly. The whole thing is know as the Mursel.

When hunting is to start the owner will usually shout Yalla and the falcon will lift off flaping its huge wings so it is able to reach a powerful assent into the sky. Once the falcon spots its prey it chases it which can last quite a while. Once the prey slows down, the falcon swoops down onto the prey and pulls it to the desert floor. In UAE the falcon's main prey is Houbara, Stone Curlew (Karawan) and Hare (Arnab). As the Houbara in particular is such a large and speedy bird, this is a particular favorite for owner and falcon to hunt as it makes the thrill of the chase more exciting.

The falcon and owner have an amazing relationship and both have a great deal of respect for each other.
I never got my own falcon because O told me he did not think I had the patience to be able to spend time training it. However on the rare occasions I got to go out with these beautiful birds and see them in action, I loved every minute of it.

I recieved a comment on my blog post Knickers on the Ceiling Fan and all the Jazz, of course left as anon. I knew I would get one or two, it was expected. But here it is:
Im sorry i can not help but think that you were just in the same position as those and the same level as them with the only difference that you gave exclusive service to O , and i say this because i am sure he was sponsoring uou and your glammy life and pay your bills , house , cloths , etc. so is just matter of geography, when the man was married with family and would never leave them for you or even take you as a wife cause i am sure you were not worth the price he would pay for doing that , well in any case he got everything he wanted without having to do so , so there you go! ... Don't fool yourself thinking the rest if the man respected you, they All knew who you were and what you were and took you for exactly that otherwise they would never do such things in your presence or uou would say they eould fo that if one of their lawfull emiratis wives would be there? .... So please next time do bot talk low of others when you do nit have the moral authority to fo so , if now you have changed good for you but back then you were not better or different than them, and it pisses me off when you di not even realize it! .... By the way if you write a book call it fir what it is " memoirs of a exclusive hooker" or do

In answer to this poster first I would say WHY does my post Piss you off, was I talking about you?
I was sharing stories from the past, it would be unfair to just talk about all the nice things as it would not be a truthful blog of experience. And I have high morals dear anon, and more respect than you as would never dream to leave a comment full of bile on someones blog who I do not know personally. You seem to take the story so personally, why is that and why the need to post anon?

I would like to clarify the following.

1) I was not an exclusive HOOKER, and I also did not have my glammy lifestyle provided for me. I owned and ran two very busy businesses. One being a resturant in the Al Mamzar area, the other was a very high class and respected Hair and Beauty Centre on the trade center road with British staff, both business were featured along with a story about me in Gulf News. I worked from 8am until often 1am. After we sold the businesses due to O's bad health and the fact I was getting very tired running both I then ran a very successful web and graphic design business from home and was featured again in Gulf News.

2) I always knew O would never taken a second wife, its not something his family does. However when we met he had said he was divorced, this I found to not be true after I arrived in UAE. However despite that we were best friends, he was loved by my family and he was a father, brother, uncle to me. He was there for me and he protected me best he could and I knew his wife, his children and got on very well with them. So your comment that basically states I was his hooker is so far from the truth...not all relationships are sex based, although maybe your's are.

3) The comment about the friends not respecting me and that they all knew who I was. OH YES, they knew who I was and thats why I was introduced and socialised with their wifes, sisters and kids. Got invited to weddings and their families parties. What they chose to do in their spare time was not something I could change. However 99% of the people I saw commiting sin were not from our group, but people who just turned up at for a free weekend and this was normally at the farm. I had a fantastic relationship with our social circle who were in the majority very influential people in UAE. You forget that most of my story centers around the time these hookers started to arrive during our weekends and that was not until around 1998 and is not about the entire time I was there which was 13 years and I stopped going to the farm in 1999 anyway.
You also forget that O and our friends whisked me away as soon as these girls arrived, in the hope when we returned much later in the evening they would be gone. The main farm we stayed on did not allow these people to enter, it was only at the other farm that they would turn up and it was on those occasions that I had to witness the carrying on.

And for YOUR information NEVER ONCE did anyone from our friends lay a finger on me, or try to lay a finger on me, so your disgusting comment that they took me as a hooker just shows what a small mind you have. 99% of the time spent with our friends was fantastic, we went fishing, drives in the desert, travelled to places such as Oman, went out for dinner to good restaurants, horse and camel racing, we sate for hours debating politics and views on the world. Your comment is so out of order because you have based your views on one blog post and assumed my entire life in UAE was as that blog post. Infact that blog post probably represented 0.0001% of my time in UAE.

And of course they would not drink or bring hookers in front of their wives, are you mad? I was a British expat, non muslim who was able to mix freely with both men and women just as I had done in the UK. I also did not own them so I had no say in what they chose to do. They also did not deliberatly set out to do anything unjust in front of me. It just happened on rare occasions (not farm related) we turned up when something had already been arranged, if they knew I was coming, 100% would the other guests not be allowed to visit.
The farm however, if you bother to read the blog post properly, was when someone outside of the group turned up with a 4x4 full of women who ply their trade when he knew the farm would be full.
That is why we spent as much time away from the farm when they were there as possible and why eventually we as a group stopped going all together. I highlighted one particular story when we had no choice but to stay (I do not feel in the need to go into detail why).

Let me tell you Ms Anon, still today people in UAE remember me with respect. I was 100% respectful, never did I put a foot out of line, never did a break a rule. Never did I sell my body for sex. I ran companies, and I ran them well. I enjoyed going out when time allowed and I socialised with O's friends, however that all stopped when I converted to Islam and probably quite a few years before. If my reputation was so shit, why on earth would I then be invited to live as part of an Emirati family in their house??? If my friends thought I was some cheap whore, do you think they would have had me in the house? Do you really think I would be allowed to mix with their wives and kids??? NO I dont think so. Do you think I would have been invited to offical functions?? No.
But I was, so this proves the point.
They also trusted me to be around their families and not talk about their life outside of the home. Most of the wives I am sure knew their husbands drank and probably had girlfriends but it was not my place to tell them so.

When I first arrived in UAE I knew no one except O, therefore rather than spending the time alone I went out in the evening and if it happened that we visited someone who had already arranged something sinful then there was not much we could do other than choose to leave, which we always did except on the farm. You forget it was not a case of just getting into the car and leaving. Our group all travelled in 1 4x4, if something happened such as the night with the hookers, we could not just up and leave especially so as our friend who drove the car always had some business connected with his farm at the weekend. Near the end I started taking my own car or would travel with Fay and her husband so we just upped and left when something happened.

Some people have friends who are drug addicts, some who drink too much, does this mean the people who mix with them are also addicts and drunks? NO it does not. Therefore just because a few people I knew liked a hooker or two does not mean anyone else who mixed with them liked it too and neither did it mean that I was also a HOOKER. You forget in the UK women do not just sit and mingle with women, often women sit with men and just men, does not mean they are having sex with them, we have men as friends and see nothing wrong with being in a room full of men and we KNOW how to behave and respect ourselves.

But this blog is to talk about the good, bad and ugly of UAE. My life was not a round of drunken, hooker fuelled parties. I had a very interesting life however occasionally something would happen such as the hooker stories, so why not share it. I have nothing to be ashamed of. I was raised with high morals and to respect myself and my body and I have ALWAYS done that and will always continue to do that and that is why I WAS Respected in UAE despite what your nasty little mind thinks.

As a last note, if these people thought I was what you claim they thought I was, why on earth would a member of the Fujeriah Royal family go out of his way to protect me while in Kalba, by giving me his car (his number plate told everyone who's car it was) to drive so no one would bother me when I wanted to go out on my own while there, bring his small children to meet me and arrange my conversion to Islam by personally speaking with the judge at the sharia court in fujeriah. If I had a reputation as a cheap hooker with no morals, I can assure you this person would not have been associated with me at all.

Some of my UAE memories could be frowned upon, but I believe in revealing the rough and the smooth .

Today my memory bank opens up about "Hookers". And Hookers were one of the reasons I stopped going to Kalba for the weekend.

Anyone who lives in UAE today knows there is a serious Hooker problem. (Hooker, Prostitute or whatever you want to call those girls (or men) of ill repute). Despite what some would call my quite glam lifestyle up until the last year I was there, I did get to witness quite a bit of the seediness that goes on. I will try to write this post as humorous as I can.

My first encounter was about the 4th day I was in UAE. "O" used to drop me each day down at the Chicago Beach Hotel so I could laze all day on the private almost deserted sandy beaches, dine in the restaurant there until I had had enough then I used to have the driver pick me up and drop me home to get ready for the evening.
I was lying on this deserted beach, soaking up the sun in my one piece Marks and Spencer swimsuit when suddenly this toned, bronzed man in a pair of Budgie Smugglers (tight skimpy swim briefs) walked out of the sea and walked towards me. "In an obvious arabic accent he purred at me "Hi Habibi, do you have a light?", as I rummaged in my bag and pulled out my lighter he said "and a cigarette too". He then said "Hayati I can do such special thing to you, make you tingle, special price for you Habibi 200 dirhams, you never forget experience at bargain price" I about fell off the sun lounger, what the heck, this guy had just emerged from the sea like a sea monster and was now trying to get me to pay him 200 dirhams to make me tingle. This was an Islamic country, what the heck was this guy playing at.

I gave him some choice words and got up and moved further along the beach to another sun lounger. (in those days the beaches were virtually deserted). I sat there eyes hidden behind my Gucci's but actually watching him out of the corner of my eye as he sauntered along the beach chest puffed out, hips wiggling, and trying to seductivly puff on the cigarette I had just given him. I saw him spot two very overweight women who I had seen in the changing rooms/showers earlier on in the day and who I knew to be German. He plonked himself down next to these two women and I saw him beging to stroke the larger of the two's leg, next thing I knew he was helping her up off the sun lounger and they dissapeared into the hotel so I guessed he had found a customer and probably when he finished with her, he came back for her friend.

I did not stick around to find out, I was quite horrified to be honest and as I walked back into the hotel I launched myself at the first member of staff I saw and told them what happened.
It did not seem to suprise the staff member and all he said was "Oh they swim over from the public beach, difficult to catch them".

When I saw "O" that night even he was shocked when I told him, he told me maybe I was confused and maybe the guy was trying to sell me something (well he was, but it definatly was not a watch, handbag or couple of coconuts).

My second encounter quite shocked me, infact I think my mouth hung open and my eyes were on stalks because I just could not believe what I was seeing. I had not long arrived in UAE and we were spending the evening at our friends luxurious apartment on Al Maktoum street (he did not live there it was just a place to play darts, cook and spend an evening with friends (or so I thought). I was sitting chatting with a couple of friends about something going on in Dubai when the doorbell rang. The houseboy answered it and in walked 4 tall women completely covered from head to toe (abaya, shayla and niqab). I got quite excited thinking these were probably quite respectable women and that it would be fun to talk to them and get an idea of their mentality. Oh Boy was I in for a suprise. One sat opposite me still with her abaya and niqab on when she suddenly opened up her abaya and sat there in a very unlady like position (lets just say she looked as though she was doing the splits) and it was obvious she had very little on let alone any underwear. She then began cooing over one of our friends as I tried to find another place to look but by then her 3 friends had stripped off the abaya's revealing what could only be classed as probably the skimpiest outfit sold in Victoria Secrets and they began to gyrate like they were performing at a strip club. I was HORRIFIED. I hissed at O what the heck was going on and to get me the hell out of there and he told me the girls flew over from Bahrain for shopping etc but made some pocket money on the side (I am guessing from their form of entertainment which involved a lot more than gyrating on a persian rug). When one of the old boys dissapeared into one of the bedrooms with one of the girls, O agreed to take me home. I think we argued on the drive home as I was so disgusted and I made him promise that if his friends ever arranged for these women to come over when O planned to take me there, that it was best I stayed home alone, just incase anyone thought I was of their type. O later told me these girls were Bahraini and that really suprised me. O did not agree with his friends playing around with what he called "Those rubbish ladies" especially so as most of the guys held respectable positions in society, but they were still his friends and it was not his place to tell them to stop. But whenever we went to our friends for dinner etc I spent the whole time on edge everytime the doorbell went, thinking some tarts were about to arrive for the evenings

I never really noticed the East European Hookers in UAE until around 1993, I noticed my first one in Burjuman following a local guy around and she was trying to walk beside him and quite loudly wispering ("you not wanna giva me 100, then giva me 50 and I do special job, come habibi have heart"). I at first thought she was his wife and begging for more pocket money or something, then it dawned on me what she was actually doing. They never really bothered me at first as I never came across any thankfully in my social life, despite many of O's friends enjoying the company of ladies of the night. However they did start to creep into our tight knit circle and I hated it.

As I mentioned in my last post, we spent every weekend in Kalba and it was so much fun. Some of the hangers on that followed us to Kalba from other Emirates were a bit dubious and one of them started turning up with in a 4X4 full of East European girls. It was obvious what he had brought them to the farms for and I really disliked it because I was highly respected and everyone thought of me as their sister but when these girls arrived it made me feel very uncomfortable especially when anyone new visited the farms because some assumed I was in the same line of business as these girls. Of course from the start any new people were totally put in their place if they even so much as tried to approach me in an undignified manner but I still hated even sitting in the same majlis as these women, so O and I and a couple of our other friends used to make a point of going out for long drives just to be away from them. I remember once we had gone out to the Fujeriah Hilton for the evening and when we arrived back we walked into the main majlis of O's cousins farm (where we were staying that weekend) and there were 4 bleached blonde hookers. As I walked into the majlis everyone stood up for me, those closest to me kissed he top of my head as they would there own sister or child, the others nodded their head at me. As I sat down I heared one of the hookers loudly say to the idiot who brought them to the farm "Who is this Bitch, why is she here, why they stand for her and not me, maybe she charge a lot". Well I just turned and flipped on this chick and told her the snot in my nose had more class than she did, I did not need to flap my flaps at men to make money, I earnt it the right and legal way and the reason people stood up for me was because my reputation was spotless.

The weekend that really ended my weekends in Kalba was the weekend this hanger on turned up with 2 of the roughest looking females I had ever seen. If they were cats then they were of the standard of the UAE street cats.
As usual he brought the girls when most of the guests were fully tanked up on Johnny Walker Red Label, Im guessing because he knew the mens vision was blurred through booze and they would not realise these girls had done the rounds a bit and looked like a couple of un-neutered Ally Cats.
My best friend Fay and her Emirati husband (they were not married at that time though) were spending the weekend on the farm with us. Fay is blonde so she was disgusted that she would be sharing a farm with these women as she knew anyone who did not know her would assume she was one too.

Fay and I escaped out of the majlis that evening and headed to the farm pool, putting some music on and making sure her husband and O made it clear to everyone that they were not to go anywhere near us. After a long swim, lots of laughs and chatting we went back to the farm Majlis and there was one of the hookers who had taken over the master suite, servicing one after the other of the visitors who were arriving by the dozen. We sat and watched one after the other dissapear into the bedroom obviously getting a full service and as one came out the next went in (we counted 9 men in the space of a couple of hours or so).
Well Fay is not one to mince words and I believe we both loudly screamed at everyone what a dirty bunch of sad men they were, how disgusting they were to do that to a women who was also doing that to their friends, one after the other without even having a wash inbetween. How they should be totally ashamed when they returned to their wives and children on Friday and suggested they all go get some tests done asap.
From that moment on I told O that although this was out of his control, I could not longer spend my weekends worrying these hooker were going to arrive and could not accept to even be in the same room as them. I could not sit back and witness what I had witnessed that particular night, men who held good positions, married men with kids, ramming away at some Ally Cat hooker.

In the morning Fay and I woke early and went for a drive. When we arrived back there were the Ally Cats looking rougher than before sitting crossed legged eating eggs obviously not wearing underwear. Fay dissapeared into the section of the farm where all the bedrooms were and then came back and told me to follow her. She led me into the bedroom where all the action had taken place and then into the en-suite bathroom and then burst out laughing as she pointed to something hanging on the towel rail. There hanging in all there glory was a huge pair of granny knickers with the most disgusting crotch I had ever seen. It was a mixture of greenish brown, it literally was a crust. We knew who they belonged to so Fay got a broom and hooked these monster knickers on the end of the broom and we walked into the Majlis in front of everyone and flicked them up onto the ceiling fan. There was everyone looking up as these nasty knickers were slowly going round and round. I then turned to the women who had been entertaining the night before and said "I thought your knickers could do with some air".

So that was our last real weekend in Kalba, we only went back occasionally when it was made obvious to all the hangers on they were not welcome. I think one of the last times we went back was the weekend of October 1999 when Fay and I converted to Islam in fujeriah sharia court.

I understand that some of the women who come to UAE and ply their trade are forced to and I feel sorry for them but many many women chose to come. Some may argue that these women are poor and need the money, but there are millions of terribly poor people around the world who live without flapping their flaps for a buck or too. Call me judgemental, I dont mind, but my blog is to share memories, both good and bad and although some may say this kind of thing does not happen I can assure you 100% it did and probably still does.