30th March 2013 - Dubai

Roy and I have just returned from Dubai in the Emirates. We had been asked to watch the final gallops at the ultra modern Meydan racecourse just south of the 'state of the art' recycled water works. Yes it's recycled. We flew in on a private jet supplied by the South African Department of Trade and Industry supporting well intoned initiatives, nepotism & all manner of corruption & insider traded tenders only. The nine seater plane, attended by a beautiful female stewardess called Thankless Dikeledi was empty apart from Roy and I. The filly we had come to watch, Graceless Ntombi, was due to work on the inside track with Lebanese triple jump track star, Duya Knowwhoiam, in the saddle. He had found fame, or was it notoriety, for running unplaced on eleven short priced favorites in a row while building his ten million dollar underground bunker in Qahwaji not far from the Green Line, courtesy of the Arab League Bookmakers' Association. His unique style of hanging off the bit and not using the reins had come into question when he first started street racing along the cobbled streets of

Duya on track

Thankless welcomes us aboard

Hamra Street in the old section of Beirut during one of the Hezbollah initiatives for victims during the month of Ramadan. Victims were usually sent in their speedos for a week's convalescence at the Wailing Wall on the west side of Jerusalem after a day of Russian Roulette traversing the Gaza Strip on a lame donkey donated by the Palestine Liberation Organization's one paramedic. Not surprisingly, few victims of ever stepped forward to announce their victim status under the cover of the National Council. Most preferred to stay at the orphanage in the district of Ashrafieh in downtown Beirut nursing the numerous donkeys that are routinely hit by Israeli anti-tank fire every Lent & inbetween rushing off for their individualised dance routines at the local strip club in Sodeco Square.