Lunch

Nick and I went down the Suq to collect my birthday present earrings - sapphires set in white gold - I picked the sapphires myself and Mr Lucky Gems set them - It was lunch hour and we followed the crowd into a Filipino cafe - a modest establishment jollied up with Christmas lights; the waitresses didn't speak English, the menu was in Tagalo and all dishes were served with a huge mound of steaming sticky rice.
"I never realised Filipino food was so popular in Bahrain," said Nick.
But it wasn't the Filipino food which was proving such a big hit with the customers -it was the wide screeen TV at the back of the room showing a Filipino game show with beautiful girls in bikinis. When the game show regretfully ended and a fully dressed soap opera came on the cafe quickly emptied.