Friday, November 14, 2008

Feather Pillows, Physicians and Queues

We are in desperate need of new pillows. I "pluff" up our pillows every day when I make the bed. Doesn't seem to make any difference. Bedtime rolls around and I put my head on the pillows and they go flat. What are the manufacturer's recommended replacement age for pillows? Not that I would adhere to any manufacturer's recommendation, because they are, after all, in the business to sell more pillows, so they probably would recommend replacing them at ridiculously short increments - say, every six months. Yeah. RIght. I'm not paying $50. for a pillow that is going to be replaced in six months. I paid $50. for each of the king-sized feather pillows on our bed. I remember purchasing them at home store in Raleigh when we first moved there, and that was in 1998. And, when I paid $100. for two pillows, I recall saying to myself, "They are really nice pillows. At this price, they better last forever!" The pillows are ten years old. I guess I could say we got our $100. worth out of them. But now, they are in dire need of being replaced with new ones.

My dilemma is whether I will find nice feather pillows on this side of the world. I haven't looked yet, so I am not going to say that I won't find them. I just don't know where to begin looking. Marks & Spencer? [DH hates the black towels I got there, for his bathroom, and I paid a small fortune for them!] Marks & Spencer seems to be on the pricey side, to me. There is a mattress factory downtown. I wonder if they sell feather pillows? We'll be going home for the Holidays so the pillows could actually wait - if they had to - but I want to fill my suitcase with other things that I want to bring back and pillows, especially two king-sized ones, are going to take up an awful lot of room. J.C. Penney ships world-wide. I could find them there and have them sent here. A pillow is something you need to touch and feel before you buy it. I'd be hesitant to get on-line and order pillows without being able to touch and hold them and squish and squeeze them.

I must say that The Mall of Dhahran is outdoing itself to cater to Westerners! I have been to The Gap and to Banana Republic. The prices are no different at those stores here than they are in the States. Life would be almost perfect if they had "fitting rooms," but that is never going to happen in this part of the world, and frankly, it just can't. There are some very valid reasons that there are no fitting rooms. [Use your imagination...] During my trip downtown the other day - I did go to the Mall - and found a perfect pair of jeans for DH at Banana Republic. Best part? They were on sale. SR105 for a pair of jeans!!! [$28.15] The return policy for "sale" items is a pain in the butt - you have one day to return whatever you buy if it is on sale and it doesn't fit. Not exactly convenient. I got lucky, though, and the jeans fit great. While racing down the mall "hall" I noticed a linen store - the name of which escapes me - but I bet if I check it out, I can find feather pillows...

I have blogged several times, now, about the Egyptian physicians that are in jail, here, that each received sentences of 15 years and 1500 lashes, for "addicting" a patient to painkillers. [Apparently, the "addicted" patient, in this particular instance, is absolved of any personal responsibility.] The matter is simply not going to be swept under the proverbial rug; Egypt has now banned medical professionals from working in the Sandbox. "The Egyptian Ministry of Manpower said in a statement that it would not approve Saudi contracts to hire Egyptian doctors 'until further notice.' Last month a Saudi Islamic court sentenced Egyptian doctors Raouf Al Arabi and Shawki Abd Rabuh... The sentencing has drawn angry reaction from Egypt's human rights groups and media, who have accused Saudi authorities of unfairly treating Egyptians working there. Protesting the punishment, relatives of the two convicts and rights advocates on Wednesday gathered outside the Press Syndicate in Cairo raising placards reading: 'The 1,500 lash judgment is unprecedented in Islamic history.'" For certain, we have not seen the end of the matter.

Chuckle, chuckle. Snort, snort. "Goodbye to long airport queues." Only if you are a man! A new service is going to "facilitate travel of citizens as they would not be in need of standing in long queues at the immigration [sic] to get their passports stamped. The new service is currently available for Saudi men traveling... It will be introduced for Saudi women and expatriate travelers at a later stage." [Probably about the same time women get driver's licenses...] Pluheeze! We all KNOW that no one queues in this country - it is a completely foreign norm and beyond the realm of comprehension. It will be comical to watch the men all push and shove to use the new technology, which involves swiping their passport or some kind of card through a scanner, and NOT "queue" to go through the process. Not that officials should not be given some praise for making the effort to smooth the process, but... The only way to eliminate a fuster cluck here will be to issue a piece of the equipment - whatever it is called - to each and every individual "male" passenger. Pictures will be unobtainable - not even a possibility of getting a photo of something like that. Notwithstanding the fact that I choose to go across the Causeway and fly out of Bahrain where there is the pretense and at least some semblance of civility that "queuing" is adhered to. [But, hey, that is just my opinion!]

17 comments:

  1. Feather pillows....Good luck coz I neva saw them in Muscat or Dubai!

    I don't want say anything about the ridiculous judgments! If I get started I will use all the f-vocab in here which I don't want to!

    So yeah! The same system of *swiping* ur resident card at the airport was introduced for Omanis and Resident Expats here (of course for both women and men). It is nice except that there is a queue there too. So we had to go through the normal immigration counter as they were empty! it is helpful someway!

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  2. I don't know about how long a pillow is supposed to last, but I read that if you fold a pillow in half and it doesn't unfold itself, it's time to get a new one. Of course, if it's uncomfortable, it doesn't matter if it can unfold itself or not, right?

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  3. Try putting them in the drier on air dry (no heat) for 5-10 mintues.

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  4. I am hopeful, Bobby, that I will find them, here.

    Ridiculous judgments? They are insane, not ridiculous.

    Good to know how well the "swiping" system worked in other countries. The queue was not eliminated. What a surprise.

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  5. If I can fold my pillow in thirds... Which I have to do to sleep on it or it IS uncomfortable. It is time, Dawn-Michelle, to replace them. The funny thing is DH could care less - doesn't notice things like that. He does notice the price - and in that regard, his pillow is just FINE.

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  6. I am willing to try putting them in the dryer, Warrior Knitter, especially if I can't find new ones until my trip to the States. I am so not wanting to take up that kind of space in my suitcase with pillows! They aren't heavy or anything - but the space... What a dilemma.

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  7. I change mine every two years. I was once told that after two years one third of the weight of a pillow is made up of dead skin and the feaces and bodies of dust mites. Yuck yuck yuck!!

    We get quite good ones in Home Centre here, not sure if you have those. But I've also recently discovered the Dragonmart in Dubai has the most wonderful pillows. They come vac-packed so they take up almost no space.

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  8. Why thank you Rose! We'll be sleeping without pillows from now on... Actually - I do spray them with Lysol and then put them in the sun every six months or so - and I keep covers on the pillows which are zipped - and then put the pillow cases on over them. I have heard about the dead skin, dust mites, etc., before but didn't give it ENOUGH thought, apparently.

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  9. Oh I'm sorry. I did wonder if I should tell you but hey, I'd want to know! :-)

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  10. Just wanted to stop is and say hey, and what a wonderful blog you have here !
    I'm a bit surprised that the media here hasn't said anything about the Doctors. It's beyond insane...this punishment is the epitome of evil.
    If I'm not allowed to say the above over there, please delete :-)

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  11. 'S okay, Rose. Who needs pillows, anyway?!? They just take up space on the bed and serve no functional purpose but to make sleeping more comfortable...

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  12. Thanks for stopping by, Jo! The reports published in our two papers about the doctors have generated NO outrage from the public. I find it rather unnerving that no one seems to much care about their plight...

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  13. I've read that you should replace your pillows every year. Keeping in mind what Rose shared about all the gross stuff that humans have hanging around us, one could buy a down alternative, of which I recently did for a comforter and will never buy down again, there is no point, down is pulled from the butt of a baby bird, so when thinking about clean, it's something to consider. Buying a down alternative allows for machine washing and BLEACHING!!! I bought my last pillows at Overstock.com I don't know if they deliver to you but dang they have fine prices on great sheets, towels and pillows.

    Also, just discovered your blog as I am trying to learn a little more about living in a Muslim country as my fiance works in Kuwait and I am visiting in December.
    So, thank you for the great blog.

    And good luck with the pillows.

    Lisa

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  14. I will happily choose an alternative, Lisa, if I can find one that is AS comfortable. Do not want to think about feathers being pulled from the butt of little ducks...

    Overstock is great for sheets and other things as well. Shop on-line, here, and then have it delivered to my Mom's in the States for shipping back to the Sandbox.

    Enjoy Kuwait! We were there this past spring. Incredible shopping - very, very, very expensive.

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  15. well here (oman) doctors cant prescribe certain drugs, mostly habit forming drugs....in such cases the patients are referred to Ministry hospitals..

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  16. i have to replace the pillows in the house in saudi.. had them for too long. Got big lumps.. try sears they have decent pillows sometimes. mark and spencer of course and try that new store in dhahran mall. Mr. Price or whatever.. or go to Ikea and bang on their doors with me to open up already!!!

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  17. Thought Ikea was supposed to open before EID was over, NZ. What happened to that, I wonder? And, why did Ikea close years ago, here, and then decide to open again? Any idea? There is a nice, new bedding shop in the Dhahran Mall. I'm going to try there, too. Will also try Sears - need to go there to get a new freezer - a bigger freezer.

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