Lonely Parking Meter and Lulu

From a quick trip downtown, yesterday. The lonely parking meter I reported on last week. Did not see a single person use this to park the whole time we were in the gold souks area. Not one. Bet this process is going to work out real well. Revenue generating. [Try ticketing drivers who run red lights, speeders, etc. You'd see a tremendous jump in revenue. Just a thought.]

Trash. There is trash everywhere. Why is that? I'll tell you why. Because people here know that some little imported guy making 300 riyals [$80.42] a month will be coming along with his broom and push cart to clean up the mess. If people were sentenced to community service for petty crimes and had to clean up the streets and litter, Khobar wouldn't look like this. No one has to be responsible for their own actions. So they aren't.

Imported workers getting ready to open shops. No self-respecting shop owner lowers himself to such a standard as doing the preparation [clean-up] work! Phhffft.

Lulu.

Interesting "decorative" lights in the parking lot.

See? All the nice things that are inside.


The entrance to Lulu. It is a two-story hypermarket. Upstairs has everything non-food [electronics, clothing, household, sports equipment and probably a lot of other stuff I didn't see - I needed a couple of polartec fleece blankets to make new pillow covers for The Boy's crate] and downstairs has everything foodie [including housewares like pots and pans and dishes and small appliances].

Nice new carts. Interesting choice of colors.

[Note where they are parked. In the ONE single parking place reserved for handicapped parking.]

I've said before that "sweets" are a big thing here. Our own Commissary has an entire aisle of nothing but candy and cookies. The "sweets" section is larger than the produce section. That speaks volumes, if you ask me. I only got one side of this aisle and some manager came and told me that "photos are not allowed." I politely said I would not take any more pictures and put my camera away. No doubt he was afraid that I was taking pictures of people instead of "things." I understand, though. Everyone here is so paranoid that they will be depicted and show in an unbecoming manner that it is better to say no photos. Up until a couple of years ago, camera phones were illegal because they were going to be used in just such a manner. Look how those camera phones have been used. How many "blackmailers" have been posted here? A lot. No matter. Anyway, ONE QUARTER of the candy/cookies/sweets aisle. One quarter - actually one half of one quarter.
This one, though. Saved for last. Deceptive, isn't it? One might actually think that the store sells something that it doesn't. [I took it before being asked to stop taking pictures.] I find it amusing.

I'll try to post a few other random pictures of downtown tomorrow. Maybe I'll put together a post on the lashings of that young girl who assaulted her school principal and got caught with her mobile at school compared to lashings of men who do much worse, here, and try to find some more information on the Filipino woman that is being lashed and jailed for being raped. Who knew that being the VICTIM of a crime was actually a crime itself?!! Yes, it certainly is like stepping back in time here...