Follow the Bear...

Ahh! Remember the heady days of Hoffmeister? Yellow tin, lad-bear with a Rude Boy trilby, shitty beer, the stunningly effective strap line 'Follow the Bear' and only 59p (or 65p) a tin?

Well this has nothing to do with that.

This is about following this blog. Signing up to follow the blog will not do anything really useful other than make it look like I have lots of followers. It's not like facebook where you have LOADS of REALLY GOOD friends WHO LOVE YOU and can prove what a DEVASTATINGLY POPULAR person you are. It will not even email you to tell you there is a new blog for your delight. It just says 'I follow this blog'.

NO! It's true, I looked it up on the Blogger help page. It just lets other people know that the blogger has some readers. How crap is that?

But it's the best they can offer. So go on, hit the Follow button and let me know I am not blogging into the unknown.

[Yes, please do, if only to keep him off my back. He's stuck it to the top of the page by lying about the date it was posted and says he won't take it away until there are enough followers. Personally I think it is a Messianic delusion. Ed.]

Shopping - You Want It, We Got It

I promised to do a little more on shopping, can't remember where, but I know I did - and it's easier to do it than look for the source of the promise and quietly delete it.

One thing that is apparent is that in Oman independent shops flourish alongside the supermarket chains, and even the small shops offer an astounding amount of choice. Say you want some nail clippers, you go into an appropriate shop (the enormous, illuminated sign over the entrance and visible from Mars, will say something like 'Sale of General Goods' see blog: Fun with Words - Signs of Oman) and there are so many to choose from that your nails will by visibly longer by the time you have made a considered decision. Well you wouldn't just take the first pair you saw. Would you...?

You want nail clippers?
We got nail clippers.

You want more nail clippers?
We got more nail clippers.

If you want plastic household goods you will find them under a 'Sale of Plastic Items' sign, or it may say 'Sale of Household Goods', but whatever it says you will be in little doubt about what is on offer. 

You want colourful Plastic Items?
We got colourful Plastic Items.

Other things are sold in many different colours and sizes.

You want about 5 metres of cord?
We got about 500 metres of cord.

(UK string dealers take note)

You want light switches?

Go to a Supplier of Electrical Items and Fitting Thereof shop
These are for turning our lights on (and off)

You got roaches? We got Pif Paf.

You want Pif Paf?
We got it.

They are not free of course and must be paid for. In the larger shops you will be guided to the tills by the 'Pay Here' sign.

 In the REALLY big shops there is the additional sign:

You have to admire a shop that has a 'Pay There' sign...
(well, I do)

Bling should have its own section but there is only so much you say about it (see also blog: Mosque for Sale). It is a case there a thousand pictures say about the same as a single word.

The wonderful thing about bling
Is that bling is a wonderful thing...
(with acknowledgement to AA Milne)

The wonderful thing about bling is that it doesn't mind what you do with it, it is always bling. The picture above is a random collection of pictures mashed together, this would not work with many things, the picture would always look wrong, but 'bling don't care'. You want Bling? We got Bling.

You want kiddie rides? We got kiddie rides...

And they are all fenced in.

We got kiddies too. Here is Master (only slightly) Creepy

 You want pretty lady? Well, we got Mrs Grim.

You wanna nice frock? We gotta lotta frocks.

[Yeah, yeah, I know - any colour you want as long as it's black. Ed.]

You wanna pink wheel barrow? We got one.

But it's not all glamour... We got shelves of useful stuff (Supplier of Building Materials)

Or tools (also Supplier of Building Materials)

 Talking of useful things... You wanna religion?

Christmas cards alongside
a quote from the Holy Koran

We do all the major brands...

So next time you are in Carrefour, Tesco or K-Mart (and derivatives) see how many nail clippers they have, or extracts from the Holy Koran in the Christmas card section, or lengths of rope in a dozen colours, or little boys with vacant stares (not including customers).

If you are disappointed at the lack of choice remember your local independent and support them before the multinationals put them all out of business for ever. [OK that will do. Remember, Asda has a superb range of plastic boxes, some with lids - and Poundland still stocks a wide selection of Hannah Montana items. - Ed.].

Who is Hannah Montana? Who cares.