C'mon Dover, move yer bloomin' arse!

BEFORE THE RACES: All the ladies in their finery.



Hilarity ensues...



since the mutant clone-dwarves also came to the party.





MUCH LATER: My friend Werner and I.


You know, when I think about horseracing, I cannot help but
recall Audrey Hepburn in the movie, 'My Fair Lady'. I still
remember we had 'taped' it when it was shown on TV
one night. Our family then proceeded to watch that movie
till the visual was stretchy and the sound had gone to hell.

One of the best parts of the movie, for me at any rate, was
when Eliza Doolittle, gets all toffed up for the races and then
in all of the excitement in cheering on her favourite horse,
forgets herself and all of Professor Higgins's efforts and
yells at the top of her voice 'C'mon Dover, move yer
bloomin' arse!'

That, in a nutshell, is the Dubai World Cup. The richest
horse race in the world. The prize money this year for the
winning horse was USD 6 million. This amount has been
upped to USD 10 million for next year.

The races are basically an opportunity for people to get
dressed up in silly hats and frilly frocks (there were even
a few tophats) and then get as drunk as possible, so that
Eliza's little mishap pales in comparison.

Ah well, at least a good day was had by all. Makes one
think though. You can dress 'em up, but you can't take
'em anywhere.

The sum of us

A few weeks ago, there was an article in the local newspapers
about a three-digit numberplate, E 15, which cost Dhs 3.12 million.

You could say that it was a noble thing for a son to give his
father this numberplate as a thank you gift. You could also look
around Dubai and start adding up the sum of people's lives.
Most of who seem not to add up to very much at all.

A fine example would be the mostly Indian and Pakistani
labourers who are quite literally building Dubai. Yet, they get
paid a meagre wage of approximately Dhs600 - 700 a month.
Most of which is sent home to their families. How DO they survive,
we wonder, as we sip at our Starbucks Skinny Latte Cappucino.

There are people in Asia who survive on less than one US Dollar
a day. Africa - same desperate story.

I always have to wonder if some people's lives are worth more
than others? We can only look to President Bush to see that he
thought the people who were involved in the 9/11 attacks,
were worth more than the people who lived down South, after
Hurricane Katrina devastated their lives.

Robert Mugabe has single-handedly ruined so many people's
lives in Zimbabwe. Yet, the world sits back and watches. After all,
there's nothing of real value in Zimbabwe. Now Iraq, there's a
different story. They have oil, don't they?

It seems that this is life though. We live in a consumer-driven
society, where more is better and the simple things in life are simply
not free anymore. And if you happen to have a magic three-digit
number, well, you should thank your lucky stars, and count your
riches once again.

As for myself? I try to remember that every person, no matter
how poor, has a wealth of family history and unique stories to tell.
And isn't that true sum of us?