The parties

I went back to the Souk today to collect my dress that was being altered. I had a lovely chat with the dressmaker about these dresses. They’re all hand-beaded. The one second from right weighs 10kg. In the souk it would retail for about 230kd / 540gbp but in a dress shop more like 2000kd or 4700gbp. I was speechless. Comfortably more than my monthly salary, and a maid earns 120kd a month. Easily affordable here, and would only be worn once at a party for women only. Made by overseas workers. It’ll be a long while before oil runs out, but how much longer will the world rely on oil and Kuwait the revenues? What will be the future? There are moves by the government to have government jobs and more jobs generally done by Kuwaitis by 2023. I think it’s a good idea, but with 1.2m locals, 3m expats, and a life that revolves around shopping, dining and socialising I don’t know how the transition will be made.

Spent the afternoon by the pool and on the beach, followed by dinner at the Club. The jet skis are out again, but the barriers are not yet up so they’re coming in too close where people are swimming. The lifeguards and security blow their whistles, the jet skiers came in closer to taunt. A couple of them fell off. There was some discussion between them and about 30 members who descended on them. Hopefully the jet skiers will think carefully, hopefully the barriers will go up soon. There’s a long stretch of coast. Why do they have to come in 50m close to shore in our little beach space of 200-300m?