Roundabout No.10

Julio Lafuente's 'Monument to the Unknown Cyclist' is probably Jeddah's best-known sculpture. It's certainly in my top three, if not my favourite. It's a tough call. It's made from scrap materials from a derelict factory and stands 15metres high. It's quite a sight but difficult to imagine its scale from the photo. Put it this way, a tall person could not touch the bottom of the lower pedal from the ground.

I was up at silly o' clock this morning for a roundabout tour. You may laugh, but it's something I thought about doing soon after getting here when I realised the extent of the city's art. One of the office drivers took me, I did get out of the car on a couple of occasions to get the best shot possible. It was a strange feeling and I was mindful of the fact that photography is still very much frowned upon here. It was hard task, trying to conceal my SLR over my abaya but I managed to take the majority from the car. I was trying to get a shot of a Saudi flag at one point, when I realised that I probably shouldn't have been pointing the camera at the building that it was stuck to!* Hmmm -"Foot down Drive!" I saw the pieces by Henry Moore and various others that I'd read about in my book that I wanted to see. Lots of weird and wonderful art! It was difficult to decide which one to blip. My attempts at up-loading others onto my blog have failed, so I'll have to do that when I'm back in the UK with a faster internet connection.

Three and a half hours and two hundred and something photos later (*a number of which have since been deleted) I got home. I spent the rest of my day at the beach with a colleague and her family for the day. I managed a cheeky dive from Fal and spent the afternoon in the pool, entertaining three-year-old twins. A busy day, thankfully!