Back to school - at last

School re-opened yesterday. At last. Thankfully the relevant Ministries in Bahrain have not gone the way of those in Oman, where primary schools are now closed until December because of the swine flu epidemic.

The girls were a bit nervous; new school and all that. Here they are in their new uniforms.


By the time we reached their new classrooms, we were all somewhat more disheveled. The humidity was so high that the apparent temperature yesterday was 50 degrees. Yes, 50 degrees! It's hard trying to play the part of the Yummy Mummy when your hair is in frizzy corkscrew curls, your make-up is streaming down your face and you have large wet patches all over your torso.

When I got home (and got changed), I read the story of Fawziya Abdullah Youssef in the local paper. Fawziya was from Yemen. When she was 11, her father married her to a 24-year-old man who works in Saudi Arabia. She has just died giving birth to a stillborn after a difficult delivery. She was 12.

All of which puts into sharp perspective any jitters my girls may have been feeling about their first day at their swanky new private school.

Swine flu fever

There has been much press coverage here, as elsewhere, of swine flu.

Special checks have been set up at the airport. The pharmacies have reported a run on Tamiflu and face masks, although many women have fully covered faces anyway. Locals are being encouraged not to kiss when they greet each other, as is the custom between men. The Government has set up a hotline to update people on developments.

Luckily there are as yet no reported cases. And all of the measures taken seem sensible.

However, the illness is also being used by some to reignite the issue of whether sales of pork should be allowed in the Kingdom.

Muslims do not eat pork for religious reasons. At present, pork and products containing pork (it's amazing how many items do) are on sale in most major supermarkets, but in a separate room, hidden from view. A bit like x-rated magazines in a newsagent.

Pork imports are currently banned due to swine flu and once again there are calls in the papers for a permanent ban.

Stocks are running down. We are having a bbq at the weekend so I hot-footed it down to the supermarket today to stock up on snags. Who knows how long it will be before we can get more?

And so we face the prospect of future barbies with no wine, no beer and no snags. Now that's just not cricket.