There are several things I do not understand about this lovely country. One is that Bahrain has slipped from number one to sixth place among excellent places for expats to live. One of the reasons for this is the high cost of living, primarily electricity. This according to the InterNations annual survey.
When the country most needs expats they are leaving the island in significant numbers and some are sending families home because the cost of running a house is so great. But there was a recent, significant increase in electricity bills. As a Bahraini friend said to me recently: ‘A second salary is needed to pay the electricity alone!’
The second thing I cannot grasp is the continued use of hundreds and hundreds of plastic bags and bottles in spite of all the articles in the Press and on the radio and TV about climate change. Bahrain is a low-lying island with plenty of land reclamation and I would have thought it was even more important to take sensible steps here.
We went shopping to a large supermarket last evening and it was very busy indeed. Out of many lines of people paying we appeared to be the only people who had brought their own cloth shopping bags. I often say when paying for something ‘No bag thank you’ and the shop assistant gives me a weary smile or even a giggle!
All this appears to be madness to me when the countryside is decorated with plastic bags...
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