fringes of nature

Mainly for Fishy, who wants to see some photos. We just went out to Diri'yah, a large town on one side of Riyadh. It's where the Royal family of Al-Sa'ud come from, and from which they conquered the vast lands of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

We drove down in the valley. There's still some nice rocky bits and huge farms of old wise-looking date palm trees, but then there's almost as much landscaped areas now. I preferred it natural.

this one looks out of place, but its got nice colours.

you can see the defensive mud wall for Diri'yah above the valley-side.

LEAVE IT ALONE. its' nicer natural.

Salam everyone, just wanted to say that its sunnah to fast A'shura', (the 27th of this month), so it'll be a good thing if you all fast it, and one day either before or after it. A'shura' was the day Allah saved prophet Musa ( Moses ) - peace be upon him - from the pharaoh of Egypt.

narrow avenues -or so they seem-.

I wish some people would read this and I wish some people wouldn't read this. I'm so depressed and wish i weren't taking sciences and maths for A-levels because that's not what i'm good at.maybe youre wondering so what are you good at and thats a very good question only i'm not sure i know the full answer. i know i'm not studying much. thats because when i come to study i don't feel like studying anymore if you know what i mean. i think it'll be nice being a doctor only that chemistry is mostly boring and bio is mostly long.and i'm sure i see things in a different way than most scientists and mathematicians because our answers to problems are usually different.

i can argue with you for hours about this problem only that arguments don't change the reality. but what is the reality? is not whats proven by argument? so am i saying that arguments change the perceived reality?and not pure reality?so how will we ever know pure reality because whoever tells us reality will be telling us from their own perspective.

oh sorry, i forgot to establish the problem which i'm trying to solve, because i know theres a problem but am not sure what it is. is it that i'm not satisfied with what i have? or not satisfied by what i'm doing with what i have?

Istirahah trip...

Driving on the way to the istirahah, it rained and rained, and the weather became gray and windy. The wind-screen wiper wouldn't even work because Ibraheem broke it the day before playing football. And abi and Ummi were coming later on because Ummi

had some work to do, so it was me driving the car. Ibraheem thought he had a solution so I could see where I was driving; he used my new shirt which I had brought along; to wipe the wind-screen. When it became too difficult to see I stopped the car and re-wiped with my new shirt. At least it really cleaned the wind-screen.

At the istirahah, as us boys were playing football, before sunset, the wind really picked up and it started raining again. With the cold rain the wind also turned icy cold. There was no more sun, which is nearly phenomenal in Saudi. The weather was more like England, and it was beautiful. It reminded me of England, and everything there.

But anyways, we were playing football all the time, so I hardly sat down and thought all these nostalgic thoughts.

We prayed Maghrib and I'sha combined because of the weather, which was still very cold and rainy. Later on when almost everyone left, us boys sat in the tent with Mahdi and Little Muhammad and had some of their mum's ginger beer and some mint tea.

Alhamdulillah, it was the best 2nd Eid day I can remember.

Just starting to rain near our home.

football field. You can see the wind in the trees.

the grass smelled like England's too. cold and soily.

haha, muddy shoes.

more mud!

team talk, between two football matches.

Zayd posing as a cold tramp.

That's where you shelter ( and drink tea ). haha.

To All Egyptians

To all you Egyptians who are so proud of your country, you who will not accept the slightest slight against that nation of yours, let me tell you what I think.

You once had a mighty civilisation, the kingdom of the Pharaohs. They gave you the Pyramids, they gave you glorious monuments, they gave you most of your history. So you can be proud of Egypt on that measure.

But can you be proud of Egypt as it is now? Only on the basis that it is a Muslim country. The economy is based on agriculture and tourism. Unlike agriculture, tourism does have high value added, but it seems the revenue is restricted to a few lucky Egyptians. So the standard of living in Egypt is quite low. You do have an abundance of labour, but it is doubtful whether you have an abundance of skilled labour. And those workers who are skilled usually do not find adequate opportunities in Egypt, so the country faces a drainage of skills.

I am told by reliable sources ( people of Egyptian extraction ) that your capital city, Cairo, suffers from overcrowding, and from under-provision of public goods and services.

And I know for a very certain fact that Egypt has no competence in any field of sport compared to most other countries.

Yet I admire my Egyptian friends' defiance in the face of facts, and their refusal to accept that their nation can be anything but a great and modern civilisation.

its called being ''Stubborn''.

visible change

Ehm..sorry I haven't written for so long, Its because I have exams in around two weeks inshallah.

I want to tell you how our school has changed. Radically changed. Last year, it was us school boys who ran the school, in a sense. Corridors were turned into football courts when teachers escaped to the nearest starbucks, and when they were back they wisely fortified themselves behind their locked classroom doors. That isn't quite fair to all of them though, for among them were some daring spirits. Mr Sa'eed, for instance, made some brave forays into the dangerous territory of the school buildings, and even managed to capture a few footballs as bounty. ( sadly for him, he only hung on to them for a few days at most ).

The balance of power was firmly with us boys. It was a well known fact that during most lessons, bandits of boys roamed the school, armed with fire extinguishers. ( maybe to douse misbehaving teachers ).

Its very different now. Teachers deliver long lectures to packed halls, no-one dares reply or object. During break-time the teachers are mobilised into tactical units; two or three patrol the hauntingly empty corridors, while guards stand at the doors to the outside yard, just to make sure we stay in the sun. School really has changed, change as visible as the new headmaster.

unrelated topics

Can someone tell me why the Nobel prize is considered the greatest recognition for achievement ? what makes it superior to other awards ? People place such trust in the judgment of those who award it that they would now perceive the recipient as better in his/her respective field than others.

I think that the more you are ill, the more fondness you develop for being ill. Not fondness in the sense of longing, maybe familiarity is a better word. When you fall ill for the twentieth time, you remember other times; how wonderful it was to miss school for a full week, the nice winter coldness that made you sick in the first place, the doctor that said your vena cava came out in the wrong place ( horrible doctor ), and the lovely feeling of lying down alone and not caring about anything in the world because you're ill.

An epic journey: Riyadh to Makkah

My diary entry on the 18th of September begins with: On the way to Makkah inshallah. I'll leave the diary and describe the journey myself now. As usual, we started off much later than when we intended, at nearer 2:00 am instead of 11:00 pm, and then immediately decided that we needed refreshments for the journey, so stopped no further from our house than the local grocery. Having stockpiled enough junk food to feed an elephant, we then navigated our way onto the Makkah highway and left Riyadh behind.

The air outside was refreshingly cool, and the stars in the sky shone down like distant ceiling lights in a concert. This tranquil night atmosphere in the desert was matched by the peaceful

snoring in our car, and the approaching and fading rumble of cars and trucks as they overtook us. ( as they invariably do ).

It was dawn a few hours later, and we stopped at a service station to pray fajr ( the morning prayer ). ( by the way, I said 'WE' because we were travelling in a two car convoy, us and

Abu Mahdi ). At the end of this article are some photos I took of the place, which could be very picturesque when viewed through the lens of a camera as dishonest as mine.

Resuming our frequently interrupted journey, we followed the highway through rocky desert where the sun had risen and blasted everything with a brilliant light, also turning the road ahead into a perpetual mirage. With the car stuffy and hot, tempers naturally flared, and I had a very mature argument with Khadijah about whether I had chucked a plastic bag of chocolates on her foot directly, or whether I hit the dashboard with it first and then it fell on her foot.

Anyways, we stopped so often on the way there that we only covered 330 km in the first 6 hours, which although a reasonable speed for a sea slug, can hardly be called speeding. Alhamdulillah, we reached Makkah after around 13 hours on the road, the last 1 or 2 hours of which we drove through the large black scenic mountains surrounding Makkah, occasionally silhouetted misty grey in the distance.

Alhamdulillah we made U'mrah, I'm back in Riyadh now, and Eid mubarak everybody.

Here are some of the photos.

not very clean, but at least the tree reflection and sky look nice.

those lumps in the trees are birds' nests.

the light from different sources gave this station quite a special morning look.

these are some of us boys' shadows, thrown by the rising sun.

scenes on the way.

some of the black mountains around Makkah.

not sure what

Its 3 : 25 am. I'm not sure what I'm doing on the blog. Actually I want to write, but no ideas have volunteered themselves yet, that is, good ideas. I used to want to be an economist, then a lawyer, then so many other things, yet we can never know what lies ahead, for that is Allah's knowledge. Strange how people change, hand in hand with circumstances, and so our wants and aspirations change accordingly.

Someone tell me why I'm wrong, but isn't it true that if you're a doctor then you try to make people better, and cure their ailments while they get on with life, and if you're a lawyer you solve their disputes while they get on with life, and a journalist tells us whats happening in other people's lives, and so on. The only three professions where it would seem there is a long term contribution to humanity is a Muslim scholar teaching religion, because this would help us in the Akhirah inshallah, and being a scientific researcher, where you advance human knowledge ( though the results of more advanced knowledge are not entirely positive ), and a teacher where you educate the future generations, for education is the basis for any civilisation.

Allah's mercy

We were having iftar at one of ummi's friends house the other day, and we ( family and other guests ) were walking to the masjid for I'sha and tarawih ( that's the extra salah in Ramadan after I'sha ). Us boys were behind the family, and as we were chatting along the sounds of a car approaching grew very suddenly louder and louder. Barely did we have time to look behind then dash to the pavement and a maniacal GMC thundered past. At the same moment I looked ahead, and there was Nusaibah walking peacefully near the middle of the road. I swear I didn't even have time to scream. The GMC sped towards her, she looked back suddenly and ran into its path, then realising she wouldn't make it across, ran back out of its path. It was very near, very very near. Alhamdulillah, and Allah does these things for a purpose which we may or may not realise. Maybe to bring us back to him, and to show us his power and mercy.

Incubation

Although incubation is generally for eggs, and at the beginning of life, it can also be flexibly used to describe being lazy. eg. a hippo has an unerring inclination towards incubation. so a hippo is lazy. The relationship between incubation and laziness is obvious, but anyway, I feel like I'm undergoing incubation in Ramadan, so thats why I'm not writing too much.

example of incubation

Saudi driving school

Designed by bedouins who have been traversing deserts on camel-back for centuries, the Saudi driving system is not exactly impressive.

The system is taught at the Dallah driving school, which is I think the only driving school in Riyadh. And along with Muhammad and I are enrolled people of very diverse,and certainly exotic, backgrounds.Of course, many are the camel riders mentioned above, but also present are nationals of the Indian sub-continent, inhabitants of the Philipines, Indonesia, and individuals likely to be descendents of the proud and fierce African nations.

Anyways, I'm trying to think of something positive to say about the school. Its very difficult. I know I go 6 hours a day, I know I drive an old battered Nissan cedric for 20

minutes at most ( with no instructor in the car, because there's only 1 for everyone ), and sit for some wonderful lectures by other Egyptian instructors who like to think of themselves as funny. None of those are very nice though. It doesn't matter, if I pass on wednesday then I'll get my driving license inshallah. I'm not sure if thats a very nice thing, inshallah it will be.

haha, maybe that's why Saudi's driving schools are not very successful

Alhamdulillah...

Alhamdulillah, praise be to Allah. You know, just now I was walking back from the masjid after fajr, and in the cool, dry desert air of the morning, a bird chirped beautifully, and my heart sang back in delight. Alhamdulillah for everything.

a friend is a rare occasion

Aaaah. I think I want to post a few photos while waiting for the results. Its late, in fact its 1 o'clock something. Muhammad, Ibraheem and Zaki have just stopped playing monopoly. what idiots, they've been fighting over rules and things for some time now, and as they couldn't work out who was right they stopped the game, no winners, no losers. Alhamdulillah I was spared, got kicked out ( bankrupt ) at least two hours or so ago. haha. By the way, Zakariya came over from Tai'f ( another city ) a few days ago, where he's been all holidays, and is going to malaysia in a few days inshallah, so we went out today. hahaha, we went to snow world, and found out we didn't have enough money, I think they put up prices as its summer. Anyways, we went to starbucks, and it was quite nice.

Me and Zakariya in the taxi, to starbucks. Who gave me that shirt ? s'wonderful

In starbucks, it was nice and empty. ( by the way Muhammad took the photos )

Zaki.

shivering.;';';";":

Its crazy, its unbearable, in less than two hours inshallah. my stomach feels the funniest thing, oh no, hahahaha, I don't want to think of it, but I'm staying up all night to check it inshallah. AAAah, IGs. They'll be very good inshallah for both of us in all subjects inshallah.

hmm..ehm...nothing.

Yes,no..I mean no, I don't know why I'm writing, just anything, its very boring in Riyadh, at night, so you must excuse me..maybe ignore me too, which you're all used to anyway, haha. My diary finished today in the morning, so this where I'm writing now. The other day I was driving Ibraheem to a masjid where we have our Qur'an halaqah, and some distance away from the traffic lights I started slowing down. But Ibraheem, not to relinquish his claim to being the chief small-head wherever he may be, responded to me braking by telling me the lights were green, so obviously, I accelerated our once-celebrated-but-now-smoky car. Faster...faster...oh no...amber lights.....red lights...screeeeeech. I had slammed on the brakes as soon as I saw red lights, and we just managed to stop, alhamdulillah, right at the lights. that screech though, was so loud, and the last part of the distance to the lights the car actually skidded. And now, the smell of burning tires was so strong, all that friction. It was obviously Ibraheems fault, although he says it was mine because I, as driver, made the choices. Anyways, what else?.......hmm, Ummi and Muhammad should be back soon inshallah, Abi wants me to get a driving license, but I don't want to be a driver ( unless its my own car )haha, I used to want to study in England, but now I'm not so sure. I'm told India got nice universities. Ah, yes, something else, which is that surely the most abstract study is that of human nature. For people are so varied and unpredictable. I can't tell what you're thinking or what you wish to say, especially if you keep silent. so please comment.
Ok, it's late now. you can ignore this post, hahaha, or you can tell me how to write a better one.

The IG calender

The IGCSEs, as Roald Dahl may put it, are the most blisterous disgusting pussy little snozgobbling experiences that many teenagers have. If you ask someone in holidays before IGs about what he feels, he'll say please don't discuss it, because its like a smelly cabbage that you don't want to smell till you're close enough to pinch it and fling it into the bin. Ask anyone in the middle of it and they probably won't reply because they're studying their heads off and worrying about the next exam, and ask anyone finished and they'll punch your head and warn you not to remind them of that maggot-eating experience. hahaha, just joking, but I'm sure its half true, and I think I must have felt a bit like that.

Anyways, I'm writing this because I'll be recieving my results ( very good inshallah, also Muhammad's ) in around 9 days inshallah, and everytime I think of, and I think more often of it now, my heart flies on wings around my chest and looks for a way out, my stomach gets a tickly squizzely sensation and my toes twitch and feel cold. I swear, I'm writing this as I feel it all, right now. hahaweeeha. haha, I can feel it and its funny. ( but I'm also nervous ).

I remember the first week in IGs, and all the teachers were telling us how different studying will now be, you need to be more serious, and work really hard, and the business teacher actually made us scared. In between is a blur, with vague memories of so many exams. Then you have the Mocks, and the IG atmosphere has set in. IGs are only a few weeks off, in our case four weeks. We started IGs with physics paper (6), intense exams over one month, some of which you remember, if you think you did well or didn't do too well, then of course, the moment you hand your last paper over to the examiner, ( paper (1) chemistry ), and I might have cried at that moment, its almost like most boundries to your life have been removed, and you're free again. As Ibraheem Hani put it " I've done my time, and I'm outta this prison ".

I don't know why I'm remembering all this, but its scary that the results are so close inshallah. They'll be vey good for all of us inshallah, They'll all be very good inshallah.

Gone for around two weeks inshallah

Yes, we came back from the airport around one and a half hours ago, where we sent off Ummi and Muhamamd. They're going to singapore and malaysia inshallah. We took some photos of the King Khaled International airport, which is really quite poxy, so I wonder why it looks nice in the photos.

( If you're reading this muhammad then you're in sufi's house, right?).

through the glass, so there are a lot of reflections of the triangular patterns.

if you enlarge this image and look through the glass windows of the airport, you can see the singapore airlines plane which they are taking to Singapore inshallah.

something funny

This is brief inshallah, because its half twelve at night and i'm exhausted - or I should be anyway. We just went to Riyadh Gallery, a monstrously huge shopping mall by any comparison, at around 9 O'clock to collect ummi. We got there and met ummi, who said she just wanted to check one more shop, and should be done in a few minutes inshallah. Abi, predicting with the knowledge of experience that ummi was likely going to take a little longer than a few minutes, settled comfortably into costa coffee, while i went shopping alone.

There was however one small problem; ummi's mobile didn't have charge. I therefore told ummi to meet abi at costa when done, and if abi isn't there then check in the foodcourt upstairs. Having discharged my duty of arranging the meeting place, we went our seperate ways.

Around half an hour later, I met abi at costa. Where's Ummi and the girls ? 'no idea'. But I thought ummi said she was just about to finish, well maybe she hasn't.

I thought i'd go look for them myself in the foodcourt. All the way to the third floor, then past so many crowded resturaunts and fast foods, and even more crowded sitting areas, and generally looking in such an enourmous and crowded foodcourt that the very idea now seems unjustifiably ambitious. half an hour later, met again with abi at costa ( who has been waiting patiently ), no they aren't there. Oh I know, I thought i'd go look at the shop i'd last seen them at, might still be there.

Ummi and the girls, meanwhile, had gone to costa almost an hour earlier, checked quickly and not seeing abi - due to the most astonishingly incompetent search that I believe can possibly be executed by a small toad on two legs - went upstairs to the foodcourt. They looked and looked, they split in two parties and combed the court up and down looking for abi - who was still waiting at costa - but obviously didn't find him, so they sat down to eat. ( they told me all this later ).

Back to me, I didn't find ummi at the shop, nor anywhere else, so decided to check the foodcourt again to make sure. Went back up, checked thouroughly, no-one. By now abi was really fed-up, and decided that maybe we should check the car park. haha, of course, abi didn't find them.

I was waiting at costa as abi was searching, just in case they came back. maybe twenty minutes later, I heard a joyful ISAAAA. and there they were. Alhamdulillah, I was so happy I started laughing, and told ummi that the situation was impossibly hilarious.haha. Abi came back some time later, and was decidedly not amused.haha, its funny anyway, and i'm sure everyone will laugh later on inshallah. anyway its late and I need to sleep.

Sorry.

Yes, sorry I haven't written for a rebelliously long time. Indeed, most people have probably forgotten that I ever had a blog, that i hadn't written for an almost rebelliously long time, and the startling fact that i was unlikely ever to write again. ( work that out, haha ).

Anyways, these holidays are so boring that I can't even write a story, even if it didn't happen. enough. Again. Anyways, the other day I was driving ( please, i'm not showing off ) to get

shawarmas and i suddenly noticed three guys walking so close to the road

as to place their lives in peril, or so I thought. Of course, i swerved the car sud

denly and almost hit the car on my left, and as I drove on shakenly, he stopped his car in the middle of the road and flashed his lights like a surprised and thouroughly angry toad.

If you're the sort of person that notices things, like winnie the pooh, then you've probably noticed that the mind wanders through various moods, represented by thoughts. So when my mind wanders, and is in a malancholy mood, my thoughts are sometimes of my friends. ( whom I can't visit because they've traveled ). In any case, I've decided to upload some of their photos to represent some of my thoughts and make the blog more interesting.

left to right : zayd, mahdi, ibraheem, muhammad, zakariya, isma'el.

us boys messing around while trying to take a photo. we obviously found it very funny.

the day after we finished IGs, our room seen from my bed.

left to write : zayd, ibraheem, muhammad, isma'el, zakariya.

me and hani the day we finished IGs.

Some journey pictures.

three trucks at a petrol station. i thought it looked nice.
we were at the petrol station before dawn.


Long winding road. From the back window.


Desert stretches to the horizon.


145 kilometres left on Riyadh.

The journey home.

We came back from Jubail earlier today, around 7 am, and what a journey that was.

You see, we had gone to this wedding - which I think Muhammad has already written about - which started at 9 pm, and went on until very late. In fact, beyond the working hours of most clocks, so I'm not sure what time we finished.

The journey home began strait from the wedding palace. We drove in a very dark, starless, and dusty night, mile after mile. Like most car journeys, it was boring - masterly understatement -, that is until we got lost, then it became more and more scary.

What happened was that this highway we were on didn't have many road signs, and so when we came to a fork in the road - where the road splits and you can take either of two directions - there was no sign telling you which road led where. Anyway, Abi just guessed, and soon we were on a dark road with hardly any cars, and after maybe 40 kilometres the road signs said : road to Bahrain. haha. ( bahrain is another country by the way ).

Well, alhamdulillah we found a U-turn, and now, obviously, I'm back in Riyadh. The entire journey was around 600 km due to the unfortunate detour, and I've now slept around five hours in my cosy bed. haha.

but the most crazy thing is that us boys are now going off to some friends to play football and swim inshallah.

Swine flew

Swine flew ? where ?, well, swine don't fly. haha.

But no, really, swine flu seems to be mightily unpopular with most people, probably because most people don't like to feel ill.

If any of you readers are travelling to or residing anywhere where there is a high incidence rate then you probably feel like you did the first day of school. A bit scared, but mostly hoping that it will turn out to be alright.

Anyways, what I actually want is a proper, mature discussion on whether someone should travel to a country with high rates of swine flu penetration and emancipation, as well as possible domination.

Please tell me what you think, as I'm suitably excited about most discussions.

the park and the barbeque.

Sorry for not writing for five days. The summers can make you very lazy.

We yesterday went to The park. Its the only park we go to, since its near our house and has got trees. ( Most parks in Riyadh hardly have any ).

Anyway, this time we brought our barbecue set along, and after preparing everything realised we forgot to bring match sticks. haha. well, we borrowed a lighter from someone who happened to have one.

Us boys played football, and the girls roller-bladed and made sand castles. ( Muhammad also had great fun making his own sand castle later on ).

Abi bought us ice creams on the way back, which is just as well since it was so hot and stuffy.

Got home around Eleven O'clock at night.

our tidy picnic site.

The park at night. the lamps look like floating lanterns.

Pizza Hut party...

Just came back from one of the bestest parties I've been to.

We arrived around nine O'clock at the Pizza hut branch, and by that time almost everyone had come. As I looked into the restaurant I thought Oh no, Its the whole Indian bunch. But I just had to enter and they all came and started hugging and laughing like we've been best friends.

They ordered starters, then thick fluffy and thin crispy pizzas, and all the while everyone was joking and laughing and poking fun at the teachers who had come. Mainly though, we all listened to Nu'man, A very popular boy at school, who has brilliant story telling ability, a magnetic charisma that attracts people towards him, and very funny jokes ( mashallah tabarakallah ).

Anyways, The funniest bit was after about two hours, when us students left the teachers eating ice cream and chocolate cake and went to pay the bill. It was SR 626, and we had only collected SR 300, so Nu'man suggested we all wash dishes at Pizza hut for the rest of the night; to pay the bill, but as that wouldn't work, we all paid a bit extra. In fact one or two boys paid nearly SR 150 each.

Parties can be the most fun things in the world, just make sure you invite the right people.

Beginning

So, at last I opened a blog alhamdulillah. It better be worth it. If you want to know why its called the oak tree, its because as trees grow the rings on their trunks increase, and so as we all grow inshallah, this blog will be the tree that records in its rings the many happenings of life. As for the Oak bit, I like oak trees.

I already have a diary, and have kept one on and off since four or five years ago. That's to say that I'll try to keep out the emotional bitsies and family stories; they're all in the diary.

Please comment whenever you read, it makes it a lot more interesting. ( especially if you criticise ).