Camel cart passing along The Crescent, Steamer Point, in 1951.
ABDULLAH the chowkidar guards the families’ gate from his little sentry box, leaving one section open for pedestrians and opening the other only for the gharri. Everyone likes Abdullah, who spent many years in India so we converse in a mixture of Arabic, Hindi and English. Dave and I greet him as we leave his gate onto the Sheikothman Road on our way to the pool, with Graham and Robert a short distance behind.
Along comes a camel cart, its driver asleep on top of his load. Dad says the Arabs have a special chewing gum called qat that makes them sleepy so the carters pull their dishdash over their heads and leave the camel to plod the 18 miles from Crater to Sheikothman or vice versa. It has been known for carts to be set onto reciprocal heading, so the driver awakes at his starting point. We choose the variation known as camel cart tennis, in which the cart is sent to and fro between the participants.
Dodgy things, camels, they will bite, kick or spit from both ends, so we’re careful as we walk alongside, bid it salaam, and gently pull on the rein. This one is quite amenable and is soon padding back towards Crater, and when it reaches Graham he turns it around again. Unfortunately this beast has a defective autopilot, and as we wait to turn it back it swings to the left, then right, then hard left. We watch in horror as the camel plods wearily through the pedestrian gate.
One wheel of the cart brings down the closed section of gate, the other topples Abdullah’s box which acts as a chock and brings it to a halt. A furious driver slides down from its side and begins to shout in Arabic, an equally angry Abdullah emerges from his wrecked box. We flee to the swimming pool and forget all about it.
On our return the good fairy had repaired both gate and sentry box, or so we thought. The angry shouting had awakened half the Patch, including our parents, who had to leave their afternoon naps and carry tools and timber half a mile from the hangars to repair the damage during the hottest part of the day. This is explained to us in a brief but very painful interview.
FORTHCOMING ATTRACTION:
Dismay as VD, the deadly Cold War plague released by the Russians, strikes another victim.