Sunday, May 1

Never go to Lulu Mall on the last day of Ramadan, especially when tomorrow counts as a public holiday. The mall felt like it contained everyone who lived within driving distance, and their elderly relatives. It also felt as though a lot of people had come to gawp rather than shop.

We stood behind people who couldn’t gather the courage to step onto an escalator, and others who stepped off the escalator and stood still looking around while the people behind stumbled into them.

On the way home we stop in traffic outside a takeaway shop that I have noticed on previous journeys. It has one of the best slogans in the history of slogans: none other than any bite. Perfect meaninglessness in five well–chosen words.