the old squint

You will see a lot o’ Washington, an’ Washington again;/ An’ good of Fathah Lincoln, tow’rin’ ’bove de rest o’ men;/ But dar’ll be a bunch o’ women standin’ hard up by de th’one,/ An’ dey’ll all be black an’ homely,—’less de Virgin Mary’s one.
James Weldon Johnson, Black Mammies, The Book of American Negro Poetry, 1922

So their one big purchase of a lifetime boils down to the car they drive, the most important material possession. There is a late addition to the list these days – a fancy mobile phone – but at RO12,000 new the Abu Shenab is definitely at the top of the list. How does a Bedouin afford one? Simple: by buying nothing else. It is rumoured that most walk in to showrooms with their money in fistfuls, sometimes bagfuls. Far away from the world of electronic money and instalment cheques, the money they save on things we consider essential goes into an Abu Shenab.

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