Take a good look at this palm tree. Anything unusual about it?
This tree is not only far taller than any other tree in town. It’s trunk is perfectly even and tapered. This is an artificial palm tree, probably disguising a cell phone tower. There are cell phone towers and antennas all over the place, none of which have been disguised or hidden, so why this one?
Archive for the ‘oddities’ Category
Palm tree?
November 22, 2009Christmas is coming
November 21, 2009First, let me apologize for the crappy, blurry quality of this photo. Most stores don’t want people taking pictures in their store (you might be a retail spy), so I try to do it on the sly and usually end up with a blurry mess.
We went to Ace (they don’t bother calling it Ace Hardware here) and Christmas decorations were out in full force. There were some of the usual colors – red, gold, silver, etc., but there were also large amounts of black and brown ornaments. Not only that, there were brown and black artificial trees.
The one on the right is a light brown, the exact color an evergreen tree turns when it dies. Why would anyone want that?
Scary
October 24, 2009
When I first walked into the restroom, these sinks scared me. For a brief moment, I thought they were some strange urinals or toilets. Later, I asked Daddybird what he thought of the sinks and he had the same reaction.
Safestway
October 15, 2009We went to the Safestway grocery store in order to buy cat litter that we think will actually clump (only time will tell). Here are a few things we saw.
Virtually lint free toilet paper
What exactly is virtually lint free toilet paper? Who among you has ever wondered about the amount of lint your toilet paper might give off?
Canadian style sour cream
If it is Canadian style sour cream, why is there a large Slavic man on the carton?
This is the subtle and cleverly disguised DIET FOOD section. The Air Freighted sign actually applies to the lunch meat and hot dogs on the other side of the aisle. It’s not a fat joke, or anything.
3D
October 6, 2009
Hey, look! My car travels in three dimensions.
Actually, I really hate this gear shift. In the dark even though the letters/numbers light up, I have no idea what gear I’m in until I press on the gas.
Proof
September 6, 2009
Here’s the picture that triggered the last post. 20,000 Dhs is over $5,000, so this is serious business. How much would you pay for a ridiculously insecure PIN?
Astonishing
July 22, 2009So, this is an oddity that we picked up a couple of years ago in a thrift store. It defies explanation. We came across it again in going through the last of our belongings in storage, so we’ve kept it in the family by passing it on to Daddybird’s brother.
Short pause
June 22, 2009We are on the verge of traveling, so there may be a brief pause in entries. Will share our experiences and what we see along the way as best we can. We will have internet access in most of our hotels.
But first I will leave you with a few random sites.
These buildings house some sports organization. Hence, they look like basketballs.
These banners were all over Festival City mall. Spend just 1000AED and get a chance at winning Paris Hilton merchandise. Why on earth would I want her merchandise? I wish America would keep it’s wackadoo heiresses in the attic where they belong.
We see these kind of chef images all over town. This one almost looks Middle Eastern. It’s the beard. Most of the chef images look very plump and European.
Here we have Sinyorita Technical Photography, which I think speaks for itself.
This is Daddybird’s favorite. Probably doesn’t require any explanation either.
7-Eleven
June 10, 2009
So, I thought this was a knock-off store, playing fast and loose with an American business (kind of like TGI Thursdays or SFC Southern Fried Chicken), until I checked the Wikipedia entry for 7-Eleven. It may very well be the real thing. Now, I’m going to have to go by just to see if I can get a Big Gulp here.
Living the Travel Channel 