chocolate, driving and preconceptions

I had a lovely moment at Spinneys this morning. Darrell and I get a bit desperate about slabs of chocolate over here - the only Cadbury's slabs are nut and plain, which are fine in themselves but a bit tedious over 2 years. When we were in SA we stocked up on Top Deck (which for my UK readers is really yummy white chocolate on top of milk choc) and other super varieties. And this morning as I was going through checkout, idly looking at the chocolates stacked so temptingly there, I saw Top Deck. I bought 12 slabs. Will go back tomorrow and buy the rest - I didn't want to seem greedy!

I have really got used to driving here in AD, I can cut lanes, throw u-turns and flash lights with the best of them now. I can't seem to cure myself of using my indicator, but I'm working on it. But sometimes the driving seems worse than usual. Today I felt as if I was driving in one of those video arcade games - where you are travelling at full speed totally out on control but can't slow down or the other whizzing drivers will crash into you, and as you go cars are crashing all about you.... And the worst culprits tend to have heavily tinted windows so you don't even get the satisfaction of glaring at them. And if you should throw a zap sign at some idiot who just ran you off the road - you are in danger of a fine, jail or even (recent case) deportation. Throwing a zap sign here is a far worse crime than causing accidents....

I survived the traffic on my trip into the city today and I was waiting in an officials office to have some paperwork processed. In the waiting room were myself, another lady, 2 South African men, 1 Indian man, 1 Emirati man - and that was all the chairs used up.
A lady came in and tried to get some satisfaction from the person handing out the papers behind the counter, we were all listening to her frustration and laughing in sympathy. Then she eventually managed to get some forms to fill in and walked over to the seating area. Now, we were all seated and she clearly needed somewhere to sit and write. She stopped in front of us and here's where the preconceptions come in.
I didn't think the Emirati man would give her his seat (their lack of respect for women is frequently observed). I thought the Indian man might. I thought the SA men would definitely stand up for her (they seemed like decent types, kind of like my brothers). There was a terrible pause as she looked around for a chair.
I was about to get up and let her have mine when the Emirati man (who had been busy on his blackberry all the time and hadn't appeared to have noticed her at all) stood up and waved her to his chair. The Indian and South African men hadn't budged. So much for labelling people according to their nationality. People are either courteous or they aren't. End of story.