What you will also find, no matter what time, day or season is a line of cars, some luxury, some mid-size and some downright embarrassing. All being driven by men who have enough confidence to bottle and sell to those less fortunate. How do I know? Well just last week, me and my girls left a restaurant on this very same street to hail a taxi, which materialised instantly. We had barely been in the car two minutes when we were flanked by an outrageously expensive and beautiful Audi on our left, and on our right we had a beast of a machine – the Hummer.
The men in these cars didn’t care about slowing down and holding up traffic, with one hand on the wheel they held up their iPhones displaying their numbers. As we approached the traffic lights, the Hummer was forced to turn right and leave our side, only to be replaced by what I call a rust bucket that was held together with sellotape. Now in this undesirable car, a group of four youths who looked as if they had all just woken up and rolled into their car all leant out of the windows closest to us, jostling with each other to be the first to brush their unshaved faces up against the side of our taxi. My friend hurriedly locked her side of the door and turned away whilst one brave soul tried to wedge a piece of paper with his number on it into our closed window. This incident reminded me of the first time I ventured out on that street without my husband. I was sitting in the back of a private taxi, with my two year old daughter on my lap when a Lexus slowed down and kept a steady pace with us. Through my dark sunglasses I could see the driver, a young well groomed man, good looking if I may add, dressed in the traditional Saudi thobe – he must have seen my head turn slightly as he held up an A4 laminatedsheet with his number on it. Horrified, firstly at the laminated sheet (did he really spend time making his phone number durable?) and secondly because I was clearly a lady who was spoken for, I held up my child – signalling there was no chance in hell I was taking his number. That didn’t seem to bother him, he shrugged and smiled all the while making the phone signal with his hand.So what I’ve learned from my numerous trips out on the streets of Riyadh, is that no matter if you are married, single, with kids or even with three heads attached to your neck – you are guaranteed to attract some attention, whether wanted or unwanted. So if you’re feeling lonely or unloved, how about heading out here for a little ego boosting therapy?
