Browsing tag : Muscat
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Why I Own a Tuxedo
Posted onI seem to recall reading or hearing some general life advice, at some point, which advised owning your own tuxedo. The suggestion was that it would save you money in the long run since renting them is expensive. I think that assumes that you would go to a great many high-society events in your life because I have owned a tuxedo since I was 21 and I think I’ve used it maybe twice in the decade since.
By Ben Reeves
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Farewell, Lady Macbeth
Posted onAlas, the Adventures of Lady Macbeth must finally come to an end, just as my time with my 1997 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo did. If you recall the ending of the last episode, the old girl had just had another major meltdown. The electrical system was out, from a suspected alternator failure.
By Ben Reeves
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45 Minutes in Muscat
Posted onDuring my two years in Muscat, I found the CouchSurfing community to be a great way to meet some really fascinating characters. I made many good friends on the network, and it has generated some very fond memories. One of the weirder ones was when I found a message on the Muscat forum from a Scottish guy named John. He said that he had three hours to kill on a layover as he was flying elsewhere and, rather than spend them in Muscat International Airport, he wanted to see something of the city. Having nothing much better to do with my weekend, I decided to see how much I could show him in that time.
By Ben Reeves
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Getting Screwed by Taxis
Posted onRegular readers, who have been following the ongoing Adventures of Lady Macbeth, will perhaps be wondering why I decided to buy a car in the first place. I alluded to one of the reasons in the first post on the subject, when I said that Oman has pretty much no public transport. The nearest equivalents were minibuses, which followed seemingly random routes, were often overloaded and were not especially safe or comfortable. Extremely cheap, they were known as ‘Baisa buses’, after the sub-unit of the Omani rial. I used them maybe twice, if that.
By Ben Reeves
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Lady Macbeth’s Breakdown
Posted onIn my introduction to the Adventures of Lady Macbeth, I said that the 1997 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo lived up to her name in all of the wrong ways, including a propensity to break down. The biggest of those breakdowns took her off the road for at least three months and cost me a frankly staggering amount of money. Frustratingly, most of the trouble was caused by one of the smallest components in the huge 4.0-Litre engine.
By Ben Reeves
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Lady Macbeth and the Long Drive Home
Posted onThe exciting adventures of my 1997 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo continue! In the last thrilling instalment, I succeeded in getting the off-road vehicle stuck in a beach within about 25 metres of leaving the road and was only saved from my own stupidity a passing group of kind strangers. However, it was now about 8:30pm, I was a good 300-km drive from home, I was covered in sweat and sand and I was absolutely terrified and exhausted. I wanted to feel safe and comfortable after my massive freakout on the beach. I wanted to drive home.
By Ben Reeves
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The Adventures of Lady Macbeth
Posted onAt the time of writing, I have only ever owned one car. As you would expect of a first vehicle, it was a bit of a scrapper – ageing, prone to breakdowns and with enough miles on the clock for it to have driven half-way to the moon. What is a little more unusual for a first foray into being a motorist is that it was a Jeep Grand Cherokee.
By Ben Reeves
