The not so high life.

It is common for families out here to hire a full time nanny to ease the burden of bringing up children. To me, the word nanny provides connotations of a respected member of the household, whose efforts in helping to raise a young family are rewarded with kindness, gratitude and a nice pay packet.

It is perhaps more appropriate then to refer to nannies in Oman as maids, judging by what I saw today.

The table behind me at lunch consisted of a European mother, her young daughter, small toddler and a Filipino maid. Everything you'd usually expect to see a mother doing with a toddler was being done by the maid. Playing, bouncing on the knee, cuddling, feeding etc. At one point, the toddler was permitted to stretch his legs soon after which he banged his head on the table and started crying. The mother aimed the most penetrative death stare you've ever seen at the maid who promptly handed the toddler to the mother for thirty seconds worth of cuddles before being handed back so the mother could get on with the more important task of eating her lunch (a cheeseburger).

Two minutes later - whoomp - toddler hits the deck. Another tut and deathlystare from the mother who this time couldn't really be bothered with the cuddles and ordered the maid to calm the toddler down, away from the table.

Later, enjoying a coffee at the beach, another European mother was sitting relaxing with a coffee and a packet of cigarettes whilst her three boys were adventuring on the beach. One of the boys decided to walk along a wall with a 6-foot drop to which the mother sat bolt upright and tutted and shouted at a young Filipino girl who quickly gathered the boys together. The boys then started hitting, shoving and generally being disrespectful little shitbags towards the young girl.

I used to work with someone who had a Filipino maid who let me in on a few trade secrets. Whilst the parents are at work, the maid must work from 6am to 6pm, keep the house spotless, prepare all the daily meals and look after the children. Their reward is a bed to sleep in (in the same house, usually next to the kitchen), a cheap mobile to call any friends they might have, and a hundred pounds a month.

It's an absolute disgrace. Still, I'd rather be a Filipino than an Indian in this place, but I'll save those stories for another day.


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My lunch buddy John informed me that after their historic (press release words, not mine) win in the Gulf Cup, every player in the Oman football team is to receive a premium property on the 'Wave' complex, an additional plot of land and one million rials.

This also is an absolute disgrace, but more just because I'm jealous.