A visit to the blingmonger

The Goat and his Beloved went down the Deira gold souq the other evening. Traffic in Bur Dubai being - well - Dubai, we took the taxi and abra option and then spent the next couple of hours checking out the bling. If you've not done so lately, take a nocturnal abra trip before the summer weather gets too sticky. As for the taxi, we got as far as the British Embassy and then I told the driver to slow down and cease and desist his tailgating, or else stop and let us out. It was very pleasant to walk along the creekside.

We both had an idea of the sort of engagement ring that Beloved wanted, having spotted an overpriced version of it in We All Love The Emirates. As is traditional, a pair of princess cut diamonds in an 18-karat yellow ring was not coming in Dubai.

However, all was not lost. I occasionally have good taste (so I'm told) if not always good sense. "Look, Beloved. Try that one. Yes, that one there with the large square-cut stone. It's nothing like what we've previously decided."

Now, I have been shopping with the female of the species before. When she says that it's really, really nice, but that maybe we should continue to shop around to see if we can find the same thing for Dh5 less, this will inevitably conclude two or three hours later with a return to the original shop. So I cut all that out, and opened up my wallet [FX: sounds of creaking and flapping of moths' wings] there and then. Twenty-four hours later, we returned for the goods, now adjusted to fit. An engagement ring and a pair of wedding rings.

There. I've said it. Wedding. It'll be in August, and in the United States.


We've found somewhere to live in Dubai too. The money spent on rings could have gone towards refitting the kitchen, but nuts to that! There are certain things on the road to wedded bliss that take utmost priority.