Last night, whilst Michele and I were spending yet another interesting evening in front of the TV, desperately seeking something worth watching on BBC Prime (a sort of amalgam of all that is terrible about daytime lifestyle shows on BBC1 from 3 or 4 years ago, assembled into an evening schedule that comprises the same programmes every night) and finding nothing, there was a sudden knock at the door.
A small Thai lady (could've been Philipino, Vietnamese, or even Chinese to be honest - my ability to tell the difference is clearly shameful) was clutching a small box and greeted me with the oft-heard phrase:
"Allo sir, you wan chip DVD?".
In 3 and a half years in Abu Dhabi, the trade of selling pirate DVDs has never come to our front door, but frequently comes knocking at the office. It's quite entertaining, especially when the ladies treat their goods as though they were illegal drugs. Of course the trade is illegal here, but like most things in Abu Dhabi (the best example being local Arabs propping up the local bars in full national dress, supping tankards of beer) a blind eye is turned.
Anyway, needless to say I wasn't tempted by any of her DVDs. Is it just me, or is it not incredibly infuriating to watch a film that isn't picture and sound perfect? I'll admit that £15 or more is perhaps more than some films are worth (Michele bought Legally Blonde once..... no comment needed), but I'd rather not watch a film at all than have to persevere with scratchy dialogue playing that is forever trying to catch up with the distorted green pictures that it is intended to synch with. You wouldn't buy a CD that you couldn't really hear, so why buy a film that you cannot really see?
1 comment:
Great blog. Not sure if it's any different in Abu Dhabi, but in Dubai of the DVD ladies here are Chinese :-)
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