My eyes! My eyes!

Someone snatched my sunglasses off my desk at work. It's the only way I can explain their complete and utterly mysterious disappearance from my general vicinity last week. But whatever. They cost $15 at Target.

You know what, though? There are no Targets in the Middle East. And that, for the most part, means no cheap sunglasses. I spent a bit of time prowling through the Marina Mall this afternoon (thanks to a sandstorm that made doing anything outside a little hard on the lungs) trying to track down a replacement. But the cheapest pair I could find was Dh360, or just a hair under $100.

I'm reluctant to spend that much, because, well, something always happens to sunglasses I own. Getting stolen off my desk, for instance.

I did find a Dh10 pair in the market in Dubai, and they seem to work fine, but there is this paranoid voice in the back of my head telling me that these otherwise harmless-looking shades are going to burn a hole in my retina.

Alas, though, "mid-range" doesn't seem to exist here. It's either Dh1,000 Ray-Bans or their Dh10 market-stall brethren, Roy-Bans. Good thing I have a flight back to Target-land next month....