Where the streets do, in fact, have names

Yeah, yeah, you've heard me complain a lot about how there are no addresses, how the postal service is considering home delivery via GPS coordinates, how it is virtually impossible to give someone directions to a place you haven't been before.

Well, for whatever reason, I noticed for the first time that there is actually a bit of a schematic of my neighborhood on the turnoff from the main road (next to the Oasis Chinese restaurant, if you're giving directions to a taxi driver). So let's walk through Tankar Mai, shall we?

Not a wiring diagram.

At the bottom of the picture is 15th Street. It has a proper name--a sheikh, I think--but no one uses it. In the blank area below that is not actually a giant field of nothing... it's where The National's offices are.

Moving along, to the left is Airport Road, aka Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum Road. The Maktoums, by the way, are the Dubai ruling family. On the right is Muroor Road. And at the top of the diagram is Delma Street, Delma being an island in Abu Dhabi emirate.

I live in one of the little circles in the upper-right, which--I think--designate street numbers within the neighborhood. It should be noted that no one actually uses these numbers for anything.

So there you go. If you ever get lost, just head to the corner of Muroor and 15th and look for the map.