Private Mercedes Limo for Easter

For Easter, Dubai has set up two car parks, one for each of the two main church districts, with luxury bus service from the car parks to the churches. This is new. There was nothing like this last Easter.

I was wandering past one of the car parks, and thought I'd ask, 'How often do the buses run?'

'Get in,' was the response. So I did, and found myself alone in a Mercedes bus that was, in effect, the longest private limo I've ever seen, since it turned out to be just for me, and departed immediately upon my seating myself. Before I got on, the bus lowered itself until it was at street level, so persons in wheelchairs could easily wheel themselves onto the bus.

This was not like the regular buses that ply the streets of Dubai: it was larger, with wider seats and it also had luggage racks for those bags that worshipers might have felt the need to bring with them to church. It had a TV that seemed stuck on a single channel with a message about traffic that remained on the verge of playing for the entire trip.

The bus/limo took me from the car park past the three church compounds (Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant, in alphabetical order, or Protest, Catholic, and Orthodox, in the order of the bus stops).

No one seems to know why or for how long this new security system will last. When I got off the bus, there were quite a few police, and they were searching some men very closely, but let me wander along untouched.

A couple of days ago, there were a lot of policewomen searching the women, but today it was mostly policemen, searching women's handbags and patting down the suspicious-looking men.

I assume things will be back to normal after Easter, but I won't know until next Monday.