A shopping fiesta

Whoever dreamed up the Dubai Shopping Festival deserves a big medal and a pat on the back. Who would have thought that a city with more malls per square inch than any other conurbation in the world could actually encourage its residents and visitors to spend more money than they already do? Especially with the words 'credit crunch' on everyone's lips.

I'm not really a sale-kinda-gal. The look of a jumble sale puts me off, along with the dashed hopes of finding the perfect top/shoes/handbag before entering into a bunfight only to find it doesn't exist in my size or colour. Not for the feint hearted, and not exactly fun in my book.

But yesterday I went to check out the new Waitrose to see whether it had decent quality lettuce (a veritable treasure hunt in these parts, I tell you)...which involved going to the new Dubai Mall...which led to temptation to just take a quick peek in one or two shops...and we all know how weak I am in the face of temptation.

Anyway, the upshot is that DSF (for us local yokels) isn't a jumble sale at all. It's a tidy, available in all sizes and colours, genuine money-off kind of affair that leaves you with a satisfying number of carrier bags full of new things and a warm glow about how much you've saved. Just don't think too closely about how much you've spent!