Mike's Saudi (21) Booze and the Mutawa

A beautiful winter morning in modern Tabuk by Atozxyz.

There were no details just the rumour that we would move to Tabuk and I felt pretty upset about it. But I could do nothing to influence the decision just hope that it wouldn’t happen. Soon an American appeared on base though he lived off it with his wife and two children. There was much speculation about him and why he was there, we were to find out soon enough. One day he approached me, would my daughter act as governess for his two kids as his wife was returning to the US. Karen was interviewed and the job was hers. It meant that from now on Karen would be living in with the American family in a villa nearer to Khamis. It was then we found his purpose in the area he was evaluating the air force base and buildings prior to the changeover. This made our move certain now the biggest worry was would there be enough accommodation for us at Tabuk, if not Syb and Karen would have to return to the UK until some became available.

We will return to Joe, his governess and two children later as I would now like to tell you about the odd way in which we came by our villa at Tabuk. The Mutawa were always on the lookout for wayward expatriates and used to make sudden raids on our compounds if they suspected anything. Usually we had a mole in their camp who would warn us of an impending raid so that everything would be tidy when they arrived. At Tabuk where there had been maintenance group supposedly readying the base for our arrival, they had been there for years and in their boredom had started to make booze on an industrial scale. They made so much that they couldn’t consume it all so they supplied the nurses at the local hospital other contractors with western work forces and as the operation got larger and larger it got out of hand. They started to supply Saudis. Now the authorities may look the other way at making wine for your own consumption as was the case with the club at Khamis but to supply others outside of your own group was simply not tolerated. There was no warning when they visited Tabuk, no time to hide the still or to dispose of the wine. All the culprits were sent home, most of them were married and in base accommodation. This all happened just weeks before we were to move, so we walked straight into a villa, with a servant’s quarter that smelt just like a brewery, which it had been a few weeks earlier. For weeks afterwards we used to get little notes throw over the purdah walls ‘Leave ten bottles in the usual place’ naturally we took no notice. But we never made booze for our own or anybody else’s consumption.