Ace is the Place

Dubai is a shopping mecca. All the western franchises are represented here. I can buy Buger King, KFC, and Papa John's. There's one of everything and two of some things.

On Sunday, we drove a ways down to the largest Ace Hardware store in town. I had my heart set on a barbecue grill. It's only 111 degrees outside, so why not fire one up? We needed to decide the age old question: charcoal or gas, and then pick out one that we could transport, assemble and use.

The Ace Hardware store that we went to looked so much like the ones at home, it almost made me tear up. Except for one thing.

The outdoor furniture section.
Don't get me wrong. There's a lot of the traditional looking chaise lounges for sunbathing, and a lot of that new plastic woven wicker-looking furniture. Lots of outdoor seating areas. And canopies. It's a desert, so shade is a big deal in the 'outdoor living' arena. But they also had a 'traditional' outdoor shade and seating area.

DH sat in it and said it was 'surprisingly uncomfortable'. The kicker on this canopy and seating area is that the posts holding up that tent were huge tubular steel pipes. I would have needed both hands to wrap around the frame. The fabric was normal too, not the 'high tech' outdoor stuff that repels water and doesn't mildew. You can't see them from this picture, but the corner posts were tied up with tassels that were fringed and beaded and intricate. More like interior draperies than outdoor stuff.

I didn't bother to figure out what this would cost in USD. I'm not really in the market for an outdoor room. But if I decide I need one, Ace is the Place!

--Sandee Wagner