King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia waved at me...

I am not a stranger to brushing shoulders with celebrities. Why, off the top of my head I can recall the time Lulu personally wished me a happy 22nd birthday; sitting in a cafe in Bristol and watching Jeremy Paxman, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh walk across the road in front of me and enter the university building opposite; Sven from Berlin Berlin standing just a few yards away from me in the Sony Centre; and, one of my highlights, the time Hunter from Gladiators leaned over me in Tescos. Foreign Heads of State have, admittedly, been a little thin on the ground, until now that is.

On Thursday 8th November, Ragil and myself were enjoying a celebratory day off (2 years to the day). We had wandered through Berlin's humungous Tiergarten park and were heading to Friedrichstrasse via Berlin's main tourist street, Unter den Linden. As we approached the street we saw swarms of police, standing, sitting on motorbikes, sitting in cars; crowds of people gathering; and, in front of the Hotel Adlon (of Michael Jackson dangling baby fame) lots of black Mercedes and, interestingly, one black Audi. After some good detective work, we deduced that King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia was the cause of the kafuffle. We joined the waiting crowds and soon saw action: lots of Arabs sporting tasteful pink headwear and then, the King himself, wearing a gold tunic and a white headscarf. He got into his car and then the convoy set off. We were less than 2 metres from his car as he drove past and were pleased to see him acknowledge our presence with a "Queen-style" wave.

An hour or so later, after we had discovered what is possibly my new favourite shop in the whole of Germany (cds, dvds and ENGLISH books galore!) we happened to walk past the town hall on our way to our tram stop. What should we find, but King Abdullah and his gang leaving the building. I had been a little disappointed by the lack of protest at our first meeting with the Saudi and I was equally disappointed this time, although some people had made an effort: 20 or so protesters stood 100 metres from the building with banners and a megaphone chanting "Wahabiism is terrorism" and "Saudi Arabia is the source of terrorism". Old Abdullah and his crew were however separated from the protesters by a great expanse of space, a crowd of people wanting to see royalty, a road lined with cars and then lots of steps, so I doubt it got through. He seemed quite happy as he acknowledged the crowds and didn't look like he was at all bothered by the fact that he is a man greatly criticised for the human rights in his country (a place where women are not allowed passports or to leave their house without male accompaniment) and charged, by the 20 or so protestors, of being head of a state that is the source of terrorism. But, I suppose, in his world none of that matters. He has over 30 wives, over 35 children and, when he dies, he will die safe in the knowledge that 40 virgins will be waiting to greet him in his heaven. Really, it isn't surprising that he had a smile on his face...