The Consulate on the Creek

Down on the south bank of Dubai Creek, behind high white security walls and an oasis of palms, manicured lawns and little pathways lies the British Consulate. Many mistakenly call it the British Embassy, but it is in fact a mere consulate, and only occasionally becomes an embassy should the Abu Dhabi-based British Ambassador temporarily be present there.

There's a lovely sense of old Colonial times about the Consulate with its low-lying bungalows and the chipper British accents behind every counter. It must be the enormous charm of the place - certainly not the distant, grey and miserable land it represents - that lures such a long line of people every day to queue hour after hour in hope of a visa.

The Consulate is also a shining example of the wonderful multiculturalism that Dubai fosters. On its noticeboards are posted the banns of courting couples, hoping to marry in Dubai. How heartwarming to see that every "John Brown, DOB 1947" or "Trevor Jones, DOB 1952" has found a "Svetlana Molotov, DOB 1982" or "Ludmilla Kalashnikov, DOB 1986". It makes one quite proud to come from a land with such a blatant lack of xenophobia or age discrimination.