Krazy Kevin's Kids Klub

Hi there everybody.  I’ve had a fun and busy week at the Radio Bahrain studios, with quite a few guests popping in to see me on my morning show- including DJ Bob McReadie and his wife Yvette. 

As reported in last week’s GulfWeekly Bob last worked for the station 21 years ago and had a good laugh when he realised that some of the equipment we use was around when he used to work there - specifically our telephone answering equipment, which I’ve been reliably been informed is circa 1970s! 
We had a great chat about what it was like in the ‘old days’ and how much Bahrain has changed over the years, especially with regards to all the land reclamation from the sea. 
Bahrain is simply a lot ‘bigger’ now than Bob remembers it. Since being back he met up with some old friends and has vowed to come back again to Bahrain in the future. Bob is now is the programme director and morning show presenter for a radio station in Cornwall (England) called ‘Pirate Radio’ - I asked if Captain Jack Sparrow was there as well. Ha!
Later on in the week I had the pleasure of having both Marion and Alan Horne on the show.  Alan had made the winning bid (at a charity auction organised by those lovely fundraisers at the Palm Association) to come on the breakfast show. 
We got into the studio and started with some of Marion’s requests (of which she had so many that I had to say, “Hey Marion, I’m only on for 3 hours - not 3 days!”) 
I also had a good chat with Alan, who incidentally is head of the TRA (Telecommunications Regulatory Authority). Alan gave some great information to listeners about getting information when they have grievances about telecommunication companies. 
Did you know that you can even get advice free of charge? Alan told me that in a survey conducted recently out of 1,500 people only 18 per cent knew what the TRA was. Hopefully that will change now.
Last week I also went on a bit of an adventure with my lovely wife Wendy and sweet daughter Hannah to the ‘Lost Paradise of Dilmun Water Park’. 
Isn’t that a mouthful?  Let’s just call it the ‘Lost Paradise’ from now on … because on the day it very nearly was! 
We went last Wednesday when it was a little overcast and dusty to say the least. Visibility seemed down to about 100m in places.
 The drive was very long by Bahrain standards and as we went past the Al Areen wildlife park I thought we’d finally made it.  But what seemed like another 20 minutes of driving ensued, with the scenery very bleak and even somewhat spooky in the low visibility. Then, there it was. We had arrived.
It really was as though we had arrived at a Lost Paradise.
Firstly we met with Paul Blunt the general manager who told us about the attraction which covers an area of around 77,000 square metres. It was all very interesting until a little voice popped up and said “Daddy I want to go for a swim, NOW!”  Of course, it was Hannah (she was as excited as me!) so I told Paul we would see him later and off we went and entered the ‘Lost Paradise’.
We had a great time, and soon forgot about the dusty day, work, bills and anything else that had been bugging us.
We splashed and swam to our hearts content. Hannah was very brave and went by herself on everything that she was allowed to and as a family we really enjoyed the lazy river; inventing all sorts of silly stories and games as we drifted along. 
My other favourite bit was the beach which I’d have loved to spend more time at if there wasn’t so much else to see and do. 
My only complaint about the day was that Hannah was about 20cm too short for many of the rides. She had better grow-up quickly so we can go back and go on all the rides we missed. But then again, maybe not too quickly, because then I won’t have an excuse NOT to go on the rides that looked just a little bit scary. I’m not much of a thrill seeker really – the kiddy slides looked exciting enough for me!
Anyway, the long journey was certainly worth it.  We only stopped playing and splashing when Hannah fell asleep from sheer exhaustion and Wendy and I were ready to curl up and join her.
Keep splashing about!
Krazy Kevin