We can’t expect the UAE to celebrate some of the more obscure and mysterious Western holidays. Especially ones originally based on Christianity. Like, say, Valentine’s Day.

It’s a rather weird concept, if you try to explain it to someone unfamiliar with it. Someone from, say, the Arab world. “OK, there was these early Christians who apparently were executed for their beliefs, and romantic love somehow became attached to the day celebrating these guys named Valentine, on or about February 14 … and that doesn’t matter all that much. The thing is, you are supposed to get cards or gifts or flowers for your wife/girlfriend. Yeah.”

Outside the Western cultural milieu … it’s just weird, isn’t it?

So, you don’t expect the whole country to be all geared up for Valentine’s Day. But I did think the city of Abu Dhabi would have, at least, some flower shops scattered about. And I would be wrong in thinking that.

This can’t actually be about Valetine’s Day. The “holiday” must account for a significant fraction of annual income for American florists, but I can’t believe their businesses exist just for February 14.

So, why no flower shops here?

It is possible to buy flowers here … but not at all easy.

Yesterday, I did a google search for “florists Muroor” which is a district in town I would be in while getting my license … and came up with nothing aside from a local internet service, which was really expensive, plus I was worried about certainty in where/when these flowers would appear. I wanted to walk out of a shop with the flowers in my hand.

Abu Dhabi is a city with scads of little shops run by small businessmen. Surely, at least one of them in this area must sell flowers, right?

Wrong. Not only were none found by my google search, neither were any visible as I had a taxi driver creep along the busy street of Muroor as slowly as he dared, studying the facades of every commercial building for about three miles. On both sides of the busy street.

Hundreds of little markets. Grocers, typing stores, restaurants, “refreshment” stores, pharmacies, even the little hospitals of which we have so many … but no one selling flowers. Not one shop.

Apparently, a few florists do exist in the city. One is downtown on Hamdan Street, I heard. Another is on Electra Street. I am told a florist is open on the upper floor above a Western-style grocery in the posh section of town. There may be one on the upper floor of Al Wahda Mall. And some of the big grocery stores may sometimes carry some bouquets, but the one big grocery I went into had none. When I asked for “flowers” they thought I was talking about “flour.”

So, let’s stipulate that florists are rare in the city. Why might that be?

A culture of not giving flowers, perhaps?

A culture rooted in a particularly harsh environment where not much of anything grows, naturally, and certainly not the flowers to which Westerners are accustomed to seeing — roses, carnations, tulips. You need scads of water here just to keep alive hardy plants. How much water would be required for something delicate, flower-like? And those plants would need shade, for most of the year, so as not to fry in the sun.

Before the UAE opened its desalination plants, so that enough water was available to ensure the survival of people … I can’t imagine anyone thought collecting flowers and giving them away was a worthwhile activity.  Or a sane one.

And the other idea that strikes me is the demographics of the country and, I believe, the city. The male to female ratio in the UAE is 70-30. Because almost all the expatriates involved in the huge construction trade are males. And, presumably, they are not giving flowers to each other — or to anyone else since their wives, if they have any, are back home in Pakistan, India or Bangladesh, where Valentine’s Day isn’t celebrated.

Now, if you want Valentine’s stuff other than flowers, that is do-able. The major retailers, including grocers, are keen to take advantage of any particular cultural weirdness that might prompt commercial activity, and you can find candy, especially, in Valentine’s guise. “Red, heart-shaped, etc.) Cards, if you work at it, but not a big selection. But do-able.

So, lesson learned. Flowers in Abu Dhabi … don’t really exist. Don’t plan on cruising any ol’ street, no matter how bustling, and expect to run across a florist.