I really did want to buy a camel whip when I visited one of the Gulf states recently – having wanted to own one for years, since a rather bizarre episode with a friend’s parents implement collection. My previous trip there had been frustrating – stuck on the edge of town, in a gorgeous hotel but miles from anywhere. But this time? I was bang in the centre of the city. So surely my luck would be in?

Of course, it wasn’t. For as I scanned the streets from my taxis during the trip, not a single shop could be seen with helpful names (“The Whip Bazaar” or “Camels in Trouble”, maybe?). It struck me that I had no idea whatsoever where to look, and I wasn’t exactly going to ask the hotel concierge – “And why do you want one of those, sir? Lots of camels in Oxfordshire, are there?”

More to the point, I suddenly realised that there probably isn’t a huge market for such items. I may picture every street corner with its own camel, ever neighbourhood with weekend camel races, every shopping trip involving a detour to view the latest collection of this season’s new whips. But I’m guessing that your average local resident doesn’t get to see a camel from one year to the next.

How frustrating. I guess I’ll just have to look on eBay… And in any case, I guess the same is true for foreign visitors to the UK. I mean, you can’t just turn up in London and expect to find canes in every store, and if you asked where to buy a school tawse in Edinburgh these days, they’d probably call the police…