UAE's Declaration Signing Dec. 2nd 1971

2nd December 1971 was a Thursday, a working day back then. Signing was scheduled for Thursday afternoon. This news spread by word of mouth as much as by public announcements. I lived in Jumeirah Road so around 3pm I drove down to the Beach Palace, parked on the sand and joined the small crowd waiting by the roundabout outside the Beach Palace. We saw cars arriving and driving into the Beach Palace grounds. When this activity stopped nothing else seemed to be happening. Later cars began driving out from the Beach Palace. The first car was a very large black Cadillac. A rear window had been opened just a fraction. A hand hung out through the opening and slowly waved. It was impossible to see who the hand belonged to since all the car windows had dark tinting. We waved back. We assumed it was the new UAE President Sheikh Zayed returning to Abu Dhabi. Sheikh Rashid's usual white Mercedes Benz drove out but it was difficult to pick him out from among the several people traveling in his car. The flow of cars stopped so the small watching crowd dispersed and went home. I did the same. Signing of the Declaration seemed a non event from a spectator's viewpoint. But that changed in later years!