So is there an Arabic "lingua franca" -- one variant that all Arabic speakers can understand, like Mandarin, or California English?

(You can tell it's cold in China, if we are talking about variants of languages most of us don't speak rather than about our latest oil change...)

That said...

I did saddle up and take a short ride today -- my first since my mid-August mishap with young Slabo in Kunming. It was bloody cold, maybe 3C, here in Shanghai, but the sun was out, the streets were dry and my Jialing sprang to life like a trooper. What a treat!

cheers