Rain in the desert

Two days ago I woke up, pulled up my blinds up and was greeted by something a little bewildering. Clouds. And by cloud I don't mean a few scattered ones. By clouds I mean dark ominous clouds. This was the day I had been waiting for since I got here. A cold, rainy day so I could snuggle up under the doona and watch DVDs and drink tea and dunk Scotch Finger biscuits. But off to work I must go. Where was I? London?

So I set off for work, in the wet weather. Sheikh Zayed Road, which is usually like race track with Ferarris hitting top speed and people crossing 6 lanes without an indicator, was moving at a snail's pace. Drivers don't quite know what to do with themselves when these water droplets fall from the sky. Everyone was driving at about 6okm/hr and put their hazard lights on just to let everyone know they were driving slowly and carefully. Hazard lights in this part of the world are so used and abused they barely mean a thing. If the person in front of you brakes suddenly they reach for their hazard lights before they break- reflexes like a cheetah... or what ever has the fast ones. This all made me remember the time when the giant and I were here in January we drove from Abu Dhabi to Dubai. This was our reconaissance trip and it was raining. In the one hour or so drive we saw 4 car accidents. One 4WD about 30 metres in front of us spun out of control across all 6 lanes- thank goodness we hung back. Or cab driver put his hazard lights on.

As there isn't a real drainage system here-the roads were covered in water with puddles 10 metres in diameter. And shall the puddles remain for 3 days. However, that I don't blame them for that. Would you build all that infrastructure if it rains only 7 days a year? What makes it worse is that the roads are covered in sand which make it extra slippery. What makes it even worse are people like me who had to take photos of it all while they are driving. Well I had to document that I had to be cautious of the 'water ponds'. Hilarious. Its like as if they don't even know the correct term. As 'Tallulah with an H' said, it was as if we should sail across these ponds in boats, with the boys in striped jackets punting away and the ladies reading poetry and twirling parasols ... Me? I was looking for the swans. A flamingo would have done the trick.

So all in all, apart from a few drivers who don't check mirrors anyway, most people were well behaved. By well behaved I mean they weren't driving at 130kms/hr. Most companies are trying to enforce drivers to drive "safily"and some are just trying positive reinforcement to make us think they are.

At midday, my marketing friend and I wanted to order something in for lunch. We were starving, like going to eat our heads starving, and we just couldn't be bothered to leave the office. 'Brilliant!' We thought- we'll order something in! So we tried a few places but no-one was delivering because of the rain. 'Come on!' we said not realising quite how heavy the rain was outside. 'They see a drop of rain and they shut down'-we thought- 'hopeless!'. So we decided to go to Spinney's to get us some lunchtime goodies. Something sweet for me, something savory for her. Just as I was complimenting her on her cute little leather ballerina shoes, we took one step outside into a "pond" the size of Waragamba dam. Drenched from the knee down we looked at each other to back it up. Then my stomach started talking. I was starving and there were really only a few metres to the car, so we decided to punch on. Of course as the way things go, it started to rain even harder, thunder, lightening and then an even bigger puddle at our feet. Pants wet to the knees, shoes destroyed, hair starting to look like I was sporting some serious Soul Glo from Coming to America, but focus was on imitation cheetos and a toblerone.

When we arrived back at the office, our coffee man saw us and quickly followed behind with some warm drinks. Wet and now freezing, shivering in fact. The giant called. He too was freezing... in Saudi Arabia. 8 degrees at night he told me. I'd heard the stories, but never believed it. I wasn't ready for it. I never thought I would be switching the air conditioning off and the heater on in the Middle East...

Yesterday when the weather was clearing up, the carwash near my house was doing a roaring trade. By roaring trade, I mean there was a solid 15-20 minute wait, when its usually an in and out deal. As our car was now looking a shade of brown from its usual silver, and also because I think the number of water bottles in my car just hit 15, it was time to have a full clean out. So they checked my tyres, washed and waxed, chamoised and polished- in fact I had never seen our Shitsubishi Galant in such fine shape. I proudly drove away, past the Bugati parked next to me, and then I saw another 10 metre wide "pond" that I had to go through. No other exit. The Shitsubishi's state of cleanliness is now relected again in its very own name....