Random Rain Rambling

One of the things i miss about rainy days, is enjoying them.

Back in my days in Kuwait, Cairo and other rainy cities, whenever it rained we would go outdoors; walk under the rain, cruise around in cars and have nice hot tea, lattes or even cocoa - and it wasn't just us being dreamy or romantic, its like that everywhere.

But not here. In the rare occasions when it rains in Dubai, do yourself a favor and stay home. Do whatever you can to avoid the mean wet streets of the northern emirates.

I don’t know if it is some alien chemical agent that is only active when it reacts with Dubai’s cement-dust filled air, but for some odd reason, everything here got wet and wild!

First, and against any universal human common sense, dubai drivers choose drive faster and more recklessly under the rain. They push their damn Nissan Sunnys, Corola’s and Lancers to the limit. Without any consideration to the fact that their bicycle-like tires are not THAT equipped to handle wet surfaces.

Oh and by the way, same applies to the 100% tinted glass Land Cruiser driver as well.

And don't let me even get started on the Hazard flashing morons who once they see a few rain drops, they slow down to 20km/h and turn their hazard blinkers on. Turn them off your friggen idiots!!

As for the traffic rush .. well lets say that a typical 15 minutes drive might and will cost you a good couple of hours of your time.

Last night and after staying all night on a non-stop-10-episode-nonrampage of season 2 of Lost, I woke up this morning around 11 am to witness a worst traffic gridlock opposite to my house for sometime. The main road opposite to my house was a virtual parking lot.

Not only that, several traffic signals on Dubai streets went blank, creating more confusion to Dubai’s flabbergasted drivers then already are. Dubai-Sharjah Highway is in total darkness and almost every street I can see from my house is totally flooded.

Internet access has been a problem all day long and at one point, we lost both Showtime and Orbit TV signals at home.

If you are a non-uae resident, here is a tiny FYI: It doesn't rain much in this place. Winter, in its normal definition, is like a 2 to 3 weeks weather anomaly that could take place anytime between December and January.

It usually rains sometimes in March/April. Heck I remember it raining once in May about 4 years ago when I was halfway between Abu Dhabi and Dubai, on my way to a grand opening of the Abu Dhabi branch of a client's business.

Everyone was anticipating showers this weekend. And we were blessed with this glorious piece of news on the eve of one of the longest weekends this quarter.

Just great.

So, and in anticipation of the on going mini-monsoon, I was against the idea of leaving the house this weekend. I woke up a bit early yesterday and started watching episode 1 of season 2 of Lost.

Towards the end of episode 5, a friend SMSed and asked if I want share Ka3ket Knafe (typical Lebanese breakfast) that is, to be honest, ideal on a cold weekend morning.

It wasn’t raining yesterday morning, so i was like "why the hell not" On my way back, one could’ve easily spot the gloomy weather and that rain is just a matter of 'when'.

So, I called my wife and successfully convinced her to stay in for nice pasta lunch instead of our typical Friday-out lunch routine. (Yeah yeah .. I wanted to catch up on more episodes of Lost!).

Friday afternoon weather was still grey, but dry. And BabyM started to get a bit bored. So, I took the ladies out, had dinner and came back later in the evening. It drizzled a bit, but it wasn't a major disaster.

This morning, and except for the heavy showers outside, it wasn’t too different from the day before; caught up on a few more episodes of Lost, had a quick breakfast and by the time ladies got up, my head was overdosing with the never-ending twists of Lost.

Last night, I noticed that BabyM had a tiny cough during her sleep. Nothing serious, but should take something for it.

We have a couple of drug stores around the corner from where I live and I thought to myself, with all this traffic jams, it would be better idea to walk instead of drive. After all, i was missing the good old days of walking under the rain.

So, I put on the only pair of boots I bought 6 or 7 years ago and wore maybe once or twice, the only jacket and a cap.

I needed the walk... I miss real winter. I miss being cold and wearing heavy clothes. I miss watching people running around trying to find cover. I miss seeing cars splashing around the water puddles, moving slowly so that they don't splash the dreamy love couples talking a romantic walk in the rain, I miss ..

SPLAAASH!

Like an Ice-cold bucket of water thrown at your face to wake you up, a crazy driver brings me back from fantasy land to the real world. To the place where people don't know or care about enjoying this dreamy rainy nirvana, to the place where people drive and walk as fast as they can to get home and get out of this rainy nightmare, disregarding the unpredictable conditions of Dubai’s wet roads, and with that, any pedestrian on sight.

And let me tell you, my dodging-rain-drops-and-walking-on-water-Ninja-like-skills weren’t on my side today. By the time i made it to the pharmacy and back, I was more soaked because of man than nature

Though the walk in the rain was great, staying home was much better.