Singin' In The Rain

To everyone else's disgust and disbelief it's been raining in Dubai over the last few days. For me it was heaven. I woke up in mid darkness, heard the rain against the window, rolled over and pulled the blanket up over my chin and went back to sleep.

When I finally crawled out of bed I pulled on a warm jacket, grabbed the umbrella and went walking. People looked at me like I was a crazy person.

When it rains here people are at a loss. They don't own an umbrella; you see all these people running around the street with a plastic bag over their head and they have no idea what it means to drive in the rain. Driving becomes a serious problem. Drivers aren’t used to driving in wet conditions and have no idea of how not to slide or how to control a car in the rain. In one day alone there were over 650 accidents reported.

The city isn't really built to cope with water. Parking bays are flooded as are some apartment building foyers…and we're talking about rainfall only over 2 days worth. For some people they saw it as a reminder of why they left their home country in the first place, for me it was like the city being washed clean. Buildings that are normally covered in fine sand are now back to their glory days…for the time being anyway.