Summer ended in early September, with little brats getting sent back to school after such a long n shiok summer break. There was a marked difference in the weather n it started with a dark day. I woke up, around noon as usual, when I received an SMS from Ben advising me to cover up if I planned to go out cos there was a sandstorm. I looked out the window, and yea man… It wasn’t the usual blazing afternoon sun that greeted me, but a grey day. The wilting palm trees were swaying about in the wind, and it looked like a cloudy day that promised rain! Ya, I thought it was gonna storm. Ben n I didn’t realise how much we missed the rain until we were watching a movie one day, and it was a regular scene from made-in-Hollywood American home… kitchen, little windows above kitchen sink, it was night… And it was raining heavily outside. Ben n I were like, “Wah… rain…”.
So anyway, back to the day of the “sandstorm”. It wasn’t really a sandstorm lah. I guess if you were living or working by the beach like Ben then it would have been like a real sandstorm with the wind lifting up half the shore. But here in Ewan, it was just grey. I walked to the bus stop to take the shuttle to the nearby shops and it was quite strange but cool. Here’s a picture on a normal day, and one on the day of the mini sandstorm.
I wore my sunglasses but there was sand flying everywhere, so it got in my eyes and my black shirt was covered with fine sand. But don’t start conjuring scenes from ‘The Mummy Returns’. It really wasn’t like that. You don’t really see sand flying about in the air cos it’s too fine. It’s just like a really windy, hazy n dusty day. You could however see sand swirling about on the roads as the wind lifted it up from all around. It was really cool… The sand seemed alive. It didn’t form into a ‘mummy’s head lah, but it looked like there were sand-coloured snakes slithering n floating just inches from the ground. Very magical in a creepy David Copperfield-ish way.
However, in the ‘winter’ months ahead there may be more sandstorms, maybe ‘real’ ones. Ben’s ex-colleague Samuel said it rained last December too, and there was once it rained all day, and most places were flooded since you don’t have monsoon drains here. Wait a minute, you don’t have any drains here. I guess with just about 90mm of rainfall a year, why bother making drains. Even the little drain ‘hole’ on our kitchen balcony is clogged up with sand n has become home to black ants.
It gets dark by 5.45pm here, as compared to the summer months when the sun sets only at around 7.45pm. It’s still hot in the daytime, but just like a hot n sunny day in Singapore. It’s bearable, and sometimes even what residents call “great weather”, partly cos our bodies have adapted to the weather after the torturing heat in August. In August I’d stand outdoors at 11pm and break into a sweat, make-up melting all over my face. Nights now bring a cool evening breeze, with people opting to dine alfresco, kids playing outside in the dark… . Lovely weather, by Dubai standards.
So anyway, back to the day of the “sandstorm”. It wasn’t really a sandstorm lah. I guess if you were living or working by the beach like Ben then it would have been like a real sandstorm with the wind lifting up half the shore. But here in Ewan, it was just grey. I walked to the bus stop to take the shuttle to the nearby shops and it was quite strange but cool. Here’s a picture on a normal day, and one on the day of the mini sandstorm.
I wore my sunglasses but there was sand flying everywhere, so it got in my eyes and my black shirt was covered with fine sand. But don’t start conjuring scenes from ‘The Mummy Returns’. It really wasn’t like that. You don’t really see sand flying about in the air cos it’s too fine. It’s just like a really windy, hazy n dusty day. You could however see sand swirling about on the roads as the wind lifted it up from all around. It was really cool… The sand seemed alive. It didn’t form into a ‘mummy’s head lah, but it looked like there were sand-coloured snakes slithering n floating just inches from the ground. Very magical in a creepy David Copperfield-ish way.
However, in the ‘winter’ months ahead there may be more sandstorms, maybe ‘real’ ones. Ben’s ex-colleague Samuel said it rained last December too, and there was once it rained all day, and most places were flooded since you don’t have monsoon drains here. Wait a minute, you don’t have any drains here. I guess with just about 90mm of rainfall a year, why bother making drains. Even the little drain ‘hole’ on our kitchen balcony is clogged up with sand n has become home to black ants.
It gets dark by 5.45pm here, as compared to the summer months when the sun sets only at around 7.45pm. It’s still hot in the daytime, but just like a hot n sunny day in Singapore. It’s bearable, and sometimes even what residents call “great weather”, partly cos our bodies have adapted to the weather after the torturing heat in August. In August I’d stand outdoors at 11pm and break into a sweat, make-up melting all over my face. Nights now bring a cool evening breeze, with people opting to dine alfresco, kids playing outside in the dark… . Lovely weather, by Dubai standards.
