Friday 11 January 2008

jebel hafeet goes missing

As I look out my lounge window I see grey sky where the mountain used to be. Jebel Hafeet has gone. It is no longer there; finished, kaput, nichts.

One wonders how it could have been moved over night and where it went. Did a conga line of large trucks come and 'disappear it' in the middle of the night? Is it being used for off-shore palm fronds in Dubai? Were aliens involved?

There's an obvious crack waiting to be written here, but in view of the unfortunate naming of a teddy bear in a near-by country, I'd best refrain.

The simple answer to the mystery is desert storms. The air is full of sand effectively screening the mountain from view. I've not seen it quite like this before. The atmosphere is heavy and pregnant with expectation and perhaps anticipation of imminent relief. It seems that rain is needed to lift the heaviness and clear the air. I wonder whether that happens here.

I'm hoping that I can soon report 'It rained today.' In the almost six months that I've been here I think I've seen about six drops of rain - one for every month. Rain would be nice. Funny how much you can miss it!

1 comment:

Brn said...

I actually had the opposite experience when I came. I was prepared for no rain and then the third day I was here we had a genuine thunderstorm/downpour.

Of course then it only rained one more time in the next six months or so.