The Day After

I don't know if I mentioned it yesterday, but we were forecast to have a month's worth of rain in a day. I thought we were doing really well... it rained steadily all day and didn't cause too much disruption. It was great.

Then through the night, I was up several times aware that it was still raining, sometimes very heavily. Well, the morning revealed what exactly happened... Our area was fairly dry with no problems, but some part of Dubai (and the country) were totally waterlogged with even some major roads needing to be closed and the airport struggled as well.

I have bought a secondhand computer monitor and had to collect it around 9 am this morning. G & I set off without giving much thought to road conditions. The route I chose was treacherous in some parts but we got there on time and got home safely, stopping to have a coffee and doughnut sat at the Creek. It was definitely a day to be out.

We came home to drop off the monitor and pick up Catherine. It's her last day in Dubai. We ran a couple of errands and then headed straight back to the same spot on the Creek that we were at earlier. There was a high tide; more like super high tide. I have never seen the Creek so full. The water was lapping on to the Creek. Yikes! Some of the boat owner's crew had not taken precautions in time and it was interesting to see two guys trying to push back quite a large boat so that they could get a cushion between the vessel and the quay!

We went on to the dhow wharfage to see cargo boats covered with tarpaulin and some being loaded to start their journeys. Then on to the other side of the Creek; we walked along the modern part of Al Seef. Interesting that the rain had damaged the escalators and elevators so it's good they still have old fashioned stairs.

The last thing to do was to see the flamingoes at Ras Al Khor. I had the idea to try another hide. That was a big mistake. To get to it, we had to do a long circuit route to and we got caught in bad traffic caused by the E44 being severely flooded. The plan eventually had to be abandoned and we came home for lunch.

I found out later that there were quite a few roads closed off because of the heavy rain, so the fact that we did so much was pretty good! We also learnt that HM Sultan Qaboos of Oman passed away today. So sad. It will be great to chat with our friend Hilde in the next few days to find out how things are in Muscat.

My blips are both from the Creek. We love seeing clouds in the sky!