Desert Rain

What the hell is going on? In the week that just went by, it rained 3 times in Jeddah! In this land devoid of clouds and moisture, it actually rained! And not some pissy drizzle or tiny droplets that evaporate before hitting the ground. It was pouring cats and dogs and camels and baboons.

And obviously this place wasn't made with rain in mind. There is absolutely no drainage system. The pavements are made of the wrong materials. The F1 style saudi drivers suddenly forget how to drive. I'm serious. You can literally see the dumbfounded drivers with their eyes wide open and mouth gaping behind their steering wheels. They don't understand why their car is veering to the left when they are speeding through a giant puddle on the road. They wonder why they can't really see out of their windscreens. They cannot comprehend why their cars are skidding out of control and nothing seems to be responding.

ALL the roads get flooded and you might as well be driving a boat. And it does not help that the wipers on my car have been nicely baked and sundried to a crispy strip of tasteless jerky. All they do is splash the rain around my windscreen instead of wiping it off. Bugger.

And obviously, being in the middle of the desert, I don't own an umbrella. So getting caught in the rain while walking from the staff carpark to the airport terminal wasn't fun. Especially when the pavement tiles becomes more slippery than an ice cube coated in olive oil. Yup, I had a really spectacular fall. While running to get out of the rain, I slipped the moment I stepped on the pavement tiles. What happened after that would have been applauded by even the gold medal winning olympic gymnast. Hell I don't even think I've executed such a move while snowboarding before. In slo-mo my legs went over my head and I landed on my left shoulder. I was drenched, and very embarrassed as this all happened in front of a group of indian laborers seeking shelter at a shed not too far away. but most of all it hurt. I am now nursing a bruised shoulder, hip and left bum.

I normally don't mind rain. But this is Saudi Arabia, and nothing is normal here. So, no more rain please. Life here is crazy enough without the floods and the mud and the chaos.