Andy Sherwood thinks you ought to welcome a few days of bad weather with open arms.
It made the news on TV, caused carnage on the roads and even had its own Twitter hashtag. Yes, last weekend it rained in the UAE.
If you ever needed a sign that winter is just around the corner, it’s when a few droplets of the wet stuff becomes the only topic of conversation and seems to bring the whole city to a grinding halt.
Now don’t worry, this isn’t going to be the smug ramblings of an Englishman about what a proper torrential downpour really is (even I find the words, ‘you call this real rain? I’m from America/the UK/Ireland, I can show you real rain,’ depressing). But I think Abu Dhabi should embrace a good storm for what it is: a chance to spend a weekend doing nothing.
Living in a country with many expats like the UAE means that there’s always a reason to go out. Friendships are transient here.
People leave all the time; there’s a feeling that you should spend every spare minute of your weekend with mates, just in case they have to depart the country in the near future. Abu Dhabi’s great beaches and the sheer amount of things you can do here means I often feel guilty if I stay at home at the weekend.
Rain changes all that. I spent almost all last weekend at home with my family. No long drives up to Al Raha to see friends, no spending money I don’t have at a brunch. Instead, I watched DVD boxsets with my wife, played Xbox and read books to my daughter. I was woken up at 4am by the storm on Friday and sat watching the rain lash the windows outside and the lightning crackle across the skyline.
It seems a lot of Abu Dhabi had the same idea as me. A few of the events for the Abu Dhabi Art Fair were cancelled due to the weather, however the Polo at the Palace managed to soldier on over both days.
Twitter was full of photos of flooded streets. YouTube had a video of a leaking wall at the Dubai Airshow and there was the usual chaos and flooding on the streets. From the comfort of my living room, the streets of Abu Dhabi looked like a scene from John Cusack’s apocalyptic movie 2012.
Curiosity got the better of me by Saturday afternoon and my family and I snuck out to Marina Mall.
It wasn’t even raining yet the place was positively heaving, although people’s quest for supplies seemed to involve running for the designer racks, not first aid kits and bottled water. I only lasted 30 minutes before doing a runner back to the comfort of my home.
So the next time it rains, don’t panic – and definitely don’t go outside. Instead, put your feet up, make yourself a cup of tea and watch ten episodes of According To Jim back-to-back. You won’t regret it. Well, not all of it, maybe just the According To Jim part…
