Here I sit at home on this wonderful rainy day. Yes, I said a rainy day. For 2 days and a night, this wonderful cleansing has been pouring from the skies, clearing this place of much of the accumulated dust and grime from the planes and surfaces of the city. It is absolutely magical.
What are you doing at home, you may ask. And even if you don't ask, I'se a'gonna tell you anyway. I sit at home, looking out at the rain, because the road to work is flooded and I couldn't get in. Yes, I said flooded, with actual rainwater nogal! (Have a gander at the pics at the end of this post)
Imagine. I awoke this morning at 05h40 to the usual strident reveille of the infernal slumber-killing, dream-wrecking alarm clock. I gazed upwards to check the time because said slumber-killer projects the time on the ceiling and whilst I was gazing, I heard the sound of continued rain. Having read a novel until the early hours of the morning and being lulled by the wonderful sound of rain, I elected to remain aslumber and snoozed off, only re-awaking at 09h00. Now, this is somewhat naughty but I tend to justify the odd lie-in in terms of the fact that I work for an exploitative bunch who don’t keep their promises. However, I arose, showered, dressed in work clothes, breakfasted and had just pulled on a coat when my phone rang. The voice identified itself as one of my staff and explained that the roads were flooded and he could not get to work. No sooner had I advised him to hie homewards when a colleague called with the same sorry tale. I made a couple of calls to confirm this and lo, discovered it to be true. I then disrobed, re-enrobed in a tracksuit and did a bit of work at home.
Janene & I later took advantage of the windfall day off and enjoyed lunch, following which we sailed through the floodwaters to the school to pick up the kids, whereupon we were gleefully advised that the school would be closed tomorrow due to much leakage!
You see, in this place where nothing is ever done right, no-one bothers to check that adequate waterproofing measures have been taken and thus, on the odd occasion of precipitation, it rains both without and within! So the kids have a day off tomorrow.
The drains are an interesting sight to behold for in most areas, the beholding is somewhat academic as they are as plentiful as pork in a mosque. And where the odd drain is in evidence, it is clogged with sand and thus may as well not have been installed in the first place. The result is lakes of water everywhere. Now, the local A-rabs have no idea how to drive. And then it rains and they still have no idea how to drive. Much less how to adjust their driving to suit conditions. So they tend to veer all over the road to avoid the lakes of water and drive on one’s side of the road. Trouble is, one has had experience with rain driving and has come to the conclusion that one’s car will not dissolve should it encounter a large lake of water on the road, and thus one continues to drive on one’s side of the road. This means that one and Mohammad both wish to occupy the same piece of space (on one’s side of the road) simultaneously and anyone with a basic understanding of physics knows that this cannot be. However, Mohammad has no grasp of the concept of physics and , in a panic compounded by his irrational fear of the dissolution of his vehicle, attempts the impossible, resulting in the need for one to vacate the piece of space (on one’s side of the road) rapidly, in order for he-with-no-grasp-of-physics to occupy it. Near misses and the occasional non-miss ensue to the accompaniment of blaring horns and angry incantations in both English & A-rabic.
The rain continues, so I too may remain home on the morrow or, should I be so inclined, I may attempt to visit one of our less waterlogged sites.
What makes this monumentally pleasant is that we had yesterday off too. You see, that fine example of a man George Bush, he of White House fame, deigned to visit these dark shores. Did the authorities plan? Nay, they did not. Did they exercise foresight? Again nay! Instead, at around 15h00, there came an edict saying that 4 of the 5 main roads would be closed, along with sundry bridges, tunnels and access-ways. Roughly 1.5 hours of nationwide utter confusion and consternation ensued and then there came a hastily conceived follow-up edict, declaring the day a public holiday. Yay! Thanks Mr. President – you can stay a whole week if you like.
In a country where the government gives itself plenty of days off, not to mention a 70% salary increase last year, whilst ensuring that the holidays applicable to expats all fall over weekends, a 4 day week is an undisguised blessing. A 3 day week is a Godsend. Add to that the rain and this is about as good as it gets. Even Andre the champagne (as consumed by gay lumberjacks) would be more palatable on such a day! Feel free to pop round with a bottle Carol, if you can makew it through the flood!
To our good friends the Kiggans, who recently experienced the lake effect in their garden in Winston Park due to faulty municipal drainage, take heart. At least you have drainage to be faulty and you had the attendance of waterfowl. We just have lots of water, even worse traffic and the spectre of a foul smell once the rain ceases and the newly formed lakes stagnate in spectacular style whilst awaiting the evaporative process of the sun's warming rays.
Would that the rain could cleanse the vile heart of this place but I suspect this is something only the rain of the Spirit of God can accomplish.
Well, that’s all the news from today. We shall continue to enjoy the rain and the feeling of the closeness of God it brings. Here follow a few pics..
Blessings to all.
Janene & I later took advantage of the windfall day off and enjoyed lunch, following which we sailed through the floodwaters to the school to pick up the kids, whereupon we were gleefully advised that the school would be closed tomorrow due to much leakage!
You see, in this place where nothing is ever done right, no-one bothers to check that adequate waterproofing measures have been taken and thus, on the odd occasion of precipitation, it rains both without and within! So the kids have a day off tomorrow.
The drains are an interesting sight to behold for in most areas, the beholding is somewhat academic as they are as plentiful as pork in a mosque. And where the odd drain is in evidence, it is clogged with sand and thus may as well not have been installed in the first place. The result is lakes of water everywhere. Now, the local A-rabs have no idea how to drive. And then it rains and they still have no idea how to drive. Much less how to adjust their driving to suit conditions. So they tend to veer all over the road to avoid the lakes of water and drive on one’s side of the road. Trouble is, one has had experience with rain driving and has come to the conclusion that one’s car will not dissolve should it encounter a large lake of water on the road, and thus one continues to drive on one’s side of the road. This means that one and Mohammad both wish to occupy the same piece of space (on one’s side of the road) simultaneously and anyone with a basic understanding of physics knows that this cannot be. However, Mohammad has no grasp of the concept of physics and , in a panic compounded by his irrational fear of the dissolution of his vehicle, attempts the impossible, resulting in the need for one to vacate the piece of space (on one’s side of the road) rapidly, in order for he-with-no-grasp-of-physics to occupy it. Near misses and the occasional non-miss ensue to the accompaniment of blaring horns and angry incantations in both English & A-rabic.
The rain continues, so I too may remain home on the morrow or, should I be so inclined, I may attempt to visit one of our less waterlogged sites.
What makes this monumentally pleasant is that we had yesterday off too. You see, that fine example of a man George Bush, he of White House fame, deigned to visit these dark shores. Did the authorities plan? Nay, they did not. Did they exercise foresight? Again nay! Instead, at around 15h00, there came an edict saying that 4 of the 5 main roads would be closed, along with sundry bridges, tunnels and access-ways. Roughly 1.5 hours of nationwide utter confusion and consternation ensued and then there came a hastily conceived follow-up edict, declaring the day a public holiday. Yay! Thanks Mr. President – you can stay a whole week if you like.
In a country where the government gives itself plenty of days off, not to mention a 70% salary increase last year, whilst ensuring that the holidays applicable to expats all fall over weekends, a 4 day week is an undisguised blessing. A 3 day week is a Godsend. Add to that the rain and this is about as good as it gets. Even Andre the champagne (as consumed by gay lumberjacks) would be more palatable on such a day! Feel free to pop round with a bottle Carol, if you can makew it through the flood!
To our good friends the Kiggans, who recently experienced the lake effect in their garden in Winston Park due to faulty municipal drainage, take heart. At least you have drainage to be faulty and you had the attendance of waterfowl. We just have lots of water, even worse traffic and the spectre of a foul smell once the rain ceases and the newly formed lakes stagnate in spectacular style whilst awaiting the evaporative process of the sun's warming rays.
Would that the rain could cleanse the vile heart of this place but I suspect this is something only the rain of the Spirit of God can accomplish.
Well, that’s all the news from today. We shall continue to enjoy the rain and the feeling of the closeness of God it brings. Here follow a few pics..
Blessings to all.
1 comment:
Stuart I am SOO glad you won! Your great writing ability should be recognised!
What a great prize too. Well done to Janene for encouraging you to enter.
Thanks for visitng my blog. It was great to hear from you!
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