Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Highway

So, I managed to get back to Scotland in one piece. Flying back to Newcastle was fairly uneventful. The guy I was sitting next to mostly slept all the way which suited me fine. I didn't need to get up to let him up. The only 'issue' was the fact that the flight wasn't parked at the terminal in Dubai but at one of the remote bays which is a 20 minute bus ride from the terminal itself. That does my head in and mostly that's because I know it's coming and I know how long it takes. I had something similar when flying back to Edinburgh from Paris but it was quite exciting because you didn't know which plane was actually yours nor which bay it was.

But, got into Newcastle OK and managed to get a train back up the road within 10 minutes which was a bonus. Only enough time for a coffee at the train station. I got back to Edinburgh late afternoon which was fine.

The funeral wasn't until the Wednesday (I flew home on the Monday) so I had Tuesday to myself which meant a trip into town to get some essentials and a visit to my best man. Always a pleasure going down to visit him and his new family.

Wednesday had arrived and all I could hear was the wind and the rain lashing against the window. Not a good start to the day and not really the conditions you want when you know that you have to bury your granny in a cemetery. This weather continued like that until perhaps 11am. We were due to leave for the Church just before 12. I got myself ready and by the time I was up and ready, the sun started to poke through the clouds. Perhaps it was a sign from my granny. In saying that, it would have been her revenge to have us soaked!

The car then arrived just before 12 and we all got in. The long road to the Church.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Condensation

About time to get this back up and running after an unexpected trip back to Scotland. Before I get onto that, I must mention the equally unexpected torrential downpour we had the other night. Yes, I know that is hardly 'news' - it's only rain and everywhere gets it. Granted, that's true. But when you live here you can safely say that you do not get rain in April. Ever. Well, ever since I got here, it has not even come close to raining.

Even right upto the moment that it did, I still didn't believe it. It had been cloudy but that doesn't really mean anything. They come and go and invariably, the 'clouds' are merely dust and sand. However, around 8pm it went for it. And so did the thunder and lightening. We were out on the balcony checking it out. It kind of spat rain at that point but then it did start to chuck it down. We then retired to the living room and switched the lights off. It was an excellent thunder storm. Very bright! Eventually, the rain stopped and there were no further flashes. And we thought that was that.

How wrong.

Around 11pm, I was in bed and close to sleep. Suddenly the most almighty noise scared the living bejesus out of me and woke me. I was bolt upright. It was thunder and it was inside the bedroom!

Then the wind and the rain. I've never seen rain like it nor wind and that's saying something - I'm from Scotland. This went on for about 30 minutes. Massive thunder and lightening and a lot of rain. Finally, it abated and everything returned to normal but there must have been accidents and damage to something. Must have been.

I later found out that the wind reached 100 km/h which is fast. Also, a couple of smaller aircraft - 'smaller' i.e. a 737 or similiar were moved in the wind. The next morning, all was calm yet the clouds remain. Maybe more rain is on the way?