Whew it's hot!

You know it's hot when:

The weatherman on the radio says casually, ".... and in Al Ain it will be a dusty 48 degrees...."

It's in the high 40s every day, almost all day

You almost expire when you hop into your car after work

The road outside burns you feet through jandals (flip flops/thongs)

Your car key is hot enough to burn when it comes out of the ignition

The aircon doesn't cool your car down enough to stop you perspiring profusely on the way to work

You come home from work, flop on the couch under the aircon and nod off for an hour or so

Gym time is later in the evening

It's too hot to swim

You wake up at 5.30am and can't get back to sleep because the day's heat is coming through the window

It's still in the 40s at 11pm

The tile floor in your bedroom feels like it's got underfloor heating

The ice you bought at Lulus is melted before you get it to the car, ok so I forgot my cool bag

You can make tea from the water in your water bottle after leaving it in the car for a couple of hours

The streets are deserted from around lunch time until just after dark

You have to take your drinks inside at the Rotana because the Margarita is melting

You sit outside in a sand storm because there's a promise of some rain

So suffice to say it's hot here at the moment, I thought hotter than last year but others say no. The upside of the heat is that the fruit is ripening and plentiful in the shops and the dates are wonderful, nothing like fresh dates hot from the palm especially with gahwah (Arabic coffee).

This morning, because I woke so early, I decided to take a walk before it got too hot. My Mac told me it was in the low 30s. It was wonderful to walk around Jahili Park so early, to see others out taking a constitutional and get hellos and smiles. What I really enjoyed was the wonderful morning light on the fort and the palms laden with ripening dates with the sprinklers watering the grass in the back ground.

The photo here is of the ripening dates with capture bags over them. These have a draw string and are emptied as the ripe dates fall from the bunches, someone very clever thought of that idea. The bags also keep the birds away and watching the men shimmy up the palms to collect the dates is a treat.

PS I just checked and it's only 44 now so it's a cooler day today, thankfully.