It was overcast in the morning and this afternoon it rained. Fairly hard at times. Now it is cool, around 14 degrees and light rain.

The thing is, it doesn’t soak in. I think there is like fine clay in the sandy soil so the water stands on the surface. And generally there is no drainage in parking lots. Two days ago in the morning when it rained, I had to do a big contortion to get into the back of the car as I was parked in an 8 cm puddle!

Interesting article. A lot can be read “between the lines”.

CNN.com - Rice criticizes Syria at Mideast summit - Nov 12, 2005

Wow, I woke up around 2:00 a.m. to a noise. I figured either somthing blew up or thunder.

Then waking up this morning, yes, it rained! Clearing up now.

And the car was parked in a huge puddle. I did a major contortion to get into the back seat without getting soaked feet from the 8 cm or so of water it was standing in. Thanks to the remote which opens all doors.

They have no drainage systems here in general so water stands everywhere.

The desert has lots of standing water now and I’m told the flowers will come and maybe even mushrooms which are apparently a delicacy here.

And, it is apparently like the earliest every that rain has come. It smells nice and fresh outside in the office here. I’ve opened the window. You can do that here in all places even though they are air conditioned.

That’s all for now.

After the weekend, an early start on the day. A bit cool and there were a few raindrops on the car. I had to clean the window of the dusty splotches. I don’t know it it was dust from within the raindrops as the rain falls dirty or standing dust on the windshield that got drops of water on it.

So not really raining, just some drops. Enough to make the road slicker.

And, a few more drops hit the windshield while pulling in at the office. It is now, middle of the day looking overcast.

That is all for now, just finished lunch, salad, baked chicken, beans and potatoe.

Back to work!

Daoud Bros

And:

http://www.daoudbros.com/english/min.php

I went to the Aquarium today.

Check out their web site here.

It is quite a nice facility. Some animals and fish I’ve never seen before.

Some interesting photos. And a good story here (pdf).

Peter Menzel Photography:Iraq 2003

In response to the question. I am eating more and better vegetables here. Because of the large Asian and Arab population here and the location close to warm places there is a lot of fresh produce. In the markets there are fresh vegetables, fruit, dates and nuts etc. from India, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, South Africa and imports from North America. Also some more cheese varietys typical to the region (read soft goat cheese). There is lots of Lebanese style food and sweets.

Oh and there were some very good African coffee blends at Starbucks during Ramadan also.

Food is not too expensive. If you go to the main hotels etc. it is very costly, but if you go to the ones that the non-westerand and non-Kuwaitis go to it is cheap. Imagine that the Asians here make from 5% to 30% say on average of what Western expats make.

I’ll put together a better listing and update this after the next shopping trip.

Yesterday I was in the market sampling some pistachios and a local in a dishdash (that is typical Arab local long white dress and head band) and said something. I said, “Pardon me?”. And he said, “These go great with beer“.

Note: Clicking on any of the images in this post takes you to a larger version.

Yes that is sand drifting across the road.

Finally, Mr. Ian makes it to the office. In there before 7:00 am. I leave at about 6:10 to make it there by then.

Today at Kubbar Island. Nice weather, calm seas, but …

Horrendous visibility. And a good stretch of current. First dive, visibility was about 1 meter. Did see a large grouper though.

Second dive, was low vis also, for a bit was better.

A note on the water temperature. It is dropping fast, 4 degrees since last week. This week I wore the same 3 mm wetsuit plus a hooded 3 mm vest underneath. I was plenty warm when finning into the current at the end of the first dive. But on the second dive I felt the coolness, not in the core thanks to the vest, but in my arms.