Saturday, July 2, 2011

The fog

It's all gone a bit dusty in the air again in the UAE. I think it's been worse than I first came here.  Maybe the heat makes it worse.  According to the ever reliable Khaleej Times, sand and dust blowing in from Iraq is responsible for the current haze. 
Here is a picture taken yesterday just around the corner from the flat showing the reduced visibility:

Makes the Burj Khalifa look even more like an alien structure that's forced its way out from the centre of the earth.

It's confusing for the senses because being a Brit, I associate fog and mist with cold. It's a bit odd driving through it in an air conditioned car to then get out into the sweltering heat. It's effectively a cloud cover which means the temperature has dropped a bit but it's still fairly toasty warm. 

In other news, there's a story doing the rounds, presumably provided by WAM, the Government news agency, telling parents not to lock their children in their cars in 40degree heat while they nip to the shops. The story crops up because a large proportion of emergency calls in summer are from people saying: "Erm, I've just seen a child locked in a car and it's like 40degrees. Er, they're probably going to die, hlas." Apparently no kiddiwinks have suffered any ill effects yet but obviously the authorities are worried enough about it to issue a warning. 

I got used to writing up releases from the RSPCA saying "don't leave your dog in a hot car" when I worked for British newspapers.  It's a bit of a worry that people have to be told it's a bad idea to leave their children unattended in a hot metal box during an Emirati summer. 

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