Tuesday’s Dust Storm
I didn’t think Tuesday’s dust/sand storm was that bad – I was out, driving here and there (and everywhere LOL); you could see about a hundred meters, enough to stop. I was on side streets, mostly, not going all that fast and I never felt like it was that bad. I didn’t even think the tiny bit of rain we got was a problem (we need rain so badly) until I saw the outside of my car; it looked like I’d driven from Dakar to Paris; it looked hmmm. . . weathered!
My first sand storm was in Doha, Qatar. My niece and I were grocery shopping, and suddenly we saw people outside with their gutras and scarves wrapped around their faces like Lawrence of Arabia (you don’t see that a lot here.) When we went out, it was gritty. The air was full of sand, but you could still see.
Using our worst judgement, we decided to go driving along the Corniche. Hunhhh – there wasn’t a lot of traffic; we had the roads pretty much to ourselves and the wind was whipping and the sand got thicker and thicker and everyone we saw was covering their faces – at some point, good judgement kicked in and we crawled slowly back home, exhilarated with our sandstorm adventure. It really was a sand storm. There were drifts of sand all over the road.
In Kuwait, the grit is a lot smaller. These are mostly dust storms – your face is stiff and tight if you are out for any length of time, and I find I am having to wash my hair all the time, even twice a day, if I have to go out, because it is like my fine hair has suddenly gone coarse – the layer of dust adheres to hair and makes it thick and tangly.
Here are a couple photos from the dust storm on Tuesday:
I love the lushness of the palm trees thickly surrounding this mosque.
I love it that private citizens put up these sabilles, to provide drinking water to the thirsty. I love it even more when the sabille is beautiful, fun, or unusual in some way that takes it out of the merely serviceable and into the realm of imagination. This is a take-off on the huge Kuwait water towers, unique to Kuwait, a symbol of the city.
Light Haze at Noon
That light haze just keeps getting thicker and thicker and oranger and oranger. It is surprisingly cool and damp; I am used to most of the dust storms being HOT. A cool and damp dust storm means the orange dust is sticking to everything, to windows, to car windshields, to pavement. AdventureMan says it is piling up in drifts on some of the major roads. Be careful out there, my friends.
Recent Comments
Catherine on Donna Leon Crossing Cultu… intlxpatr on Ignoring the Law thani on Ignoring the Law Anon. on British Soldier Kidnapped, Esc… Reeva Mills on Cahors to Bordeaux, Preparing… Wikipedia Donate Button
Amazina
Early Voting in Florida
Here There and Everywhere 