Precipitation!

On our weekend Neville decided it was time to get a little culture so took us off to an Art Installation that had been recommended to him. It was called The Rain Room...

The Rain Room is a unique modern art installation, offering an inspirational and magical experience for visitors. Created by the London and Berlin-based Random International, the Rain Room is now permanently located in Sharjah. The installation has been displayed at the world’s most famous museums, including MoMA in New York and Barbican in London.

It was a surreal experience to walk through heavy waterfall and not get wet (apart from the odd drop). We had 15 minutes with just one other small family to wander around in our allocated time slot. As you walked slowly across through the water it clears ahead of you. I have learned there is also a Rain Room in Melbourne - although perhaps wait until Australia is vaccinated for Covid!

Whilst I am writing about rain - the UAE has only 100mls of rain annually (and we thought SA was dry)! It is the desert after all. I was therefore surprised to hear a conversation at Pilates about the likelihood of sending up the aircraft to start 'cloud seeding' because it was an overcast day... On the occasional cloudy day - if the clouds are suitable the UAE version of the Bureau of Meteorology send up aircraft fitted with flares 'that fire out salt crystals into convective clouds that have an updraft, hence creating rain'. Whilst the efforts of cloud seeding were very minimal here over the weekend - there is another significant impact of rain here.

The problem with rain here is that none of the crazy drivers here (that I referred to previously), know how to drive in wet conditions on greasy roads. There are more accidents in the rain than in the dense fog. Alerts go out everywhere warning of impending rain and the need to slow down and take more care! As it turned it didn't get too wet but we have decided it would be judicious to avoid driving if there is even a chance of rain!