Tuesday, March 25, 2008

A Little Peak...

Air Conditioners to Dubai are as important as conditioner to those curly haired girls in the Pantene ads.

Indispensable.

There is always a little hum in the air of the city. You never notice it, till the power goes off (rare occurrence.)
When it does, the city is suddenly eerily quiet. And you lie on the cold marble floor trying to capture the last of the rapidly evaporating coolness.

That's what I remember about Dubai; the eerie silence and perfect coolness, as the future stopped for just a moment.

13 comments:

Crankyputz said...

More to come!

James D. Schwartz said...

I like how they do it in Brazil (According to a work buddy). They don't use air conditioners, they just keep all the windows open, and their buildings have lots of windows (Unlike most buildings here). When he came to Canada he couldn't understand why we don't open our windows in the summer.

SimplEnigma said...

That was a beautiful memory. I saw a picture of it in my mind's eye: A Dubaian (is that a word?) woman with her face on a cool marble floor in a dark room. How poetic.

Anonymous said...

Dubai must be a pretty hot place if ACs are so important. And pretty prosperous to afford so many.

Dee said...

@Jim
what do they do about the flies?

Jdid said...

yea but alot of places really overdo with the AC down there. Its no fun wearing glasses and going indoors and they instantly fog up because you're going from 38C to 15C.

I remember my first day of work down there. I figured warm climate just wear a short sleeve shirt. I almost froze to death. Had to drink coffee all day to warm up. Next day it was undershirt and long sleeves which was then fun when you came out at lunch into the 40 degree heat.

Marika said...

Brilliant! I love it.

Where i grew up we had 30 degree plus days for most of the year, but also with the humidity - 80% or above pretty much all the time. I hated it with the passion of a thousand suns...no pun intended.

James D. Schwartz said...

gc, I don't think they have flies down there because it's too hot :P

They probably just use fly swatters ;)

Crankyputz said...

Jim: Back in the day old Dubai houses were built in a sort of open concept and specifically to trap wind.

A bit of netting catches flies.

Jdid You right those malls are cold....br....

SE: Your image is close if you add a small girl, 8ish, pressed up on the cold floor...that was me...

Shimada Boyce said...

In the south, you can always hear the sound of Katydid's chirping all night long.

Before a good rain, they go silent. A very strange feeling.

Peace.

Moderator said...

I need to go and Google that girl from the Pantene commercial.

Abeni said...

jdid,if outside is 38 then the ac better be 15:)

Unknown said...

Dubai sounds like my apartment in the summer, hot!!!