the weather report	pre war Kuwait kuwait diary

sea moods

November 23, 1988 Now that the weather is cool the sea looks dark blue-green. Although it seems to be just as sunny as in summer and it's certainly cloudless, the sea is dark. While in hot weather-I guess the air is whiter then-the sea can be the most beautiful light turquoise, like a swimming pool and just as placid, the lukewarm water licking the shore's lip so gently. Yet during a cold, windy, stormy day, I've seen the sea white and churning with waves as big as the Pacific's waves, seemingly trying to rip out the fish traps, as though irritated with their oblivious imposition on the water's edge. These wild waves hit the man-made sea barriers of piled boulders or cement pilings and break themselves violently with a white spray straight up into the air.

dust & a violent storm

March 15, 1989 The weather here is very dramatic. This afternoon all of a sudden it went dark-a yellow, nuclear dust dark-and within minutes the wind had whipped up and sand was blowing, shaking the windows and thrashing the trees. When the dust is thick, the electric lights all look blue, outside and in. And the green traffic lights look clear blue. The sandstorms are violent and frighteningly unpleasant while the dust storms are oppressive and suffocating-deathly quiet and yellow. Both give me a headache with their seeping dust which creeps into even a "sealed" air conditioned flat and fills my lungs and makes me feel as though I'm not getting any oxygen. Awhile back we had the most violent thunderstorm I've ever been in. It came suddenly too, with lightning that made the eyes ache from abrupt dialation because of its flashing brilliance-like a camera flash. And thunder that cracked the sky so loudly that the windows rattled. And then came the strongest wind-it felt like hurricane force-which blasted in gusts which bent over the trees and made the building shake. I was really afraid at moments. I was out on the balcony watching, standing back out of the bombardment of painful, huge raindrops each one of which splashed 2 inches wide, watching, marvelling at the melodrama, the force of the storm, and watching for the blinding bolts of lightning which backlit a crane, at a nearby building site, which is topped with two steadfast Kuwaiti flags left over from National Day. When a bolt would serrate the sky behind, the crane and its flags stood out sensationally. Then, the crane moved ghostily, silently with the direction of the wind, swinging slowly first in one direction, then moving back 45 degrees, then on 45 degrees more. It was like an enormous weather vane. That was before the quarter hour of hurricane gust hit.

gorgeous

March 19, 1989 What a beautiful day today! When I need a fantasy of perfect beauty I'll be able to think of today. The sky is blue and sprouted with billowing tall white clouds. The sun caught behind one of those clouds made a spray of sun rays out around the edges of the cloud which of course was also silver edged. A heavenly picture. It's warm and sunny but the with clouds moving. And I found myself in a shadow but looking ahead at a cluster of earth-toned buildings lit brilliantly by a patch of sun, with dark clouds contrasting behind. It looked like a warm spotlight on that patch. And then, though it was sunny again on me, a few clean sprinkles of rain began to fall. That must be perfection: clear blue sky, billowing clouds, warm sun, and clean raindrops. And of course the sea is a beautiful silvery blue, smooth but with the tide running in neatly. I love to see the sun on the buildings with a dark sky in the background. It's so sparklingly clear today-the polar opposite of the choking, suffocating dust. I can see the sharp line of the horizon on the sea and bright white boats moving across, leaving a trail of white foam behind them. Men have mostly changed over to their white dishdashas and Ramadhan begins in 2 weeks. Yet it's cool today.

the strangest weather i've ever seen

Easter Sunday March 26, 1989 Yet another fascinating weather manifestation-unlike anything I've seen so far. It started off just very windy, with blowing sand and dust-the kind of day I despise. I went in to work but found I wasn't really expected-Tuula and Varghese not there-so I cancelled my 2nd class and came home, depressed, wanting to hole up. Now, this afternoon, am getting a taste of what nuclear winter really would be like. It's even windier now than before, so that the trees are bowing over and the TV antenneas on top of the buildings are threatening to come down. The sky is alternating from orange to thick yellow as it is covered over with dust-towz-but on the ground it's perfectly clear and dust free. On the horizon over the sea I can see light, so the dust isn't touching down anywhere. And the dust must be mixed with or itself covered with clouds as the orange sky now is flashing lightning and huge drops of rain are splashing down now and then. Thunder is rumbling and the whole brown-orange canopy is charged with blinking light and the wind is thrashing angrily, like a trapped wild thing, under it all. Very exciting. It's dark and only 3:00 PM. The lights look blue. Now I'm remembering the time it rained mud. Combination of towz and rain, but no wind like today. Weird. Šjanice adams pedlars kuwait travel writing abu dhabi family photos album home