notes from a few years of living between Muscat and Sharjah
Yes, it's that hot. Today was 46 and the humidity on the coast makes it feel worse. Getting into a car that's been parked in the sun is a specific kind of pain, and you learn to open the doors and wait a minute before sitting down.
What summer actually looks like:
Everything happens early or late. Walks at six in the morning, groceries at eleven at night. Supermarkets are open late and full of families at hours that would be strange anywhere else.
Malls stop being about shopping and become the park. People walk laps. Kids ride scooters past the shoe shops.
The tap water in the cold tap is warm. Not lukewarm, warm. Fill a bottle and put it in the fridge.
A lot of people leave. The roads get quiet, the restaurants get quiet, and the city feels a bit like a weekend for two months.
Then sometime in October there's one evening when you go outside and it's just… nice. And everyone is out at once, on the beach, on the corniche, like someone announced it.