Ahhh, summer in Bahrain, isn’t it lovely? Schools are shut so the roads are quiet and the drive to work – while maybe not a pleasure – is a bit less stressful. Bahrain’s annual migration has begun.
Like swallows sensing the change of season, thousands of expatriates take wing for cooler climates, leaving behind quieter roads, easier restaurant bookings and a noticeably calmer island.
With less footfall in the malls, they are significantly easier to navigate and consequently the summer sales appear.
The ‘home alones’ – fathers who have to stay and work – have taken up residency in their favourite clubs where they will nourish themselves until September.
For those of us whose children flew the nest some time ago the house is quiet, apart from the constant drone of the air conditioners, and the swimming pool is finally a nice temperature to blob in for half the night with a good book and a fizzy drink.
The downside is that it is just too hot to be outside. Apart from the pool it is too hot to sit on the terrace and watch the sun go down.
It’s too hot to BBQ. It’s even too hot to play golf although the hardy tee-off at 6am on a Friday to try and get it done before the sun spots them and fries them.
We become prisoners of the air-conditioned environment. We remove our jackets to go outside but we put them or shawls on to be inside.
While it’s 50C outside it’s a Baltic 21C indoors.
The electricity bill which is around BD30 in the winter months climbs to between BD200 and BD400 in June, July and August.
We get our ACs serviced in April because we have learned our lesson in the past.
An AC breaking down in August is not a lot of fun.
However, I remember ‘Black Monday’, on August 23, 2004 when the Bahrain power grid went down.
Someone forgot to set a particular switch at the right time and the subsequent over voltage condition caused all the safety switches to trip and the whole island was without electricity for between 16 and 24 hours.
We assessed the situation; we worked out that we had some battery powered lights we used for desert picnics, we also had a gas fired BBQ and a freezer full of burgers and sausages slowly defrosting.
So, we declared a party. We invited all our friends to come round and bring their unexpectedly warming beverages and we chucked all the burgers, etc., on the grill.
Then at the end of a rather pleasant evening, which would have been a school night but they had all declared off the next day, we invited our friends to sleep on our roof, which is a whole other story.
Just another example of turning adversity into opportunity. The moral of the story is that every situation can be resolved by having a party.
Enjoy the summer hic!
Jackie@JBeedie.com
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