Strange days

Strange days

• By G* Nice
• Published: 00:30 February 15, 2008
• 

January is always a strange month, don't you think? I mean after December with all the parties and revelry and fireworks, January is traditionally pretty subdued and low-key. But January 2008 was nothing short of surreal.

There were many contributing factors. I personally had just returned from a New Year trip to Los Angeles, resulting in crazy jetlag. If crazy jetlag isn't bad enough, I am also a borderline insomniac – so the combination of difficulty sleeping with early bird rising at 3am was trippy. Imagine, I couldn't tell if I couldn't sleep or needed to wake ... I was like an owl with the split personality of a crowing chicken. My friends and loved ones bore the brunt of my condition because to occupy my time constructively between the hours of 5am and 7am I was the busiest of beavers sending texts and e-mails and making compilation CDs of my new hip-hop tunes.

And if jetlag-insomnia wasn't challenging enough – we had a holiday (the day George Bush came to town) to get our heads around. It was the most welcome and unexpected of public holidays in the first place that literally came with no notice, so that itself was a little disorientating. I don't know if any of you ventured out of your homes on that day but it was like something from a sci-fi movie – deserted streets, no cars, tumbleweed blowing down the alleys ... really strange.

Whenever I see some of those futuristic kind of movies (like I am Legend), where some deadly virus has wiped out the entire framework and civilisation of a big city like London or New York, I wonder how I would act if I were the lone hero left behind. Unlike Will Smith in Legend, I don't think I would let myself go, grow a beard and wear shabby clothes. I think I would be the absolute opposite. Despite there being nobody to impress apart from rabid zombies running around with jam pouring out of their mouths – I would make sure that I had the most 'blingy' of cars because of course I could just go to the showroom of choice and drive one away, and that I was wearing the freshest clothes I could find. Imagine – whatever you wanted absolutely free. The only price to pay is zombies and a lack of company.

I took a bit of a detour there … where was I? Yes, Weird January. One of the contributing factors thus far was jetlag-insomnia ... but the biggest one of all – the rains came again!

Have you noticed how with rain as a backdrop (in our case it was so heavy it was both a front and back drop!) it totally changes the whole perspective on the city. It was bizarre. I have made this point before that coming from England, I would be totally happy never, ever to see rain again my whole life. Fact! It still bemuses me when my colleagues get all misty eyed when the rain starts to fall, bestowing a kind of romanticism on what is just awful weather. I tell them straight, if you never want the romance to end then visit the UK – you will be in love your whole life.

What with everything, it was a January that I couldn't kick out of the door quick enough to welcome February with open arms. I am hoping for days of blazing sunshine, warm evenings, too much traffic, too many people ... back to the reality that we know and love so well!

- G* Nice... is a Dubai-based columnist who writes an exclusive column for Friday

- Folks, just in case you want to get back at G*Nice, please do.
E-mail: friday@gulfnews.com He will return the favour and then you will get back at him and he will get back at you ... before you know it, you have a friend. (Believe that?!!)

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