There really was mixed sentiment about the Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol movie. I for one loved it but I fully understood the reaction of many, that alongside the glamour and excitement of the scene-stealing Burj Khalifa, it did portray our fair city as a place with camels in the street and ugly orange sandstorms. I felt kinda proud that so many were so protective of how the city was portrayed and for once we stood together in defence of a common cause. That said, I am sure we all groaned when sandstorms hit us this week on the back of that big fat momma storm a few Fridays ago that added a degree of support to the image on the silverscreen.
Always brimming with entrepreneurial spirit, I now wish that rather than moaning in my apartment about the restrictions the sandy blizzard had imposed on my best-made plans, I should have hot-footed it down to Old Town and set myself up as a wannabe magician like David Copperfield. I feel sure I could have scammed many out of their tourist money by claiming I had made the world-famous tallest tower disappear before their very eyes.
Every cloud does indeed have a silver lining… opportunity lost now I think about it! I guess that the sandy downpours are our equivalent of those depressing English wet weekends when rain and winds dampen all collective spirits. For all those that have a remote romantic vision of English weather, feeling it must be great compared to constant heat and sunshine, take the sandstorm as the closest equivalent example that we can offer.
It's not just the inconvenience of the weather condition, it's the effect it has on our Mojo… especially when it hits on a weekend. The severity of the condition makes many of the outdoor places re-think the point of opening up their usual attractions, and those that do open doors are battling the sense of negativity from patrons who venture out regardless. But I will say I marvel at the photo galleries, snapped all over town of almost post-apocalyptic visions that add a touch of drama to our otherwise rather idyllic lifestyle!
There is a saying that "only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun" but I can tell you that as an (mad?) Englishman with an equally mad dog, we both looked at each other when venturing out on our regular Friday "walkies" and realised we would both rather have the blazing sun testing our eyes than the sharp, irritating dusty particles! The lucky thing for all of us is these sandstorms only hit sporadically rather unlike the rain in the UK that is omnipresent like cups of tea and fish and chips.
Storm-in-a-g-cup-ingly yours,
G*Nice
