It's hard work but someone's got to do it

Good Monday everyone!
Shame you cannot see the grin on my face... hi hi

The fact that here Monday means the middle of the week is immaterial, I no longer work. As most of you know my stint of remote working from home for a UK company came to an end in January so now I am free, free like the air.

So how do I spend my days? I hear many of you saying. Don't I get bored? Sometimes, but then that can happen at work too so ain't complaining. For now anyway.

Back to “How do I spend my days??” Good questions because I haven't quite had the time to think about it ;until now that is. With the maid that sorts out the house chores, apart from those that I have stubbornly kept mine for some reason, like feeding the cats, cleaning their litter tray and doing the clothes washing (I have resorted to never leave the laundry to a maid again after the one in the last house we lived in managed to turn my favourite yellow t-shirt into a blue-ish green optical aberration!), with the Arabic course finished and level 3 not starting until after July (I passed level 2 with over 80% marks by the way which makes me really proud even if I still can't understand more than a couple of words here and there when I hear the locals talking..), a break from Yoga since my mum was here recently, I really don't have much to do these days.

Take today: I've just come back from lunch at Caffe' Vergnano with my Italian friend, will now spend a couple of hours compulsively surfing the internet, spin a little bit more of my network web, finish my manicure, read the local free paper, watch a bit of trash on the Italian TV this evening (yes we have two satellite dishes now and all the trash that comes with them!!) and then another day will be done.

OK it is not always like this but this week that's it. I've found that it's not easy to find work over here unless you are in some niche field (construction??). The reality is that you don't look for work, it finds you, through networks and luck. I had an interview with an IT company a little while ago (again through a friend) but when I heard what IT pays here my mind wandered elsewhere; it's the downside of living close to the Asian subcontinent; ain't going to get out of bed for that, let alone spend a minimum of 45 hours a week locked in an office with the key thrown away. ;) although I'd probably do it for something else more fun... like diving for instance. :D

Last week an opportunity came up to accompany some Italian people on a business trip around the Chamber of Commerce to help with the lingo (isn't it great that at this day & age there are businessmen that engage into international business without speaking a word of English? It gives work to everybody!). Unfortunately it was all called off just the afternoon before so I didn't get a chance to go. That's the way here, always factor in the unexpected. Shame I was looking forward to that diversion and an opportunity to expand the network.

Opportunities are out there waiting to be found or to find me so I don't worry too much.
I am moving my little octopus tentacles slowly around the Muscat community so that I can feel the water without stirring the bottom too much. In the meantime I will continue to enjoy my freedom while it lasts, having a go (and fun) at playing a Muscat (not too) desperate housewife (with sunglasses).

PS: On another note it's getting very hot here. Hot means:

• I have to turn my car engine + A/C 10 minutes before getting on so that I don't evaporate as I enter the vehicle. Unfortunately because I have a C*@p rent-a-car it still takes another 10 minutes before the air is cold enough, so I loose two litres of water for the first 10 minutes while I drive off because I can't be asked to wait any longer.
  
• You get 3rd degree burns from the steering wheel of your parked car
  
• You go to the beach and stay in the shade (and soon that won't be bearable either)
  
• You sweat faster than you can drink
  
• You have to have your last dinner at open air restaurants before they all close for the summer by mid May.
  
• The washing on the line is dry by the time you've finish hanging the last item... (almost)
  
• No cold water from the taps but you can choose between hot (blue tap) and very hot (red tap)

Green Turtles

The magic unfolds during the dark hours of the night. Visits times at Ras Al Jinz are 9pm for an evening tour or 4am, just before sunrise. We did them both, you cannot take chances with nature. When it comes to wild animals as always, a sighting is never guaranteed. Apart from the tiredness that resulted from this it was was all well worth it.

At 9pm we turned up at the visitors centre, got out tickets and waited patiently for our group's turn. You cannot use your own torches on the beach to avoid disturbing the nesting turtles or confusing hatching little ones that follow the light of the horizon to find the sea. With no moon on sight we stumbled towards the beach following the beam coming from our guide's torch.

Turtles turn up on the beach between sunset and sunrise to lay their eggs. They engage into an exausting feat lasting two hours during which they dig a meter deep hole to cover it again once the eggs are laid and then leaving another disguising hole a few meters away (to confuse the numerous predators that turn up with in the hope of finding a nutritious banquet).

It is a privilege to witness such magnificent creatures lay their eggs or the small hatchlings frantically moving about on the sand instinctively following the call of the sea. One cannot stop wondering at the amazing ways nature manages its caulderon of life.

It is an amazing story of survival, our guide gives an informative talk. Apparently from 1000 eggs only a handful turtles survive to reach adulthood; seagulls, crabs, foxes, fish, man (fishermen nets, boats and other stress), pollution (especially plastic bags in the sea) everything conspires against these magnificent animals that only start laying eggs at around 30-40 yrs of age and live to approximately 80 yrs of age.

Their name (green), the guide explains, is due to the colour of their fat caused by their mostly vegetarian diet. The eggs hatch after about 2 months and although they are laid at the same time (about 100-200 eggs per nest) it will take about 3 to 5 days for all the turtles to leave the nest as they leave in small groups.

They only come out in the darkness of the night. The guide explains that as they dig their way up they will only surface the last few inches if the sand is cool. Warm sand indicating that the sun is still shining.

The most amazing piece of information however must be that the sex of the turtles is determined by the temperature of the sand during the incubation period: if the sand temperature is under 29c the eggs will produce all male turtles, if the sand is over 29c only femails will be born; however if the temperature is 29c then the sex of the turtles from that nest will be mixed. That is why the nests closer to the water will tend to produce male turtles and the ones further away will most likely produce females.

Once the little turtles reach the sea they will have the energy to swim without stopping for 3 days. They will swim to safer places into the deep sea. They will wander the seas travelling for thousands of miles (tagged turtles from Oman have apparently reached Australia) to come back to the very same beach they were born on to lay their eggs every 3 years once they reach their mature mating age.

We finished our night tour at about 11pm. At 11:30 pm we were back at our hotel along the beach in Ras Al Hadd only to get out of bed again at 3:30 am for another visit to Ras Al Jinz.

The dawn viewing was very different. Firstly we had a bit more light with the moon up and the sun not far under the horizon and then we were allowed to stay on the beach at the end of the viewing, watching sun rise on this beautiful stretch of coast. The best bit however was probably seeing one last small turtle that having lost completely its way (probably from the night before) and incredibly surviving against all the odds a long way from the sea, it was saved by a spanish couple who was there with us. They placed it delicately on the beach near the shore and we watched it using its last energy to frantically reach the sea and swim away.

We'll never know if it made it but it was such an amazing spectacle to see it clearly under the light of the sun rising.

We spent the rest of the day swimming and hiking in Wadi Shab. Needless to say we were exausted by the end of the day and we were in bed by 9pm. It was all worth it!

Sand and sea

Just a quick note to say that the rain went a while ago and left room to the usual beautiful blue sky.

Of course we've been busy taking my mum up and down the country and having lots of fun; that's why I haven't had time again to update the blog.

Some photos on flickr.

Back to the rain!

A quick post to let you know that we are back.


My mum is here visiting and I have little time to spend on the Internet. I am taking advantage of the fact that she's crashed in bed, probably too tired after we were woken up by the heavy rain and thunderstorm this morning just before 6am.

Yes, rain. While skiing I smiled at the idea that now, going back home after a holiday means back to the sun, the sea and a relaxed lifestyle. Yet after 12 years in London the tradition could not be broken.

After just a few days we were back we were faced with a severe weather warning which also resulted in the government giving a two days holiday to the public sector. Can you imagine the British Government announcing a holiday because it's sunny?

Of curse those who benefited from this last minute holiday (that with the weekend meant a 4-day break) were more than happy to stay at home, others panicked and started rumors about a new cyclone...many rushed to the supermarkets and emptied the shelves in a food and water purchase frenzy.

For us it is just the usual worry of the leaking windows at home although this time I have stuck duct tape all over the place and although unsightly it seems to help a lot.

Yes for an entire week now it has been almost constantly cloudy and it has been raining heavily intermittently. On the day that I took my mum to the Souq there was a horde of Italian tourists just disembarked from a cruise ship on their guided tour of the city, I could hear one on the phone talking to someone at the other end complaining about the rain.."good job it never rains here" she was saying "we got soaked yesterday and so did our bags, we are exhausted".

Then I met a friend of a friend at the supermarket in the evening, he has a visitor staying with him for just a week. I cannot imagine anyone more unlucky, coming to Oman to get some sun and enjoy the sights and all he gets is rain and roads that flood due to the lack of drainage! It's been the worst week of the year so far!

We almost cancelled our trip to the desert this weekend but in the end we decided to go anyway so now we've seen the desert under the clouds and the damage caused by the rain at some of the wadis we decided to visit. A reminder of the fierce force of water and a good way to learn what the danger of flash floods in wadis during rain fall really means.




It seems that there is some more forecast for heavy rain today (although it was sunny today it may rain again tonight) and some drizzle tomorrow but hopefully (at least for my mum's sake) the weather should be back to normal after tomorrow.. (can't wait to go back to the beach and we need dry weather to camp on the beach this weekend!!).




If you ask me I've already had enough of this unexpected diversion but if you go by the local standards apparently this is "good" weather.....








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