Last Saturday the atmosphere started to get a little manic when a brown haze settled over the city.  At first I thought it was pollution but by mid-day the wind had picked up and sand was swirling all around.  The drivers were crazier than before, people were edgey, and the billion stray cats in the city decided to come out and sing in unison.  That evening I could barely see the green lights of the mosques as I was standing on my balcony and when I went to bed I could taste the sand in the air.

The next morning it started to rain – nice to make everything fresh but think about where all that floating sand is going to go.  This is the first time in my life when I didn’t wash just the fruits and vegetables I bought at the market, but also my bags of pasta, jars and cans of other stuff.  Before now I haven’t been a fan of vacuum wrapping everything but now I get the point.