Off to the parking lot!
The UAE weather has already gone too hot these days but still manageable to get some steps on the pedometer and to take advantage of the free parking space in a park nearby. For a few months, I managed to save AED315 ($85.59) per month on parking fee but that meant I had to walk about 10 minutes to get there. That was fine when the weather was good. Also, it let me get some good photos of the recently developed community square. Remember the Shadow Hunters post I shared a few weeks back? A couple of the photos there were taken from one of my walks there.
Bike Lane
Electric scooters have recently become a preferred mode of transportation for quite a few expats here. If there's a way to avoid public transport during this pandemic, then scooters and bicycles are the way to go.
The good news is that the municipality has made a conscious effort to make the roads safer for these cyclists and pedestrians by giving designated bike lanes.
Here's a photo I had taken from one of my previous afternoon walks. The 5 o'clock sun gave these fountain grasses a great shadow too beautiful for me to pass.
Mr. Sun was still mightily shining at 5pm but the road workers were ready to call it a day. Their bus service was waiting at the lay bay while I was just on my way to get my car so I can fetch my "passengers" too.
See those big shadows? Of course this photo was taken as a Shadow Hunters exclusive. ☺️
After fetching my passengers, I had to again park my car at the free parking overnight. See, that's the problem in owning a car, but not having a garage (and not wanting to pay for parking!)
Below is a 6pm photograph. See how the sun was still up and gave these long shadows. These days, the sun sets at around 6:45pm. The days will still get longer as the summer progresses.
That's how my day would normally go by. Although, for a week now, since the beginning of the Holy Month of Ramadan, I stopped leaving my car at the park. The afternoon sun is already so hot and since office hours are now shortened, that would mean I had to go out at 3pm. That's so hot, reaching up to 41°C these days. Mind you, we are just it's not even officially summer yet. The shade from this tree looks comforting though...
How about you, how's your day?
This post is my entry to the OCD Community Boost Contest highlighting the Shadow Hunters Community. For more information about the contest, you can check out the announcement post here.