EDITOR’S LETTER

FFor a city that’s pretty much bathed in sunshine all year round, it’s amazing just how big a topic the weather actually is in Dubai. March saw our usual diet of sun, sun and more sun interrupted with a series of huge downpours, coupled with incredible thunder and lightening shows, causing the emirate to go into meltdown. Streets were flooded, events were cancelled, and the huge rumble of thunder was only marginally louder than the rumble from folk complaining. “I didn’t sign up for this!” They did, of course – we all did – and given the aforementioned usual yearly sunshine, personally I think we can have little complaint. In fact, if I had my way, I’d have more of it – yeah, that’s right, I like it. Have that. I’m northern English, it’s what I’m used to – if it’s not raining there, it’s snowing – so if you’re reading, cloud-seeding scientist boffins, you just crack on.

Someone else used to rain, being northern English, like myself, is New Order (p86). The Manchester band, my favourite ever band, plays in Dubai this month, and I have no words to describe how thrilled I am. Rain, snow, or a force-nine hurricane won’t stop me from being front and centre at the one.

April is, of course, also a massive month, weather wise. It’s the last month of great outdoors weather before the summer sun kicks, the showers will be gone (boo), so there’s no better time to get out there and go exploring. This month, What’s On has done exactly that, with our guide to exploring all seven emirates. From hole-in-thewall restaurants in Ajman, to diving through hidden caves in Fujairah, we’ve done it all.

Whatever you do this month, and whatever the weather, remember – we’re very lucky to live in a great city, to get out there and enjoy it, raincoat included or not.