This coming August, friends of ours from Essex are coming to stay with us for a fortnight, during the English school hols. He is English, his wife is Filipina and they have 2 boys. Personally I think they’re mad but it will be good to see them. In August, daytime temperatures here can reach about 50 degrees C, with 40 + a certainty. That will certainly rule out many outdoor pursuits, even going to the beach. During May-September, even night-time al-fresco restaurants such as at the Sheraton Al-Shatti and outdoor grill at the Safari Club at Grand Hyatt are closed because it’s too hot at night. Camping by the beach and also in the desert and wadis is also only done October till April.

So, I’m planning things to do with them while they’re here. I think their holiday (and mine as I will take leave to match their holiday) will be basically a/c house to a/c car, a/c car to cool covered place – in other words, not much time outdoors during daytime. I reckon I’ll be doing a lot of driving around and looking for covered places, with being outside restricted to around 30 mins at a time. We can visit places like the Grand Mosque (3rd biggest in the world, with the biggest chandelier in the world and 2nd biggest carpet in the world etc etc), Muttrah souk (with its abundance of Omani silver), various gold shops, hand-made Persian etc carpet shops, Amouage perfumery (where they make the most expensive perfume in the world), Rustaq fort (and other forts), various museums, shopping malls, restaurants, movies, driving to the mountains (which are pretty near), watching the start of the new EPL season on TV, going to the pub etc etc.

So I think there’s things to do, but we’ll try a cooler (???) day or evening for the seaside or swimming pool !