They're Baaaaaack

About March or April, this town started to empty. People were getting laid off and leaving the country. Where there used to be long stretches of traffic for miles - now it was free flowing and easy. The rumors were running rampant! 1,000 cars a day were abandoned at the airport, holes for new building foundations were being filled in, cranes were being dismantled, the only projects left would be high visibility government projects like the Metro and Burj Dubai.

Everyone was sure that come the end of the school year, thousands more would leave and never come back. Slowly but surely the city seemed more and more empty. I returned in July and it seemed like I was one of just a few people here. Parking was easy, restaurant reservations were available, HUGE sales were on enticing folks to buy. But no one was here. And we all wondered if folks would return.

It's normal for the city to empty in the summer. Kids go home with one of the parents, lots of people here take 4 or 5 week vacations back in their homelands, and the only folks left are those who have to be. But this year, it seemed different - it REALLY was empty. And no one was sure if people would come back.

Ramadan started in the middle of August - and a lot of schools decided to delay the first day of school until after the end of Ramadan. Our school returned for about 3 weeks and then we had a 1 - week break. All during Ramadan, everyone would wonder how many people were really coming back.

And so, for 3 weeks now, we've been back. Ramadan is over. Swine flu delays are over. The hot weather is finishing. And . . . they're back. Traffic hasn't recovered to pre-meltdown days. But certainly we're back to the traffic levels of March/April. It took me an hour to get into work today - and earlier this summer it was taking 20 minutes. Oh well - it was nice to have the place to ourselves for a little while.