Gloop

It's everywhere. A thin layer of incredibly fine dust has coated any exterior surface. The car was a light grey colour this morning and we drove out into a strange otherworld, the tiny particles so small they're suspended in the atmosphere like a mist.

People scurry past, handkerchiefs held up to their faces, eyes squinting. The ghostly atmosphere bears down on you, the dusty gloop everywhere. As drive inland it gets worse, the blanket denser. Everything's greyed out.

Apparently the gloop is sand from Saudi Arabia, blown here by the seasonal weather patterns, highs and lows conspiring to whip the sands of the huge desertscape high into the air, the finest particles scattered in a corona across the Northern Gulf.

We've had the damndest weather this year, high winds a couple of weeks ago followed by a warm snap that saw temperatures hitting a most unseasonal 35 Celsius, giving way to high winds last night and now waking up to this soupy atmosphere clogged with powdery sand particles in suspension.

Can't wait for the frogs and locusts...