When it rains ...

It all started last night at about 9 o'clock. Penri suggested we go over to Sparky's for dinner. It had been raining all day but because we were inside we didn't really notice it too much.

When we started out we saw the weather was bad, but decided to brave it over to Chetpet (where Sparky's is). We got there about 10 p.m. and had a lovely meal. When we got up to go, the rain was horrendous and we got drenched just running to the car (with an umbrella). We set off on our way home through huge puddles (nothing like I've ever seen before) and dodging crazy people walking on the road. It was really dark and the rain was still falling very heavily. It was so bad that we could hardly see through the windscreen because the wipers couldn't wash the water away fast enough.

We had only been driving about 20 minutes when our car shuddered to a stop (on a main road) - the engine was completely flooded and we couldn't get it started again. Penri had to get out the car and push us to the side of the road (where there was a petrol station). We waited in the car for about an hour, trying to start it every 10-15 minutes. It wasn't going to happen, so Penri got out and pushed the car to the back of the petrol station where we decided to leave it for the night.

There was no way we could get an autorick home as the weather was too bad and we still had a long way to go. So we decided to take an autorick to the Park Hotel and spend the night there. It also meant we weren't too far away to pick up the car in the morning. We locked up the car and walked to the main road where we had to cross over. The water on the road was up to our knees and we just had to wade through it to get to the other side. We caught an autorick (fairly easily considering) and went to the hotel. When we got there we looked like drowned rats. We actually squelched across the lobby floor to the check in desk.

We checked in and went up to our room. By then it was 12.45 p.m. We arranged a wake up call for 6 a.m. By 6.30 a.m. we had washed and dressed back into our still-soaking clothes (bad time to be wearing jeans!) We went and checked out and got a hotel car back to the petrol station.

When we got there, all thoughts of nearly being home, the car still wouldn't start!! We tried, and tried, and tried. Even the hotel taxi driver tried. In the end we called a mechanic. They told us they couldn't come until after 9 a.m. - another 2 and a half hours away. I then telephoned my mum in Doha to ask for her help. She tried to explain to us where the distributor plug is so we could dry it out but I couldn't find it. Then while I was on the phone to her a miracle happened - Penri managed to get the car started. So I got in and we slowly made our way home. It was kind of a scary trip as Penri didn't want to stop the car in case it stalled and we couldn't get it started again. So every time we came to a red light, he was revving the engine constantly and all the other drivers around us were looking at us like we were mad.

We finally got home just after 7 a.m. and now having showered and changed I can relax and be glad to be home. 'There's no place like home'.