Last updated January 13, 2008, 16:00, Gulf News: Monday, January 14, has been declared a holiday for public and private sectors in Dubai due to the closure of some main roads, bridges and tunnels.

I would suppose this is because of the bad weather and scattered rain showers all over the city since Thursday last week. Dubai’s roads are not made to sustain prolonged rain showers and a 10-minute rain would create “black and murky little ponds” here and there. Plus, the traffic!

~ the sun peeking at 7:30 am ~

I went to the Immigration Department today to renew my mother’s visa and I waited for three hours for taxi. All the roads were clogged and there was no taxi available so I got on a bus instead. It took me 2 hours when in normal days, the journey would be just 30 minutes maximum.

~ rain and heavy traffic on the roads ~

We’re one year here in Dubai today (sorry for bringing it up so many times!) so it would be a great way to celebrate it by not thinking about battling the traffic tomorrow morning.

President Bush is here in the UAE and if for any reason tomorrow is a holiday because of him, he should come and visit once in a while often!