Malcolm in Abu Dhabi

That's my 'handle' among the podcasting community; my sibillantly sonorous comments on Adam Curry's Delta Sierra Charlie show are thus signed. However since 'Malcolm in Abu Dhabi' is also 'Malcolm in Munich' (doing really interesting stuff!) the process of re-adapting after five years to a Western-style office culture is both ongoing and fascinating. Bukhara, insh'allah is not the way things go here in Germany. In short, there's little down time during the day for leasurely blogging, let alone podcasting.

Does it indicate a severe lack of inspiration if I post yet again on the subject of the weather? I'm not actually a weather junkie, really. (Those of you who are so afflicted might be interested in the device shown above, found here on WiredNews.)

Re-adapting to winter in Bavaria has been easier due to the milder than normal temperatures. Downtown on Saturday I watched the stately passage of a burbling Brabus-tuned white Mercedes SLK, a convertible and with its top down. Similarly topless a few minutes later was a sporty BMW with two attractive female passengers, not topless but in expensive furs. It was about 13 degrees Celsius in mid-afternoon.

Meanwhile in the Gulf News I read this:

According to the met office, the temperature during the day in Dubai is not expected to pass 20 degrees Celsius on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and the night temperature is forecast to drop to 16 degrees Celsius. The high winds are a result of the Shamal wind, a wave of high pressure that funnels through the Gulf between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

The sandstorm warning comes just as the UAE is recovering from three days of heavy rains earlier this month, causing widespread flooding that resulted in traffic chaos across much of the Emirates.

Okay, maybe there'll be a dramatic icy blizzard here. January is over but winter isn't.