The Landy Saves The Day!

Well, what an exciting weekend!

After a somewhat mundane week at work, we decided to head back to the beach for more BBQing and this time a night of camping.  Sadly, my weekly visit to choir had to be cancelled in lieu of tent purchasing.  After a tour of the various supermarkets, we arrived at Carrefour to make our selection.  We were not disappointed!  We are now the proud owners of a small, green, canvas tent.  After some deliberation, we also decided to purchase sleeping bags (not entirely necessary in these temeperatures, but rather comforting all the same) and an air bed.  Well, I have never had such a good night's sleep under canvas.  The air bed was worth every baisa.  Even Joe pondered why everyone didn't take one camping with them.

We headed straight to the beach from school and were not disappointed.  We set up camp without much trouble and proceeded to grab a quick dip before food.  Once again, fine BBQ fare was had, although this time without the aid of the moon.  This did not temper our desires for a swim in the dark, and once more we had great fun.  The illuminating microorganisms were out in abundance, lighting up the water as we splashed about.  Truly amazing!  We were still slightly puzzled by the lack of moon because we had all seen the almost-full moon only the night before.  After some deliberation as to where it should be and where it could be, Joe decided that the only logical explanation was that it had not yet risen.  By jove, he was right.  At approximately 8.30pm, we watched a strange red-ish light glow on the horizon.  After several calls of what it might be, including a rock, the moon rose quite dramatically into the sky iluminating our little camp site.  So there you go... the moon rises in the same way as the sun if you are on the correct bit of coast.

We settled for a nice relaxing sleep only to be disturbed by a group of Hummers with a dune buggy who had decided to spoil our idyll with the roar of their engines cutting through the still night air.  It wouldn't have been so bad, but at least one got stuck and proceeded to rev furiously in an attempt to free itself.  Hmm! 

After a morning dip, we decided to pack up camp and head for home.  The beloved Land Rover was, sadly, also stuck well into the soft beach sand.  Having moved it forward to aid with the lack of moonlight, the wheels were well and truly buried.  Fortunately, we have the trusty plastic grips and a rather helpful setting on the car (oddly not the 'sand' setting, but 'rock crawler') to aid us on our way.  Here comes the really exciting bit...  One of the other cars in our party, a mere Toyota Yaris, had managed to also bury itself in the sand at the edge of the beach.  Given that the sump (apparently that;s what it's called) was wedged into a dip, there was no pushing it out.  So our beloved Landy came to the rescue.  Fortunately, also in our bag of off-roading tricks, we have a selection of tow-rope.  So, armed with tow rope, we proceeded to attach the little Yaris to the tow hook on the back of the car.  I ably observed (someone has to do such a strenuous job) while Joe set about the retrieve.  Without even breaking a sweat, our beloved Land Rover pulled the little Yaris out of it's sandy home and back on to firmer ground.  We were proud.

Nothing quite so exciting has happened today, I'm afraid although we are having satellite installed as I type.  Yet another quirk of Oman, very little is open during the day on a Friday, but you can get a satellite dish installed within a couple of hours of them opening on Friday evening.  As you can imagine, Joe was as excited as a small child at Christmas and is still up on the roof now holding the lamp for the electrician chap.  (Our torch with the power if a million candles ran out of charge... it now has the power of a small birhtday cake!) 

Back to work tomorrow, but not many weeks left until Eid holidays.  It's the 40th anniversay of the current Sultan's reign, so we are waiting with bated breath to find out when the national day holiday will be too!  With all of these holidays, anyone would think these teachers never actually bothered going to work!