It's a beautiful time of year to be in Bahrain. Perfect and sunny, normal humidity and gorgeous nights, the pool is no longer a warm/hot water reserve and provides refreshing respite. Rewind back three months ago and I can tell you it was the most stinking hot summer I have ever managed to live through, not to mention seriously humid.

The summer sun in Bahrain burns with what feels like the fiery intensity of a zillion suns. Our vacation in Vietnam provided a much needed break from the heat, it was still hot, just a lesser hot than what we were experiencing. Being the weather enthusiast I am, I monitored the changes (or rather lack there of) in the temperature. I can say without exaggeration it never got below 30 degrees ever for a whole three months!

It got so hot that even maintaining personal hygiene was a hazard as showering between the hours of 10am to 6pm mean risking second degree burns because the cold water was scalding hot. The water infrastructure in Bahrain leaves a lot to be desired, it seems very much a cruel prank to burn unsuspecting novice expats who turn the "C" faucet and expect cold water. There was never any cold water!

I did not even dare leave the house to put out the rubbish. Some days were so sticky and humid that if I walked out of an air-conditioned place I was immediately blinded by condensation formed so thick on my glasses it was like walking in fog.

During one of the many summer power outages we sat in the stairwell to have our dinner by candle light as our place felt like a wood fire oven, situated in the centre of the Earth, encapsulated by the sun. Good times!