Rum Hotel River in Flood

The thaw is well and truly underway after yesterdays snow. I have mentioned it before that the street construction in Amman chanels all the storm water down the middle of the street instead of having gutters at the edges like we do. The picture is from outside our hotel about 5 minutes ago showing Rum Hotel River. Because we are on a hill it is fast flowing and when you cross it it will flow over the top of your shoes. We went for a walk this morning and the main shopping street on yesterdays video has an ankle deep fast flowing river before you try and cross its 3m width. You really do have to watch out for vehicles coming because they are not slowing down because of the water. We worked out a 2m splash margin is about right - most of the time.

Reminiscing about warmer times have added a another video from our trip to Petra on Waitangi Day when it was 30C. Some of the new team members were supposed to go there today but the mountain pass is closed and Petra itself has 600mm of snow.

Before our walk this morning seven of us took two taxis down to the main Police Station to get our visas extended only to find that another public holiday had been declared because "it was cold" and the visa office was closed. It means we will have to take another day off and sort it tomorrow, as long as it's not too cold for them. Our visa expires on Tuesday.

Nothing more to report except we are both catching up on reading, mixing with the team and having lots of laughs. Us Aussies and Kiwis work well together taking the mickey out of the Americans who sometimes look really offended until they click. The Canadians nod in appreciation, and the Belguims are far too serious.