The last time I did this, was when I was not driving a car in Dubai. No means of transport, buses were not my forte, taxis were too dammned expensive for daily use, and public transport in Dubai was and is shit. How do you commute.. Welcome to the life line of Dubai, the Abra.
I had vague memories of the Abra as I used to come to Dubai, once in probably five years. No one from Bahrain is interested to come in regularly, any ways. So what ever little you did, you either managed to see it or ride in it.
Move to Dubai, and with limited options and looking around for a job, with a need to even go to Deira, how best do you do it.. Ahaa.. You take a bus to a central point, walk up about 10 minutes to the creek, sit in an old boat running on a motor that runs under your seat, and with half your heart clutched in your hand (the other half in your mouth), you proceed. Five minutes, and you are on the other side. Finish your work, and back again the same way.
Get your licence a few weeks later, a car a couple of months later and bye bye Abra.. A mode of transport unique to Dubai, not used, simply because the car is so convenient. Flash forward, before you know it, a decade has passed and you have not set foot on it.
How did I land up there, simply because my nieces were in town, and we decided a unique experience would be the Abra.. Land up in Dubai, walk up to the creek and bang on.. there you are.. The same boats the same motor mechanism and off you go.. But differences exist.. You do not have the old stones any more.. I distinctly remember jumpingover stones nearly slipping on the wet rock, having no idea for the life of me, whether I would make it to the boat, or slip into the cold water.
Many a person has slipped, has fallen, however with time you overcome these obstacles and become a Pro.. After all with hundreds of people using this mode, and the error ratio below 1%, people were doing it right.
A trip down the creek, from Bur Dubai to the Deira stop and then onwards towards the Floating Bridge, underneath the Maktoum Bridge, with lights shimmering down the distance, it was a sight to behold. Memories flashed, the wind blew in the air, a cool breeze running through your hair, the water splashing across the sides of the boat, and seeing the fast lane running by, while we were using a transport mechanism at 1/10th the speed of the current day.. What can you say?
Words cannot express the feelings that one got, the time gone would never come back, however the memories remain. The blast of a time my nieces and my son had, has no price. A day of care free abandon, a day in the creek, feeling you are in the middle of the Sea, with no care in the world... Oh Dear, where did those days go??
