When the Heat Settles In and the City Empties Out

Then summer came, and with it the heat, and the city seemed to empty.

By Neil Solomon · 3 min read

Picture a couple named Dennis and Joan. They have settled into a quiet city on the coast of Oman. The winter was easy. Then summer came, and with it the heat, and the city seemed to empty. Neighbours left for the season. Streets were quiet at midday. Dennis and Joan looked at each other across the living room and wondered what to do with the day.

The accounts I read from people in Oman keep coming back to two words: quiet and hot. One writer called the place far from home. Another said the city empties in summer. Both described a restless feeling, the kind you get when the days are long and there is not much to fill them.

I think this is worth knowing before a move, because it is a part of the year that the photographs leave out. A place can be lovely for much of the year and test you in one season. Many of us picture a retirement as one long, even stretch. A place with a hard season is more like two lives with a gate between them.

Two ways to read it

Some people find the empty season restful. The pace slows and there is time to read, cook and keep the house cool. The quiet suits them.

Others feel cut off. When friends leave, the sense of being far from home grows. The writers I read who felt this way were not unhappy with the country. They were missing company, and the heat took away the easy walks and chance meetings that make company.

I do not think one reading is the right one. It depends on how much you need other people nearby, and how well you handle being indoors.

Dennis and Joan had a version of this talk in July.

"It's like the whole city went on holiday," Joan said.

"And we didn't get the memo," Dennis said.

"Do we want to be here for this part?"

"Maybe next year we plan something for it."

Planning for the hard season

What I take from these accounts is that people who did well with it had a plan for the season. Some travelled during the hottest weeks. Some picked up an indoor project. Some made friends with others who stayed. A season you plan for feels very different from a season that happens to you.

It could also help to ask a question before you commit: where would I spend the hardest months if I could go anywhere? If the answer is "right here, and happily", that is useful to know. If the answer is "somewhere cooler", then the real choice may be a home plus a second place.