Both are exotic here. Golf. And rain. And I got some of both today.

The European Tour begins its season in the Gulf. First here, in Abu Dhabi, then over to Qatar and Bahrain, then back to the UAE, at Dubai. (Did you know the world’s top-ranked player, Lee Westwood, spends most of his time on the Euro Tour? It’s catching up with the PGA Tour, for sure.)

The Desert Swing, as it is known, gives the Euro Tour lucrative Gulf markets to tap into, and some nice January weather.

Well, at least in theory.

Here is the piece I did today for The National on the fan experience at Day 2 of the tournament.

What made it all a bit odd was the rain. From an actual rain storm. And not just a tropical front that blew in for 20 minutes,  dumped scads of water and disappeared — which was our experience during our first winter here.

This was, yes, a real storm. A slow-moving persistent one of the sort you would see in Southern California. Clouds … dark clouds … a bit of drizzle … a bit more serious … and then almost an hour of real rain.

You know how people in SoCal figure it will never rain on them? (Because it so rarely does?) People feel the same way here, except moreso. Especially those who come from wetter climes. (Which is to say, nearly all climes.)

A couple from New Zealand whom I talked to had seen the clouds, had noted that the temps were under 70 (bone-chilling!) … yet they went to the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship without umbrellas or hats. And I can’t say they had reacted poorly because it never rains here. They had been in the country for 10 months and never seen real rain, and when they mentioned that it struck me, “Hey, that’s right. It has been that long — last March. Early.”

So how were they to know that this one time a few clouds would actually produce rain? They scrambled and got a pair of umbrellas and some hats for their two small children, and they were fine. Also because it stopped raining from 11 till about 2.

Those who were outside at 4, when the serious rain began, got soaked. Not that it was unpleasant, really, because there is no such thing as cold rain here. But nobody likes to walk around in dripping shoes and clothes.

I was happy to be inside the media center at the time; the pounding of the rain on the tin roof made for quite some noise. But it had blown over by the time I left the course, at about 7.

In other weather news … our new apartment leaked almost not at all. A pleasant and surprising change from the Teeny Apartment, which leaked like a sieve.

Here, it was limited and mild — out of the sill of the big window that opens onto the kitchen. They don’t really seal those things here, and the water gets trapped in the tracks for the window, then leaks between the wall and the metal sill … and down to the floor.

But it wasn’t a massive flood. One dish towel stemmed the flow.

So … so far so good here.

And for all we know, we could go another 10 months without rain. Even if this is “the rainy season” … it wouldn’t be a desert if we got more than 2-3 inches a year.