Friday, August 24, 2007
Another day, another wedding
It's getting really expensive now...will people please stop getting married?
Last weekend, I was back in the UK once more, braving what we're laughably calling 'summer'. I thought after being out here for 8 months or so, that I'd really enjoy the cloud and rain.
Nope, it's still miserable.
The actual wedding was beautiful though, and it did stop raining just long enough to take the photos.
I got back on Monday night and was straight into work on Tuesday, so as you can imagine, on Tuesday night I was looking forward to a quiet night in. Fat chance of that, we had a powercut.
Powercuts in the UK are just a bit boring. In Doha, it's also unbearably hot.
The sun sets here at 6pm, so after that, me and the dog just sat there in the dark sweating.
Our next door neighbour went and sat in his car, at least it had airconditioning!
I used my noggin and did a deal with my friend Nick: I'll bring you pizza, if you let me share your electricity.
It's a win-win situation!
In fact the pizza was so nice, it was only slightly irritating that the electricity came back on about 10 minutes after we left...
Last weekend, I was back in the UK once more, braving what we're laughably calling 'summer'. I thought after being out here for 8 months or so, that I'd really enjoy the cloud and rain.
Nope, it's still miserable.
The actual wedding was beautiful though, and it did stop raining just long enough to take the photos.
I got back on Monday night and was straight into work on Tuesday, so as you can imagine, on Tuesday night I was looking forward to a quiet night in. Fat chance of that, we had a powercut.
Powercuts in the UK are just a bit boring. In Doha, it's also unbearably hot.
The sun sets here at 6pm, so after that, me and the dog just sat there in the dark sweating.
Our next door neighbour went and sat in his car, at least it had airconditioning!
I used my noggin and did a deal with my friend Nick: I'll bring you pizza, if you let me share your electricity.
It's a win-win situation!
In fact the pizza was so nice, it was only slightly irritating that the electricity came back on about 10 minutes after we left...
Saturday, August 11, 2007
New Driving Laws
As I may have mentioned before, driving here can be a rather hairy experience. So, in an attempt to improve things, some new laws have been brought in.
They're brilliant.
Rather than just a fine, bad drivers will now get points on their licence. If you get 14 then you lose your licence for 3 months. Then a further 12 points will get your licence confiscated for 6 months, and so on, the penalties becoming more severe.
There are lots of other things that you can get points for, including speeding (which will earn you 4 points), driving under the influence of alcohol (6 points) and the jackpot is 7 points for jumping a red light.
One offence is 'violating norms of public morality', which will earn your 3 points. 'Violating norms of public morality'? What is that? Is this when you drive naked? Or stick your fingers up at people? Or maybe when you sing along to ABBA?
Anyway, my personal favourite is 'driving in the opposite direction'. Considering that just about all roads here are wide 3 lane carriageways, it's pretty serious to drive the wrong way down them. I love the fact that it's mentioned as an offence - it shows how common it is here - and I love the way you only get 6 points.
This means you can drive the wrong way down a road, hammered, and only get 12 points. You won’t even lose your licence…as long as you weren’t speeding as well, or singing 'Dancing Queen'.
They're brilliant.
Rather than just a fine, bad drivers will now get points on their licence. If you get 14 then you lose your licence for 3 months. Then a further 12 points will get your licence confiscated for 6 months, and so on, the penalties becoming more severe.
There are lots of other things that you can get points for, including speeding (which will earn you 4 points), driving under the influence of alcohol (6 points) and the jackpot is 7 points for jumping a red light.
One offence is 'violating norms of public morality', which will earn your 3 points. 'Violating norms of public morality'? What is that? Is this when you drive naked? Or stick your fingers up at people? Or maybe when you sing along to ABBA?
Anyway, my personal favourite is 'driving in the opposite direction'. Considering that just about all roads here are wide 3 lane carriageways, it's pretty serious to drive the wrong way down them. I love the fact that it's mentioned as an offence - it shows how common it is here - and I love the way you only get 6 points.
This means you can drive the wrong way down a road, hammered, and only get 12 points. You won’t even lose your licence…as long as you weren’t speeding as well, or singing 'Dancing Queen'.
Sunday, August 05, 2007
Parents and anniversaries
Last weekend was my parent's 40th wedding anniversary. I was told to attend, or be disowned by the family, so I stayed in Doha. Sorry, that's my terrible sense of humour again, obviously being the dedicated daughter that I am, I flew back specially. I even gave a speech saying how great they were. Well, I gave a speech at least, I left the bit about how wonderful they were to my siblings. It didn't go so well...my sister accused them of child abuse. Anyway....
It was a really nice day: lunch for about 30 people in the New Forest Park Hotel in Brockenhurst.
It hadn't occurred to me how long it had been since I last saw some of my cousins...they'd had kids...and some of them had had more than one. My brother and his family came over from America. Little Alice is 2 and a half now, so I picked her up to say hello and she sneezed on my face.
Nice.
There was nothing I could really do after that, other than wait for my cold to develop. It turned up on Tuesday, predictably, when I was back at work. I have felt like death ever since and my voice has been 3 octaves lower than usual.
Today I am beginning to feel a little bit better, and I am very grateful that it's summer. There are no children here, they've all been taken to colder places, and even a 3 year old can't sneeze on my face all the way from Sweden.
It was a really nice day: lunch for about 30 people in the New Forest Park Hotel in Brockenhurst.
It hadn't occurred to me how long it had been since I last saw some of my cousins...they'd had kids...and some of them had had more than one. My brother and his family came over from America. Little Alice is 2 and a half now, so I picked her up to say hello and she sneezed on my face.
Nice.
There was nothing I could really do after that, other than wait for my cold to develop. It turned up on Tuesday, predictably, when I was back at work. I have felt like death ever since and my voice has been 3 octaves lower than usual.
Today I am beginning to feel a little bit better, and I am very grateful that it's summer. There are no children here, they've all been taken to colder places, and even a 3 year old can't sneeze on my face all the way from Sweden.
