Friday 1 March 2013

Day 150- St. Albans 2/3/13


Well, title must mean that I am home. Cannot say that I enjoyed the overnight flight to Doha, but I caught up on a couple of films and having wangled a seat by the exit meant I could stretch my legs out properly. (Anything like using BA or whatever was a non-starter as they were all fully booked, so I took the opportunity to save some money and add another country, Qatar, to the list).

Arrived in Doha at 07.00 and tried to get some sleep at my hotel, but not much more than an hour. Went out to "see the sights" but, as it was the sabbath, everything - apart from the mosques - was closed. Eventually found a sort of Indian restaurant that was open for lunch and had a great chicken and ginger, with delicately thin chapatis. (Probably a good idea that I did not choose curry with rice as you ate this true Indian style, with your fingers, but second helpings were freely offered).

As it was getting progressively hotter (goodness knows how the players will cope during the FIFA World Cup in 2022, but apparently Qatar will be using "cooling technology"), I retreated to my air conditioned suite. Not admittedly as stylish as the one Rose and Ian had for their last night in CT, but pretty good all the same - massive double bed, selection of sofas in the sitting room, well stocked kitchen etc. Quite a change from tents and hostels!

The tv had literally hundreds of channels but I could find only two English language ones, one being BBC World, but I got fed up of hearing about the effect of US budget cuts on Norfolk, Virginia, and endless weather forecasts for parts of the world in which I had no interest. The English language news from Kuwait was interesting - woman newsreader (no hijab), and obviously a decidedly middle eastern flavour to the news stories, most of which would never make it into our news in Europe. Then, at 19.00, subtitles informing everyone that it was now time for evening prayers - my local muezzin burst into life at almost that second. I soon crashed out, right through to when he decided to call us all to dawn prayers - thank you very much.

Anyway, that is about it. Back home this evening, somewhat later than expected, and no doubt the real world will start to click into life some time after I surface. Not sure I am entirely looking forward to it!

Anyway, I think that makes it the end of blog. Hope some of it has been mildly interesting, at least on occasions - bye!

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