Well I nipped back to London last week (in an 11 hour journey kind of a way) to see friends, catch up on weddings and hang out with family. I think I sat next to an arms dealer on one of the flights - he was working on a powerpoint presentation about defence spending in Saudi - though he can't be terribly successful since he was in Economy. I did all the things I love in London and miss in Doha like drinking copious cups of (normal) tea with my sisters, drinking in pubs, getting wet feet in rain, buying art books, going to exhibitions, visiting architectural salvage shops, buying cakes at Borough Market and eating pies cooked by my Mum.
I am perturbed as I write this. I have just returned from a shopping trip to stock up on expensive face cream where the sales assistant automatically assumed I required the FINE LINES product. Are people that blunt in London? I asked whether she thought I needed anti wrinkle moisturiser. She looked at my face, and declared that it was never too early to start counteracting the signs of ageing! Cheeky. To add insult to injury, the anti wrinkle version was about £20 more expensive making it exorbitant rather than merely pricey so I opted for wrinkles. As I was paying she came rushing up to me with a free sample of Anti-Ageing Serum which implies that she was fearful of my descent into old age. Or she hopes that I am sucked in by the Serum and spend half my salary on creams from now on. Her calling me Madam throughout did not soften the blow.
In less personal news, we spent yesterday visiting The Pearl - 'an island rediscovered' - which is Doha's answer to Dubai's World or Palm(s) . i.e. not rediscovered so much as invented, reclaimed if you were being generous. It's still very much under construction and isn't the most beautiful architecture ever. In fact bits are quite ghastly architecture but as a place to spend the afternoon strolling along the 'boardwalk' (made entirely of concrete) in the sun, sipping hot chocolate it is brilliant (as long as you avert your gaze from the hideous advertising teasers).
I say a stroll - if that seems a bit taxing there are golf buggies to drive you the 50m from your car to the boardwalk.
All that is currently open is a couple of cafe booths and some banks - once it opens properly we will not be the target market unless we suddenly develop a taste (and the cash) for Armani, Cavalli, Ferrari etc.
Professionally, I have been working almost entirely on a project for a major Qatari gas company which means I spend my days in their office trying to work out how to use their computers and how to obtain a cup of tea. A request for 'tea with milk' produces a sickly thick liquid, so i now go for 'red tea' which is what I would call black tea with sugar. As a result of this adventure I have upped my quota of Qatari-contact exponentially and have spent as much time talking to male and female Qataris in the last 3 months as in the previous year. As everywhere else most are hardworking, focussed and competent; others are not. All are courteous and straightforward. Working on a building site highlights that the white thobe men wear doesn't look quite as good with a hardhat as it does with the traditional head-dress, and that a black abaya is the perfect outfit for heavily pregnant women (I hadn't even realised until she stood up).
I actually sloped off work this morning for a couple of hours in order to go to a lecture at the museum by Oleg Grabar who is the Grand Fromage of Islamic Art and Architecture academia. I was introduced to him just before the lecture and squirmed whilst he asked me what buildings I was working on - I don't think a curtain-walled high-rise tower cuts it when compared to ancient mosques. The man is a legend. Since I went to a lecture last week about Islamic Textiles this place is culture crazy right now. It can't last.
Off I now go to consider my wrinkles and read The Times, which Mr A gets through his work but is not immune from the censors.......
P.S. I got the cats castrated. I felt kind of bad, but they aren't letting a lack of balls affect their ability to whine, be cuddled and break things so don't feel too sorry for them.
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