Offski

I’m off to California for a couple of weeks. It’s going to rock. I’m going to have fun. I won’t be writing in this blog for a while. But thats cool because no one actually reads this anyway…

British MPs living it up

Is anyone else finding the dabacle of MP’s expenses as hilarious as I am? I can’t think of a better story for the media to have right now. Gordon Brown is forced to apologise, David Cameron smuggly says one of his MP’s expenses are wrong, then has to fork out for his own wrong expense a couple days later. I just find it terribly amusing. Perhaps because subconsiously i know i have the luxury of not paying tax right now. But on a serious and more disturbing note, the thing that worries me is the fact that these expenses were even paid. Who was looking at the reciept and deciding that it was reasonable for an MP to have his swimming pool repaired by the tax payer? The problem i think lies with the expenses system. I mean if you could get away with putting in such an expense (assuming you own a swimming pool) and get away with it wouldn’t you? After years of using and abusing the system and having no reprimand for doing so it’s no wonder that so many ridiculous expenses have been claimed. Anyway, its about time they were brought into line. It’s all the bankers fault anyway…

Ramada incompetence

Last night i was enjoying a few beers with my friend in the Ramada, Doha. At last orders i decided to have one more Guiness so ordered it from the waiter. About 5 mins later i thought, actually i don’t want this beer. So i go over to the waitor and ask him to cancel the order. I cannot sir was the response. Why? Already in the till. But you haven’t poured the drink yet so can’t you just cancel it? (something i know can be done from working a bar myself) No. Manager comes over. I want to cancel my order. No you can’t. Why? It’s already in the till. Well i don’t want it so i’m going to leave. You haven’t poured it yet so what the problem. No sir you must pay or i will “take action”. Which i presume meant get the bouncers to stop me leaving. After arguing for a few minutes one of the bar staff starts to pour the Guiness. Can you believe this? THis is something out of a Ukrainian strip joint in the Ramada Hotel. So i take my beer and drink it and pay £8 for the pleasure. After about 5 minutes the manager comes over to try and justfy why he did this. Already in the till he crys. Piss off and leave to drink this drink that i did not want in peace you complete idiot was the response from me.

Complaint is to be raised to the management.

Naughty Americans

It seems that the land of the free is not as free as you might think.  According to this article in the Economist America locks up 756 people per 100,000.  Compare this to Iran at 222, Britain at 151 and Japan at a very well behaved 63 per 100,000 and it makes you wonder.  Are Americans more badly behaved than residents of other nations?  Are people locked up for more minor offences?  Is this due to the high gun ownership level meaning offenses are more serious and require longer jail terms?  I would be interested to know the story behind some of these figures.

Reasons Unknown…

For some reason one of the biggest sources of visits (i’m talking about 3 visits a month which is a lot for this blog) to my blog is an Indian legal discussion blog.  I don’t know whether to be concerned or not…

Time Travel

Time in Qatar passes quickly. The first month seems like an eternity. The next 5 pass normally and then you start going into warp speed. Now i’ve been here over 14 months and it genuinely seems like i’ve been here only a few months. Very strange.

The main reason for this is my routine. Wake up 5.30am. Leave for work 6.20am. Start work 7.00am. Lunch 12.00. Finish work 6.00pm. Home by 6.40pm. Maybe hit the gym, shop or stay in. Bed at 10.30pm. Repeat.

Infact its so monotonous it’s strangely comforting. I just end up counting the days until my next holiday. Infact i can tell you its in 13 days… I often joke that i’ve been in Doha 8 weeks because each time i leave for a week it seems like only a week has passed since the last time i left…

Crazy Rain

Over the last few days it has been raining. Becuase this is a rare occurence the drainage systems on the roads are not quite up to the task and the streets flood leaving water sitting in puddles until it evapourates.

One particular stretch of road that i use to commute to and from work is unpaved so it is actually rather muddy and has pools of water almost the size of Loch Ness on it. This leads to people driving at about 2km/h through the puddles because they don’t understand that cars can actually go through puddles above this speed. So i went through this puddle overtaking all the other cars (as i usually do). This time one gentleman was for reasons unknown to me very upset about this, chased after me and pulled me over. He got out his car and opened my passenger door (at this point i was a little worried) and shouted something in indian (not sure which language). It turned out he had unfortunately had his window open as i had driven by and had been sprayed with water. I apologised and he walked sheepish away, perhaps realising that it may have been a good idea to close his window before going through this large puddle. I couldn’t stop laughing for the rest of the journey home.

Sandy in Qatar

There is a sandstorm going on here today.  I saw it come in and to be honest it looked like either there was a huge fire in Doha or someone  had let off a bomb.  But no it was the dust rolling in.  And seriously within about 30 seconds you couldn’t see 20m ahead.  The sand gets everywhere including in your mouth with is a very strange sensation.

India

I managed to escape Doha again to visit India. Unfortunately i was due to leave a few days after the Mumbai attack. However i was travelling to the south so i wasn’t too worried about getting caught up in the following mess.

We flew into Kochi airport after an hour and a half of cruising in a holding pattern due to fog over the runway. Tense times onboard but after an aborted landing and the captain informing us that 2 other planes had redirected to another airport we landed safely.

After 2 hours in line at customs ( i think because 4 flights landed shortly before and after us) i was hit by India. A great clamour of faces and colour awaited us at the exit to the airport. The presence of Indian army commandoes carrying large machine guns was also a very stark reminder of what had happened in Mumbai. It was into a taxi for a terror ride into Fort Cochin (Fort Kochi). Drivers here have no qualms on overtaking. Even if there is a large truck coming the opposite direction and the 1.0 litre engine seemed incapable of powering our car past we somehow made it. I thought driving in Qatar was bad!

Walking on the Corniche

Earlier this week I went for a walk along the Corniche.  This is a promenade along the sea shore of Doha.  It’s only recently been comfortable to do this.  On my walk I can across 3 indian men wading in the sea.  They were brandishing spears which they had poised to stike in one hand and a torch in the other which they were shining in the sea.  Clearly they were fishing.

However what struck me as odd was not this primeval display of mans hunting skill but the fact they were doing it next to a 6 lane highway and ultra modern 50 storey tower blocks.  Where else in the world would you see this?