Ladies

Now that we are more firmly established in Qatar we are naturally becoming used to seeing ladies exposing rather less of themselves than may be usual in many other places around the world. Each to his own, say I. Although perhaps I should be saying each to her own in view of the tone of this blog.

Nevertheless we do note that the changing fashions over various decades may well lead all to look the same in the reasonably near future.So it is quite nice to see that as yet there remain many delightful young ladies who are still keen on delighting the eye of all who may see them, for whatever reason, their own amusement, the viewers pleasure or just to ensure a reaction from those more elderly amongst us. My own fear is that if I see too many of these charmers my bloodpressure readings will be rather higher than I would like.

Of course, as a "rebel" in my youth, I also tended towards ripped, torn and faded jeans; of course the rips tended only to be around the knees (I taught the Ramones how to dress). It is a fact that I never completely forgave my mother for throwing out a pair of faded and smooth brushed denim flares I put in the wash and giving me money to buy new ones. After months of hard labour getting them just how I desired I was less than happy! But mothers tend to have different ideas on dress than their teenage offspring, do they not?
But with all these tempting spreads of pulchritude almost everywhere in sight I fear that an older style of wedding may well be forced to come back into fashion.

Useful?

We have now been in Qatar for a week and at last I drove to work along the Corniche to a clear sky. Previously the dust in the air made it sufficiently irritating that we only went to Malls and the Souq (and restaurants). And what fun the Malls can be with quantities of the most amazing things but it is important to remember the thought expressed below.This is perhaps well expressed in the assortment of pictures here. I am sure that the owner of the building with the halt spot half way up the wall is not impressed by the usefulness, if any, of the road (wall?) markings.
Equally, and remaining with transport, the look on this young rider's face expresses his clear and strong belief that to have something unique is perhaps not the be all and end all in life.
Americans, of course, do sometimes tend to excess and we can do no more than look upon their wonders and consider our reaction. Although in this picture it is reasonably obvious that the lady is very definitely considering whether a unique hat can overcome a perceived lack of usefulness.
Of course being intellectually gifted is also to be somewhat unique. And how many times have we seen the lack of commonsense in those who undoubtedly appear to be our superiors in brainpower.

Whine

And here we are in Doha, with me once again back working and rather wondering how long it will be to get an alcohol licence, so I can get into the pleasures of wine at home rather than having to visit expensive hotels for the occasional spot of refreshment.

After all there are those who can take delight in group access to wine baths and yet there are those pitiable creatures such as myself who have very little chance of such good cheer and free flow that is conducive to happiness.
And when I think of my pal Jon back in UK enjoying a jar with the looser sort of lady (?), I feel positively miserable. This is not actually of Jon, having rather more hair than he, but the smile is identical.
There are plenty of hotel bars in Doha, although I am informed that the difficulties of single women under thirty getting a visa means that the charming available ladies there-in then to be slightly shopworn mainland Chinese; but being a man who tends to enjoy a drink in company with decent food I tend to agree wholly with this charming young lady.