Method in Madness

Something resembling a plan is emerging. The second extension of my contract at Jazeera ends on July 31. I'm booked to fly to Dubai and spend the first week of August there, sorting out visa and accommodation bits and pieces. Then back to Qatar, to spend a few weeks planning for next year and for IBC, and all the logistics of extricating myself from rent & utilities contracts and generally shutting up shop. Then the London and Amsterdam IBC trip in September week 2, followed by a week or so at home, before setting off for the next venture, most probably in Dubai but possibly Oman. We'll see!

Sumer is icumen in

Yesterday was about as hot as it gets here. The radio had warned that temperatures were going to hit 46C and the general consensus was that 46 was a conservative estimate. My after-lunch walk around the perimeter of Muntazah Park, a total distance of no more than a mile, must have cost me a litre of dehydration over and above the high beetroot hue. The odd thing is, I like it.

Too much information

 

Only in England would someone take the trouble to make a slate message board like the above. It's mounted outside a small second hand shop on Malvern's Bellevue Terrace and seemed, today at least, more or less to sum up the difference between Malvern and Doha. There should be no need to enlarge on that.

Another visa run

Today, at 1145, I fly out of Doha. At 1230, I land in Bahrain (pronounced as the answer to the question: Handel, what is the falling wet stuff called?) Then, at 1330 I leave Bahrain only to arrive back in Doha at 1415. In Bahrain, I will not leave the aircraft. This performance, ostensibly to generate a new entry visa in Qatar, is really all about generating a little extra revenue for Qatar Airways. 750 Qatari Riyals, to be precise. But why do they not open a little air-side office where you could be stamped out, stamped back in and turned around in ten minutes, saving much unnecessary air travel and wasted time. They could charge 500 for it and everyone wins. There's a small franchise for somebody with a rubber stamp.