Points for money

So the newspaper headline says,

POINTS SYSTEM PUTS CAR RENTAL FIRMS IN A FIX
(click to read full article which will open in new window)

and then goes on to explain how the new traffic rules in Doha are impacting rental car companies. Driving offences now carry fines and penalty points on your license. Rental car companies are able to pass on the fine to their customers, but not the points. Most renters are foreign yet somehow, the Traffic Dept requires that points be assigned otherwise the car in question cannot have its road permit renewed.

So here is the ..... I can't believe it ..... solution!!!!

The car rental company finds local drivers who are willing, for a fee, to take the points (the blame) on their license!

Given the small number of people in Qatar, and the growing number of visitors, here's hoping a proper solution gets worked out before these not guilty local drivers rack up too many points!

ps. I wonder how much they get paid!

Thanksgiving... or Christmas!

Shopping this morning for last minute things for our Thanksgiving turkey dinner and lo and behold there is Christmas music playing over the loudspeaker! So even in Doha Christmas comes early.



I have actually been quite surprised at the amount of Christmas decorations around everywhere, candy canes, Santa claus's and even fake Christmas trees. Can't say that I find any nativity scenes available - just all the commercial, non-religious Christmas stuff everywhere!

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's...

We had the privilege to see the UK Red Arrows fly over the Corniche today. They put on quite an aerial display for about a 1/2 hour. As you can see, they buzzed right past the Sheraton and inserted a bit of colour into the sky.


Yesterday, we saw the Formula 1 racing boats.

And last week we saw the French stunt planes. So othere has been a lot of very fast things making a lot of noise all around the Corniche! I wonder what next week will bring?!

Strange headlines

This was the headline of an article in a local (English language) Qatar paper...

EXPATS ALLOWED TO ASK QUESTIONS AT WORKSHOP ON HUMAN RIGHTS
(click to read full article which will open in new window)

I was curious (and scared) to think that it was newsworthy for expats to be allowed to ask questions!

The article itself is about a "two-day workshop ....on ‘Promoting Human Rights Culture in Qatari Society'." and has little to do with expats being allowed to ask questions! I have seen this before where headline and story don't exactly match. I'll try and find some more!

Where did everything go?

I woke up this morning to a world that had disappeared. At 6:45am there was fog everywhere, and I couldn't see a thing out my window. I live in west bay and normally I can see the ritz carlton, but now I couldn't see across the street.



Surprisingly, some of the tall buildings near city centre were sticking up above the fog, so it looks like there were about 20 stories worth of fog covering part of Doha.