Friday night in the big city

 It’s Friday in Doha where the town shuts down until sundown to observe the prayer day.  Evening is crazy busy.  We went to dog beach today taking Kathy’s three dogs to play on the sand, water and mangroves.  There are very few places to let a dog run off leash and the “beach” is the place of choice for many people.

It’s not much to look at but there are several kilometers of sand and mangroves to play in.  The sea is so shallow that you can walk out several hundred meters before the water approaches your knees.  

Spent a lot of time helping Kathy reorganize her utility closet and patio.  Storage is limited in these villas, so you think up what you want, go to IKEA on line, order what you want and tomorrow at noon it will show up—free delivery and set up.  Stopped at a “drive thru” tea shop today.  Drive through has a different meaning here.  You park in front, and a guy comes running out, takes your order on an IPad, and delivers it a few minutes later.  If the service is slow, you lean on the horn to get some service.  

Went to a grocery store tonight, in a mall of course.  And came across an interesting store.


Just pick the size bar you want and pay.  The largest size they offered was 100 grams, but how many people you know go out for a quart of milk, a loaf of bread and 100 grams of gold on a Friday night?

The grocery stores here are large and really amazing for the selection of products—and really crowded on Friday night.

Last night we went to a cultural festival at Qatar Foundation and got to hear some amazing music from the Daughters of Jerusalem.  A really lovely all women’s group singing in Arabic, but it was just lovely.  They are in ITunes if you are looking for some different music.  

The other interesting thing that happened was our experience when Kathy went shopping for new patio furniture,  she has been looking to replace some old outdoor furniture and found what she wanted at the grocery store—they really are big place—often called Hypermarkets—.  So she finds what she wants, and immediately asks for a better price, so the sales help pulls out his phone makes a call and suddenly the price comes down almost 1000 QR (about $275), with the condition that the deal is done in cash, and the furniture delivered by 9pm tonight.  There are some crazy deals, and this one amazed even me.  At 9 it showed up, new in the original boxes, was unpacked and set up.  Deal done, and everybody seemed happy.  

It was a crazy day.

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