Happy New Year Everyone! We had a great party at the compound clubhouse - food, champagne, party poppers, noisemakers (including the kids), music, and a dip in the hot tub. Nice to be able to walk home from the party. New Year's Day Andy got stuck at the gas station. He took the car there to get it cleaned and the workers locked his keys in the car! I didn't want to wake anyone up so early (about 10:15 am) for a "rescue" ride, so Grant and I walked to the gas station with my keys. It was a lovely day, sunny and warm, for the 1 mile walk. Which brings me to the title of this post...
What do you see in a Doha mile? I should have taken the video camera! We saw: 1) a flood. Obviously a broken water pipe. Weird to see standing water here (no rain since our arrival in mid-August). Three people were digging up the street in front of the villa (not on our compound, though that is not an uncommon problem on our compound) so hope they got it fixed. 2) A construction site - where people were actually working! So many construction sites in Doha, and not enough workers. Many sites are worked on infrequently - and that includes road construction. They are trying to build so much, so fast, that things just don't get finished. Anyway, Grant and I had to dodge a front loader filled with sand at this site. 3) A polite Qatari - who stopped and let us cross in the pedestrian crosswalk. There is hope! ; and 4) a car accident - saw one car rear end another at a light. Didn't look like either person, or car, was damaged. Of course those involved didn't move their cars, they stood in the street "discussing" the matter. While we were witnessing this accident, Andy saw a car rear end another at the gas station. So, really, that makes 2 accidents in our 20 minute mile.
It was an interesting walk, but not one I would do everyday. (I miss walking around the block in Burke - going through the woods and around the pond. Seeing the geese, turtles, squirrels, trees, flowers - nature! And, not fearing for my life while crossing the road.) Doha is not made for walking.
Make it a Great 2008!
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