PARAPLEXED

The King of Fashion was pretty central in Doha, about a hundred yards from Sofitel on the road towards the Royal Palace. It's not there any more of course, having been cleared to make way for Dohaland Phase One, the city centre reconstruction project. King of Shoes has gone as well. We do still have a King of Toys (such names!) in a part of Musheirib that has so far escaped demolition. This makeshift roundabout... is right in front of where King of Fashion used to stand. It now marks the end of the road, except for Dohaland construction traffic. Everything beyond, excluding the Palace itself, has been flattened. It's hard to mourn the passing of the irremediable slum areas, but we have also lost a richness of small businesses from the city: hardware stores, haberdashers, tailors, juice stalls, barbers. The word community springs to mind. Still standing, but earmarked for demolition in Phase Two, is the locally named Chicken Street: not named after this particular chicken, ...

Ramadan approaches. The moon is full tonight, so unless it changes its habits, it will herald in a new Holy Month of Ramadan in 15 days time. And unless Qatar changes its normal practice, all the bars will close for the month, leaving me with more than a little free time of an evening. That's why I've joined GameKnot , an on-line Chess website. At GameKnot you play against real people, in real time if you want (and both are logged in), or simply when it suits you, provided you don't exceed the maximum allocated time per move. Games are recorded and analysed (by computer) and each player is assigned a rating based on performance. The default entry rating is 1200, but after a few games you start to move up or down as deserved, until you reach your natural level. The idea is that you then don't have to play against time-wasters or waste the time of Grandmasters - everything is relative! The graphics and functionality of the GameKnot site are superb, as are some of the f...

Not sure what is going to be built here in Bin Mahmoud, but from the depth of the excavation, it's probably going to be one tall building. Not tall as in Burj, but bigger than anything in the neighbourhood. I'm always amazed that they dig these deep holes in the middle of the city and protect the public with the flimsiest of corrugated iron fences, the type the wind blows down regularly, a mere two feet from the sheer drop. And the gaps in the fences are easily wide enough for all but the most obese to squeeze through. For the kids, it's a straight invitation. The suspended walkway (below) doesn't look too safe either, but that's for the workmen so no-one's going to worry.

I am one of those who objects to paying through the nose for what should be everyone's birthright - a reasonable standard of fitness. That's one reason why you'll never find me in any of Qatar's grossly overpriced gyms. The other reason is my mental health. I value it too highly to put it through the tedium of cycling machines and treadmills. I have a perfectly good cycling machine at home. It's called a bicycle and it has taken me thousands of miles in its time. And treadmills are for hamsters. Instead, I make a point of walking every day, for at least half an hour on weekdays and a couple of hours at weekends. So what if the destination is the bar? It's still exercise and beats sitting in a car. Sometimes though, the Doha climate can be a bit of a disincentive. Last week, temperatures were recorded in the mid fifties (above 125F, for American readers). Is it still possible to walk in these extremes, and if so, how? Conventional wisdom says the best time ...

Ever since I posted Doha's First Gay Club - Created by Mistake , the blog has been getting several hits every day from all over the World, with searches like gay doha, doha gay scene, gay bar doha , etc. These can only be from gay workers considering taking up a contract in Qatar and doing a little advance research. After all, Doha's not Rio. No-one's going to research Doha's gay scene purely from an academic interest. And if they did, it would make a very short paper. So, purely in the spirit of fairness, I've created this Doha's Lesbian Scene post, so that all the lesbian girls flocking to work in Qatar have at least one web page to land on, albeit one of no possible value to them or anyone else. Sorry, ladies! Just one small flaw in the idea, though. We barely have enough female contracters here to constitute even a small straight flock, so heavily male-skewed is the immigrant population. So I guess, no flocking lesbians. Oh well, I tried.

Spain won - Holland didnae! This is a note to me, to remind me of sitting here, in Bin Mahmoud, Doha, watching a World Cup final where the better team triumphed over a cynical, aggressive opposition who disgraced the name of sportsmanship. The Dutch came out to disrupt quality football (which they could never match) and almost succeeded. Knowing that the referee would not wish to send off a player in a World Cup final, they pushed the boundaries of hardness far beyond the norms of decency. Someone whose name I refuse to acknowledge planted his studs in the chest of an opponent in an assault that would attract a Grievous Bodily Harm charge anywhere in Civvy Street. Regular readers here know my views on football as a flawed game in need of emergency maintenance. Tonight, the better team won. But does anyone think this game is in a healthy state? The picture, obviously, has nothing to do with the final, but neither does the Paranormal have pretensions as an accurate football b...