Qatar's Transportation Crisis
There are none left on the roads. Or if there are, they are hiding pretty well. Used to be, every time you turned your head there would be an orange monster of a bull-nosed Mercedes truck snarling along the road with a load of demolition rubble or rattling back empty to pick up a new load. They were so much part of the Doha scene that you scarcely noticed them, after a while.
But a couple of days ago, don't know why, it suddenly occurred to me that I hadn't seen one for a while. So, I started to make a point of looking out for them. And sure enough, they have all gone, as if by fatwa or royal edict. It can't just be their age. There are fleets of JACs and MANs (Men?) just as old and ugly and still working. But the bull-nose Mercs had presence and personality. They were fun and, if they have really been scrapped or pensioned off, they will be missed.
As will the aeroplanes, the food and the drinking water. Thanks Donald.
But a couple of days ago, don't know why, it suddenly occurred to me that I hadn't seen one for a while. So, I started to make a point of looking out for them. And sure enough, they have all gone, as if by fatwa or royal edict. It can't just be their age. There are fleets of JACs and MANs (Men?) just as old and ugly and still working. But the bull-nose Mercs had presence and personality. They were fun and, if they have really been scrapped or pensioned off, they will be missed.
As will the aeroplanes, the food and the drinking water. Thanks Donald.
I saw one of these yesterday. It was in a very sorry state. Clearly defunct, it was being towed on its front axle with the rear wheels off the ground. It had very obviously flat tyres on the rear wheels.
ReplyDeleteI still see a working one very occasionally but they are becoming more and more rare.
(Reposted due to an embarassing number of spelling mistakes in the original)
I saw one recently on a site behind the tennis club and another that was fitted out as a jib crane which may well be why it was still in service. Good beasts!
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Michael Smith - thank you for commenting on this 3½ year-old post about Bull-nosed Mercedes trucks and for your kind offer of vehicle moving. If you happen to be passing the piece of open land in Al Muntazah, Doha, Qatar and if the two trucks in my photo are still parked there, perhaps you could move them so that the orange one is on the right, then send me a photograph. I would appreciate that as I am no longer in the area to do it myself.
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