And so to Qatar

I had a whirlwind weekend in Melbourne with my sisters there before doing the odyssey across to Doha via Singapore and Dubai.

We move into our house today after being in a hotel for a couple of nights to get over the jetlag and to get a survival kit together so that we can camp in the house for a week or two until our furniture is cleared by customs. The house is good. There's a big pool, squash court, billiard room, tennis court and communal outdoors covered area as well as an indoor area. The neighbours look very friendly too, lots of kids around.

I've braved the traffic....and driven for the first time yesterday, it's going to take a bit of getting used to.

We got the electricity connected yesterday which was an interesting experience involving a visit to the Qatar Electricity Authority, providing copies of multitudinous documents to the man behind the counter along with everyone else clustered around. A lot of toing and froing until finally everything was in order, a wee man popped out of the woodwork with a toolbox, we gave him a lift to the house, he turned on a switch outside the house, gratefully received a tip and a lift from us back to where he came from and we were connected!

We have been grocery shopping, have bought an airbed and bedding, an iron and ironing board, mop, glasses and disposable plates, and washing powder so I reckon we will be fine for the next week or two! The inside of the fridge is as big as a ballroom.

We went to a business networking evening last night at a very nice hotel, the Four Seasons, and tonight we go to another similar session. On the whole, people are friendly and welcoming. Ian is well and charging around energetically. I'm feeling good, albeit in a slightly dislocated "Lost in Translation" jetlagged kind of way. Talk with you soon..