Margie

Margie, my beloved sister came to stay over Christmas and New Year. It was an exceptionally busy time, very sociable with lots of events - it almost made up for not being at home for Christmas. We had 20 people around for Christmas brunch, and got out to see things we hadn't seen before like Sheikh Faisal's museum - a private museum full of priceless Islamic art and artifacts, fossils, and old cars, with an oryx farm close by. The oryx is the national animal of Qatar, like a big gazelle.



Here's a picture of Margie trying on the traditional gutra and agool for size, when we shopped at the souq for traditional clothes for her son Joshua, who is 12.
Here we are at Nando's with lemon and mint juice - looks lurid and tastes lovely. The oddest meal we found while she was here was at a little local cafe next to our local service station. We had been out and about and there was no food to feed the boys after school, so we guiltily thought we'd better buy something to take home with us to feed them. To our delight we found a meal called "Doha Dum Dum", which we ordered. While we were waiting inside in great anticipation, we also saw under the extensive juice menu two mystery drinks - one called "Computer" and one called "Rolex" juice. We didn't order those. The meal turned out to be club sandwiches and salad vegetables. That wee cafe gets first prize for imaginative food branding.

The other place which really caught Margie's imagination was the animal souq. It's a saleyards filled with camels, goats and donkeys. Occasionally when I drive around there I look out my drivers window in the traffic and see a donkey standing on the back of a ute, surveying the inside of my car.

Margie's trip came to an end all too quickly. I loved the feeling of utter familiarity and comfort that you have with someone you adore and have known for ever; the feeling you miss when you are surrounded by people who are all new to you, who you don't have a long history with.