It's a holiday

It's a holiday tomorrow, a day off for Canterbury Anniversary. There is heaps going on around town including the annual A&P show, also known as farmer's (and small children's) big day out; a weeks of racing carnival and of course the associated partying and fashion; and it's a time we get a house full.

This time it's the Aussies. They arrive tomorrow after touring around the south and west. Hopefully they will arrive with some fresh whitebait to refresh our dwindling stocks. I got some venison last weekend, big bro's favorite, to go on the barbie. I also stocked up on vino and beer. It's Muzz's birthday on Saturday so he will be celebrating with whanau, the best way to celebrate, although none of the kids will be here.

It's a year on Sunday since I first went to Qatar, amazing really. How time flies. 

Margaritas on a school night, can't get much better than that. Yes, I've been out to dinner at my favourite Mexican and while no one would share a pitcher of Margaritas with me tonight, I still managed one for mains and one for dessert. Glasses that is, not pitchers. It is after all a school night.

After the mare of a day I had today, I was hanging out for a drink or several. It was one of those days when the jobs I had planned to do for the day didn't get started and the pile in the in tray just got bigger and bigger. On the upside, because I postponed my visit and stayed in the office, there were one or two less reports to write. Until I have to do the visit later that is.

There is a problem with Margaritas, actually I've just realised it now, they keep me awake. Must be all the sugar. So here I am settling in to doing some work, photo work not work work, until I feel sleepy. It's great getting some peace and quiet, except for U2 on the ipod at the moment, to sort through and get a disc ready for a friend who is hoping to head off to the Middle East soon. She wants to see the scenery, I have to be careful not to show her that there's not much of that unless you like a white expanse of very little.

I got some street cred with a four year old yesterday, a very bright four year old, after telling him I had lived in the desert. We were talking bugs and snakes and things, as you do with four year old boys, and I dropped into the conversation that I had seen a snake and a large lizard in the desert. Regarding me cooly, he asked if I had seen a scorpion, yes I had. I told him the story of the scorpion on the wall and us both getting a fright. He was impressed, I got a nod and a smile. Did I mention he was also a very cool four year old? Because I didn't manage a photo that day, we found one in a book. I might throw in that I've ridden a camel next time I see him, I do have a photo of that.

Out walking

When I was out walking tonight Somewhere Over the Rainbow came on my ipod just as I reached a lovely place to sit and contemplate near the river. It was a lovely evening, warm and sunny in the spot I chose. I looked up and saw an elderly gentleman looking over at me from his garden of roses. 

He started to talk to me so I took off my ipod and went over to his fence. The lovely man offered me a flower, one of his yellow roses that were just coming out in bloom. We got talking. The roses are planted on some land alongside the children's playground I thought was reserve land, no it has belonged to him for 60 years. He showed me the plants, some newly planted some that have been there for a while. We talked gardening, me trying to sound knowledgeable and him finally confessing he knew little about it. 

You see his wife was the gardener in the family. You might remember back to an earlier post about the gardeners and builders quote from Brida by Paulo Coehlo, it came to mind as we talked: "And while it requires the gardener's constant attention, it allows life for the gardener to be a great adventure". From our talk I gathered that this wife who passed away 18 months ago was sorely missed. Tending her garden, both on this plot of land and at their rest home apartment up the hill, gave him time and space to remember her. 

Talking about her to me seemed to be good for him. Little did he know how special our conversation was to me. As we talked he cut roses for me from several bushes, ones that smelt fantastic, ones that were losing their petals just a little, ones that were wet from the watering he had just given them. The most special was the one pink rose amongst the yellow blooms.

Today I had news of the worst kind, news of a friends devastation. I took the flowers for her, although on the way home I was greeted by comments and smiles from all I passed and was tempted to share them. Thirteen month old Alexander and his mum were outside enjoying the sun and Felix their cat; the fish shop man commented on the flowers as I bought fish for tea; the lady in the car that gave way to me as she turned into her drive and nearly caused a pile up; the two young girls carrying Thai takeaways home for tea. I dropped some petals along the way, the rest are in the photos here. 

More Qatar photos

While we were working we had a strict dress code, long skirts and sleeves. The photo is of Shirley, Lyn, Keri and I outside Qatar Academy on one of our visits there. While we looked the part in these clothes, they did at times make it difficult for us to do our jobs. I tripped on my long skirt going up stairs and ripped the front of it. Luckily I didn't hurt myself, luckily no one saw and most luckily I had a stapler handy for a fast repair. Other times, working at the children's level was fraught, very undignified almost losing your skirt as you get up from a low chair.

The other photos, entirely unrelated, were taken at Losail the race track just north of Doha on the road to Al Khor. Kerry, Keri and I attended the MotoGP there, fantastic to watch the first night racing GP ever. It was very loud, petrol head heaven and there were plenty of thrills and spills as the riders got used to the lights and the coolness of the evening making the track difficult. The race track was packed on the final day of racing so I took a photo upwards to show this. See if you can spot Keri and Kerry (also known as boy Kerry and girl Keri).

There was a prayer tent out the back of the race track and we got to meet the local sheik's racing camels. They were beautiful, well groomed and decorated. Keri got a ride, I wasn't that brave. I did get to pat them and talk to their owner, a very gracious man who so willingly shared a part of his culture with us.

When we were in Qatar, we were regulars at the Rydges Hotel. They had happy hour, aka free cocktails for the ladies on a Wednesday night. As it was a work night, we didn't get there as often as we would have liked. They also had a pool so for a fee, we could swim all day if we wanted. there was a gym, not that I went there. The bar and pool were up on the top floors of the hotel, out of the sight of the locals. The pool had to be cooled as it got too much like bath water as the summer progressed. 

Christchurch also has a Rydges Hotel. I took this photo as we wandered around town when the Qatar team were down, seemed appropriate as we were laughing about the visit where Keri had to carry me home, via McDonalds, because I had over indulged. It was the same night Lyn's husband Kerry had to extricate her, in a similar state to me, from a difficult conversation before she said too much. 

It was a bit of a walk to Rydges from Al Hitme, so we often arrived a bit hot and bothered. Nothing a couple of cold ones, a swim and good company couldn't fix. The walk home was usually much more interesting, well certainly louder than the trip there. 

The other photo is the Chalice in the square in Christchurch. It sits alongside the cathedral and I think it looks out of place. It is an awesome structure, especially with the sky as a back drop rather than tall buildings. 

It's a dogs life

Had the pleasure of Sam's company today. He's getting on and enjoys just hanging out rather then the long walks we used to have together. I was sitting in the sun with Sam next to me reading, a good way to spend a Saturday. Well, that was after I had been out early with Tim and Sarah.

Muzz signed up with the work team for a local triathlon, just the cycling part. He woke up very unwell so had to withdraw. A solution, get Tim to race in his place. His team mate sounded doubtful wondering if Tim was up to the challenge, they were after all the A team. The rest of the team didn't know Tim so I went along as support crew to team him up with the others. 

I caught up with the other cyclist, pointed Tim out to him. His comment 'so he's a bit of a cyclist then'. I wish I could have got a photo of the look on his face. I casually commented that Tim was just back from competing overseas, yes he was up to it. Sarah and I followed the race, Tim finished well up as did the A team. Another in the team commented that Muzz would struggle to get a place in the team next year. Was Tim available by any chance? 

So after not getting my sleep in and having to tax my brain with voting, reading in the sun is all I am up to today. 

Hayden

I've just been chatting on Facebook to my friend Hayden, while writing reports of course. Hayden lives in Istanbul and has just returned from a stint in Japan to give his travel business some momentum. We met Hayden through Di in 2004 on our trip to Turkey. He arranged our trips within Turkey and we had a great time socialising with him. As New Zealanders do, we kept in touch and Hayden came to stay on a visit home. A great guy I hope to catch up with on my next trip north. 

Here's a link to his site for anyone interested in traveling in Turkey http://www.zenturkey.com/