Rituals

Friday has developed a series of rituals. An early start to watch the cricket begins the day. This is not easy as Thursday night is the end of the week so usually it is let your hair down night unless you are so beggared you just want to go home and sleep. So my alarm goes off 5 mins before we are due to leave. The boys are always excited to see us and Keren has done a lot to foster this. She organized on behalf of the Aussies last time to bring back 60 boundary cones from Rebel Sports plus cricket score books and the balls. So the boys now stand out as all the other teams use rocks for boundary markers. Plus what stands out more than this is the small expatriate contingent that front up to watch them each week. To cheer them on. It is fun to watch the reactions of many of the other teams as well as passersby who stare and struggle with the concept of a group of ex pats supporting the workers. Barry and Keren have even invested in seating now so that you don’t get a sore backside sitting on the wall. Here’s a photo of Keren and Baz having a discussion about the last wicket. Keren is signaling to me that she thinks that’s two down now. In the background is Taffy (camel vet) coming to join us. After cricket it is off for a real coffee and a bit of brekky. Although today brekky was more important than quality of coffee so we went to Ric’s Diner a truly American institution in Doha. It is just like an American diner. An endless cup of weak coffee, country music piping in the background and big breakfasts with Texas Toast or you can even have grits. The home by midday for a wee siesta.