Monkeys, a recurring theme.

Yes, Monkeys have cropped up once or twice before in my other blogs. They do seem to be a recurring theme, or perhaps a mild obsession. I noted the monkey, or in fact ape link today as I went to the cinema to see the new Planet of Apes movie. The last time I did this I was in Abuja and I remember how that cinema experience was a bit weird for me as I had totally expected to walk back outside into the UK. The cinema experience itself was completely like home but everything else was still obviously feeling very alien to me at that point!

Today's adventure to see the new Planet of the Apes movie just left me feeling frustrated. This is the busiest a cinema has been since I have been here as it is the Eid holiday right now. I have to say I'm not really sure why most of the Qatari's who paid for the ticket bothered as they spent of the duration of the film walking in and out of the cinema to do god knows what. It was constant. They were also talking throughout to each other and phones were going off constantly also. It was a bizarre experience really, why bother to pay to watch a film if you aren't even going to watch it?! People also joined the film to 'meet' friends in the cinema over half way through. So very strange.

The Eid holiday I mentioned above is in celebration of the end of Ramadan. This is my second proper experience of Ramadan, obviously I haven't taken part but this time in Doha it has had more of an impact on my daily life. During the week at work I haven't been able to eat or drink for example, this is true of all public places during Ramadan. Also in my workplace as just about all of my staff are Muslim I have been careful to avoid eating and drinking in front of them. The opening hours for the malls and other places changed too. Obviously all eateries have been closed during the day and only open in the evening after sunset and malls have been closed during the afternoons. Now that the Eid is being celebrated it's back to normal working hours and back to a morning coffee again.

It also means the roads are a little bit safer again, imagine everyone driving 'hangry' all the time, or as the sun sets there is a mad rush to get the evening prayers and then Iftar meals to break the fast. The roads are bad enough here as it is, no extra incentive to drive like you think you're in F1 is needed.

So back to normal, whatever normal is in Doha...