Category Archives: Blog
Ships and Gaza
The recent boarding of a Turkish ship by heavily armed Israeli gunmen and the resulting deaths have upset me enough to write publicly about this rogue state which thinks nothing of arranging an assassination in Dubai, kidnapping nuclear engineers in … Continue reading
QNB (Qatar National Bank) sucks
Today I closed my account with QNB. I opened the account when I came over to Qatar a year ago. Since then I’ve had nothing but trouble with them. On the face of it they offer an attractive package including … Continue reading
When your ISP blocks incoming SMTP Connections
Things keep changing in Qatar. Just before Christmas the local ISP (QTEL) decided to start blocking inbound port 25 connections to the DSL line I use for work. This posed a problem for me as I run a mail server … Continue reading
Rain in Doha
Winter has arrived in Doha. About 10 days ago we had rain which caused serious flooding all over the city. This is because Qatar is basically a thin rock covering over an impervious rock base so the water just sits … Continue reading
Goodbye Geocities
Yahoo will be shutting down Geocities later today. Geocities started up in 1994, was purchased by Yahoo in 1999 for USD 2 billion and will finally die today. When I formed an Internet company in 1995 with a partner Geocities … Continue reading
Censorship, self censorship and attempted coups
Its been an interesting week in Qatar. On Tuesday I came across a blog which reported that there had been a failed coup attempt in Qatar. Apparently several Arabic websites had been reporting the story. As this was a story … Continue reading
Doha Duststorms
Doha is in the midst of a late season dust storm at the moment. There has been dryer than usual weather recently in the gulf and this combined with Northerly winds has covered Qatar in dust. The dust is made … Continue reading
Moving out of the Hotel
I’ve been stuck in a hotel in Doha for almost four months now whilst the wheels in the Ministry of Interior slowly turned. Well, they have now found me a nice place to live near Landmark in Doha. Its a … Continue reading
Legalisation and Visa
I recently had to obtain legalised documents for my visa in Qatar. This isn’t a particually difficult task but is expensive and time consuming. The UK Foreign and Commonwealth office provide this service either by post or over the counter. … Continue reading
Last day in Heathrow
Today is my last day working for Siemens in Heathrow Airport. I’ve been there for the last year through ups and downs. Overall its been a good year and I’ll miss many friends. I’m leaving to move back to Doha … Continue reading