Happy New Year to All - EXCEPT SPAMMERS

It's not important in the grand scheme of things. But within the frame of reference of the microcosm that is the Paranormal Hotel Blog, there is room for humour, friendliness, triviality, occasional seriousness, routine urbanity and much else that scarce merits mention. In particular, there is always a welcome for guests' comments, almost all of which recognise and respect the prevailing local

Season's Greetings to all

It had to be done!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all Paranormal readers. See you next year, if not before!

Buskers in Brick Lane - Lewis Floyd Henry

Last week, on a flying visit to London, I was passing time pleasantly in Brick Lane, enjoying the sights sounds and smells of the Sunday morning street market, when I came across these buskers. The first group were semi-official, in that they were playing a prearranged slot in a provided venue. A ukelele band, just out for a good time, they certainly cheered the small crowd of passers-by.
The

Goodbye Musheireb, it's been a ball...

Just two of the dozens of closed shop fronts in Musheireb (and one of them a King!) The demolition continues apace, sacrificing the present to a promised future. Compulsory purchase compensates the owners of the buildings who are, of course, local people and for the most part absentee landlords. Certainly they don't live above their shop units. But for the tenant shopkeepers it's a different

Qatar 2022 - Expect Amazing, or, Money's Coming Home

What you do, it seems, on learning that Qatar has been awarded the 2022 FIFA World Cup, is start up your Land Cruisers, open the windows and sun roof, turn the radios on at full volume, and drive up and down the Corniche in convoy, beating a tattoo on the horn. But then, you also do this to mark the start of each Eid and on National Day, so you've had plenty of practice. And you keep it going

Who knew that Qatar has a Pipe Band?

I certainly didn't. But there they were, large as life, and marching purposefully along the Corniche, to the delight and bemusement of the crowds gathered to watch the power boat racing. They were good too, striking up in perfect synchronism and in tune (not easy on the Highland bagpipe) and backed by a very tight drum team. The power boats were quite impressive too, in their way, though I'm

KGB - still watching you

So I'm sitting outside the cafe enjoying the Tbilisi sunshine (no, that's not me; I'm the one taking the photos!) and letting the World go by. I've finished my work here and have a few hours left to enjoy the ancient city before heading to the airport and back to Qatar. And it really is an ancient city, with the pride of culture that goes with it; that much I've learned in a few short days. This

Hope springs eternal in the human breast...

yet there are limits. And the guy who parked this huge yellow sewage water tanker (5,700 gallons, good area, best vintage) with 'for sale' signs stuck to it was surely pushing his luck.
OK, on closer inspection the tanker turns out to be brand new, fresh from the factory. And no doubt sewage water tankers are bought and sold like everything else. But surely not by casual roadside advertisement,

You've got to love the Magic Mushroom

Another of the wonders of the Gulf has to be Abu Dhabi's old Airport Terminal Building, the magic mushroom to its friends. Someone was telling me its days are numbered. I don't know how true that is. But before it goes the way of the dodo, let's be grateful for the eccentricity that produced one of the weirdest inner spaces in the region.
This is, by the way, the 200th post in the Paranormal

Guns and Roses in Qatar

First the guns. Even from a distance, something looked wrong. The unnaturally tapered barrel, the wholly impractical wheel pattern: surely these couldn't be real?


guns, of sorts
And real they are not, fashioned entirely out of fibreglass and as useful as a chocolate fireplace. But I suppose not out of place in a town that builds Venice's Grand Canal inside a shopping mall.



roses, posing
And

The Curse of Mundane Uniformity posing as Sophistication

You know the history. Some sixth sense had told me that the unique mural and decor of Doha Ramada Library Bar might be under threat in the name of Ramadan refurbishment. To preserve its memory for posterity, I photographed and blogged it.

A couple of nights ago, I went to check for myself. My worst fears have been realised. The Library has not yet re-opened for service but the door was unlocked

The Burj Paranormal - Spot the Difference?

Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? - Matthew 7:9


According to my Feedjit gadget, yesterday, a visitor from Brunei arrived from google.com.bn on "The Paranormal Hotel" by searching for "burj khalifa". Well done Google! The guy's looking for the World's tallest building and you send him to Dubai's lowest dive. Just as well it's all virtual, or he'd

Qatar News Agency bites the dust.

all things... must have an end...
Recognise this building? Qatar News Agency and the several fairly new apartment blocks behind it are just the latest victims of the city-wide orgy of destruction from which the new Doha will rise, Phoenix like, to delight the privileged few who will be able to enjoy it. It's arguable that city reconstruction on this scale has not been seen since Napoleon's

A modest family house

a modest dwelling
I pass this villa most mornings. It is abandoned now, the boundary wall is breached and, like so many of its kind, it is waiting for the bulldozers to move in. It sits on the C-Ring Road, at White Palace Junction. For all I know, it might even be the White Palace.
For this much is certain. There was a time, not so long ago, when even a Qatari citizen would have been proud and

Forget those faded jeans, because...

Decent Uniform Works. And don't forget it. This latest in my occasional collection of soon to disappear Doha shop fronts has a certain appeal in its stark confidence. Bold upper case, black on white, the very epitome of formality. And above, one pressed grey trouser, one starched pastel blue shirt hung with a hint of movement - is this a small concession to modernity? And a window clean enough

Boggs & the Girls - thank you and good luck!

Boggs & Girls, last night at Le Club, Sofitel
It was a shame really. Last night was the last night in Stufital for Boggs and the Band. Ramadan is traditionally when the clubs change their band and do whatever other refurbishments are planned for the month of closure. So with two sets played and one to go, the guys were just getting ready for their final set when security switched on the lights

A planned act of iconoclasm approaches

The bad news is that Doha Ramada Library Bar is definitely planning to refurbish during Ramadan. Some of the changes will be for the good. They say they are going to knock the two small toilets together to make one of a decent size, while building a completely new second toilet. Unfortunately, this requires additional space, which in turn means knocking through the end wall. It's hard to see how

Paraglider in the Paranormal - a flying visit

a very green tree, by contrast
It seems every time I'm back in Dubai that the Paranormal exterior has been recently repainted, and each time in a rosier hue. The salmon pink is gradually giving way to a red mullet. Fair enough.



paranormal interior, reflected, paraglider far right, reflecting
If the place looks surprisingly empty, it was only 12:30, half an hour after opening. I wasn't

Doha Ramada Library Bar - in the Beginning was the Word...

Ramadan is only a week away and all the bars will close. When they re-open in September, it would be a great shame to visit the Ramada Library Bar only to find it redecorated, with the famous mural over-painted in a nice tasteful magnolia. Heaven forbid that this should happen, but just in case, I've preserved it here, for posterity. In best Arabic style, the mural progresses from right to left

The Restaurant on Al Shatee Corner

Yes, of course I know it's pronounced fool, not fowl, and normally I'd pass such places with nothing more than a private chuckle, but this particular juxtaposition of a Foul Restaurant cheek by jowl with Al Shatee Food Supply is surely unfortunate, by any standards.
This is right up there with Kharbash Institute of Driving (Karama) and the Never Titi abayat (Muntazah).

Doha: the Kings, the Roundabout, the Lambs & the Chickens

The King of Fashion was pretty central in Doha, about a hundred yards from Sofitel on the road towards the Royal Palace. It's not there any more of course, having been cleared to make way for Dohaland Phase One, the city centre reconstruction project. King of Shoes has gone as well. We do still have a King of Toys (such names!) in a part of Musheirib that has so far escaped demolition. This

Chess for Ramadan, and beyond

Ramadan approaches. The moon is full tonight, so unless it changes its habits, it will herald in a new Holy Month of Ramadan in 15 days time. And unless Qatar changes its normal practice, all the bars will close for the month, leaving me with more than a little free time of an evening. That's why I've joined GameKnot, an on-line Chess website.
At GameKnot you play against real people, in real

A deep hole in the ground

Not sure what is going to be built here in Bin Mahmoud, but from the depth of the excavation, it's probably going to be one tall building. Not tall as in Burj, but bigger than anything in the neighbourhood. I'm always amazed that they dig these deep holes in the middle of the city and protect the public with the flimsiest of corrugated iron fences, the type the wind blows down regularly, a mere

Mad Dogs, Scotsmen and the Tilley Hat

I am one of those who objects to paying through the nose for what should be everyone's birthright - a reasonable standard of fitness. That's one reason why you'll never find me in any of Qatar's grossly overpriced gyms. The other reason is my mental health. I value it too highly to put it through the tedium of cycling machines and treadmills. I have a perfectly good cycling machine at home. It's

Doha's Lesbian Scene

Ever since I posted Doha's First Gay Club - Created by Mistake, the blog has been getting several hits every day from all over the World, with searches like gay doha, doha gay scene, gay bar doha, etc. These can only be from gay workers considering taking up a contract in Qatar and doing a little advance research. After all, Doha's not Rio. No-one's going to research Doha's gay scene purely from

Just for the (football) record...

Spain won - Holland didnae! This is a note to me, to remind me of sitting here, in Bin Mahmoud, Doha, watching a World Cup final where the better team triumphed over a cynical, aggressive opposition who disgraced the name of sportsmanship. The Dutch came out to disrupt quality football (which they could never match) and almost succeeded. Knowing that the referee would not wish to send off a

Tea Party Psychology

The only real Americans are those who think like me!
I'll call you commie garbage if you dare to disagree.
It's not that I'm intolerant, but since I'm always right
you might as well admit to being a nasty liberal shite!

So stuff your Evolution! If Intelligent Design
was good enough for Adam then I guess it suits me fine,
for God is a Republican and Jesus Christ was white
and anyone who argues is

An unprecedented exercise in nasal parallelism

Maybe it's just me, but this odd sketch of the Russian spies took me right back to Treasure Island- "But what sort of a way is that for bones to lie? 'Tain't in natur'." Right you are, Cap'n Silver, and that's no sort of a way for noses to point, neither.

Ladies, please feed the driver...

Shaikh Abdul Mohsin Bin Nasser Al Obaikan, member of Saudi Council of Senior Scholars and adviser to the king, (don't you just love that 'adviser to the king' bit?) has solved one of Saudi's most pressing problems - how to allow women to travel by car. Some countries solved this one some time ago. It's called driving. But in countries where women are not allowed to drive or share a vehicle with

Plukes on the Face of the Beautiful Game?

So far, in this World Cup, in how many games has the lead changed sides? Hint- a small round number less than one. All games have either been drawn or won by the first team to score. This is the tedious norm in modern football. The game is fundamentally flawed. And the main reason is its refusal to evolve. Rugby Union continually amends its code to make the game better for player and spectator

Sounding Dire but Feeling Lucky

If you are familiar with Google's Picasa image management software, you'll have met the rather amazing "I'm Feeling Lucky" one-touch button that attempts to optimise exposure, brightness, contrast, black and white balance, colour balance and a few more image parameters all in a single pass. The results are often quite impressive, as witness this before and after aerial shot of Muntazah Park.

Balls and the Burning Log

I noticed (on Saturday afternoon) that the Paranormal has at least made a token gesture to the forthcoming World Cup, by stretching some nets across the ceiling and placing a few odd-looking footballs on top of them. I couldn't hep thinking that if they replaced the footballs with green glass floats they'd achieve standard seaside pub decor, type one. (For type 2, add one upside down rowing boat)

Methought I heard a voice cry, 'Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep!'

The Paranormal Hotel is not a political blog and it is rare for me to comment here on major events. But I think, occasionally, to say nothing is almost akin to complicity, or at least acquiescence, in the face of an outrage. Still, one should take care not to make assumptions and should distinguish fact from opinion. So here are some facts:
The amount of aid routinely allowed through to the Gaza

Black Holes Space Game, by Paraglider. Free download.

Black Holes is a strategy game based on the behaviour of real black holes in Space. It's easy to learn but hard to play well. The idea is to create black holes in Space and to capture the stars that fall inside the event horizon. (See, it's even educational for the kids!)
I originally invented it as a board game, but then decided to program a demo version for the PC. The Demo plays quite well and

Once more, with feeling

When you change apartments, unless moving well up-market, the odds are that your new place will be better in those aspects that bugged you about the old place, but worse in aspects you never considered, until they force themselves on your attention.

My Muntazah apartment faced South-West, so it used to get very hot in the afternoon. It fronted a main road, with its attendant traffic noise, night

And the Winner is - "When I, Roger"

Most spam, as most bloggers or webmasters will confirm, is just that - spam. Junk mail with no redeeming features. Most, but not all. Occasionally a gem turns up. This wonderfully convoluted (but perfectly spelt) invocation to puchase pharmaceuticals is well worth a second reading:

The most skilfully situation dedicated to medical goods, here you are your notice most of the drugs that are now on

The Disappearing Chinese Girls - where have all the flowers gone?

No, this isn't about China's one child policy and its scandalous but wholly predictable side-effect in respect of female babies. There's nothing new to say about that.But nearer home, in Doha to be precise, rather older Chinese 'girls' have been disappearing for years, only to reappear briefly, prior to their final farewell. It's quite a tradition in fact, and equally unsurprising when the

Two pints of Aftershave and a packet of crisps please.

The guy who drove his forklift straight through the portacabin wall and the guy who was found outside the compound semi-conscious and coughing blood had this in common - both were blind drunk, on cheap aftershave. Subsequent inspection of the workers' quarters showed that most had a large bottle of the same cheap aftershave tucked away somewhere. All were of course confiscated on the spot, as if

The Joy of Delay

Yesterday I was lucky enough to be stuck in Doha airport for a couple of hours. This had nothing to do with any Icelandic volcano and everything to do with a delayed FlyDubai take off in Dubai. I'd turned up at 2:30 pm to meet someone off a plane, only to learn from the arrivals board that it had still not taken off. Now before anyone tells me that following a week of total air chaos with

Visas, Volcanoes and Rubber Stamps

Bad news: thanks to Qatar's new visa regulations, from 1st May, visit visas will no longer be issued on entry at the airport.
Good news: my client agrees to obtain for me a multiple entry business visa for the remainder of my contract.
Bad news: in order to do this, he needs my 'original certificate', stamped by the British Embassy.
Worse news: my 36 year-old (!) graduation certificate is in the

Any colour you like, but no looking...

Fei was telling us why she always wears black: -In China go see man. Man tell me my good colours. Ah, so he looks at your hair colour, your skin tones, eye colour, and suggests what would suit you best? -No, man no look. Man take hand, touch hand with fingers. Understand lucky colours. For me, black, grey, blue, lucky. Black number one lucky. So, he reads your palm, by touch, to pick your lucky

More about the Salt

To answer my own question, the salt ends up back where it came from, in the Gulf. There are a few technologies available for desalination, but the one used in the Gulf, where energy is cheap, is basically a distillation process: the seawater is heated to produce steam, which is then condensed to produce water. That's an oversimplification of a highly technical industrial process of course, but

Do you want salt with that?

The question came up when I was talking to the guy who drives trucks from Spain to Doha, carrying cables, then sells the trucks locally before flying home. Normally, long distance truckers might expect to carry a different load on the return leg, but not from Doha, where nothing is manufactured. On the other hand, they do need a lot of trucks for the construction projects, so it makes sense. But

Anyone been to Singapore lately?

I ask because, out of the blue, I might have the opportunity to draw stumps, up sticks and/or break camp (the choice is yours) quite a bit earlier than expected, for a relocation to Singapore. Apart from a two-day trip to Malaysia, I've never been in that part of the World, so I'm collecting impressions from people who have, as inputs to the great Paraglider Decision Process.
What do you reckon:

Goodbye Muntazah - it's been a ball.

Paraglider has, this weekend, forever abandoned Muntazah (Doha, Qatar) for the greater delights of Bin Mahmoud (Doha, Qatar). And why? Did it have anything to do with the Park being 'closed for maintenance' for four years? ... where 'closed for maintenance' probably means 'if we keep the gates locked long enough people will forget the park exists, then we'll be able to build on it and make money'

Do your bit - take in a homeless cockroach

With the unprecedented orgy of demolition underway in Doha, one wonders what will become of the millions of neo-vagrant cockroaches and other bugs. Displaced people get rehoused, or herded off to labour camps, depending on their status. But nobody's rehousing the roaches, at least not intentionally, though I'm sure more than a few will have taken up residence unannounced, in the juice bars and

Oops - the New Friendly Face of Censorship in Qatar

Gone is the stark blue warning message. From today, happening on a prohibited site from Qatar brings up this child-friendly cartoon page instead. Only the wording is unchanged; they didn't even take the opportunity to amend the phrase "the content contains.." OK, what do we think - is Censorship by cartoon any less patronising than censorship by officialdom? And is anyone fooled?

Occasionally busty, but..

Never Titi. Eat your heart out Akhenaten. Your Great Royal Wife, or chief consort, has finally made her mark, heading up an abayat in sunny Doha. And in so doing she edges the Kharbash School of Motoring (Karama) out of number one faux pax shop sign position (until further notice).
It is the inevitable loss of gems like this that takes the edge off the Heart of Doha renovation project. Yes, it

Running out of neurons..

Flicking through the odd phone pics I took on my last Dubai trip, I came across this twin tower shot that has me flummoxed. It doesn't seem to be the Emirates Towers, but for the life of me I can't remember where they are. All I can say is that the snap before was at Paranormal and the one after was at Seaview, which suggests they are Bur Dubai-ish. Would anyone be able to enlighten me?

Double D-lights at the Para

The good thing about being an occasional visitor to Dubai is that the changes are more in evidence than perhaps they are for those living with them every day. So, the Metro wasn't open last visit, and this time it was, albeit not fully. And what a fantastic change that is. Cheap, fast, clean and efficient, it makes a move back to Dubai a far more attractive proposition.
Then there's the licensing

The Paranormal Piano Player

The other evening I was watching a Yamaha player piano performing by itself in a hotel foyer. For anyone unfamiliar with these marvels, a player piano is an automated real piano with a mechanism to work the keys and pedals. Watching it play happily to itself, it's quite easy to imagine an invisible pianist on the ivories, giving it big licks. Quite easy, but what makes the illusion not wholly

Is Dubai Trade Centre Metro Station Open Yet?

Paraglider is planning a trip to Dubai next week, and will be living close to BurJuman Centre Metro and working at the Trade Centre. He hopes some kind soul on the spot can confirm whether or not Trade Centre Metro is functional, as the Internet appears to have conflicting information on the subject.
The majority view will be accepted!
POSTSCRIPT: It wasn't when I wrote the above, but it is now :)

Is Waiting Doing?

More and more, recently, I've been aware that the standard response to any request for action (in certain quarters) takes the form of a claim to be waiting. What are you doing? Waiting for a response from Purchasing. What's happening about x? I'm waiting for y. Some people have raised this to an art form. Faced with any situation that seems to demand action, they will type a one-line question and

Pea Soup and Pigeons

An interesting side effect of the fog that is currently swaddling Doha is that it hides such traffic aids as speed limits, stop signs and 2D PCs (see below). This is clearly carte blanche for invisible silver Land Cruisers to hurtle headlong into the pea souper, headlights ablaze, rear fogs optional.
Each to his own. It's a good day to stand in the empty car park and watch Abdullah's birds

More Orry than Modhesh

So, you've been driving since you were seventeen, but just can't quite get to grips with these huge, octagonal, red-for-danger, bilingual STOP signs. What can they possibly be trying to tell you? Do they want you to turn left, change gear, check your mirror, test the windscreen wipers? It's a mystery, isn't it? And are you supposed to look at the big red bit on top, or is the steel pole carrying

Bob Marley and the Qatari Wailers

It's well known that Qataris don't frequent bars, except when they do. And then, they don't wear National dress, except when they do. And of course, they don't drink alcohol, except, you've got the pattern, when they do. And after all, why should they not, in their own country? But here's the greater mystery: when the spirit moves them to make a request, nine times out of ten, it is for Bob

Egypt won - Ghana didnae

But that was over an hour ago, and fans are still driving aimless circles round Doha, beating the timeless tattoo on their horns: Baa! Baa! Ba-Ba-Baa! - Baa! Baa! Ba-Ba-Baa! The same rhythm as favoured by the strutting playground gangs in my primary school, all of fifty years ago, except, for lack of horned cars, it was a vocal exercise: Oi! Oi! Oi-Oi-Oi! - Oi! Oi! Oi-Oi-Oi! It didn't achieve

Rantin Rovin Robin

Built in 1757 by William Burness, two years before the birth of his celebrated son, the thatched 'clay biggin' is still standing, more than 250 years later. Which suggests, perhaps, that biggest, tallest, most expensive, might not be a building's only claim to greatness after all.

The man o' independent mind,
He looks an' laughs at a' that.

Loser takes all

Below the blackening sky go I
warily wearily wobbly o
frightened to live and frightened to die
toll bell toll
sick as a parrot covered in glue
languid as leeks in the depth of a stew
who would be me, except possibly you?
loser takes all

Doom is the name of the game we play
warily wearily wobbly o
doom by the bushel an acre a day
toll bell toll
death is a mercy so sing it again
wrists in the

A bleak, dark place

It's not that the landscape's so different from the UAE. Yes, it's colder. Snow takes the place of sand; conifers, of palms; stone walling, of concrete. One leaden sky is much like another, whether laced with ice crystals or with traffic fumes. And after all, what is a hill but a plane, tilted? Yet here, there is the suspicion, however unfounded, that were attrocities to be committed deep in this

Snow, snow, quick-quick snow...

More than two weeks into my annual home visit, and the snow shows no signs of disappearing. With night-time temperatures dropping to -15C, that's hardly surprising. What is surprising is the grip this cold spell has taken. Usually, the only weather that ever manages to take a hold here for more than a couple of weeks at a time is dinge, that Winter special of late dawn, early dusk and nothing in

The Morgan - what's in a name?

Malvern's old Morgan pub is no more, but the even older Cavalry Arms (which once featured here as a typical example of a real pub) has been refurbished, again, and renamed as 'The Morgan'. Previously, the mid-Malverner had a serious hike up the hill to the Morgan, but an easy roll down after a few beers. In its new incarnation at the foot of the hill, this is of course reversed. It is now easy to

This one rocks

Paraglider's newest toy is a 35mm slide and negative scanner. I have a 35-year backlog of stuff to digitise, which begins to look more like a 50-year collection if I take into account my late father's photographic legacy. This is going to keep me off the streets (maybe!)for the next few months at least. I'm still learning how to use it, but it seems to do a pretty good job on old B&W negatives