Dont worry we know the cost of living has shot up in London and am afraid fellow forum members that food shopping has indeed sky rocketed in the last year and yes if we compare like for like e.g. M&S, Next, H&M then yes its a bit more but for the equal quality to quality and daily shop in the UK, I don't think any of you have really walked into a supermarket and bought a weekly food shop.

I will easily spend about 30% more back home for the same quality of food shop and I know, as I was there doing exactly that in April and will be doing so again in London when I return for my two months summer back home in SW London. Then well take petrol they don't even sell the V8 Discovery Landrover in London anymore because people cannot afford the equivalent of 800QAR to fill your tank up once compared to the beautiful 65QAR it costs me here. Then there is parking ha ha, you try going to M&S in London and buy the same dress, it would cost me 150QAR just to park and not forgetting 70QAR to pay congestion charge so you have spent that before you have even walked into the shop. And if times money well I've lost 2hrs consultancy fee too in the journey alone. Probably explains why there were so many parking tickets issued to the lovely locals of Doha in London the last few years.....because they canot believe you have to pay for parking and as for the automated location sign system it takes Stepehen Hawkin to figure that out!

Holidaying is one thing living is another as we all know.

Sorry about the driving in Doha its so bad that the dangerous drivers don't actually realise how dangerous they are and some guy readin this is thinking hmmm I'm not dangerous because I know how to swerve ou the way really quickly. Well what if there are 3 of you all thinking the same thing and you all swerve, hey presto voila, major car accident. You see its when they are other invincible drivers on the road that it all goes wrong. But I find classical music (Mozart magic flute does the trick) helps calm me down as I traverse the racing tracks that some consider exist in Doha. As for those wonderful signals on a stick that exist just next to the steering wheel I actually watched a guy indicate right when he went left and left when he went right so for comedic value they are being used with the upmost value.

Its a wonderful place and after 3 yrs I continue to enjoy the country, people and experiences so welcome and hope you come to enjoy it as much and I dont miss the rain back home one bit and can assure you the majority of the year is great weather.

All the best and happy driving to you and god bless
Anita