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Published: November 25th 2013
Mushareib
Site of the future Downtown Doha and one of our Major Stations projects for the metroI continually think about blogs I would like to write to update you on life here, but I am so exhausted at the end of the day it just doesn't happen. Let's see if I can remember what I wanted to tell you:
Rainstorm!
As we had last October, we finally got our first rainstorm. Yay! I had been waiting for ages for it. The summer stretched well into November, so the cooler weather and rain was a welcome change. It rained off and on for a few days. I went on a site inspection and came back in the afternoon to rain pounding on our office roof. I went outside to take it all in as a tremendous thunderstorm also was occurring. It made me so happy! It reminded me of my dad and I sitting on the porch swing on our back porch in Mississippi, while the sounds of tornado warnings on the TV and the sirens in the town went off... The skies were clear for days afterwards and you could see all the way to West Bay from near my apartment, which
never happens.
The only downside? The potholes! The city
still has not
fixed the enlarged potholes in the industrial area from last year's rainstorm. This year it is even worse. The roads I had taken previously, having to detour in many places to the sides of the roads, are completely impassable now. They have turned into actual lakes/ponds. What does that do? Why, more traffic on all the other roads of course! What a complete mess! There is also a huge pond near our office turnoff, which will only get worse as well. Everyday, I see the pothole that was previously the size of a tire and easily avoidable enlarging because it has been underwater so people drove through it, eroding the sides, and now that it is exposed, it takes up half of the middle of the road! So frustrating!! Soon, there will be no roads left to take unless you have 4WD!!
I am continually amazed at the complete neglect the industrial area receives when probably 70% of the work originates or is based there. Our office was forced to move because we have a lab, and the industrial area is located south of the city limits - out of sight, out of mind. It is such a horrible
commute everyday, and could be so easily fixed... Well, as long as the malls get built, who cares right?
Mesaieed I recently went on a site inspection of a rock revetment in Mesaieed. This is an industrial town south of Doha. You may recognize it from the smokestacks visible in my pictures from dune bashing. I had never actually gone through the town before, having previously driven along the outskirts. I must say: QP does take good care of its employees! The town is well planned out, with pretty scenery, nice facilities and roads, and quiet. The plant that I toured itself is typical QP - lots of security and safety restrictions. It can be a pain to do the job - for instance, my inspection was about 30 minutes, but it took about 4 hours for the access requirements - but the security measures are there for a reason, and unlike many things in Qatar, they are actually enforced. Photography is not allowed in most areas, so I can't really show you what I got to see.
Cutting Corners It amazes me that really smart people have still not grasped the concept of how every
time you try to cut corners to save money, it winds up costing more in the end as well as provide a ginormous headache to all involved. We ordered some equipment in preparation for our works, but somewhere in our chain of command, it was ordered that we just needed the basics of the equipment and the accessories would be created from other parts. Well, we either can't get the accessories or they are in poor condition. I was informed that when we got our supplies, we would be ready to go. Here we are a month later, and we still haven't been able to make our equipment function properly... So, instead of spending my time on engineering or reports or site visits or client meetings, I and probably half our office are trying to figure out how we can get this problem solved when we would probably have been done by now if it had been right the first time. Allow me to vent my rage: AAAAAAAAARRRGGGGHGHHHHHHHHH!!!!
Work Work has been up and down; as mentioned above, the
little things drive me crazy. I am making more connections with clients and thus more friends, so I am
West Bay in the distance
Hard to see, but you can see the towers in the distance, which never happens. Usually, you can barely make out the singular Torch (not in this photo but only about 2km away) starting to have a social life now. Yay! Oh, and I was recently promoted to Engineering Manager of our office here. 😉
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Yay!
Yay for storms! Yay for promotion! Yay for social life! :) As for those potholes...well, it sounds like the drivers there are shite anyways so make your own roads! hehehe