Cockroach On My Shoulder

In 1975 Doha was a frontier town as ex-pats flooded in to Qatar to help build a new country. Richard Newman, an Architect was one of them as he upended himself and his family into a Gulf Air Tristar and flew out to the unknown, slightly alien sounding country hanging on the side of Saudi Arabia. Registering as an alcoholic, dealing with baksheesh , discussing a new building with The Ruler saying ’....taller Mr. Richard, taller....’ were daily events.  As Richard grappled with setting up an Architectural office he found humour was everywhere, but it also masked the vanishing traditions beneath a veneer of glitter, gilt and gold.  Now, forty years on the country is to play host to the World Cup Games in 2022. 128