Purple Island

Went to the gym early this morning and then, whilst Cath was at the gym with her teacher mate Jennie, I nipped over to The Centre Mall to buy the birthday girl a little something. As my mother always tells me "a present should be something that the recipient wouldn't buy themselves!". So the jug water filter that Cath asked for didn't get bought - as that is something she would buy for herself - and a slightly off-piste present was bought instead. I won't reveal what it is yet as Cath sometimes reads this drivel and I don't want to spoil the surprise.

At Purple Island with the tide out!

This afternoon we took a drive Al Khor, about 40km north of Doha, to visit a rocky outcrop called Purple Island, which is access via an elevated walk-way through a mangrove swamp. It really is a strange and fascinating place; it had such an ancient feel about it - a very parched landscape, that when flooded by the in-coming tide, creates an outcrop that you could imagine our prehistoric ancestors sheltering around. Apparently archaeologists have discovery bronze age settlements there and very ancient fossils of the most simple life-forms so it must have had some special significance throughout the ages. Sadly there was a lot of rubbish discarded about the place which did, sadly, drag us back very quickly into the twenty first century.

Good afternoon out though and well worth another visit later in the year when it is not so hot. Now that we're back I'm just having a cup of tea before I go for a swim.