But wait, there's more...

The kids and I decided that we were going to count how many days in a row were accident free  in Doha.  Meaning that we weren't in an accident, we didn't see an accident, we didn't see evidence of a recent accident, or even a near accident.
After a couple of weeks, we decided that if we were going to count we would drop near accidents.
After a couple more weeks, we have finally counted to two accident free days.  We were hoping to get to 3 days, but today provided us with 2 more accidents (one was a remains that had happend clearly overnight, would that invalidate one of our days?), so we're going to have to start again.

Kitten....you may remember the poor little kitten that the kids found in the street.  A little boy, so there was no way we could keep him, our resident Sparkeletrix would never have accepted him.  I advertised him everywhere.  The kids asked all their school mates.  I  canvassed everyone I met.  But no takers for a little kitten, it's a bad time for homing strays, just a couple of months before everyone disappears from Doha for a couple of months.
But, as we were searching, our suspicions about this little kitten (named Captain) started to rise.  When we picked him up, he had a crusted face and crusty eyes.  We cleaned him up and got him antibiotic eye drops which we diligently applied.  His eyes cleared up beatifully, and were a lovely smokey blue.  Unfortunately, he couldn't see through them.  His chances of being adopted suddenly dropped from 1 in a  hundred to 1 in a 1000.  Or actually, 1 in a million.  The vet and I decided that the kindest thing for him was to have him put to sleep.  Very sadly, he died cuddled in my arms.  But that was much better than the alternative.  He would have wandered about the streets until starved and dehydrated, or been maimed by a car....

On a bright side!  We have had serious food shortages here - two of our staples - Mrs Balls Chutney and Beef Bovril - have disappeared from the shelves and we are missing them mightily.  No more babotie without Ms Balls.  Steph is limited to cheese only on her lunch rolls.  But today, my brilliant hubby popped into a little shop in the middle of nowhere, as he passed it on his way home, and found.....BOVRIL!  No Ms Balls, sadly, but this has given us hope.

Steph has her birthday party this weekend, a pool party, wish us luck!

Sudden thought - am going to check the expiry date on the Bovrils that D bought......