Happy Birthday Reem, Roula and Uncle Rizk

Inland Sea at sunset, Qatar.

Uncle Rizk, Auntie Therese and Taima, their granddaughter.

Complex for the Asia Games, Doha, Qatar.

Reem and Roula

Reem, a friendly desert lizard and me

It fascinates me that my girlfriends Reem and Roula share their birthday with their Dad. Also, he and all his kids, including their brother Ramzy, have names starting with 'R'. It is as if only certain numbers and letters are favoured by the Haddads. Happy birthday, you three. Thank you for enriching my life. The lizard pictured was not part of the chaos described in the article below, as far as I know!

THE PENINSULA (Qatar) 29 August 06 Wild lizard terrorises residents of apartment complex

Doha: Three terrorised Filipino families were holed up in their apartment in the Old Airport area because of a large-sized wild lizard that escaped from its Qatari owner, an Arabic daily reported.

Hassan had apparently hauled in the lizard after a trip in the desert, placed the reptile in his car and tied it up to prevent it from escaping. However, the lizard made a getaway even as Hassan remained blissfully unaware that his pet was now on the loose.

He only realized something was amiss when he heard women and children screaming in their apartment in the complex where he had parked his vehicle.

The wayward creature was duly captured for the second time in a day and returned home with its Qatari master.

The fallout of the entire episode was that the four children of the families had to take a day off from school that day and some tenants caught outside made delayed returns to their apartments.

http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=Local_News&subsection=Qatar+News&month=August2006&file=Local_News200608297510.xml