Doha Days

This is Souk Ali. It is not on the tourist trail. It is not visited by The Emir. It is in the shadow of a six lane expressway not unlike London's Portobello Road lurking in the lee of the elevated A40's West Way. This is a Pakistani cobbler. He came to Qatar forty years ago when Pakistan and Bangladesh became separate countries. He offered to re-sole my best black shoes for £2.50. He was one of a whole lane of cobblers all in their cramped booths. The next lane had tailors. The next barbers. A tumbledown mosque brooded over the whole of this souq complex. A few worshippers were washing ritually, in the open, in the 36 degree morning heat.