Goodbye mother, hello ruin.

My mother has gone and we're falling into the old routines here in dusty Doha. The best thing my mum brought over with her, besides her excellent company and the wedding thank you cards, was her fresh pair of eyes. We'd been a bit snobbish
about our new flat, but my mum's reaction when she saw it, and the view from the balcony, made us reconsider our attitudes. It's so easy to become complacent, to stop seeing the luxury. My mum made us see this place as new, and see how lucky we are.

But we weren't the only ones who benefitted from her visit. There's a very happy shopkeeper in the souk who offloaded half his pashmina stock on her during our Sunday night bazaar bonanza. She may have claimed to be a novice, but she bartered like a seasoned camel trader - I was proud, and the shopkeeper's profit margin was kept in check.

Yesterday we took our first tentative steps on the road to expat ruin, with our first Doha brunch. An expat tradition - most of the five star hotels do it - you pay a fixed price and from noon till 4pm, you can eat and drink as much as you like. We went to a rather fabulous Thai restaurant at the Grand Hyatt, where they serve you an endless supply of delicious tapas sized Thai dishes, and the cocktails and wine just keep on flowing. We were worried it was going to be a drunken free for all - with sunburned expats throwing up in the ice buckets - but we'd forgotten this is Doha, not Benidorm. People just don't do that here, not least because it's an arrestable offence... So it turned out to be one of the nicest afternoon we'd spent since arriving here, with wonderful food, free flowing booze and excellent company. May the road to ruin start here.