Extreme police transport

I'm in Qatar at the moment: I've stopped here for four days on my way to Britain. I thought it would be interesting here - I've never been anywhere in the Middle East before, so I thought it'd be a good place to stop over.

It turns out that it's not just interesting: it's absolutely lovely. I would highly recommend it as a holiday destination.

But one thing I noticed here was the police transport. I've seen a couple of extremes of police transport over the past week, here in Doha yesterday, and last week in Tianjin, in China.

Qatar is famous for its horses, and the mounted police look spectacular.



They march up and down this souk every 10 minutes or so, doing very little but looking extremely impressive. If there were ever a police chase, it would look like something out of the Three Musketeers. I don't know much about horses, but these ones do look pretty special.

On the other hand, last Monday I was at Tianjin Airport in Northern China, and things were perhaps a little less impressive.



It's not just a policeman on a Segway reading his phone and showing no interest in all the illegal parking that's going on. I'm pretty sure it's a policeman on a fake Segway reading his phone and showing no interest in all the illegal parking that's going on.

Sorry for the low resolution on this one: I had to use the electronic zoom on my phone because I didn't want to disturb his inactivity.

It's got red and blue flashing lights and a siren and everything. Good grief.

It's put a picture into my head of the worst police chase in the world. It would be slower and stupider than the OJ chase. It would be even more extraordinary if the baddie was trying to make his getaway on a Segway too. Or perhaps a pogo stick or a space hopper.

I've seen some ridiculous police vehicles in my time - almost all of them in China - but I think this may be the silliest one I've ever seen.

I don't know whether GC, ftl and TonyD grew up on the same kids' telly as I did, but this cop really brought back memories for me of Jamie and the Magic Torch.

 

Oddly enough, as you were typing this, I was out having dinner, and had to tell my younger daughter precisely that.

 

Yes, I understand that these Qatari policemen on horseback always get their man.

You'd feel very much at home here.

We have police on bikes in Sydney. I don't think they could have them here, as they'd die of heat exhaustion.

 

Surprisingly, no.

This is what I'd assumed too, before I came here. My Dad spent a lot of time in Saudi Arabia when I was a kid, and he said there were no women anywhere in public. He found it incredibly weird, as you would. I thought Qatar would be much the same.

But it's not: that picture is a bit misleading. I've seen women and men in equal proportions while travelling around. Women here can drive and have jobs and everything: it's not like Saudi Arabia at all. It's more like Iran (much as they would prefer not to be associated with Iran): there are headscarves and rules on men and women courting and stuff, but in everyday life, it's all fairly normal. Some women wear a headscarf, some wear an abaya, and some wear a full burqa. There are lots of women working,in offices and shops and restaurants and stuff. In terms of career opportunities, t's not some bastion of equality like Scandinavia or China, but it's not much worse than Australia, and it's probably better than South Korea or Japan. This isn't what I was expecting at all: I had assumed exactly what you're assuming.

Yes, when I saw the policeman, it was Chorlton and the Wheelies that I thought of first. I had to Google to check which programme it was that had the wheeled policeman. I liked both.

 

GC, you'll be pleased to know that I'm now on the right side (the left side) of the Pennines, in sunny Lytham.

But given your Middle Eastern comments, and the UKIP discussion before the elections, I thought you'd love this picture, from the seatback on my flight here.


Oooooh. It's the future.

 

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