Last night around 6.30pm we heard the noise of a cannon being fired to mark the beginning of Ramadan. The gun will fire every evening to tell Muslims when they can break their daytime fast. The Doha News has a short article which tells you more about Ramadan in Qatar.

For the next month, Muslims will fast from dawn to dusk. That’s over 15 hours without food or drink at the hottest time of the year. 

My working hours, for the duration, will be 9am to 2pm. I will not be permitted to eat or drink in public. We will, probably, attempt to fast for at least one day, just to experience what many of our friends and colleagues will be doing every day.

We will miss much of Ramadan as we’re flying back to the UK on Monday, then five days later over to the USA. But we will be back for the last few days in August and for the Eid holiday which follows.