Fortunately, Mr Hippo, I don't need to worry about a school place for my son because I'm a teacher and your useful advice about Qatar helped me decide to accept the job in Doha.

Books shouldn't be a problem with my Amazon account, but I'm not looking forward to driving around in Doha in my little rental car - I will be looking to buy the biggest 4x4 I can afford on my teacher's salary. It will probably be quite an old SUV with several dents, but I'm not fussy.

Do you know the area around DESS? I'm told it's quiet and the apartment is "nice", on the map it looks very central.