Country and Flag Origins - Part Q

Whilst queueing for a quarter of an hour on a quest to obtain a quote for a quantity of tickets for a Queen tribute band, I queried the quarterback sized assistant in a quiet , yet querulous way, "I have a query, do I qualify for these quality tickets, or do I need to take a quick quiz?". He looked at me in a quizzical way, and asked for my qualifications. "I take a quantifiable number of quick quizzes on JetPunk" I replied, "No need to question me, or I shall quit and move to Qatar".

Which brings us to our latest instalment, Q. Not the quartermaster, from where the Q name comes, in the James Bond franchise of films, played by Welsh actor Desmond Llewelyn from 1963 to 1999 when John Cleese took on the role. No this is the countries beginning with Q blog. Well, I say countries, but what I should say is country, singular, for there is but one...

This flag was adopted by Qatar in 1971, shortly before the nations independence from Britain. The nine white points represent Qatar as the ninth reconciled emirate. The maroon colour is known as Qatari maroon, and is the colour of a dye that has been produced in the country for centuries. The white part of the flag represents the peace gained from signing anti-piracy treaties with the United Kingdom.

The name of Qatar dates back to the first century AD, when Roman writer, Pliny the Elder, documented the inhabitants of the peninsula now known as Qatar. He called the indigenous population Catharrei or "Inhabitants". About a century later, Ptolemy produced a map on which the peninsula was known as Catara. This name was used until the 18th century when it changed to Katara, before going through several variations, "Katr", "Kattar" and "Guttur", and finally ending up as Qatar. 

QATAR = INHABITANTS

Well, that was a blast to write. Short and to the point. I'm a little glad really that there is another short blog next. R has only three entries, but in a way, it means I am slowly building up to the big one. S. No less than 26 countries spread over three blogs, now that is a challenge. Although not as much of a challenge as a colleague of mine embarked on recently. He runs each day religiously, often 15 miles or more, but he recently enrolled in the Chester Ultra Marathon, a 24 hour 100 mile race! Unfortunately, he didn't finish, but he did manage just under 90 miles, a significant achievement of which myself, and the company I work for, are rightly proud. He raised a considerable amount of money for a mental health charity. I feel tired when I drive for ninety miles, let alone running!

Anyway, that's it for now, time to go. Phew, I had a little panic moment then. I thought I would check the word count and accidently clicked back, which took me to a blank Blog Title page. I thought I had deleted the lot, luckily I had saved it. Phew. There's a lesson to be learnt from this kids. Always save any blog you are creating. Not just at the end, I try and save every time I switch tabs, or every time I finish a paragraph, or upload a picture. Get into the habit of saving always. On one of my earlier blogs about Five Islands, I lost almost half of a blog and had to rewrite it. Luckily, I think the rewrite was better than the original, but it was a pain at the time. Oh, sorry about the link and shameless plug!

That's it for now. No, it really is, I'm off to cook a meal now. Chicken Tikka Masala with Onion Bhajis and pilau rice if you're interested. Bye y'all!