October 25, 2006

Rain

The rainy season has started in Lebanon. This is our official winter, and can last up to March. It is funny how cars seem to multiply in Beirut whenever it rains. Traffic has been pretty horrendous for the past week. Trips that would usually take you 15 minutes can now last up to two hours. Last week, on my way back from work, I got stuck on a crossing. The first 5 minutes, you wait patiently. The next ten minutes, you wonder what on Earth is going on. Then your amusement at the absolute chaos slowly makes places for annoyance, slowly seeping into anger. Everyone is one his own, making the problem only worse. No policeman in sight. A couple of soldiers walked by, I figured they might clear the job, but they didn't do anything either.
In the end I got so upset, that I put my car in L4 (Low gear, four wheels), and thought; "anyone having the balls to block my way now is shit out of luck because I am going to bulldoze them right off the road, and like a snow shovel, I'll clear my own way." The rabid flicker in my eyes must have registered with fellow drivers, because the road suddenly parted like Moses parted the Red Sea (or was it the Dead Sea), and I was on my way home. A friend of mine got stuck in that same jam for over an hour as well.

2 comments:

Laila said...

Sometimes I think you are writing about us in Tehran. The resemblances are shocking. Well, about this post, a bit different: we don't have those 5 and 10 minutes at the beginning: straight forward to yelling, screaming, honking....

Anonymous said...

Hahaha! Dit is pas ingeburgerd!!