On Balconies and Such

After D.Kenner. advised me – for the good of Lebanon – to stay off my balcony in Beirut (previous stints on my balcony resulted in a building on fire and a massive car bomb) , I changed balcony venue, and went to a balcony in Nahr el-Bared instead. This however resulted in an upheaval in the fighting in nearby Tripoli between some more radical sunnis and the Lebanese army. It seems it is all under control this morning, they say.

So maybe it is no more balconies at all then.

These balconies in Nahr el-Bared, by the way, don’t come cheap. A night in an NBC-side apartment can cost you as much as $200. Yes, you are reading this right. And that is WITHOUT furniture, air-conditioning, bed and kitchen.

And windows, I might add. These have been shot out in the very early stages of the fighting between the army and Fatah Islam.

Rumors have it that the first week of the fighting, CNN put down a hefty fee of $400 a day for a shitty roof top. Prices have gone down a little since, due to the competition. After all, there are plenty of roof tops that have a fantastic view of the camp and the Mediterranean Sea behind it, and the Lebanese learn fast.
Some local networks have been able to negotiate the price down to a $150-a-day deal. Still, pretty expensive, that makes it more lucrative real-estate than the downtown apartments in Beirut.
There is of course a downside; as soon as the fighting is over, these journalists are gone. And then you are back to finding someone who can afford $200 a month in that region of the country.

I wonder how much I can put my balcony on the market for? Guaranteed action, I can tell you that.