To The Motherland; Will Be Back in August

I went to my dentist for the annual check-up.
“Hmmmm,” he said, as he looked over my file. “I see I gave you a check-up last year just about this time, just before the war started. Didn’t you travel right after the check-up?”
“Eh, A weh aou a e ay.” (His hand is in my mouth)
“So when are you traveling this year? Just so I know what to expect.”

It’s been a hectic year since last summer. July 12 is almost upon us. I’ve written my last article yesterday, and now it is time for the annual pilgrimage to the motherland; Holland. Last year I wished you all a great summer. We all know what happened then, so I will refrain from wishing anything this year. In Lebanon you never get what you wish for, and everything you don’t want. I do hope I won’t miss too many news stories, both for your and my sake. And I’ll see you again in August.

On Dowsing Rods & Bomb Detectors

I do not watch TV very often; lack of interest. I watch Lebanese TV even less. Not because of a lack of interest, but because I command the ‘common version’ of Arabic, the spoken version, or colloquial dialect, whereas the news is read in the classical version.

So what I saw this morning on a Lebanese channel may be old news to you, but it sure got my attention. It starts off as the latest Hollywood blockbuster; a fantastic display of exploding cars and houses that are blown to smithereens. You expect Bruce Willis to show up in DieHard number 5.
No such thing. It’s an advertisement, reminding you that if you really want to protect your loved ones from car bombs, you have to buy their explosive detector. Requires no batteries or electricity, and detects bombs up to 300 meters! I kid you not.
They are a common sight in Beirut these days when entering parking lots of malls and cinemas, or the private grounds of hotels, beaches and the likes.

I must say, they do not instill much hope, as they look decisively like dowsing rods, those odd little devises you use to find water. Or so some people believe. I think spotting a car bomb is pretty much in that field of science anyway. In London they spot two in one night. In Lebanon they spot that many in two-and-a-half years. Most of them we miss though.

I noticed that several buildings in my neighborhood have invested in a ‘security guard’. Nothing serious, not a guy in uniform, but someone who watches over who parks their car in front of the building and then walks away. I am not sure what the profile of a car bomber is.

I’d be interested to know though.

Connected

A criss-cross of wires above the street in Ain el-Heloue, near the Hamas mosque.

"What kind of lines are these? Phone lines?" I asked
"Every kind of line, you name it. Phone, electricity, television cable, and even internet lines," was the reply

Alleyways in Ain el-Heloue

Conversations We Have; Part II

Actual conversation between 3 small girls in the back of my car Friday afternoon, as we drive on the recently re-opened road that passes by the St. George hotel, scene of the Hariri car bomb in 2005, but also a famous beach in Beirut.

The 7-year old girls says: “We go to this beach. A bomb went off here.”
The 6-year old girl replies; “We go to the other beach with the bomb.”
Upon which my 4-year old pipes up, indignantly, “Mom, how come our beach didn’t have a bomb?”