The day after, is always
nice and quiet. Beirut is empty, because everyone stays at home out of fear
what might happen. It is nice and quiet, just like on a Sunday morning in
summer, or like five minutes into the Iftar in West-Beirut. Very few cars, no
honking horns, no voices on the street. The air is all acrid though, from burning rubber.
I had to run some errands this morning,
and those are best done on days like this. No traffic at all. What is a usually
an hour long trip through town, is done and over with in a mere 12 minutes!
Unfortunately quite a few
roads were blocked by the army, due to tire burnings, and most businesses had
closed their doors as well. And so my ‘running errands’ ended up a futile
affair, but I did get around town. The atmosphere is ‘detendu’, as the French word
it so well; relaxed. Not completely relaxed, but all things considered, we’re
not doing so bad. There’s some tire burning, some road-blocking and the likes,
but the keg has not been lit yet, so to speak. The situation in Tripoli is a little more explosive, but they've been on the edge a lot longer than us. Saida is not doing too well either.
Methinks I should get rid of the antenna on my car. |
There is a lot of army presence on
the streets, but still, the atmosphere is okay. The prime-minister offered his resignation,
and then suspended it, “until the president finalizes his
consultations with the National Dialogue Committee,” according to Prime-Minister Mikati. March 14 (the
political movement opposing Syria and Iran’s influence in Lebanon) is calling
for a demonstration downtown this Sunday. We’ll see. We’ll get over this one (too).
We’ll do fine. How can we not, when you encounter men like
this, driving around together on a little scooter? What d’ you think the
flowers are for? His wife just delivered? His Mom’s birthday? Oh, I just see some black smoke billowing up a
block away. Hmmmm. Let’s wait and see.
No comments:
Post a Comment