The last couple of weeks have been incredibly busy with
all sorts of nonsense, none of which was inspiring, nor interesting enough to
publish. And if it was inspiring and interesting, I did not have time to write
about it. Excruciatingly frustrating, especially since there are so many exciting
things going on in town. Maybe it is time for a career change; I’d love to get
back to full time writing again. I’ve been reading a lot of John McPhee lately,
and there are a lot of things you could do like that in Lebanon, so many projects
and people to write about, not enough time, so that’s in the works. I need to
get into other people’s business again.
Meanwhile I have to organize my life around the various
social events that my daughter organizes with friends & co, further complicated
by the fact that both hubbie and I have been invited to the same social event,
by different people, and thus we are to either sit at different tables (adding
fire to the many rumors that undoubtfully circulate around town), or one of us
has to give in. Who will it be? Let’s
not reveal his track record of victories. I might keep you posted.
Respite is on the horizon however, with the start of
Ramadan in some 10 days from now, when work slows down. Summer holiday is also
almost here, slowing this society even further down. There are some vague speculations
favoring the opinion that this will not be such a quiet summer, with border
issues in the south and the north, north-east. Some say our eastern man won’t
be able to hold on the power much longer, although I thought 3 years ago
already he was a goner, so he’s proven to be a lot more resilient than
expected; no
need to keep you hopes high for that one.
We still have no president; I think that may account for the
peace in town, we should do some research on that. Others say we’re in a
downward spiral. I dare say they’ve been saying that for the past 10 years, and
look, we still haven’t reached rock-bottom yet! A friend of mine likened life
in town to a vortex, and we happened to be in ‘the eye of the storm’. What I
love about this society is that – despite our Doomsday approach to life – it doesn’t
seem to bother anyone. So what if we’re all going to hell; doesn’t mean we’ve
got to get depressed over it!
I did go to Byblos this morning to cheer for Aregu
Sisay, our housekeeper, who was a favorite for the 10K. I should have run
myself, but somehow that plan slipped my mind. Last year she won first place;
this year she had her doubts because she fell on the balcony last week (no, not
off, just on), and experienced some pain. She did fine for a bit, but ended up
limping over the finish line. A visit to the hospital showed she had a
fractured right fibula, a so-called ‘stress fracture’, common in runners, so
running with a fractured fibula and making it to second place is very
respectable indeed. Not sure whether she started out with a fractured fibula,
or whether she acquired it during the race. She was complaining she couldn’t ‘run
on her fingers’, as she calls running on her toes. She’s a great believer of
the forefoot striking technique, and so she was thumping over the course, like
an elephant, she said. She could have picked up that fracture then. Either way,
she’s in an ‘air
cast’ now, and no running or sports activity for at least three weeks. So
no more runner stories this summer.
Waiting for the X-ray. It turned out to be a fractured right fibula. The door man at the hospital said: "What's this? I just saw you on TV, and now you show up in the hospital?" |
A good sign is that there was at least on other Ethiopian girl, also a housekeeper, and possibly a third one, running in the race. She's been a good role model.
I am not sure what to say about this picture. It has an endearing quality to it, yet a high degree of Gene Wilder at the same time. |
1 comment:
I didn't stop laughing.
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