False Alarm

Yesterday's was an absolute fabulous sunset on the Corniche

And so the emerging news story of two American journalists, who disappeared while in Lebanon, can be shelved again, as it turns out they were actual in the slammer in Syria. A false alarm. I wasn’t far off.

But then most people around here figured out that it was probably something benign like that. Blacksmith right away connected to the Dean Kevlin story. I had totally forgot about that one, but that gentleman was also feared missing, kidnapped maybe, until he emerged some days later with a massive hang-over; after a late-night party it had taken him some time to recover and appear in the world of men again.

You'd have to live in far-away places, such as New York, to assume the worst.

Late for school

But the word ‘Lebanon’ suggest all things catastrophic, it seems; the mere mentioning of ‘Beirut’ (they still mention the civil war in every single article, even though that one officially ended 18 years ago) right away brings up images of kidnappings, fighting and bombing, death and destruction.

The Scooter Brigade of the local sandwich shop; they're waiting for dinner time, when they'll all swarm over Beirut with chicken shwarmas on their bikes

Funny how I write this, as if everything is normal here; it’s been only been 5 months since I received 5 bullets in the façade of my house. Our short-term memory is basically non-existent. There is ample proof of that in this gold fish clip (hat tip Nicolien).

But really, this place is quite safe.

I guess you have to live here to believe it.

Which reminds me; does anyone remember what the official start of the Lebanese war was, on April 13, 1975? It was the attack on a busload of Palestinian workers. Quite similar to this bus, which I saw while dropping my son off at a paint ball session. It seems we do want to instill some memories in our youth. Not the best ones, though.