This is what we might call a major case of “make do and mend.”
patched home
Nothing goes to waste – even the balcony is crammed with jars, a washing line and the water pipe coal heater. This place is right next to the biggest, emptiest park in Beirut.
Wherever you go, whatever you do, don’t forget one of these:
the indispensable plastic chair
After all, you never know when you’re going to need a plastic chair.
These cable reels are all across town, keeping the heaps of damp sand and soggy workmen company. I find them mesmerising.
cables
Utilitarian yet somehow elegant.
Récits et Recettes by Walid Mouzannar
Even a cookbook can tell you a great deal about Lebanese society. This weekend I was at my father-in-law’s maternal cousin’s husband’s book signing in Sursock. (That sentence of course would just slip off the tongue in Arabic.) The book comprises two main parts, the first half being personal anecdotes, traditions and family tales and the second being recipes.
What I didn’t expect to find was an index at the end dedicated solely to names of people mentioned in the book. On a double-page spread all the surnames which appear in the book are listed alphabetically next to the relevant page (or pages for a happy few).
Now most people aspire to some kind of fame, especially in a small community where fame is easier to achieve and always seems to be almost within reach.
I remember a writer from the local gazette of the small town I grew up in pointing out that for every local person mentioned in the paper because they caught a large fish, won a dog show, or broke Read the rest of this entry »
This yellow painted store in Mar Mikhael sells nothing but bananas.
passing time at the banana shop
Running a small shop is one of the more fortunate professions when one gets to retirement age but has no pension to speak of. You can still spend your days drinking coffee, sitting out on the pavement, chatting with the neighbours and picking your ears, like all old men should.