Monday was our first working day and occurred in two parts: first at the Urbanista cafe, accompanied by a croissant and coffee. Then I came home to make a quick lunch which turned out not to be so quick as the stove is powered by a gas cannister and it took me some time to figure out which valve to open. Ridiculous, I know, but I am nervous around compressed gas.
After lunch we went to another cafe, Sip. All this cafe going is primarily to access faster internet than we get in our flat (which is truly pitiful, and particularly pitiful in that there appears, so far as I can tell, no outgoing capacity at all, so even a whatsapp photo doesn’t transmit).
The other reason was the loadshedding. The power goes out for three hours a day, but at different times and apparently on some sort of schedule. Today, Tuesday, for instance, it will go at noon. There is an app which predicts the schedule and sends an alert. For all the Lebanese complaints about it, it’s far more comfortable and high tech than the Pakistani system, or lack thereof. Moreover, private generator companies provide a certain amount of power during power cuts and, I understand, are also a reason why the power crisis has not been resolved in all these years. (Moreover, Lebanon hardly compares itself to Pakistan I suspect, but to Israel or European countries).
I wrote a script for a short video, which was quite engaging work.
In the evening we decided to go out for falafel, and went to Sahyoun Falafel and Sahyoun Falafel, two adjacent shops run by brothers who are not on speaking terms with each other, but both equally claim their father’s mantle. We had a falafel sandwich from each shop and I can confirm that Sahyoun was better. (The blue one not the red one, the one without an larged screenshot of Bryan Adams praising the falafel on his Instagram).