Off to the Gentleman Friend, that is, as my work travel hasn’t panned out yet and meanwhile he is back from his hike. While the uncertainty around work is annoying, it is good not to have to wait another full month before seeing him again. So I leave the homestay – the Tibetans left yesterday […]
Run up to Tihar
This coming week is Tihar, what the Nepalis call Diwali. Our hostess will be leaving for her village to get a tika from her mother. Even more embarrassingly than yesterday’s faux pas, I learned today that I have been calling her by her daughter’s name all this time. I had thought I was so clever; […]
Riotous day
Rioting all day across Pakistan. One sibling trapped in Islamabad, one using all sorts of feints to get to the airport in Lahore for work in in Karachi (and then to leave the airport). A parent trapped in the ancestral village where he had planned to be overnight, but has been unable to leave because […]
Rare delicacy
Today and yesterday I have been engrossed in what I can only call busy work, rather than the work I actually have to do and that is starting to worry me a little. Well, there it is! It occurred to me that very soon I will have left my AirBnb as the GF will have […]
Daily rituals
From yesterday work began and I have since started trying to get daily routines in place. It’s less easy than it was in Byblos where restaurant options were few but the flat was comfortable, there was a convenient daily sunset, and there was little or no risk of food poisoning. Here the risk of food […]
The biggest stone in the world
In the morning we walked to what is known as the Roman quarry, though I believe it is pre-Roman, and possibly alien. This is about 10 minutes down the road, behind a derelict petrol station and some piles of rubbish, where an enormous hole is scooped out of the earth. Along the sides are small […]
Horizons
Several days without writing, for which I apologise. Work has been very intense indeed, about 500 pages of reports needing the usual heavy handed editing, to be done in a tearing hurry as usual. But the first edit of the last is now in my Drafts folder and will be sent shortly. US politics is […]
Three step day
A couple of days without posting as I was either on a futile roadtrip or working or groaning in the throes of a headache. To take these in order: 1. On Wednesday, the Gentleman Friend and I went down to Beirut to collect our passports following visa renewal. It took about 90 minutes to travel […]
Visage libanais
We are now frequenting our neighbourhood forn every day for a lovely little breakfast. This is bookended by the sunset strolls in the afternoons. A very civilised lifestyle. The woman at the forn seems very taken with me, which is unusual as it’s usually the Gentleman Friend who is beloved by all. It’s rather nice […]
2 days of glumness
A couple of days of mild glumness have passed, thanks to getting overly excited about potential work opportunities, and then disappointment when one didn’t come through and the other is taking far too long to resolve one way or the other. That said, I am equally unhappy whether I have too much work or too […]