Thursday, October 26, 2006
Just got back from my first visit to the north in over a year and since the war.
Thankfully I missed the monster traffic jam that has been the lot of everyone travelling to and from the north since the wartime destruction of nearly all the country’s infrastructure.
But I got a chance to see what was causing the traffic jams – bombed-out bridges and roads under repair necessitating snakes and ladders-type detours, deviations etc.
One part of the old road just north of Jounieh was particularly bad – nearly the entire road was blocked by some gigantic piece of road building machinery so cars had to, when directed by a soldier, mount the curb one by one via a small ramp and drive straddling the curb and the road for a couple of meters to get past that part of the road.
I can imagine that that would create a major bottleneck if there was a lot of traffic.
Yesterday was the last day of the Eid el Fitr.
My cousins were, as always, complaining about having to go back to school.
I pointed out to them that this holiday, like any other Muslim holiday, is a complete bonus as it has nothing to do with them, so they should be grateful for this freebie just as I suppose Muslim kids should be when they get Christmas, Easter and other Christian holidays off.
12:30 am
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