---------------------------------------------- Serious satire "Humor is a funny way of being serious" -Thomas Edison -------------------- To have your emails deleted please write to me at renatoobeid@hotmail.com -------------------- Copyright© 2001-2010, Renato Obeid   Archives April 2001 May 2001 June 2001 July 2001 August 2001 September 2001 January 2002 February 2002 March 2002 June 2002 July 2002 August 2002 October 2002 November 2002 December 2002 February 2003 March 2003 April 2003 May 2003 June 2003 July 2003 August 2003 September 2003 October 2003 November 2003 December 2003 January 2004 February 2004 March 2004 April 2004 May 2004 June 2004 July 2004 August 2004 September 2004 October 2004 November 2004 December 2004 January 2005 February 2005 March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007 June 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 December 2007 January 2008 February 2008 March 2008 April 2008 May 2008 June 2008 July 2008 August 2008 September 2008 October 2008 November 2008 January 2009 April 2009 October 2012 << current prequel   "Top blog/Renato Obeid's World/Today's pick: This rambling weblog is worth reading not so much for its satirical posts but more for its insight into the minutiae of life in Lebanon, including the etiquette of road accidents and how to hire a taxi.” -Jane Perrone, The Guardian my profile audio

renatoobeidsworld   Thursday, January 11, 2007   HAGGLE BUSTER - don’t haggle with a Hajj Bought a state of the art ‘’brick game’’ (Tetris knockoff) from a street vendor in Beirut this afternoon for all of 3000 Lebanese Lira. Even then I tried to haggle, after all the only ‘’overheads’’ he has are the sky, clouds and the sun, but the vendor cut me short with ‘’I’m a Hajj’’ (i.e. he’s not going to rip me off). Everything’s Not A Dollar* (just down the road from ‘’Everything’s A Rip-off, around the corner from Everything’s Crap and across the road from Everything’s A Dollar…NOT! ) in Jounieh sells them for 2500 Lira but I was quite happy to pay a 500 Lira Hajj premium at Honest Hajj’s. I also bought two books while I was in Beirut – one was fiction presented as fact (The Beirut Spring** –a coffee table book about the so-called Cedar Revolution) and the other was fact presented as fiction (Upton Sinclair’s brilliant but disturbing novel The Jungle, incidentally also for 2500 Lira – pity the nation where el cheapo knockoff electronic games are the same price as literary classics). Although a century and a continent apart, these two books have a lot in common – The Beirut Spring is about the movement that canonized and mythologized Rafic Hariri and The Jungle is closer to the reality of life for workers in Lebanon under the Hariri Dynasty (1992-Forever). *The name has been changed to protect the guilty - the last place you’ll’ find stuff for a dollar is at so-called dollar shops **A souvenir from Lebanon for my brother Guy and his lovely fiancée Jenn who are getting married in Kuching Malaysia next week. 8:00 pm

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