Under Siege XV: Beirut Calling

We had a lovely time up in the hills - reading books and generally chilling out. I feel a lot more relaxed and Dom certainly looks like he's benefited from the rest. He says that he has worked harder here than he did in Iraq, which certainly says something about the conditions we have all be working in over the last couple of weeks. One thing I noticed about our stay in the hills was that you could hear the Israeli planes a lot more clearly. I heard them while I was half asleep in the night and in my stupor-like state thought that the airport was open again for business. Ahem. No such luck. The planes, although not bombing Beirut this time, have been circling around the area, no doubt frightening a lot of people on the ground.

One thing I have noticed, and I am sure I am not the only one, is how many sounds remind you of the bombs that have been hitting the suburbs. Any sort of low, dull thud brings back the sound of the shelling. If I am slightly twitchy about the noise some doors make (the portaloos at the evacuation centre certainly reminded me of it), goodness knows how others who were closer to the bombs are finding it. Even the sound of Timpani on a CD I was listening to today made me wonder if the bombs were falling again. It was only the fact that it all happened in time with the music that finally convinced me it was an overactive imagination that was at fault.

In other news, we have internet at home again - hurrah! Dom managed to find a card. Access is still sporadic but I am looking forward to reading my blog in full and ensuring that I do not repeat myself too often. I went out for a bite to eat with a friend of mine from Time Out. She's currently freelancing and it was good to find out what is happening on the ground as she is pitching some articles about the humanitarian effort in Lebanon at the moment. I watched about 30 seconds of Bush on a news bulletin tonight and had to turn over when it became apparent that he couldn't remember the countries he was supposed to be focused on, and talked about 'that area, the Middle East' instead.

I'm going to try to reply to some emails over the next couple of days. Keep the comments coming. Sydney is still sitting there I'm afraid. Is it possible to induce a hatching? Should we be feeding her curry?