Backin' Beirut!!

Hurrah, I am back!!

It's really good to be back again - the weather is perfect and there have been some really clear days and great views up to the hills above the city.

In terms of life in the city, things have really gone back to how they were before the war - even more so in some cases - an example follows:

It is my birthday on Sunday. I am therefore having a couple of vodkas to celebrate on Friday night and, in honour of the auspicious nature of my 32nd, I thought I would go to our local Karaoke bar. No such luck. We rang up last night to book a table and they had already all been taken!! Haram!!!! This is the venue where we could always turn up on a Friday and get seating for at least five or six people. No longer it seems. Beirutis are clearly so glad to be back that they are attending Karaoke in their droves! Instead I am heading to a bar often frequented by youth on their way to the clubs of Monot, but one where you can generally get a seat and hear each other speak. I'm not getting old, oh no!

But the general business of the bars and clubs is to be welcomed. The Lebanese, as I think Dom has observed before, are very gregarious, social people. And now that certain parts of society are returning, they are living for the moment. My observation is that it is mainly the young, middle income Lebanese who are returning and staying. The poor could not leave, and the very wealthy are either staying away full stop, or are coming back to pack up and leave for six months to a year - if not for good. Most of my friends and colleagues have returned. Time Out is launching online on Oct 9, and IOCC is carrying out relief work in the south.

In everyday life, the shops are well stocked, although the farmers in the Bekaa have really suffered this year with many of their crops being destroyed. Lettuce is very hard to find, for example. There are still problems with milk supplies too. Bizarrely, the place with the best supplies that we have found is the Medco petrol garage near Downtown. Maybe the suppliers do some sort of milk/petrol swap... Office and apartment rents have also increased, and people are wanting you to commit for 9 months to a year up front.

But these things are all to be expected, to be honest. No one thought for a moment that Lebanon would go straight back to how it was. There are still many reminders of the war around - warships off the coast, reports on the radio of bodies still being found under buildings in the south and the fact that there are many more landmines in the south than before - without maps showing their location this time. However, most of the damage to the southern suburbs of Beirut has been cleared and, thankfully (and miraculously), none of my friends' houses from that area were damaged. Hopefully the rebuilding programme will continue apace.

Looking forward on a more personal/trivial note, I am to break the habit of a lifetime and enter the Beirut 10K run! It will be held on the same day as the marathon, but I am not so badly shell-shocked as to enter the marathon proper. I have therefore started my training regime and am facing my hatred of running. So far, I can confirm that I still hate it. I have been assured by many though, that you eventually get to like it. The chances of that are slim, but I will persevere. Details will follow of the charity you can all donate to.

As I sign off to continue my short period of being a lady of leisure, I will reiterate - it's really great to be back.