Twins!

Sydney (our resident bird) has had a rough time of it over the last few months. She hatched two chicks in February/March time, but sadly the rain and cold weather got to them, and they died. Then she seemed to be abandoned by her uncaring partner and looked a bit miserable. Happily though, they seem to have patched up their differences, and Sydney is the proud mother of two new chicks! Photos hopefully will follow. As with Jemimah last year, she has been sitting on them for the last few days, but soon we think they will be allowed to sit unsupervised. Poor Sydney is finding it all very hard, and she has lost a lot of weight. (Really, she has!). Anyway, any suggestions for names for the birds will be gratefully received. Tempted as I am by Hassan and Nasrallah, I am not sure that those names will be entirely appropriate, nor do I want to saddle these poor chicks with such connotation-driven names.

Anyway, in other news that has been slightly more high profile in Lebanon, the Hariri tribunal resolution was passed by the UN last night. A couple of countries abstained - Russia, China (expected), and South Africa and Indonesia. But the Lebanese government now has until June 10 to ratify the resolution but, if they don't, I think it will go ahead anyway. Anyway, this means that people are generally nervy (as if the recent bombs weren't enough), and everyone is expecting some sort of trouble over the next week or two.

But, of course, it may not happen. I am not sure, for all their posturing, if the political leaders here are actually that bothered about the tribunal. Yes, the March 14 block want justice for Hariri, but I think all parties actually want to resolve the stalemate that has been going on for the last 6 months (the tent protesters will have been there for 6 months tomorrow), and now that the UN vote on the tribunal is out of the way, they can start quietly discussing how to solve this messy deadlock they have got themselves into.

And in the north, there is still deadlock in Tripoli. The Lebanese army has not yet entered the camp to finish off the mililtants (although many have been killed trying to escape), but it's generally expected that they probably will. And the main concern is that if the entry is bungled in any way, whether the other camps in Lebanon (about 11 others) will start to rise up against the army. At the moment, it seems unlikely, but almost anything can happen here!

So, the latest travel advice (along with the rest of the Armageddon-like advice concerning Lebanon on the website) is to avoid large crowds. Not hard at the moment as it is rare that you see more than 5 people in any one place, but we are duly scampering out of the way of people that look like they are beginning to mass...

Guest blogger 7 - summertime and the living was easy - but then........!

Dom here. Fi has swanned off to have a few days visiting her sister so I am holding the fort. I wish i could say that her journey was smooth, but a cancelled flight, a sweaty session in the airline office rebooking, a 4 in the morning drive to the airport, and a large bomb down the road did not help the carefree holiday spirit!
And before you complain I know that i need to blog my 3 days in the north which involved a freezing night in a log cabin in the mountains, over-friendly nuns (!) and lots of lovely Lebanese tucker. Will do that at the weekend.
So what on earth is going on in Lebanon? On Saturday the sun really came out for the first time properly - it has been a weird and dusty spring. But Saturday was gorgeous and we were invited to a very nice silk museum up in the hills where we viewed silkworms chomping through mulberry leaves (they like being stroked!) and ate nice canapes and watched the sun set over the Med and all was good with the world. We then had a meal in Casablancas - very good if a tad pricey - before the obligatory late drink in Gemmayzeh which was humming with all the beautiful people. Saturday seemed like a day when Lebanon was back to normal again.

Then yesterday was a freaky overcast cold day and having spent much of the afternoon at the airport I went for a bite in Downtown. Well it aint back to normal yet but i blame it on the dodgy weather for the lack of punters - and the fact it was 4.30 in the afternoon and a bit late for lunch. But while I was doing all this stuff there was a developing story up in the north near Tripoli.

I feel guilty when I say I haven't properly visited Tripoli yet - I have passed through a few times and stopped for a coffee but not seen the great crusader castle except from the outside. But about 10 kms north of Tripoli on the coast road is the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared (translates as Cold River) which seems to play host to a hard-core splinter group of nutcases who are affiliated to al-Qaeda and would love to turn Lebanon into Iraq. I hasten to add that these mostly are not the innocent Palestinians in the camp but they come from all over the Arab world. Anyway they robbed a bank in the pleasant town of Amioun on Friday and after a police raid on their house went wrong, all hell broke loose as the military was ambushed. At least 9 Lebanese army soldiers were executed after their positions were overrun and today the battle up there has been intensifying with no doubt the army being heavy handed but seemingly outgunned for the early stages. It is likely that there might be some kind of truce brokered but also not unlikely that the whole thing will go to last man standing. By all accounts it is the worst violence since the civil war (have people forgotten last summer?) but it is contained in the north at least for now. Interesting too that most of the other Palestinians in Lebanon have supported the Lebanese military. Wouldn't it be great if these poor people could go home after 60 years??

But this all makes just the kind of image Lebanon dreads seeing on TV as tourists are planning their hols - ironic as I spent lunch discussing with some businessmen the plans to launch a massive promotional event for Lebanon on 12 July - the anniversary of the war. Lets hope that 20 May is not remembered for all the wrong reasons too.

And last night as I took an early night in preparation for going to the airport to drop off Fi at 4 am I was just dozing off when a massive bang happened outside. I had vague ideas it might be a gas cylinder - this has happened before - but no it was a 30 kg bomb just outside the ABC centre which is the main shopping mall in East Beirut. It aint my kind of scene really, a good cinema but overpriced glittery things for the ladies and I don't think there is anything for the gents at all - at least I have never found anything much there so usually settle for a coffee and watching the wealthy stroll by (or totter in the case of the ladies). But to put a bomb outside was taking it a bit far, and of course the innocent suffer - a poor 61 year lady was killed and her husband is in a coma as their bedroom wall fell on them in the next door block of flats. Admittedly though it could have been a hell of a lot worse. So I got very little sleep in the end as the phone beeped and trilled until around 1.30 then we were up again at 4. I can safely say I achieved not a lot at work today.

So again the city is on a knifeedge and people are staying indoors watching and waiting. This place is really a fabulous country if it could be given the chance - I am amazed at how the place has got up off its knees after last summer's fun and games and the endless political crisis. I was getting to the stage where I was getting more invitations to dos than I wanted to go to, which is always a nice position to be in, so it will be interesting to see whether the mood of cautious optimism can be retained. Personally I think there is a good chance this will die down and it will be a calm summer - I think virtually everyone would settle for that. But predictions are the hardest thing in Lebanon so we will watch and wait like everyone else.
I am now off for an attempted night's sleep!

Lady Hester!

The Remains of Lady Hester Stanhope's house at Djoun

This is a time for sadness and despondency in Lebanon. Unlike the UK where, at this time of year, Bank Holidays pop up with a seeminly neverending frequency, the Lebanese have only the one, on May Day. And there isn't another Bank Holiday until August! Which is quite amazing when you normally can have two Easters, an assumption, the Prophet's birthday and other assorted religious holidays, all occuring within a week of each other... (or something like that!). Anyway, May Day, like Lebanon's Independence Day, is one of only two secular holidays that are celebrated by the whole country. And it occurs on May Day. Very socialist.

So this May Day, Dom and I set of to find the home of English eccentric Lady Hester Stanhope. Lady Hester was the neice of Pitt the Younger, and, by all accounts, was completely barking. I have just finished a very entertaining 1934 biography about her by Joan Haslip (who, judging by her style of writing, was a little off-beam herself) and so I thought it would be fun to seek out her final home in the mountains above Sidon.

Some information on Lady Hester: she lived in England until the age of about 34 when she set off for a 'European Tour'. Except that she didn't stay in Europe for too long and fell in love with the Middle East instead. This might have been caused in part by a prophecy she received that she was to become the bride of the Messiah and would also become Queen of the Arabs (although I think the latter one was mainly in her head). While en route to Egypt she was shipwrecked, and having lost all her clothes, adopted a male version of Turkish dress. This, coupled with her rather unique style of addressing people, made her a bit of a 'cause celeb' in the Middle East, and she rode horseback into Damascus without a veil - unthinkable at the time.

She is also well-known for being the first European woman - and one of the few Europeans to survive the dangerous journey - to enter Palmyra, in the Syrian desert. The native Bedouins crowned her as a queen, and called her Zenobia, the ancient queen of this city. After these adventures Hester chose to live in Lebanon, and became quite a local folk hero, offering shelter to those affected by wars and battles for supremacy in the region. However, her money ran out, and she died in her home in Djoun friendless and alone. She was buried in the grounds, but her remains were moved during the civil war, and placed in the grounds of the Ambassador's residence (lovely!) before being returned to England recently. And I believe this ceremony was covered by Hello! magazine!

The house today is a real shadow of its former self. The courtyard remains, and a few walls, but much of the house was destroyed by earthquakes, or the stones used by local farmers. The dungeons are still there, as I discovered when I nearly fell in them! The terraced gardens, full of orange and olive trees, are pretty much the same as when Hester designed them and the spot the house stands on commands fantastic views of the Chouf region, and of the sea. Like many places of interest in Lebanon, however, (and I concede that Lady Hester is a little bit of a niche interest) there is no explanation or context at the site, much less any signposting to it. It's a real shame that a country with such a rich heritage only has a few sights (Baalbeck and Byblos spring to mind) with any real explanation of what happened there.

This theme was continued as we then went on to the Temple of Echmoun - the best/only example of a Phoenician Temple in the world, I think, or at least in Lebanon. There was no signage at the site explaining what is a really unique place, and one that has excited archaeologists the world over. It still is pretty impressive, though.

Other news to follow... when I think of some!