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!