31 hello darkness my old friend The power's out again They're saying it's even worse in Cairo My friend got stuck in an elevator in 42 degree heat, somebody had to pry the doors open with their bare hands Everyone's out on their balcony It's kind of neat to see the village all dark Everybody murmuring One balcony has candles, one's using phone flashlights, but the rest of us prefer to lurk in the dark The stars are visible We can hear the water in the pool I said they could at least organize it and give us a schedule so nobody gets hurt Baba said I reminded him of a joke "One day they announce, all who cross this bridge must be beaten" "And it's a very busy bridge, people have to use it every day" "And surely enough, every weary commuter presents their afa (back of their neck) to be slapped" (it's very insulting/dishonourable to slap the back of someone's neck in Egypt...I have no idea why) "One day somebody stops the officer and says 'THIS WONT DO, THIS JUST WONT DO'" "The officer snarls, 'You object to being beaten?!'" "The man says, 'No, just hire two or three more people to slap us so the line moves faster!'" *sigh* Do you think we'll be like Greece? "They got saved by the EU but us..." Nobody's going to save us So...Lebanon, maybe some version of Lebanon "I want a snack!" Doomsday talk somehow makes Baba chipper I need to throw out the fish but I don't want to make a mess in the dark "Okay! I'll go make my snack, bonsoir" I guess I'll try to eavesdrop and sleep on the table outside |