My friends and I went out to dinner for St Patrick's Day. Paddy's is a downtown Irish pub. They didn't have corned beef and cabbage but they did have Jamison's whiskey so it wasn't a complete wash. Afterward we went to another Irish pub called Celtic. A live Irish band, replete with banjo, regaled us with lively jigs in a foreign tongue. (Not the King's English as far as I'm concerned.) I had a great time, but the whiskey, ale and muscle relaxant analgesics conspired to put me in bed by midnight.
My back had gotten better after two weeks of near bed rest, but then it got worse again after two hours of near tennis playing. This time I skipped the troublesome step of making an appointment with the doctor so that I could fill a bogus prescription for useless placeboes. Instead, I went to the pharmacist, described my symptoms and asked what he had. He suggested an analgesic combined with an anti-inflammatory and handed over a box of pills called etodolac. It's non-steroidal so I'll still be eligible as DH for the Red Sox incase they call me up during spring training.
Meanwhile we're packing for Thailand. It’s hot there this time of year so we shouldn’t need many clothes. The last four days will be spent barefoot on a beach so I won’t need much. Marcey is easy to travel with and packs as light as I do. Some people need to travel with four pairs of shoes and three outfits, for each day. She’s not one of them. We think we can get away with just carry on luggage.
It will be nice to get away from Beirut for a little bit. I don’t feel unsafe here, but I am sensing general stress among the Lebanese staff. We haven’t had a full week of school since January with classes being cancelled regularly for bombs, protests or political coups. Although everything has been civil until now, the stress of it all is starting to get to people.
There was a small bomb late Friday night in a northern suburb. There were no casualties or motives or identified perpetrators, but it has raised some eyebrows.
There is also a large campaign underway to encourage residents to return to downtown. The bars and restaurants have been empty since Hariri’s assassination on Valentine’s Day and there are fears of the economy tanking soon. Spring is in the air and usually the sidewalks are packed with diners and full of shisha smoke. People have avoided the area not out of fear, but out of respect. The gravesite is in nearby Martyr’s Square and the "official" forty day mourning period isn’t quite over yet.
The annual "Snow to Sea" race was held this weekend. Four person relay teams compete in an "adventure" style race from the mountains to the ocean.
Skiing/snowshoeing, running, cycling and kayaking are the four legs.
Lebanon takes advantage of having those unique geographic conditions that allow such a diverse range of activities in close proximity of each other.
"You can ski in the mountains and swim in the sea on the same day" is how the old saying goes. Sure, it’s possible, but why would you want to? I didn’t compete myself, friends of mine did. They came in eleventh out of thirty teams last year and were pretty proud for a bunch of teachers. I haven’t heard the results of this weekend yet.
I probably won’t write again until after Thailand. Tsunami, militant uprising and bird flu notwithstanding, I should return to Beirut on Sunday, April 3rd.
I’ve included two links that you might be interested in. The first one shows many photos of last week’s opposition rally. A million people were there.
http://web.mit.edu/lebanon/www/demonstration/031405.html
This link provides a pretty succinct explanation of Syria’s role in Lebanon.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0307/p07s02-wome.html?s=u