Dovster

The war just lightened a bit for me by an e-mail from a pre-BAG BAG.

Our relationship was destroyed by the fact that she found a wonderful man and married him. I hate when things like that happen!

Still, we remained very friendly for a long time but as the years passed our e-mails became rarer and we eventually lost contact with each other.

She became worried because of the fighting here and wrote for an update on what is happening with my family, the UIG, and me. I gave her the short version but suggested she start reading this thread for a complete account.

I hope to see her post here after she finishes wading through all of these posts.

Just to give you an idea of how wonderful a person she is -- there are few other women in the world I would have flown all the way to BUF to see!

BEYFlyer

Sorry folks, but it was a busy day for me here in Beirut (and a quiet one too). Glad that Condi came to visit because that meant that we had a pause in the bombardment. Now that she is gone, I wonder if the evening will be as quiet as yesterday. Nothing came out of that visit but at least it is a start...

MSY-MSP I am not sure what type of pita bread you get there, but the ones we bake here are about 40cm in diameter and there are 10 to each "bag". Fuel is around $15 for every 20 liters. I am sorry, but you are going to have to do the math on this one . I have received your PM and will review it now and get back to you.

Seat13F_AC_CRJ

That means fuel (gasoline/benzene) is cheaper in Beirut than anywhere in Canada. We are currently paying approx CAD 1.05/l in YOW, or approx USD 18 for 20 litres.
--
13F

entropy

$15/20L is about $3 a gallon which is less than it is in california (and half the price it is in Israel).

A lot of the pitas here are 20-25cm, so I guess your pitas are bigger than ours

Dovster

BEYFlyer, it's good to hear that you had a quiet day.

The same, unfortunately, can not be said about Lebanon's south or Israel's north.

Incidentally, I saw something on CNN which made me curious. It was a broadcast from Beirut in which a government minister (sorry, I can't remember which one) was being interviewed on the street.

They used a split screen to show him on the left and various scenes of destruction on the right.

What made me curious was what I saw behind the minister. It was a scene in what I imagine to be Beirut's center. There was no sign of damage, there were cars driving by regularly, and there were people walking on the sidewalks.

Is Beirut now a split city -- one part destroyed by bombing and the other part untouched?

BEYFlyer

98 octane... In fact that's the price throughout Lebanon and not just in Beirut.

BEYFlyer

What you saw is downtown Beirut, the area that was rebuilt after the civil war ended. That was the area that was known as the "green line" that divided Muslim West Beirut from Christian East Beirut. Most of the journalists hang around that area because of the UN's ESCWA headquarters. They are right there (right behind the cameraman/woman), so they feel relatively safe. If Beirut proper is bombed, then hopefully, the IAF will not bomb ESCWA. Additionally, given ESCWA's presence there, a lot of the demonstrations that take place usually start there and end up at the EU house just a kilometer or two down the road.

The main destruction right now is focused on the Southern suburbs of Beirut where the majority of Shiite Muslims live and that is a wee bit far from downtown Beirut. But who knows how long that will last??? And as you mentioned, the South is getting pounded on a daily basis; I can't imagine what life must be like down there.

BEYFlyer

Oh behave... LOL...

mikeef

Dovster and Bey,

109 pages later, thank you for sharing your lives with us. Today was my first experience with the "green light," as Bey's wasn't on when I first signed on, but came on later. Bey, I hope you got a few minutes of sleep.

Dovster, it looks like Bey is beating you out with the women. Apparently, you are simply a pawn in his whole scheme. At least we've discovered who the brains of the operation is! Having said that, remember what hoyateach wrote, which may qualify as the funniest thing I have ever read on FT:

Good luck, my friends, and be safe.

Mike

Dovster

BEYFlyer, could you clarify what you mean by "suburbs"? For Americans, it would mean smaller towns which are not part of the city itself. (Example: Scarsdale is a suburb of New York but Staten Island is not.)

I know that in some European countries, however, it refers to the outlying sections of the city.

The difference is important because if you are using it in the American sense it means that Beirut, itself, is not being touched -- but if you are using it as some Europeans do, Beirut would be being bombed.

Dovster

Yup. Good looks and youth give him an unfair advantage.

photog72

Dov, I remember meeting you at the PBI/FLL do back in December (I think). I hope you are doing well. My thoughts are with both of you (Dov and BEY), but I have plenty of family in Ha'aretz. My aunts, uncles, lone remaining grandparent (96 years old), and some cousins live in Haifa - all on Mt. Carmel. The road that the rocket landed on yesterday that killed a man while driving to work was about 2 kms from my aunt's house. I've driven on that road many times before. I have family in the suburbs of Tel-Aviv (I would consider Givataym a suburb), and it looks like they'll be inundated with family from up north. I have invited my family to earn miles on Skyteam or *A and fly here, but the offer so far has been spurned. You two are also invited here. The sleeper sofa isn't that bad, but I do have a Hilton and Homewood Suites nearby for mattress runs.

Dovster

Now things are getting tough.

A beautiful woman offered to buy a ticket for me to fly to Milan and be with her.

I managed to turn that down but you are offering me the chance not only to get an original "cheese with" but also to catch a Phillies' home game!

But...Philadelphia in July???? I think I will stick with the comparatively cool weather of Israel.

photog72

I could have been offering Philadelphia in brrrrrrr February.

When I wrote "too," I should have stated two. Both BEY and Dov are invited.

P.S. We love our kosher cheesesteaks.

Dovster

You did write "two". I thought it was a typo and corrected it in my quote.