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| Artwork by Tarek Chemaly |
As an agriculture engineer I understand the need for water during winter, that constant drizzle of water that is coming - neither too slowly nor too fast - for the soil to be able to absorb it. I also understand the need for snow, which, when melting feeds the rivers that in turn feeds the irrigation of crops.
As a Lebanese citizen who yesterday endured a power outage from 4 A.M. till 7:13 P.M., who has nightmares about filling the diesel tank (large diesel tank!) to feed the central heater for the house (large house!), and who is worried sick that the price of diesel is skyrocketing, and who is even more worried that there would be no power to be able to generate heat to begin with, I am currently hoping for a mild winter.
A very, very mild winter.
Sure, economically I understand the need to eliminate the subsidy on prices - which is of course, paradoxical. As an economist (yes, am an economist too) I get it. I also understand the subsidized prices were choking us. But as a human being with an elderly mother - who is already cold in the heat of the summer - I am in that conundrum of perplexed and perplexing thoughts pulling me both ways. Ergo, the hope for a mild winter.
A very, very mild winter.
Honestly, yesterday's power outage freaked me out so bad - not because it happened. I managed to read a full book yesterday since internet was down anyway, and since I inherited about a thousand books, so might as well read them. It freaked me out because I was thinking if this was a winter day, with no electricity all day long, with little to no lights coming from outside, with steep cold (I am almost athermic in terms of body, I rarely feel heat or cold) that would really annoy my mother, this would have been a total nightmare, even if there was diesel in the tank (which would be useless as it needs power to be turned on). Did I mention I was hoping for a mild winter?
A very, very mild winter.
In Lebanon, there is a proverb that goes: "bayn tishrin w tishrin sayf tene" (between October - in Arabic called tishrin el awal - and November - in Arabic called - tishrin el tene, there's another summer). I was hoping this would extend to December (in Arabic called kanoun el awal) and January (in Arabic called kanoun el tene) so that the proverb becomes "bayn kanoun w kanoun sayf tene". In English that would translate into - a mild winter.
A very, very mild winter.