There is an Arabic proverb that goes "char al baliya ma youd7ek" (the worst of the calamities is the one that makes you laugh). The scene happens at a Chamsine bakery branch. Where everyone was in a festive mood - clapping and (if you look at the end of the video) starting a "dabke" ring.
Please see the video here.
Just to be clear after two weeks of bread being missing from Lebanon, today the bread van honked - it was so unexpected that we dropped everything to make sure it was him (yes, I live in a village where bread is being distributed that way - an ambulant van).
But what these people are celebrating is unclear in the video. Still, there is little or nothing to celebrate.
If there is no bread, what are they so excited about?
If there is, that's the most basic of commodities and for last several days we were rationing it at my household. So again, what is there to be so happy about?
If the time stamp of the facebook link is to be believed his was posted on the 28th of July on facebook (but it seems like a Tiktok video which means it could have been posted earlier on the Tiktok app). At that time bread was such a precious commodity and very far and in between in terms of presence.
Please, spare me the "vibe" of the Lebanese (which everyone is driving me mad about on Instagram - especially expats who come here for 2 weeks) and the "joie de vivre" (supposedly a trademark for the population) which makes "resilience" (cringe!) seem like a normal state.
This is beyond vibe and the joie de vivre, this verges towards stupidity.
I took 3 packs of bread from the van, because I have no idea when he will come around next. If this makes the Chamsine employees and customers happy, then honestly we have a different sense of humour.