Crash: the Beirut version
There probably are more infuriating things than waking up to find some dunce has made a large ding in your parked car because she never learnt what those mirrors were for, but I can't think of any at the moment.
In about 15 minutes you go through the classic phases: denial, bargaining, anger, sadness, acceptance. Arriving at that, you try and find where in the maze of Beirut's inner side-streets is the bodyshop where the dunce's insurance company agreed to repair the damages.
That happened to me last week, and I eventually managed to find the place, hand them the car keys and take a cab back home in rush hour traffic. It was ready the next day (surprisingly) and patiently waiting for me in it's freshly-painted glory to come pick it up. Not wishing to go through the stop-go-stop-stop-go ordeal of Beirut taxis, I traced the route out in my head and decided to walk to the shop. It wasn't really walking-distance in any sense of the word, but the weather was great and I needed the exercise.
This is the route I took:
Having lived in this city for the past 10 years, I've been witness to most if not all of it's transformations. But still, there are a lot of things you miss if you just drive the streets. Handy cellphone camera in hand, I snapped some:
Never saw the poster before, seems innocuous on paper though
To commemorate Beirut's resistance to Israeli Occupation, yet almost invisible
The sidewalk gets you this far, then you're on your own
The building is gone, but the stairway remains
I love this place...
In about 15 minutes you go through the classic phases: denial, bargaining, anger, sadness, acceptance. Arriving at that, you try and find where in the maze of Beirut's inner side-streets is the bodyshop where the dunce's insurance company agreed to repair the damages.
That happened to me last week, and I eventually managed to find the place, hand them the car keys and take a cab back home in rush hour traffic. It was ready the next day (surprisingly) and patiently waiting for me in it's freshly-painted glory to come pick it up. Not wishing to go through the stop-go-stop-stop-go ordeal of Beirut taxis, I traced the route out in my head and decided to walk to the shop. It wasn't really walking-distance in any sense of the word, but the weather was great and I needed the exercise.
This is the route I took:
Having lived in this city for the past 10 years, I've been witness to most if not all of it's transformations. But still, there are a lot of things you miss if you just drive the streets. Handy cellphone camera in hand, I snapped some:
Never saw the poster before, seems innocuous on paper though
To commemorate Beirut's resistance to Israeli Occupation, yet almost invisible
The sidewalk gets you this far, then you're on your own
The building is gone, but the stairway remains
I love this place...
posted by Ramzi at Wednesday, April 05, 2006
4 Comments:
i love taking pictures as i walk around
That's how I did it the last time I went home, that's how I'll do it in ten days, when I visit my beirut for the first time in 2006.
SALEMIT HA SIYARTAK....i thought u turn back wen the pavement ends...!!!! isn't the world flat?!!1
Mirvat
I do too, it's just that I don't walk anywhere interesting anymore!
Fouad
So when is it that'll you be here? Let's meet up!
Xylocaine
The car is fine now, thanks.
The world may be flat but I always thought Beirut would be somewhere in the middle. Who knew?!
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