Tuesday, March 01, 2011

A morning drive into town



This morning (Monday) I woke up refreshed from a good night sleep (amazing how the body adapts to outside irritants). Having been scooped up for some time now at home I decided it was time to venture in town and forage for medical supplies for the elderly, stuff for the children and of course cat food. We must not forget our four legged friends who are also suffering in this crisis.

Each member of the family has a specific task, I did not really have to go, but I needed to get out of the house and it seemed like a nice, warmish, sunny and quiet day, I might not have the opportunity again...

It felt strange to dress for the street and not for work, I'd forgotten about jeans and sport shoes. My car was brown coloured from the recent sandstorm. I left our garage cautiously, the street looked normal enough, the only anomaly was me probably.

I drove slowly downtown taking in the sights, lots of activity, lots of cars, women walking, people talking on their cellphones. Some shops open though not all mostly groceries and bakeries. Still eerie though.

It felt like being in another dimension, in a parallel world almost, that is the best I could describe it. Banks were definitely open, in a way that was reassuring, many people were looking busy with a purpose, only I seemed idle, after all I only had some shopping to do. I had to think of practical things from the pharmacy not just medicine, things like shampoo, toothpaste, sanitary items etc.. I even managed to find cat food, and in way felt a sense of achievement.

It is sad that my happiness is now reduced to succeeding in obtaining items. Something that I imagined belonged to the communist era...

Despite all this frenzy of activity in the city, there is a deafening silence. The type of silence that precedes a hurricane. The moment just before the animals in the jungle start running.

There is no running away from destiny. Seen from this vantage point it does not look bright.

I'm a bit depressed today, maybe tomorrow I'll have another story to tell?

6 comments:

programmer craig said...

Glad to hear you at least got a chance to get out of the house today, H! Sorry to hear it made you depressed, though.

Anonymous said...

Getting a change of scenery is a good thing. Helps to put things in perspective. Praying for you!

ibeebarbie said...

Salam Highlander,

My regards to you and your family. Wallahi, I feel at a loss of words, so will continue to offer my thoughts and prayers to you and your family and hope for the nightmare to be over soon.

ChrisinMB said...

yeah, sounds like a good day! It's good that you got out and got some sun.

It's amusing with everything happening you even remembered the cat food. :P

PEM said...

Hello.
I've been reading your last posts and I think what you are doing is great for your country. I'm a Spanish journalist and in the newspaper I work in we are doing a news special about young people in different Arab countries, who in many cases are leading the riots. Especially we are looking for people who are in those countries (Libya is included) who are very active in social networks and the Internet in general (who have blogs, twitter, facebook... and they look for support...).
I think you could be the perfect person to represent Libya. I just need you to answer me some questions by mail. If you need to be anonymous it doesn't matter.
You can write me to PESCALADA@ELPAIS.ES.
Thanks a lot for what you are doing.
Regards. PAULA.

Maya M said...

"It is sad that my happiness is now reduced to succeeding in obtaining items."
I find it glorious rather than sad. Life is, basically, about continuing it to another day in an indifferent or hostile world. And you have won a victory over this world in a difficult situation. When you returned to your loved ones with the full bags, didn't they greet you as a victorious heroine? And it was well deserved!