My dad is like Johnny Walker; 102 years old and still going. He’s in Beirut, and while I’m at work, he strolls through town with his walker. Not an easy task, he says, because there are the holes in the pavement, the cars are parked on the sidewalks, there’s lamp posts, electricity poles, traffic signs and what-not blocking his path and a curb every 10 meters, so he’s got to lift that walker up and down, up and down and up and down. And I live on a hill. But he keeps on walking. Just like Johnny Walker He's a 102 years old Last Saturday we decided to go for a stroll along the Cor ..read more

 It used to be one of my favorite spots on the Ibrahim River; the part under Yachouch and right behind the little hydro dam.  There is no traffic, no houses, and very little garbage. They’ve made it a little harder to get to the river; a sturdy wall blocks us now, and they’ve strung barbed wire over the fence. I assume it was done by the people of the hydro plant. But some thoughtful hikers have hung some ropes in which you can put your foot, and with some effort you can climb over the fence. Better not lose your balance though, because the rebar will skewer you like shish-taouk ..read more

When you readers wonder if you are still alive, then I guess it is time I post something. It is mind boggling to me how I used to churn out almost a post a day, and I had small children then who needed care and entertainment. I used to go on picnics far into the country! These days I do not get beyond a range of some 50 kilometers of Beirut, and my kids entertain me. So how did I get to be so busy? I changed jobs, and although it is a more demanding job, that can’t be it because I used to juggle two jobs side by side for many years. Instagram takes some of my time, but not that much. Guess ..read more

The season started late because the snow was late this year. But better late than never. Usually, we ski beginning January, but this year we had to wait until then end of the month. And when there finally was snow, we got fog as well. And although I love skiing while the snowflakes are coming down, it was more of an exercise to find your way around. But last Saturday, finally, it was a fantastic day for skiing. Clear and sunny skies, no traffic, well-groomed and quiet slopes, they’d even thrown in a new lift somewhere way up high, so no competition from the newbies, and crispy snow. Almost ..read more

Not sure if you’re familiar with John Cleese and the Ministry of Funny Walks, but every time I have business at the Ministry of Education and Higher Education (what? No department for Highest Education?), John Cleese comes to mind. The Ministry of Education and Higher Education at 7:40 AM. It is January 23, but the tree is still up I have had to be there - in my experience - quite a few times, either to exempt children from Arabic state exams (entirely my own fault) or to baseline foreign university degrees. And it has always been an ordeal. Today went smoothly, but still I hop ..read more

   I think my son was 4 when I first went on a holiday in a van. It was a Volkswagen Van (a T3, for the insiders) my brother owned, grass green, with flowers on the side.  You just need one summer trip to get hooked on van life, and hooked I was. I soon bought my own van, a not too hip looking brown thing, with the very fitting letters BFG in the license plate.   Since then I have had a succession of vans, getting slightly larger and more equipped each time. But my children, maybe out of nostalgia for their youth, always insist I go back to the old model, the Volks ..read more

Ras Beirut at sun set, Sunday afternoon, 16:29 PM Another year has gone by. 2017 has been a good year for me. At first it was an ‘okay’ year, but while spending time back home, in Holland, my father read aloud the Christmas cards he had received from friends and family (back home they still send real cards, written by hand), and 2017 was not a good year for many, it seems. People got fired, divorced, lost a car, were at home with a burn-out, had to deal with a bedbug plague, got sick, died or lost children. Both east (left) and west (right) Beirut And in the light of other ..read more

This was the site of Saturday's early morning hike Still very much alive, but recovering from an eye operation and so the adventuring, photo editing and typing goes at half speed. It seems to be the season; about half the staff at work is either on crutches, in slings, limping, on pills or otherwise incapacitated. And although I seem to have arrived at an age where I should no longer be surprised at the untimely death of people  my own generation, it still surprises and shocks me.  But ‘the first one’ passed away not long ago, and the awareness of one’s own mortal ..read more

I am sharing pictures of this morning (Sunday morning) walk through the mountains above Beirut. A friend decided to join us at 8 AM, quire courageously I might say, but the weather has been lovely lately. Temperatures are dropping (finally), fall will slowly merge into winter, and although the first winter storms will not occur until the beginning of January, the first snow has settled in the higher regions. If it stays this way, we’ll have a wonderful ski season. The mountains are a respite from busy Beirut. Beirut is becoming nasty these days. Last Friday I had an argument with a man in a ..read more

So this would be the road to my house I’ve got this plan. I am going to win the lottery, and then I am going to buy a wonderful Lebanese mountain house from the fifties, restore it, move into it, and spend my days reading, gardening, making marmalade and sell it for a good cause, and wearing outrageously unfashionable clothes. I have yet to win the lottery (I am working on it), but this weekend I found my mountain house from the fifties. And here is the house. Build right at the edge of a cliff. You see only the two tops floors. there is a bottom floor, but not visible fr ..read more