Part 2 Postscript Social Behaviour

1. I like to compare human and animal behaviour. Tomcats mark their hunting ground/ territory with a bit of urine, boys and young men in this part of the town use their peelings and other litter instead. In addition they mark the walls of the houses around their "street stadium" with their football. They are so strong and demonstrate this and prove how mature they are, by bending parts of my metal fencing or causing other damage. I viewed in no other country kids approx. 9 years old, riding a motorbike. Cats don't like too much competition, certain cats from around here are accepted for joint meals in front of my house, if additional ones arrive they are chased away. Expats have lived in Paradise and return stinking rich (general believe). Anyhow, they don't deserve to be any better off than some other folks who live from day to day. So why not chase expats away from this quarter, town, maybe country? Worked in several cases, ideally they sell their house next to nothing, or look for tenants, or leave it for the youngsters to play with. In the neighborhood is a garage with a damaged wooden door, the middle panel has been brocken off. The hole appears to be big enough to throw bags filled with garbage into this room. Whoever had this idea first, has many followers.  The poor owner needs good nerves, he doesn't live around here I am told. Some folks believe cats are dirty, yet only a sick cat isn't immaculate. 
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Postscript Social Behaviour

A meeting of dictators from various  countries, exchanging their evil ideas, on the flight back the aeroplane crashes. Who gets saved? The world.....
Now that prices have gone up and the Dinar's rate of exchange has gone down (a chance for tourists to enjoy a cheap holiday), imports have become more difficult, in particular effecting pharmacy products. Substitute local products can be a solution, but are not always as effective or can have additional unwanted side effects. On the other hand I discovered a Tunisian herbal product "Plantalgic" that is safer than the usual pain relief pills (usually with Paracetamol) but doesn't sell as well so less was ordered, some even returned to the pharmacy wholeseller, thus now difficult to obtain. For a short period milk disappeared from the shops, this was due to farmers demanding more pay. If milk or other animal products are sold too cheap this leads to even more exploitation of animals, often treated like objects rather than living creatures with feelings. - Like in other countries, if one man has a business idea, others pick it up and try to make money the same way (often within a really short distance) but actually thus insuring that profits remain low for all concerned. Our favourite fruit and vegetables street vendor, an honest gentle man, has given up. One of the others tried his luck in the past as plumber, electrician (without the proper qualification), thief..... we make a special point never to buy from him.  Within a very short distance there are 5 chicken and eggs selling shops, an additional one opened lately. Looks like folks here lack business ideas, I mean new ones, ideally niches. Mathematics and planning are other weak points. Old age pensioners arriving from Eastern Germany (ex DDR) must feel a kind of "Deja Vue".

Social Behaviour

Do you know how to make a cat or dog "do your job"? If you are too lazy to cuddle with your wife, get her a cat or dog. Why would one be too lazy for that? Well, all those drivers who are just too lazy to switch off the car engine when stopping for a few minutes or even longer, I can well imagine that they would be too lazy for that too! -

Otherwise would they not be more considerate and try to protect the environment by not adding more exhaust gas to the environment than necessary? We are misfortune as 9 of 10 taxis that stop here do so right in front of our door and then the passengers walk off in all directions. Are they ashamed of their houses or do they think their address must remain top secret? In addition we have all those "easy riders", young men (mainly) proudly driving their motorbikes like lunatics, leaving a black stinking cloud for us to breath in, it is worse than at a petrol station. So maybe I shouldn't be surprised that my immune system gets effected. By the way, the authorities don't see the need for registration plates for motorbikes, they don't seem to need the money and unwittingly make it easier to ride a stolen motorbike or to misuse it for snatching handbags etc. Protection of the environment is not rated very highly. Next time various heads of states meet to discuss this subject I hope Tunisian representatives can also make it. The value of clean air, water and soil is rated too low, even more so in the south, unknown are silent hours, no kids yelling, no dogs barking from flat roofs, these items make a country great and allow folks to become more relaxed. But I guess what you don't know you won't miss, when you grow up with lots of noise, you think it is normal and unavoidable. In addition there are all those market crier, selling their fish, vegetables, fruit or plastic by van or cart, yelling, yelling, yelling......On the radio somebody said that now school holidays are over (thank heaven for that) the poor kids will see less of their parents. Around the area where we live they will only miss the street, they may see their parents walking by, to do some shopping or on the way to the cafe, apart from that maybe briefly around lunch time and then not until after midnight. At least they won't get homesick while attending those short school hours. There doesn't seem to be much they need to learn. I was surprised to find out that one of those boys who love to throw stones (even from the roof) at the cats, us, our house, uses bad language, actually comes from a decent family. It's the street, bad models that shape these kids. Several folks told me they wouldn't allow their children to mix with them. Neglected and disturbed, something needs to be done, this country could be so beautiful, we are very fortune, we don't suffer from disasterous weather like many other countries. Everybody can distribute a bit to a good society with respect, empathy, tolerance. "Me first" Donald Trump style isolats, though it's easier to live with lots of money, it doesn't guarantee you quality of life.
Cats are happy with shelter, food, water, clean toilet, cuddling, their love is honest and they are modest. Can't we learn from them? They are unaware of their beauty. I can't imagine a life without them. I wish that parents would teach their children to see the beauty of animals and nature in general, this would make them better citizens as they grow up and Tunisia a country we can all be proud of.

Good and bad days

Vacancy at a radio station for a news reader, as news have to be usually presented at a high speed, the applicant should be able to read the news of the world in 10 seconds. Complains one lady: Why didn't you take me, I did manage. Answer: Another woman only took 5 seconds.....I guess the reason behind high speed news reading, while there appears to be on the other hand always plenty of time for giggling, must be with all these bad news daily, if you listen to all that you only get depressed while giggling hopefully puts you in a better mood. - The streets are congested with traffic, you'd think as a pedestrian you never get across a busy road (not so many traffic lights here apart from Tunis), but no, raise your arm and cars stop almost immediately. Gentlemen/lady drivers like that I didn' experience in Europe, great. - One Turkish woman said she heard you get to heaven if you plant 100 trees, sounds like a good idea, we could do with more trees. I have actually planted one already, it's a start...... - Feeding time. I call one of my customers at my cats'  table: "Jasmina, Jasmina". Two ladies approaching, laughing. Says one of them: " My name is Jasmina, are you calling me?" I explained that I chose that name for the cat because she is beautiful and so is the lady, a good name for a beauty.- Esperanza, a lovely tri-coloured cat gave birth to 4 kittens and placed them behind my metal barrier, between the plants. I discovered this as heavy rain and thunder started, babies creaming. So I quickly prepared a make-shift bed for them in my small corridor and fetched them inside. The mother inspected this and then checked outside if all her 4 babies are actually indoors. She obviously can't count up to four. This turned out to be an advantage for 2 grey kittens, same age as her children, suddenly appeared from across the road. I tried to put them to where they came from, but they returned to the foster mum that they had selected. Esperanza's kittens often have their nose and eyes sealed, a common problem here. Esperanza completely trusts me and allows cleaning these, even when her little ones protest (sometimes bite me slightly). From time to time she has her "time out" and relaxes underneath my yucca plant, leaving me to babysit for her kittens. Now another baby cat discovered Esperanza and she is friendly to the little one, often adult cats try to chase kittens away that don't belong to them. Alison, a golden coloured street cat, highly pregnant, tried to force me to give her shelter. Not easy with so many guests and cats try to make sure that it doesn't get overcrowded, even concerning their area outside on the road. Anyhow just in time I managed to get her a bed before she gave birth to 2 black alive and 2 other dead baby cats. I got a feeling she's a less devoted mum than Esperanza is. Doesn't want to stay with the tiny ones for longer periods. At present there is something in the air again that makes some cats sick, gives them fever and can cause their sudden death, experienced this  with 4 lately. Vaccination is a good prevention, but unfortunately with so many cats I can't afford to pay for this, there is already a fair amount necessary for dental treatments, various injections and medicine and of course food, could do with "crowd funding" for vaccinations at least. - A lady approached me, her cat had disappeared. She was hoping that I've seen her. Later on I found a leaflet with the cat's picture lying on the street. I put it on my door, it disappeared within 10 minutes. The kids in the neighbourhood are like that, no respect. If I put a nice bowl outside, they will either steal or damage it. Always happy to do same damaged to other folks property (and don't I know it),  no feeling of wrong doing, no shame, they believe their behaviour is normal, they don't know better. One of the most stupid sentences I heard here is: ,"They are children." (Meaning they can behave totally irresponsible.) Some are, some aren't any longer. Their actions remain similar. Besides, children aren' t brainless creatures. I viewed a youngster attempting to kick a sheep's head, so I asked him whether I should do the same to him. He looked so surprised. Why did this strange woman say that? Keeping quiet, looking the other way, may be easier, but it won't make this world a better one. As Noam Chomsky put it: " Let us admire and endure each other.