My Mother never told me

Madness is something rare in individuals - but in groups, parties, peoples, ages it is the rule. Friedrich Nietzsche. -
Degaulle once said: "How can one govern a country with 365 different kinds of cheese?" Well, there are not very many locally produced cheeses on the market in Tunisia, I  guess we are very lucky then. Very loud barking of dogs, I go outside to check everything is okay. No dogs in sight, it turns out young kids are imitating a horde of wolves, at an ear-splitting level. The cats on the street are frightened. It is near feeding time. I shout at the kids: "Go home, yell at your place." Four boys approximately 5 or 6 years old, start throwing a handful stones at me. Instant revenge by neglected kids. We do need anti-aggression training and street workers in this part of Sousse, money well spent before the problem grows. There are an amazing amount of school holidays, yet the kids here don't know how to spend their spare time, roaming the streets, playing football all they can think of. The street belongs to them and if they damage the walls of your house? Hard luck, some folks have stopped redecorating over and over again. Since the beech is within walking distance, one cannot say there is no alternative. If you come across well behaved lads, well they usually attend private schools. - A young boy asks me whether I am well. I reply: With all that noise, yelling and shouting, how can I? His friends ask him what did I say? He translates: She is fine.  I guess he thinks if I haven't got other problems I must be. Clever boy! In Germany I discovered nice fruity mini bonbons at a doctor's reception. I couldn't find them in any shops there but here in Tunisia. To my surprise these are actually produced in Kairouan ( the 4th most holly town for Muslims) with many beautiful sites, and famous for various types of excellent bred. Whenever we travel to Kairouan I am surprised how well behaved the children are in comparison. Well, one can find folks in Tunisia with excellent manners and in contrast those who believe in "me first" (Trump style). With so many unemployed why is everyone in a hurry? Those pushing in front ( I advised my husband, if a woman does this, tell her she's lucky your wife doesn't see this, she doesn't tolerate other women touching her husband!) I guess they are the same people who are happy to snatch the taxi you stopped and for which you waited so long before he or she arrived. Most taxi drivers don't care, they drive off with the fittest. More respect for elderly folks would be nice, or do we want an elbow society?

Felicita Obituary

Approximately 4 years ago I discovered a cute little black kitten doing a kind of limbo dance to get underneath my fencing. She was so amazing to watch I decided to feed her a bit of milk mixed with 2 thirds of water (since a baby cat is so much smaller than a calf). We played hide and seek and a little later she allowed me to pick her up and take her indoors. Prior to this I made sure there is no cat mum missing her. This is a bit difficult to establish as of a complete litter only one baby looks like mum. At first I called her Felix but then I discovered he is a she and I changed her name to Felicita. She quickly became our absolute darling. Felicita with her black shinny fur that actually in the sun looked a lovely warm brown colour, soft like velvet, her aristocratic fine features, turned out to be a Burma cat, always gentle, all the other cats liked her and as this beauty grow older my Tabby brown "Tiger" fell in love with her. He always knew in which room she was, if that door was closed he patiently waited in front. It is a well-known fact that some cats can open doors, when it comes to a door without a handle it is more tricky. Felicitas trained us to open the door whenever she knocked the key attachment against the door. Some of our other cats proofed their ability to learn by watching and started to copy this behaviour. When Lilly arrived (bitten by a dog and hit by a hooligan) similarly freatures and fur, they quickly became friends. I used to call them my black ladies. Felicitas liked to run outside and play hide and seek with me, making use of parked cars. On one of these outings I lost her. I searched in vain in the neighbourhood, kept calling her name and asked children to help, they eventually showed me a house where they thought she was kept. The young man at the door denied this. Feeling sure that my little treasure would return if she can, I offered a small sum as a reward for her return. This worked miracles. After 11 sad days in March 2017, the previously mentioned young man brought me back my little darling. She had lost weight, her fur had lost its shine, she didn't look well at all but it was great to have her back. My little sunshine soon recovered but kept a cold which became chronic, various treatments only brought temporarily a relief. In Sept. 2018 I discovered Felicitas just pretending to eat. A later blood test showed she suffered from kidney problems, luckily she loved her special diet from the vet's but would only eat a small portion at a time. All other cats wanted these croquettes as well and she would allow them to "to steal" her food, began to drink a lot and eat frequently her small portions. At the same time she started to loose weight again, end of January 2019 down to 2,5 kg, in April only 2,1 kg, a sad sight my little treasure. Nevertheless she continued to cuddle with us and liked to wrap herself around my neck like a collar. Then she stopped eating, acted as if she wanted to eat but then turned her head away. Very depressing. She disappeared within our house and I feared she might be following an instinct to hide while weak and sick so that an  animal doesn't become easy prey. Then I heard her calling me. I felt so relieved and happy. She knew I love her. My bony little treasure slept in my arms that night and the following one. Waking up holding her, a great gift. I asked the vet whether she can save her life but of course I didn't want Felicita to suffer for my sake, so that I can have her just a little longer. The vet finally confirmed my greatest fear, my precious black lady was too sick to recover, we had to say goodbye, maybe we'll meet again in another world. I miss her so.

Postscript A different World

Prices continue to raise, in particular but not only for imported products like food, equipments, medicine for humans or animals, or croquett etc. from the vet's. In view of the exchange rate, e.g. Euro compared to the Dinar, hardly surprising. Some items are difficult to obtain now, clearance through customs house appears to be a slow procedure. What you can buy may well be determined by the wholesaler rather than the retailer, perhaps someone along the line can't meet the bill. Yet there are still many expensive new cars congesting the roads, frequently bought on credit or leased while others are offered for re-sale. Unlike Europe,  bicycles are out of fashion. Just like in many countries nowadays  folks are not happy with the present situation. I am told students have to buy new books every year. Why should there be such a requirement? Does scientific knowledge effecting school kids change so rapidly? I grew up with school books that were either handed down to younger siblings or sold at a lower price to younger school kids. Since poor families in particular have many children, employing such a system would make sense, wouldn't it? Whatever, if you share your last slice of bread with someone poor, he/she may be grateful or it can make this person greedy and feel you owe him/her a complete loaf of bread, to say the least. A rather strange and disappointing attitude for us. Why can't some folks understand that one doesn't need to be rich in order to have sympathy and share (doesn't the Quran demand this) with humans and perhaps also animals? Who says that all expats come from rich families and have only rich friends? We have been asked by people whom we hardy know to give them money to repair the roof, pay their rent, electricity, gas, medicine, hospital bill, a new machine of some sort, a second-hand motorbike (following a theft), school books, food. Or perhaps give a loan? Never lend any amount that would really hurt you as you can consider yourself very lucky if it ever gets repaid I am told. Better to donate small amounts if you can and forget about repaying. I heard in Russia a man returning to his flat discovered that in the meantime a burglar visited his place. He stole nothing but left a small amount of money with a note saying: I feel sorry for you, you are even poorer than I am! -  How does cats' behaviour differ from that of the folks in our quarter of the town? If I am late "serving their breakfast" they call me and demand their food. But always happy to see their waitress and grateful for being served. The other day I discovered that my lovely Honey is just like Adamo ready to defend me if I get attacked (Bijoux hates getting her nose cleaned or being forced to take her medicine). I guess I don't need a dog to protect me since I am blessed with such gorgeous bodyguards.

A Different World

Burglar to tenant: "Don't worry, I am only looking for money." Tenant: "Welcome." Burglar: " You what? " Tenant: "I have been looking for money  in vain around here for a long time. Please let me know if you find any." -  As an expat you are presumed to be rich and able to help folks with financial problems. Even people we hardly know expect aid. Appears to be beyond quite a few guys imagination that persons with modest means try to feed, help and save cats. Guess some feel we are obliged to support them rather than animals. Several requests are amazing (high, but if we sell our house, maybe rent a garage, we could meet some requests, pray that not too many que up and that those left empty handed won't hate us). At least no one asked us for 10 000 Dinar like the man who thought that an old age widow from Germany ought to finance his son's wedding celebration. She employs him from time to time as an interpreter. If you  lend money to a tradesman don't think he will be ready to accept an opportunity to carry out some jobs for you in exchange, "can't afford that, if I work you must pay me." Taxi drivers complain they often get cheated, passengers disappear without paying or on purpose present a 20 or 50 Dinar note for a 1 or 2 Dinar journey. One driver said when this happened in the middle of nowhere he drove that person back to an area with a shop so he could obtain change, in another case he drove the passenger back to where he picked him up and dropped him there. On the 3rd of April we had national sports day. Never saw so many folks walking.....but of course those kids with rich parents continued to travel by taxi to school. What actually happened is the minibus drivers went on strike (because of raising petrol prices), even blocked several roads. Buses reached their destination with some difficulties. We enjoyed the alternative route, more nature, some beautiful houses. Concerning bureaucracy I often feel Kafka's book "The Trail" is used for training here. But those in the administration section appear to be honest and won't even accept minor thank-you presents nowadays, as far as I know. I remember when custom's at the airport asked for shampoo or chocolate - that was before the revolution. Some positive change!