Continued Never Mind Don't Worry

On the stairway to heaven we meet all animals that we encountered during our life time and they report how we treated them. (A legend of the First Nation, but I also heard this from some religious Muslims) A nice thought. The other day I viewed a very young little boy attempting to kick a cat. He was accompanied by two women dressed religious style. As they didn't react I shouted: "haram haram" (forbidden according to the Quran). You may say "but he is just a child". Sorry, I don't believe that kicking a cat or throwing stones at animals is a normal behaviour for a child of any age. The urge to stroke their soft fur would be though, but I noticed again and again that cats run away from kids and youngsters, they do here, in Europe I never saw this. Animals learn from experience, just like we do. Our cats Diana, Amira, Julino and Lilly once or twice walked out to see if they can find a better service across the road but quickly returned, so we are not bad "vice parents" after all. Good to know. Since they all love to cuddle and test how many fit on our lab, we shouldn't doubt this. In the morning all want to join me in the kitchen, may be we should have bought a house with two kitchens, one for our little fur angels..... I heard cats like to adopt old age pensioners as they have plenty of spare time.   Cats don't care if you are old and have wrinkles. These little darlings are certainly not stupid. At my "cats' table" among my outdoor guests are lately a mummy cat with her four children and another one with only one kitten (probably originally four). They come looking for me if I am late and then we all walk to their shelter and I feed them there. Makes it easier for the little mummies then carrying one piece of "salami" after the other to their little family. - Sandy sitting on her little stool on the window sill (I call it the cats' balcony) suddenly jumps down. Wondering what caused her fright was quickly answered, neighbours informed us that we had a burglar climbing onto our roof. Questioned what he's doing there he declared he was looking for his cat. Lol! Interesting excuse for breaking into other folks' houses. Strange, a couple of nights before I dreamt a burglar was trying to get inside our house and I was running from room to room in order to quickly close all the windows. Then I woke up.  Our security fencing on top hurt the young burglar's private parts. Nothing was stolen, he left in a rush chased away by my big family I would like to think. Not every theft and burglary is reported to the police because people fear revenge from the concerned clan. That is no way to achieve changes. The punishment for a robbery has been increased to five years prison I am told. Anyhow the burglar was on camera, some persons know him and his uncle intends to take him to the police where he has already a file with five previous such cases. As he takes drugs getting arrested will probably save him from committing bigger crimes and at the same time offer a chance to "go through cold turkey" in prison. Hopefully he will learn from experience and gets one day a chance for a new start. - School started but at 10 a.m.  the first student's were allowed to go home again so they won't experience too much stress following a three months holiday. School books looking like new are lying in the rubbish container. Gone are the days when such books were either sold to younger students or handed to younger relatives. Times are changing, if we are lucky for the better.

Never mind don't worry

A Christian family in a car getting stopped in a Taliban controlled area. Being asked whether they are Muslims or Christians, the father replies: "Muslims"  "Okay can you quote from the Quran?" The father quotes a passage from the Bible and gets permission to carry on with his journey. The mother is angry: " How can you do this, you risked our life." " Not at all," her husband replies, "if they would know the Quran, they wouldn't commit those atrocities, after all they are all Haram (forbidden).
When we came here we were surprised to find so many beautiful cats, some in Europe really expensive ones, e.g. the Burmese Colour Point one, out on the street, later on in front of our house, apparently without any owner (I prefer not to call myself an owner but a friend, these cats are like family for us). The other day we discovered a gorgeous looking tomcat, blue eyes, light beige fur with brown paws, same marking on ears and nose, perfect Burmese breeding (used to be the most expensive cat in the world). The little treasure was out on the street and not paying much attention to the traffic. A young boy informed us that the woman to whom this cat belonged put him out because he would urinate in corners of the house ("marking" his area, typical for non sterilised tomcats) and scratch furniture.  Some folks don't know how this can be stopped without such radical action or don't want to spend 50 Dinar at the vets. Concerning scratching  furniture, this serves as claw care, as an alternative one can offer a tree trunk (or something smaller) with a rope or a cord wrapped around it. Anyhow, I think we now know why there are so many little treasures homeless. In the past we suspected that maybe French or other foreigners left them behind when they left Tunisia. Frankly we are shocked that these great darlings are treated by local folks like throwaway articles. So sad. How can one put a cat that gives us her/ his love and trust out on the street, risk that the cat gets run over by a car (so many do), has to starve, fall sick... No feeling of any responsibility? In view of such an attitude I am no longer surprised how ignorant parents handle their disturbed kids, they leave them to scream out on the street, so they can themselves relax undisturbed. Imagine parents reading fairytales at the bedside of their little ones. Experts say it has a positive effect on their brain. So does sleeping at night, when it's dark. Should the young ones really decide themselves when it's time to go to bed? Parents may think it's safe if their child is together with other kids of more or less the same age, but such groups tend to particular act like "hooligans". The street is a bad teacher. Why are holidays so long and so many teachers unemployment? Seems to be such a waste. If more children would at least read books and experience the joy books can give.

An Alien in Tunsia

A Tunisian, Algerian and Moroccan meeting.  A fly molesting the Moroccan so he draws a sword off the wall and with one blow cuts the fly in half. Another fly this time molesting the Algerian so he also takes the sword and with two blows divides the fly into quarters. A further fly arrives and chooses to molest the Tunisian guy. He tries to chase it away, all in vain. Finally he feels forced to try his luck with the sword, one blow - the fly flies away. "This fly will never have any children" declares the Tunisian.
Having spend many years in Europe, returning to Tunisia may well turn out a bigger step than anticipated. Feeling like an Alien, Tunisia has changed, kids and young folks have differed  values, manners, some are due to disillusions, lack of opportunities.  Kids without respect for anyone, is this a result of the revolution? Anyhow, for unknown reasons they like to meet near our house, coming from all directions of the surrounding area. Several folks pointed out that they are particularly bad here and they would never allow their children to mix with them. A request to be less noisy late at night these children regard as an insult and they immediately take revenge by throwing stones at our house. Wanting to beautify the house walls facing the street is restricted as we have to take into account the kids' reaction, when you are bored I guess destruction can be fun and they are not accustomed to being held accountable. A small water canister that I use (with a cut out window) to provide street cats with water, I have to secure with a chain and lock. Today I discovered inside an approx. 4 weeks old kitten, thank heaven just in time, before it drowned. The poor little darling was shivering. Having dried her with a towel I put her in my special hammock, actually a cat's invention, the loop of my entrance door curtain. Highly unlikely that the kitten got inside the water container all by itself. - While it makes sense to offer animals water in view of the heat, others feel the urge to remove these little plastic bowls (often created out of the bottom part of a bottle). I heard adults explaining to their kids that cats are dirty and must be treated accordingly. The only dirty cats I ever came across were sick ones, happy to be washed with a cloth. Cats are  never dirty by choice. Those that " hang around" in the rubbish damp area prevent the arrival of rats, mice and cockroaches (the later they successfully hunt but don't eat). We miss the sound of silence, silent rest, noice restricting middle European law and stricter environmental protections legislation. I see young folks proudly riding motorbikes, leaving a black stinking cloud behind and making a hell lot of noice. Understandable that youngsters don't dream of riding a bike nowadays, that wouldn't provide them with the same feeling of freedom (remember the film "Easy Rider"). - An unusually high bill for water consumption arrived, why all of the sudden? We try not to waste water, usually drink mineral water (on medical advice as the tapped water contains too much chalk unfortunately). Maybe we got a swimming pool in the cellar? But no, there  is no cellar, cellars are not exactly common here. It turned out to be a misreading of the water clock. That guy needs glasses. - One can't always find what one intends to buy. At first I put it down to bad planning or maybe unpaid debts of the wholesalers. But it is not always as simple as that. For example some pharmacy products disappeared, the same happens in France. The reason behind this is that that the concerned manufacturing industry decided they don't make enough profit. Not that they are poor, just greedy. -Some imports may have become too expensive, but for unknown reasons a few in Tunisia produced items are at present also not available, pity. - Transport is very cheap, even kids travel to school by taxi, at least in Sousse many do. Streets are congested with cars. A better bus and train service would be ideal, also for the environment. We feel there is too little awareness of the damage air pollution does to people's health. In view of so many well educated unemployed there seems to be lots of scope to tackle many a problem but I guess funding is a great obstacle. Much needs to be done but it is worth it. Tunisia has much to offer.