Postcript These Complicated Times

 "Being a friend of a scorpion doesn't mean that you cannot be stung by a honey bee." "Bad company corrupts good manners." "To a wise man a warning is a blessing. To a fool it is an insult." Ubuntu Proverbs.                                                                                            Thanks to Libya we just received food aid, 96 lorries filled with rice, flour, oil, sugar, etc, 74 more are expected. There has been a shortage of these and other basic foods for several months. For those folks who once lived in the East German Demoratic Republic (DDR, Russians joked the abriviation stands for: Dawei, Dawei, Raboti = work, work quickly) it must be like a Deja Vue. I haven't seen sugar on sale for some time and whenever a fair amount of milk appears, it quickly disappears again. I presume some folks are stock piling as they are worried that the stock in supermarkets will soon run out again, but they are themselves ensuring that precisely this happens. Coffee remains rare or expensive. By the way as predicted,  solely supermarkets are allowed now to sell milk and sugar. Only there customers are paying a 100 Milliem surcharge tax to support the government. It was mend to be due for all sales amounting to at least 50 Dinar. If you buy e. g. from Carrefour (not sure about others), though, you pay this amount each time you buy something there, independent of the total sum. The tax amount is very low, so we don't mind if it helps, a problem only for the very poor. To my surprise very few folks here know chives (the green part on spring onions) delicious on bred and butter, sandwiches, scrambled egg, etc., so they just throw it away. Most of my Christmas cards to Germany still haven't arrived, thus taking more than 2 months, or disappeared in the "Bemuda Triangle" for good. Difficult to say whether it's due to the bad Post Office service in Tunisia or Germany, where they have their problems too. Since several small parcels got lost, I had to ask my friends not to send anything and I also stopped doing so. By the way, mail to and from UK seems to work just as bad. Strange, before the revolution letters only took 7 to 10 days to arrive in Europe or from there. With constantly rising prices and high inflation citizens are of course very discontent and grumbling a lot, some from a higher level than others. Imports are getting more and more expensive and difficult. But this is the situation in many countries nowadays. When Saudi Arabia isolated Kuwait fairly successfully, the Kuwaiti people discovered that just about all their imports aren't necessary as those products can be produced in the country. Hopefully Tunisian citizens will discover their possibilities. Much can be done. Sadly in Kairouan a second bus was recently stolen. The quick police search was successful, some parts, though, dismantled and gone, no trace of the other bus so far. In the past when Tunisia was crowded with Tourists some Taxi drivers decided to transport only tourists. I recall my hsband and I being advised once that the driver only stopped for us as we were mistaken to be tourists and "sorry, please find another taxi." A Russian tourist thought he could travel by taxi for half an hour and pay just one Dinar. He stated that he had been told everything in Tunisia is very cheap. Anyhow, we were not amused and I frankly wished for such taxis a time when tourists are rare. I guess I have to be careful with what I wish......