Postscript Not always what you Expect

 "To a wise man a warning is a blessing. To a fool it is an insult."  "A wise man fills his brain before emptying his mouth." Ubuntu African Proverbs  "When you want to help people you tell them the truth. When you want to help yourself, you tell them want they want to hear." Thomas Sowell                 Had 2 of my beautiful feral boys spayed and neutered, Ali ben Habib and Schmusi. Not a big thing for the males ( therefore much cheaper than for the females) and they are perfectly fine afterwards. Cat babies are very sweet, but it gets out of hand if all females have 4 or 6  babies and this on top of that every year. Pre school kids knock at our door. They say they stopped other kids from hitting cats, but had to fight with those children and got robbed of 4 Dinar. They asked my husband to compensate them. Nice try, kids here have a lot of phantasy and are always happy to earn a bit of money or just sweets. Several hundred years ago Christians held cats in their cathedrals in order to keep out mice and rats. Flaps in the doors allowed cats to walk in and out. The eldest one was discovered in a 14th century cathedral door in Exeter, U. K.  The cats' performance was so much appreciated that even a certain income was fixed, allowing to buy additional food if needed. In Turkey you can find a beautifully decorated bus, looking like a big cat. The fare is tins of Thuna that a cats' shelter receives. If I were a cat, I would find a paradise in Turkey. - While many citizens sweep in front of their doors and wipe their pavements (usually paved according to their taste or what they can and are willing to spend) there are others who are just tenants or live some where else, so either aren't interested in keeping the town clean or think it's normal to drop your rubbish wherever you go. Lately this seemed to be getting worse, so good citizens complained to the town authorities and are promised that women will be employed specially to clean several areas. Also this bad habit of parking on pavements is supposed to be tackled now. There are busy roads where pedestrians just can't use the pavement, too many cars and even the best rules and regulations are useless if no action is taken. For a short while I saw those "parking claws" on vehicle wheels, but they disappeared again. While tourists are usually advised to take just a copy of their passport when they go out, even in Europe, (leave the original in the hotel in a save place) a policeman told tourists from Germany that they must always carry the original. Well, I did when 2 street robbers appeared on a motorbike. They drove up very close to me, ignoring my husband walking behind me and just pulled my handbag of my shoulder, very professionally. I was lucky the strap tore, otherwise they may have pulled me behind their motorbike. Such cases do happen. Anyhow, I was robbed off an expensive smartphone (a gift) with now lost photos, my passport and a few other items. Getting my passport replaced didn't just take a long time, but it was also quite expensive, if I remember correctly approximately 320 Dinar. So for a very long time I stopped carrying handbags and the only gold I wear is my wedding ring.   The shelvings in supermarkets are lately not as well filled as they used to be, among other staple food rice, sugar and flour are missing. Lake of sugar has stopped the production of Coka Cola and Fanta, I am told. But why are there still those sugary water drinks with just a little bit of fruit juice (20% if you are lucky, more likely only 10 % or a bit more) on sale? I remember 100 per cent fruit juice and my favourite, apple juice - haven't seen that for months..... Anyhow, think positve, it can only get better! 

Not always what you Expect

 "Competion is the law of the jungle, but cooperation is the law of civilization." Peter Kropotkin  "We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark, the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light." Plato   "Every time I have been inside a slaughterhouse, I expected to find monsters. But I found something far more terrifying, I found out how easily humans can be conditioned to do monsterious things." Robert Sud.   It appears to be festival season now. The open air life concerts are right in front of our door, so we neither need to spend time nor money to listen to them. The road gets blocked at 3 p. m. and the celebrations start at 9.30 p. m., this is planning oriental style, thus no hurry and a sure way to keep the area free of unwanted traffic, parked cars or just the rubbish collection van (usually 7 p. m. but one never knows). The hosts (weddings or other parties) in the past used to invite us or/and bring around a plate of food. Times are changing, some folks are nowadays very shy and didn't dare to address, not even inform us, yet in one case surprised us with a "noise protection wall" right along our house, nice try, but didn't work. Anyhow, they generously left our pavement for us to move freely. Lots of fireworks with loud bangs, even bengali fire, all for free until 3 a. m., a happy neighborhood in good spirit. Don't worry, be happy. In view of possible deaf folks being present, even that is usually allowed for, the loud speakers are quite something, the "Getto Blasters" are nothing in comparison. Most motorbikes haven't got a registeration plate, this could be an additional income for the state, but I guess it's not needed. In addition it could help the police to trace thieves and street robbers, perhaps though not much of an issue. Tunisian folks are law obeying and after all stealing is not allowed. -  I have been hoping that our big feral family would be in better health now that the winter is over, no more sneezing and coughing. But no, their immune system appears to be not very strong. The best protection against the various viruses here would be vaccine, but unfortunately I can not afford to pay for so many and the protection only lasts one year. Years ago, when we had only 6 or even 8 cats, we did get them vaccinated, but we don't receive donations and aren't rich. Guess our neighbours would be surprised if they would find out how modest we live, well, our little feral treasures trust and depend on us. A good day is when all are well and relaxed. Lately this wasn't the case though, several cats  seemed to be feeling very tired, weak, had fiever and an infection in the mouth. One of those viruses the poor cats catch here. Luckily nowadays more and more medications don't need to be imported any longer, including several designed for kids, in some cases also suitable for cats or dogs (not automatically the case, vets should be consulted first) and in addition local products are of course cheaper than imports. Which is just as well in view of generally low wages. A few days ago I discovered a little black kitten dragging her back legs along the street. It looked as if one or both legs were broken. The poor darling was crossing the road near my house. Fearing for her safety I picked her up and took her to our veterinarian. It turned out that she was actually paralyzed from her spine, an injury caused by either an accident, perhaps a fall or through an attack with a stone or stick. Even worse the little one was not able to empty her bladder. When the veterinarian used some painful pressure at the lower part of her body, quite a bit urin mixed with blood ejected. He explained that this procedure would be necessary once every day. I was under the impression that I can do this, but it turned out to be more complicated. So I took my sweet Precious back the next day, watched and thought okay, I'll manage. I was mistaken, my brave little kitten screamed, bite me, all in vain. Her big tummy got me worried, I felt so helpless. I planned to take her back to the vet the next day, not sure what would be the right decision, in a way Precious seemed to be so brave, eating and drinking, but I did not want her to suffer. Later on in the evening she refused her medication, biting her teeth together. I forced her to take some nevertheless, but had a bad feeling, she may not survive the night. The veterinarian had already warned me that the little darling hasn't got a  chance to live long. Later on in the evening when I checked how she is, I dicovered Precious had passed over the rainbow. Her suffering and her short life had ended. May she rest in peace. 

"Sound protection wall" 

Precious with Sunny

Jeremy and Schmusi 

Ali ben Habib

Precious, brave little baby

Preparation for live concert