Postscript The Way It Is

 "The more you can increase of fear of drugs, crimes, welfare mothers, imigrants and aliens, the more you can control all of the people." Noam Chomsky.  "Every saint has a past and every sinner a future."  "I don't want to go to heaven, none of my friends are there."  Oscar Wilde.  "Only he, who himself enlightened, is not afraid of shadows." Emanuel Kant.   "If you act like a rotten plumb, bats will eat you." Ubuntu African Proverb.   "Every time we fall in love, we ascend to heaven. Every time we hate, envy, or fight someone, we tumble straight into the fires of hell." Elif Shafak.                          Threat of extreme bad weather in parts of Tunisia, hard rain, flooding, storm, in Tunis, as well as in the the south and Kebili, near Kairouan. Friends warned us it might effect us as well. I worried if we can't leave the house, have we got enough food in the house for our cats (shops were closed for several days because of Eid Al-Fitr)? So far we have been lucky, I would hate to see our little treasures starving. As for me, lately I keep getting stomach ache every time I eat something, so I won't need much. It can only get better. Watched from the roof a lovely little kitten, still very young, walking on the pavement, trying to attract the attention of a man. Didn't work. Then the tiny darling decided to walk across a street crossing. Two cars arrived, almost meeting, the kitten disappeared. Was it dead? Miracle, not flattened on the tar, but there seems to be something wrong with its back legs. A passing man saw this, showed empathy, picked up the poor little sweetheart and placed it on top of the small shelter in front of my house. So I went outside and took the tiny feral treature inside, in spite of full house (felling exhausted in every respect). The beauty got long, mainly white hair, with a bit of black and golden-yellow. It turned out to be female. I named her Aicha. Took her for a check -up to the veterinarian. No leg broken, but suffering from the traumatic accident. In order to repair the effected muscles the vet prescribed Vitamin B (Tetra B) one quarter for a few days plus less than a quarter of Toledine, a pain killer designed for cats. Glad it exists, those tablets for humans aren't really suitable, can even be deadly. Anyhow, gorgeous Aicha was well received by our big family and quickly found friends, not just among our other 3 kittens. She receives a wash from some adults. My only displeasure, Aicha does "her business" in front of the toilet, not inside. But eventually she will probably learn from the other cats the correct way. We live in a neighborhood with several very inconsiderate folks. They like to pass on their problem with too many cats (spay and neuter would be a solution) to others, e. g. to us. If we try to explain that we reached our absolute limit (presently more than 30), they won't listen and just leave their cat babies in front of our door, near a street crossing. I know a woman with a simular experience and when she just couldn't take more, she secretly moved house. Anyhow, this morning I sadly discovered 4 lovely, poor kittens, approx. 4 weeks old, placed in my temporary shelter, designed for adult cats that perhaps need protection against heavy rain, or just a bit of rest because of a slight injury following a fight (happened a few times). Folks who shamelessly dump their "feral problem" on others can not wash their hands in innocence, whatever dire hardship their kittens or adult kicked out cats have to endure, they remain responsible!!! I explained to a group of females students why I can't take additinal cats inside and that it is irresponsible to place kittens, especially very young ones, in front of my house, where there is a cross road, a group of stupid youngsters performing there acrobatics on motorbikes, and also love to speed as if we got a racing track here, plus up to often rude 22 kids. Besides, Prophet Mohamed loved cats and taught that Allah wants us to have empathy with animals and rewards those who do with empathy in return. Some time later young ladies arrived and took 3 of the lovely long haired kittens to offer them a new home. So one little treasure remained. While I was wondering whether she would be okay on her own, a pretty young girl appeared and told me she would love to have the kitten. Wow, great experience, I felt happy and full of hope. Nonetheless I checked in the morning and the following days whether any of the kittens were returned  (parents perhaps causing problems). It looks promising and hopefully it's a win-win situation. Scientists say having a pet is good for children, they learn empathy, responsibility and that animals have a lot of love for humans. A young woman phoned and declared she intends to bring me 2 adult cats for a month while she's abroad. I replied that I can't take any more cats and even my ferals don't want our big family to extend further. They would fight and the situation is getting too much for me, after all 30 is really a lot. She advised me:  "If you have 30 another 2 won't matter." Amazing logic. I forgot to remind her that she already brought 5 in the past. (2 died plus another one already very sick on arrival. ) Further, one of these, a lovely tomcat (Alien) hates another tomcat (Ricardo) in my house, they threaten each other daily and if I don't arrive quickly actually fight fiercely. I may add both were a few years ago spayed and  neutered. Anyhow, she arranged a time to visit me on the next day. She didn't turn up though, and didn't phone. One day later she phoned and suggested another date. But again didn't come and didn't phone, this is called here "Rendez-vous Arabe". Surprise, surprise, next day she decided to actually come (?) with her 2 cats, at least this what she told my husband over the phone. I took the whole event as a warning that the lady is unreliable and it's risky to accept "one month only."  After all, no one who ever brought me cats returned to ask if I need help of any kind or to pick up their pet again as previously promised. So I decided this time not to answer the phone. By the by, several of my cats are sick and I keep on taken one or two to the veterinarian, even when I am not well myself. Keeps me "off the road" as the British say. My biggest worry: one day no longer being capable to support my big family of ferals. 

The Way it is

 "The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum." "I was never aware of any other opinion but to question everything." Noam Chomsky.  "Agreeing with a fool is like giving a drunkard keys to the distillery." Ubuntu African Proverb. "Rats will never mourn the death of a cat."  Chewa Proverb.                                                                             My "woman - power" feral daughter,  Fleur, returned. She found that none of those handsome admirers courting her, could offer her a house like the one she already got and besides, there is nothing like "hotel vice-mummy." Guess I better try to stay fit and healthy so I can provide a good service to my spoiled kids. Minusa's ancestors lived in a palace and only the royal family was allowed to keep this beautiful Siamese cat with those unusual brilliant blue eyes. She is a bit of a princess, not always easy going but after all she comes from a high class family, neither we nor any of our neighbors had forefathers living in a palace! Unfortunately exotic cats and dogs are in fashion, breeding for this special demand led to "a flooding" of e. g. Siames cats and they loosing value. Sadly several even end up as "strays", unable to sell because of not perfect markings, kicked out for convienence, to save money necessary for medical treatments, or when their owners got tired of "their feral toys". I joke:  If you are not high class, at least your cat should be........   - Tunisia takes third place in the Arabic world reference food wasting (after Egypt and Morocco). Much is due to subsidized bred which is only nice while still very fresh and in addition there is an insufficient preserving tradition. My mother taught her children that wasting food is a sin. In many countries recipes exist for surplus bred (scroll down on my blog and you can find several). We use a toaster to refresh bred, this is though, unfortunately not available to all. We prefer bred from the bakery, more expensive but worth it if you can afford other bread than the in ex- French colonial countries so common white flour baguettes (or Arabic bred). If it didn't rain last night in parts of Sousse than it must be 'water - wasting - day' today. Bad habits die hard. The water monopoly belongs to Sonnet. In order to save money they employ students to read the external water meter. There is a saying that if you want to pay peanuts you end up with employing monkeys. Anyhow, in our experience these students are not exactly dedicated but interested in getting the job done as quickly as possible. For the second time we ended up with much too figures. My husband was advised to pay nevertheless the stated amount or the water will be cut off. It will take time to check the correct consumption, even though we presented our present reading for comparison. The gentleman in the office kindly offered that  should the issued bill turn out to be too high, then the difference will be deducted from future charges. Hopefully folks with very low income don't have simular experiences. - One of our local "stand - man - motorcycle boys" (riding his motorbike with one wheel in the air and in wavy lines like a drunkard) is only approx 14 years old and now occasionally lets a 4 year old kid sit behind him. A  woman remarked that it is dangerous here, the parents should stop this. After all we have a few elderly folks and lots and lots of children in the neighborhood. I replied their parents don't seem to be able to cope. One father said he would take away the motorcycle and sell it. Sounds like a solution, but actually nothing happened. A minor accident happened the other day, a boy on a motor scooter hit a motorcycle with 2 men on it. These were not amused, one of the 2 guys got so angry he wanted to beat the boy even though nobody got injured and there was almost no damage. Luckily the other man held him back. The boy looked shocked. Close to the end of Ramadan and a long break, up to 6 days including weekend, thus reduced income for shope keepers etc. Usually children get new clothes for Aid El Fitr, fairly expensive, even more so for large families. I would personally go to the flea market. Before the revolution the quality of clothes sold there was very low. Nowadays one can find also new items from expensive shops in Europe. Occasionally I even discovered some with a price tag still attached. The advantage of the other second hand clothes is that  hazardous substances often used by the producers (in the colour, to preserve) are already washed out. 

Myriam, once living on a Mosque compound, had a car accident, the vet discovered a broken jaw and the poor girl also lost an eye. For several years now she belongs to my big family.