No Time to get Old

 "A lie gets half way around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on." Churchill.                                          We appear to live in a century of fake news, rumours and lies, why should it be different here from the rest of the world. A lot of hope was placed on vaccine, while rich countries had declared they would ensure that poor countries receive a fair share, there was later on talk of 50 or maybe 40 millions doses. Lately WHO mentioned one poor country ( didn't say which one) will be given only 2500 doses of vaccine. Now I heard the country in question is Algeria and they promised to donate half to their sister country Tunisia. By the way in Tunisia live approx. as many people as in Portugal. I guess we see here the result of everybody using a calculator, even for very simple calculations (is this what is taught at school nowadays, how to switch the calculator on and off?). Further, it was said not all required papers arrived in time from Tunisia in America. Not surprised, if they were send by Tunisian mail. The arrival day is always a surprise, e.g. a letter from GB took three month, some Christmas mail that I posted on 10th of Nov. to Germany is still on its way (nearly end of Jan.), other mail just gets lost in transit. Does anybody know why the post office functioned well before the revolution?  Bureaucracy is practiced with a lot of fantasy. Among the 10 most unhappy populations in the world the Tunisian takes place 8. Very sad, it could be so different. We must fight corruption, greed and envy is so destructive unlike solidarity. We need education, folks willing to accept responsibility and contribute to a better, greater Tunisia. Learn and teach our children to appreciate, love and protect animals. Don't abuse, kill, be rewarded with loyalty and lots of love. By the way, 12 millions of cats live in Germany, usually well protected and much loved, part of the family. In fashion in Tunisia are dogs, mainly among youngsters/young men. Those who can't or don't want to spend money on food, look for an alternative. I would have thought that a butcher won't charge much for bones, a fair amount is just thrown in rubbish containers (attracting lots of flies). Anyhow, at least one boy leads his big dog to Cats' feeding places so his pet gets noodles, soaked bred, sometimes mixed with animal sausage, a bit of meat or fish and in front of my door also croquettes for cats. They differ from those for dogs, are more expensive and can cause diarrhea and kidney problems if dogs eat them. When dogs arrive ,the cats get frightened and may well run underneath cars without observing the traffic. I am sure several fatal accidents happened like that, including my adorable gorgeous Honey. She was always observing the traffic. It broke my heart to find her bleeding and dead in front of my door. Honey used to spend most of her time indoors. We had a very special relationship. She would only listen to me and was absolute loyal, but happy to tolerate my husband and he learned to accept that. 

Little Diamond Kitty - an Obituary

 "Man is effect not by events but by the view he takes of them." Seneca                                                                              Little diamond, black white and orange coloured dainty beautiful lady cat was born somewhere on the street in my neighborhood in 2017. For a while she came for meals to my Cats' Table. Then one day, watching my little indoor treasures eating from a big bowl, I discovered Kitty among them, acting as if she's always been living inside my house. The other cats accepted her straight away, which they don't do with all new comers. In the beginning Kitty used to go out for a bit, maybe for 2 or 3 hours, and always returned to the new house she had chosen or should I say she adopted us? She purred a lot, wonderful. In April 2018 Kitty started to cough. The vet recommended Marbocyl and it got better. In January 2019 Kitty got on heat. We had to get her spayed and neutered, unfortunately. Poor little darling, after that she calmed down , felt relaxed again. She always stayed dainty and remained gentle, no arguments with anyone. When I got up in the morning (apart from Tiger and Sandy sleeping with us in the bedroom) Kiddy was always the first one to greed and spoil me with her sweet purring. One day I discovered that she wasn't eating well, often just pretending to eat and loosing weight. She emptied a cupboard shelf in the kitchen and decided to sleep there. I padded the space with a soft blanket. From time to time she came to sit on my lap. I served her chicken with rice and carrots in order to make her stronger again and she seemed to enjoy it. When the vet took blood from her for testing, the result was really shocking, her kidneys working very badly. A blood transfusion would have been great and might have saved her life, but we are here in Tunisia. I felt so helpless. The vet tried in vain to save her life. My sweet little darling left us. Every cat is different, has her own story, her special character. One of the most stupid sentences I heard here: One cat goes, another one comes, why mourn, there are many....  I miss my gorgeous little treasure, it was great having her, she went much too early, may she rest in peace now. To me paradise includes being united with my cats.

Winter time

 If you are not high class, at least your cat should be (but of course all cats are more or less). The former most expensive cat in the world, white with brown paws, ears, nose, mask and blue eyes has become very fashionable in Tunisia. I used to have two of this kind for a while, without specially searching for them. My sweat Diana went outside one day and did not return (which she would have done if she could) because a woman from around here picked her up in front of my door and took her home. I was feeling sad and miss my darling. The lady admitted it some time later, Diana is now one of her four cats. I am not happy but Diana prefers to live with less cats than we have that I know. She has been spayed and neutered, does the lady know that? I don't get my cats marked (a bit cut off the ear) as we have all operated at the right age, I keep a record. I hope my darling is treated well. My other Siamones cat, Minusa, was brought to us by a young man in need of money. She has become a little princess and daddy's girl. - Corona restriction led to a considerable reduction of air pollution including all that noise created by those popular huge loudspeakers employed at various celebrations. For a while there was also more social distance keeping, no more women and men pushing in front, trying to be served first. But it still exists, old bad habits die hard! And this strange (at least for most Europeans) last arrivals getting served first. Customers feel entitled and those behind the counter frequently support it. At the optician's the young employee asked every customer entering the shop how she can help them. While my husband tried to convince me that those four people arriving after us had been asked to return a little later and therefore should not be requested to que up, the fifth customer turned out to be a beggar. Feeling happy to have him "served first" in this case, the young lady declined to do so and just send him away! I have been told that folks working for STEG (electricity and gas company) don't have to pay for their consumption. Lately they stopped sending an employee to read the meter, because of Corona, customers should do the reading themselves. Since we are now doing their work, shouldn't we at least have a reduction of the costs? - On account of bad experience I usually send my letters by registered mail. This time they run out of forms for the procedure. I wonder whether my letters will arrive. Four weeks have past. Several small parcels and seven of ten letters from a friend of mine in Germany disappeared in the Tunis Bamurda Triangle (or elsewhere), also mail from Great Britain. It can only get better. If you want to have your temperature checked, on account of Corona precautions it has become a free service at the entrance of several supermarkets. 

Prescious Diamonds on Four Paws

 "One of the most beautiful qualities of true friendship is to understand and be understood." Seneca

In Tunisia I discovered a lot of prescious diamonds on the the streets. The cats here are such amazing little beauties, why are so many out on the streets? Several obviously had been living in families before that don't regard them as a kind of family member, like Europeans usually do. Unfortunately there aren't animal protection laws ( more and more folks are demanding them). The way animals are treated tells you a lot about a society. Europeans are often horrified about the plights of animals. Guess that explains why women from various European countries living here decided to create animal protection organisations and shelter. I discovered e.g. women from Great Britain, Italy, Netherland, Swiss, France and Germany doing so, often with Tunisian partners. So much needs to be done. A few days ago a woman with hardly any money asked me for help. Her cat has been poisoned, looking as if she got epilepsy. I brought my transport box, we quickly took a taxi and brought the cat to my vet. She confirmed the poisoning and suggested to leave the patient with her overnight. The next day as I was about to start picking up the recovered cat, another woman from the neighborhood arrived, stating same problem, same symptoms, asking for my help. Same procedure. Fortunately this lady, though, knows the person responsible for the atrocity, a middle-aged woman who had stated that she wants to kill all cats around here. So I decided to pay her a visit. She lives around several corners, nearby. Having been shown her house, I rang the bell. As soon as she saw me, before I could say a word, she banged her door closed. Being in urgent need to address her, I kicked at her metal door (once, not several times as she lied later on). When she came storming out, I took my mobile phone and told her it's for internet. She tried to hit me and steal my phone. I shouted Haram, Haram Halufa. The Prophet Mohammed said: " Have sympathy with the animals on earth and then Allah will also have sympathy with you." What makes you think you have the right to kill innocent cats (and dogs)? Don't you know the Quran? The next day when I returned with my husband, a neighbor tried to defend her, that woman is her friend and also doesn't like cats I am told. I called her a liar. The woman who poisoned those cats (possibly more) told my husband she only used rat poison in her house. I replied that her house must be very dirty if she needs to do that! And that is is evil and Haram anyhow to make cats suffer like that and poison them! Other neighbors decided to support me and speak to her husband, how can his wife poison cats while he prays in the Mosque, don't they know that the Prophet loved cats? He promised to throw the rat poisoning into the toilet and that it will stop now. Every morning I count the number of cats attending my Cats' Table and of course I know my regular guests, some arrive from a small distance. Whenever any are missing I worry whether they are okay or something happened to them. For unknown reason Jasmina, Bella and Black Beauty don't come every day. The very young ones tend to disappear quickly again, unfortunately I can't offer shelter to all of them, the traffic is a big problem. We keep telling drivers to look out for cats and those who park here that a cat or more may be sitting underneath their vehicle. As it is getting colder the little treasures tend to be more hungry (those inside our house and the others). I learned from our vet that cats won't eat what they can't smell, so a blocked nose can kill a cat, horrible thought. Occasionally a homeless little darling allows me to clean her nose. I noted an adult black beauty stopped eating outside. Unfortunately she didn't let me clean her nose. A little while later I discovered she sneaked inside my house. As our precious angels on four paws didn't complain, the cat must be female. She cuddled with other cats but wouldn't allow me to touch her, at the same time carefully watching me. She can see that the others love me and come to cuddle with me. Shouldn't that make her feel secure? No, it doesn't work that way. If I could at least get her inside a transport box, then our vet could help e.g. with inhalation. I am getting desperate, she really needs help. My husband hopes she secretly eats, as we viewed her drinking water. By the way, the two poisoned treasures are fit and well again, thanks to our excellent vet who also managed to save several of our fur family members who fell sick or had an serious accident. We now have four cats with only one eye: Aisha, Grace, Tariqa and Myriam (plus two with one blind eye, Malek and Milka), two had successfully a broken jaw operated: Myriam and Precious. The "lady in black" our cat visitor, I named her Ramona, unfortunately left us the way she arrived, she sneaked out while we weren't watching. I looked for her everywhere, she also didn't turn up for breakfast anymore. Bad news. Poor darling.

PostScript Retirement and Death in Tunisia (May 16th)

 "Hell is other people." Jean Paul Sartre

The information I had and posted was not correct, Trautchen, the German lady who passed away in March, was not buried by her landlord, but through a woman across the road from her, a person who according to Trautchen can not to trusted, whom she would not leave on her own in any room of her house. Very strange. While I had been told she didn't find her final rest on the cemetery for Christians (Les Cypres, between Sousse and Khalaa Sghira), but at some unknown other place, she was actually buried  among other Christians (mainly from European countries). The funeral was very sad, I am told, only an elderly woman with a head scarf arrived. Buried in a simple wooden box with a matching grave, naked soil, old bricks on three edges and cement on the forth, no grave stone, like a homeless person. The elderly woman said she would upgrade the grave later on, but never returned. The funeral had been delayed as Trautchen died in her rented villa and authorities had to investigate first whether she died of a natural cause. Then the German embassy was informed who contacted her siblings and cleared legal questions. Corona led to a further delay. Trautchen had spent a not so small fortune on the interior of the villa she occupied, in addition she had three or four Motorolas for handicapped persons. The terrace was full of plants and various statues. The inheritance of all this was not enough to pay for a decent grave and headstone? Well it isn't if you are greedy! I don't know what happened to Trautchen's last will. She had told me she settled everything, paid for her funeral in advance, so her children won't have to spent a penny. To the best of my knowledge that woman across the road cleared the house, paid outstanding bills (if not covered by the bank account) and manged to get money from Trautchen's children in Germany for the funeral. When my husband and I found her anonymous grave, we were shocked. A marble headstone and enclosure, a few flowers suitable for the climate here, doesn't cost much! It is so embarrassing, but not for anyone without shame. The cemetery is neat and well kept, a gardener works there full time. He told us they get there from time to time folks who say they will return and make the grave look nice, including a gravestone etc. but never return. By the way, on All Saints Day, Nov. 1st will be a ceremony held on the Les Cypres cemetery with a priest, in memory of the deceased. Nice idea for families and friends who lost a loved one. Below on the right how we finally discovered Traudchen's grave, very basic, a poor man's grave (naked soil, no plants, no grave stone, nameless)

Sense and Sensibility

 "We are all prisoners of hope." Cornel West

Haven't seen Bella for a while, a beautiful gentle street cat that loved to cuddle and accompany my husband or me when shopping in the neighborhood. I had tried to take her indoors, but she didn't agree with my other cats. Wanting to save her from having too many babies, I had her spayed and she was fine afterwards, remained detached to us, I enjoyed seeing this little bundle of joy come running to me. I fear she must be dead and there is now a black and white younger cat, Betty, who copies her. Worrying she might get run over by a car, depending on where I am going, I sometimes return to the house and fetch a bit of food to distract Betty before I start off again. She is so cute, I am pretty sure Betty lived in a family before and some other fur jewels as well. They deserve better. Strange, there are folks who worry that getting a cat or dog spayed and neutered may be "Haram" (against the religion), yet kittens are thrown in the garbage, those considered surplus put out on the street, others willfully killed, brutally murdered. We urgently require animal protection laws, like existing in other civilized countries. One of the best countries for animals is Turkey: "All animals are born equal and have a right to live, to be protected against infliction of pain, suffering and torture, prevention of all types of cruel treatment." In addition it is proposed in a coming law to fine those who abandon their pets 10 000 Turkish Lira (approx 1,745 Dollar) and imprison a minimum of two years and one month for crimes committed against animals, no bail no fine sentence instead possible. Wow, this is fantastic! Quite a few Tunisian are interested in Turkish culture, say we have a lot in common, why not learn from Turkey a different attitude towards animals, punish their abuse and senseless killing, teach children to respect animal rights and that it is HARAM to do them any harm. By the way, the other day I watched a little boy attempting to kick a cat and when I shouted Haram, his mother walking behind him at a short distance made a sign showing me she approved of my reaction. (Usually parent and child just look surprised.) Three of the last eight cat babies that a woman had packed in a plastic bag and thrown onto my cactus plants, suddenly died approx two months old. They always remained skinny in spite of all my efforts. Cats' mother milk powder is helpful to raise the babies, but not the real thing.... my babies look for a mum and try other cats here of various ages, male and female. Some enjoy playing mum, even male cats, interesting. Two of the originally four lovely gentle female cats, at the time four months old, cramped together in a box left in front of my door, mainly live on my roof terrace and several of my other cats frequently try to provoke them. I don't know why they do this, maybe they feel we are too many already. Anyhow, Rachel and Rachida are not happy with those other cats and I wish a good home for my sweet ladies. (The other two girls were adopted) I need to find a family for them as well. They deserve a good for ever home where they can ideally live together. The original family wanted to put all four out on the street but their approx eight years old boy showed sympathy and brought them to us. Sometimes children are better than their parents. This gives me hope. I believe that if kids are taught the right values they could even teach adults!

PostScript Even for Beauties Life can be Tough

 "We are not rich by what we possess, but by what we do without." Immanuel Kant

It being very hot I asked a neighbor whether I may leave an empty ice cream box filled with water on his pavement for outdoor cats. He had no objections, it's in addition to that in front of my house. I used to also put croquettes in such a box on a neglected pavement (long grass, lots of paper and various pieces of plastic, wood and metal) of a house whose owner works in France and thus is rarely here. When she returned I found both boxes removed, even that one in front of the other house (they placed in front of my door!). When my husband and I passed her house, that stupid woman stood there together with a Moroccan woman, a " good story teller",  advising us that one should leave cats without food and water as they produce excrements. The not so bright, stone hearted women kindly allowed me, though, to provide cats with food and water along my house. Don't expect this to be a joke, around here one can easily get the impression that house owners have no rights, kids and youngsters can do as they please. I often get the smell of stinking diesel on account of motorbikes racing around here, surprising that only kittens are the usual victims (motorcycles and cars). Lately two small kids turned up on mini motorbikes, tuned to create maximum noise just like the big ones and stinking just the same. Youngsters and male adults viewing these got shiny eyes, such a dream...... Who cares about the environment? I don't think kids are taught to protect, live now and ignore the future. Take what you can get and don't worry about animal rights...... I want to be fair, not all are like that, the number of folks willing to protect cats and dogs, demanding animal protection laws, is on the increase.