• About

Larry Muffin At Home

~ Remembering that life is a comedy and the world is a small town.

Larry Muffin At Home

Tag Archives: Souk al-arwam

This and that

07 Sunday Feb 2016

Posted by larrymuffin in Uncategorized

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

Assad, carpets, Civil war, Damascus, Diana Darke, Iran, Italy, Line C Metropolitana, Line C Roma, Museums, Roma, Rome, Russia, Souk al-arwam, Syria

Have you ever noticed that if you hear Jazz on the radio the announcer always has a smoky voice. It seems that you cannot have Jazz music without that voice, it goes together and this is true of every station I have ever heard, from Radio Jordan to Catalunya Musica from Barcelona or BBC3 or Radio-Canada, etc.

I just finished reading an excellent book My house in Damascus by Diana Darke.

mhid-cover-3rd-edition.jpg

Diana Darke is a fluent Arabic speaker and has specialised in the Middle East for over 30 years. The owner of an old courtyard house within the walls of Old Damascus, she is well known as an authority on Syria and has written for the Sunday Times, the
Guardian, the Financial Times and the BBC. Diana Darke is the author of several guides to Syria and Eastern Turkey.

At the moment Syria is in the news everyday and Canada is taking some 25,000 refugees selected by the UNHCR, people who reside in those immense camps in Jordan. Very low risk for Canada and mostly poor people with large families who could not flee elsewhere.

Diana Darke tells the story of the house she bought in the old walled city of Damascus surrounded today by the modern city. It is an area I know well, since I went to it many times to buy my carpets from the brothers Khaled and Anas Lahham in the Souk Al-Arwam in the days under the dictator Hafez and then his son Bashar Al-Assad.

unnamed-6.jpg

1920 photo of Souk Al-Arwam in Old Damascus. The carpet shop is or was on the left of this photo a man is standing at the entrance.

Her house was from the Ottoman Period several hundred years old and she tells the tale of her Syrian friends and how she came about to buying and renovating the house, its history, her friends and how the Civil War starting in 2011 overtook them and she had to return to Britain.

It’s a very good book and very accurate in its description of the people and their terrible situation, something very few readers will be able to grasp the full horror of a people condemn to be bystanders in their own tragedy while the political actors great and small play. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to read about the ordinary human face of this civil war. I travelled and stayed in Syria many times during my 8 years in the region and while living in Jordan, I wish I could say I enjoyed my time in Syria but no, having to deal with the monumental stupidity, greed and sheer idiocy of the Baath Party and the government officials in Syria was enough to put anyone off the country.

As Diana Darke points out astutely the civil war in Syria could go on for many more years since Assad is unlikely to let go as long as Iran and Russia support him fully. Unless Iran is promised or given something they want from the USA and then they could switch camps and abandon Assad, but the prize will have to be fairly important for Tehran for this to happen. Then what will Russia do? As another observer pointed out, in Arab countries whenever there is a revolution it is always about political institutions there is never talk about enhancing or creating a new social framework and institutions.

Finally reading the Italian newspapers this news item, Line C of the Metro of Rome which has been under construction for 9 years and is 5 years late and 1 Billion Euros over budget has been shut down for gross mismanagement, 500 workers have been laid off, the City of Rome is 225 million Euros short and can no longer pay. The line will now end at the St-John Lateran Station only one third of it built. The two critical stations going by the Colosseum and down the avenue through the Roman Forums, the most archeologically sensitive area of the Eternal City will not be completed for the time being and the rest of the Line which was to go all the way to the Vatican and down to the Olympic Stadium may never be completed now since work has not started on that portion. The portion of Line C which opened last year only carries a third of the passengers it is meant to carry, the planning predictions were way off.

Another story which made headlines in this time of austerity in Italy with Museums forced to close or stay open only a few days a week, all have budget problems. How can this be with more and more tourists coming to Rome and flocking to the numerous museums?  All the money that is collected from ticket purchases, usually 12 Euros per ticket, only 30% actually goes to the Museums the rest or 70% of the profits go directly into the pocket of the company running the ticket app. online. Who allowed this to happen?  Another Roman story or farce.

None of this surprises me, this is the way things work or don’t in Italy. Some are saying, I am not kidding, where is Benito Mussolini to help us out of this mess, but I somehow doubt it. Even Il Duce would say that Italy was impossible to govern.

 

 

 

 

 

Fans of the Muffin

  • travelwithgma
  • Cuisine AuntDai
  • A Beijinger living in Provincetown
  • theislandheartbeat
  • LES GLOBE-TROTTERS
  • Antonisch
  • ROMA ARCHEOLOGIA e RESTAURO ARCHITETTURA 2020-22
  • ROMA ARCHEOLOGIA e RESTAURO ARCHITETTURA 2010-20.
  • The Body's Heated Speech
  • Unwritten Histories
  • Philippe Lagassé
  • Moving with Mitchell
  • Palliser Pass
  • Roijoyeux
  • Fearsome Beard
  • Verba Volant Monumenta Manent
  • Spo-Reflections
  • KREUZBERGED - BERLIN COMPANION
  • My Secret Journey
  • Buying Seafood
  • Routine Proceedings
  • The Historic England Blog
  • Larry Muffin At Home
  • Sailstrait
  • dennisnarratives
  • Willy Or Won't He
  • Prufrock's Dilemma
  • domanidave.wordpress.com/
  • theINFP
  • The Corporate Slave
  • OTTAWA REWIND

Blog Stats

  • 113,328 hits

Birthplace of Canada

C1A 1A7, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada
Follow Larry Muffin At Home on WordPress.com

Archives

  • May 2022 (9)
  • April 2022 (11)
  • March 2022 (14)
  • February 2022 (9)
  • January 2022 (14)
  • December 2021 (17)
  • November 2021 (12)
  • October 2021 (12)
  • September 2021 (13)
  • August 2021 (10)
  • July 2021 (13)
  • June 2021 (12)
  • May 2021 (12)
  • April 2021 (15)
  • March 2021 (12)
  • February 2021 (11)
  • January 2021 (8)
  • December 2020 (22)
  • November 2020 (16)
  • October 2020 (17)
  • September 2020 (13)
  • August 2020 (17)
  • July 2020 (16)
  • June 2020 (23)
  • May 2020 (24)
  • April 2020 (23)
  • March 2020 (28)
  • February 2020 (20)
  • January 2020 (12)
  • December 2019 (17)
  • November 2019 (15)
  • October 2019 (18)
  • September 2019 (5)
  • August 2019 (9)
  • July 2019 (10)
  • June 2019 (6)
  • May 2019 (5)
  • April 2019 (12)
  • March 2019 (8)
  • February 2019 (7)
  • January 2019 (9)
  • December 2018 (15)
  • November 2018 (6)
  • October 2018 (7)
  • September 2018 (6)
  • August 2018 (7)
  • July 2018 (7)
  • June 2018 (6)
  • May 2018 (10)
  • April 2018 (7)
  • March 2018 (7)
  • February 2018 (5)
  • January 2018 (11)
  • December 2017 (19)
  • November 2017 (13)
  • October 2017 (20)
  • September 2017 (12)
  • August 2017 (11)
  • July 2017 (24)
  • June 2017 (17)
  • May 2017 (24)
  • April 2017 (23)
  • March 2017 (21)
  • February 2017 (22)
  • January 2017 (23)
  • December 2016 (19)
  • November 2016 (21)
  • October 2016 (25)
  • September 2016 (4)
  • August 2016 (15)
  • July 2016 (13)
  • June 2016 (13)
  • May 2016 (8)
  • April 2016 (21)
  • March 2016 (17)
  • February 2016 (30)
  • January 2016 (23)
  • December 2015 (36)
  • November 2015 (23)
  • October 2015 (26)
  • September 2015 (22)
  • August 2015 (15)
  • July 2015 (21)
  • June 2015 (27)
  • May 2015 (17)
  • April 2015 (16)
  • March 2015 (15)
  • February 2015 (12)
  • January 2015 (21)
  • December 2014 (4)

Blog Stats

  • 113,328 hits

Blog at WordPress.com.

travelwithgma

Journeys of all kinds

Cuisine AuntDai

Journey as an owner of a Chinese restaurant in Montreal

A Beijinger living in Provincetown

Life of Yi Zhao, a Beijinger living in Provincetown, USA

theislandheartbeat

LES GLOBE-TROTTERS

VOYAGES, CITY GUIDES, CHATEAUX, PHOTOGRAPHIE.

Antonisch

from ancient to modern and beyond

ROMA ARCHEOLOGIA e RESTAURO ARCHITETTURA 2020-22

ROME - THE IMPERIAL FORA: SCHOLARLY RESEARCH & RELATED STUDIES.

ROMA ARCHEOLOGIA e RESTAURO ARCHITETTURA 2010-20.

ROME – THE IMPERIAL FORA: SCHOLARLY RESEARCH & RELATED STUDIES.

The Body's Heated Speech

Unwritten Histories

The Unwritten Rules of History

Philippe Lagassé

In Defence of Westminster

Moving with Mitchell

Jerry and I get around. In 2011, we moved from the USA to Spain. We now live near Málaga. Jerry y yo nos movemos. En 2011, nos mudamos de EEUU a España. Ahora vivimos cerca de Málaga.

Palliser Pass

Stories, Excerpts, Backroads

Roijoyeux

... Soyons... Joyeux !!!

Fearsome Beard

A place for Beards to contemplate and grow their souls.

Verba Volant Monumenta Manent

Tutto iniziò con Memorie di Adriano, sulle strade dell'Impero Romano tra foto, storia e mito - It all began with Memoirs of Hadrian, on the roads of the Roman Empire among photos, history and myth!

Spo-Reflections

To live is to battle with trolls in the vaults of heart and brain. To write; this is to sit in judgment over one's Self. Henrik Ibsen

KREUZBERGED - BERLIN COMPANION

Everything You Never Knew You Wanted to Know About Berlin

My Secret Journey

The road I have traveled to get to where I am today.

Buying Seafood

Reviewing Fish, Shellfish, and Seafood Products

Routine Proceedings

The adventures of a Press Gallery journalist

The Historic England Blog

Larry Muffin At Home

Remembering that life is a comedy and the world is a small town.

Sailstrait

Telling the stories of the history of the port of Charlottetown and the marine heritage of Northumberland Strait on Canada's East Coast. Winner of the Heritage Award from the PEI Museum and Heritage Foundation and a Heritage Preservation Award from the City of Charlottetown

dennisnarratives

Stories in words and pictures

Willy Or Won't He

So Many Years of Experience But Still Making Mistakes!

Prufrock's Dilemma

Oh, do not ask, “What is it?”/Let us go and make our visit.

domanidave.wordpress.com/

Procrastination is the sincerest form of optimism

theINFP

I aim to bring delight to others by sharing my creative endeavours

The Corporate Slave

A mix of corporate and private life experiences

OTTAWA REWIND

Join me as we wind back the time in Ottawa.

  • Follow Following
    • Larry Muffin At Home
    • Join 486 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Larry Muffin At Home
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...