A night at the opera

What utter extremes! Have you seen the photos in the news - severe rain and floods in one part of the world, and heatwaves in another. Nature is turning wild. Try reading that in the backdrop of the eschatological discourse in the gospels!

Over here the heat is cooling off and the night breeze is amazingly refreshing. That means more people are coming out into the streets ... and therefore more demonstrations, parades and such. Well at least it's alittle more eventful since tourism has practically died off - the streets are empty and many vendors are taking a holiday. Most muslims are going to make the Haj pilgrimage to Mecca anyway this week.

Was talking at dinner with Fr Marcello that I haven't heard the opera Turandot for a year now .. I was humming "Non piangere Liu" and he heard it - so after dinner I went up Youtube to hear it. Nice. That's what I need for a hot summer's night when I can't afford to go to the opera.  Well, "Non piangere Liu" led to "O sole, vita, eternita" finale of Turandot which of course led to "Inneggiamo" and "Regina Coeli" of Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana and inevitably leading into it's imcomparable, celestial, the ultimate of ultimate intermezzos - the Intermezzo of Cav. Rust. (don't forget you're supposed to play this piece at my funeral). What a night at the opera ... in Youtube!!!

Thanks for the chinese tea, computer battery, shrimp noodles, goodies, chocs, shower curtain, documents etc... they arrived safely and tax free.

This morning Khalil our cook saw me for the first time in t-shirt and bermudas and he was shocked to see how thin I was. He grabbed me and said he's going to feed me up for the next few weeks. Well with my diet I doubt there's much to eat. The sisters at TS College have been trying to fatten me up as well for the past few months but no success ... I've been giving the food to the other workers in the office!! Well it's not that I'm not eating ... it's too much food and my appetite has been down to minimum so rather than let it waste, I share it with other people. That's what I did today for lunch as well at the Convent of the St Vincent sisters. They cooked rice and chicken specially for me but I passed it on to someone else and when the cook came out and saw it, she was screaming her head off that the food was meant for me and I should be eating it and getting fatter. It' going to be a long summer .... with this conspiracy to fatten me up. sounds like I'm being fatten for the slaughter.