howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
14 January 2011
22:2388992#1
we have all seen the country in recent news bulletins and the terrible riots there.
i have fond memories of that country, went there about 25 years ago with the missus and we both agreed that they were the nicest people you could wish to meet.
stark inequalities in wealth but people seemed to have a contentment with life.
on our first foray into the real tunisia from the resort, we reached the railway station to see a man feeding chickens on the rails, when he saw us he stuck a station masters hat on and calmly led us to the ticket office. once on the train we were stared at by ladies(i assume) wearing facial coverings with just eyes poking through. i think that most had not seen white people before so they may have thought we were ill.
after a day in the capital of tunis we decided to get off of the train a station early and see how the people actually lived then walk back.
we got off at a place called hamamliff, there was the imam bellowing out from the minaret calling the faithfull to prayer, everyone was running with their face down. we thought this was about respect.
not so they were all running past hiding their faces.
upon reaching what amounted to a shanty town/village, people came out of their houses to wave and smile to us two foreigners,
quite an uplifting experience.
just to give an idea how poor these people were, there was a milkman that went from door to door pouring a tablespoonful
into a cup at each address.
i will not say anymore on the subject unless members are interested.
Guest 696- Registered: 31 Mar 2010
- Posts: 8,115
15 January 2011
01:4789012#2
It is interesting, Howard. I was fascinated when one man from Marocco told me that they have three harvests a year of grain, because it is warm enough all year through!