Internally Displaced

I started this week sick to my stomach and ended it homeless, thanks to a rowdy Saudi Arabian who caused a scene in my apartment building two nights ago. The incident made me call UN security in the middle of the night, which prompted my office to insist that I find another place to stay.

A colleague kindly offered to take me in for a few days while other accommodations are found, so now I find myself in an enormous house living out of a suitcase once again. The house, I must say, is grand with lots of sunlight streaming in from all sides, so the situation is an improvement over the windowless sitting room where I've spent the past few weekends. But it's amazing how attached I had become to that place in just under a month. As I hastily packed my things yesterday evening, I was actually sad to be leaving what had so quickly become the "familiar."

Anyway, now that I'm in a new environment, one without constant access to internet and satellite TV, I am rediscovering the joys of reading and listening to music. I'm reading a book by Robert MacNeil, who is most famous for co-anchoring the MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour on PBS for decades. The book, called Burden of Desire, is set in Halifax in 1917 when a major explosion destroyed a large part of the downtown area. It's a good read, both for the historical setting and for the character development, and I find myself hoping I don't read it too quickly.