THE HOUSE

THE HOUSE

The external appearance of most buildings in most Arab towns and cities is of little importance.  Traditionally,  the sumptuous interiors of the better-off Arab homes have always been belied by the unassuming frontage. This lack of interest in the externals is no less evident in the building where we live.

The first thing which distinguishes the flat where we live from the average European dwelling of similar ilk is that it has two front doors: one opens directly on to the guest sitting-room furnished with stiff, over-stuffed chairs upholstered in Damask brocade whereas the other opens on to the hall and the rest of the house.

Coming in the “normal” door, there is a small hall and directly opposite the front door the doors to the kitchen and the sitting-dining room.  To the right of the front door is a small toilet and washroom.  The kitchen is well equipped with a fridge and freezer, gas-electric cooker, electric oven, dish-washer and microwave oven.  The latter were installed specially for us as well as a monster Hoover with all accessories incorporated whose bark certainly seems to be much worse than its bite, except when in “carpet mode”.  Another door opens from the dining area on to a small hall in the sleeping quarters.  To the left is the main bedroom, opposite, a small study and next door another bedroom with twin beds and to the right a bathroom.  The washing-machine is in a cupboard in this hallway.  Two long terraces run the length of the sitting room and bedroom walls.

The floors are marble throughout and I suppose the decoration can best be described as “modern Arab”.  This means that there are no elaborate pieces but gilt and mirrors and chandeliers abound.  Even the enamel of the bathroom fittings is pearlised and the bathroom furniture has a gold trim.  It may not be what I might choose myself but it can be lived with and all the basics are there to make life easy.

One item is lacking.  Syria, like Bolivia, is a pre-mop society!  This means that cleaning is mainly done by swishing buckets of water on the floor and then (barefoot) directing the water to the drainhole present in all  the kitchens, bathrooms etc.  with the aid of a rubber tool similar to the artefact used for cleaning windows.  The other evening I did see a mop in a shop nearby although there was no pail to accompany it.  However, the owner of the shop says he can get a pail with squeezer in about a week, so, when he does, I shall acquire this most useful of implements so much taken for granted in Europe and whose value is only appreciated when it is unavailable.

One thing we do have is satellite TV so we can now spend the time watching rubbish produced in Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Libya, Algeria, Morocco, the Emirates and other Arab countries as well as that produced in all the European countries, Turkey, Yugoslavia, Poland (where one person dubs all the voices both male and female on the films) and I don’t know where else.  As you can see, we are well served as far as the consumption of televised rubbish is concerned. In fact, this is something of a novelty because satellite dishes are forbidden in Syria, a rule which is clearly flouted on all sides if the jungle of dishes bedecking the roofs, walls, gardens and yards of houses everywhere is anything to go by!

Remarkably little noise is heard from any of the surrounding houses.  In fact the greatest noise to be heard from the house is that of young people playing football at a nearby school.

The window sills are the domain of numerous turtle doves who come around looking to see if there are any crumbs and an army of sparrows.  The streets, on the other hand, are the kingdom of the cat, and for the cat-lover they are a sight to behold because the main blood line is so obviously Persian, so these cats have little in common with the thin squalid cats seen elsewhere: they have long hair and big round faces and, on the whole, they are quite handsome.  People seem to like them and feed them.  Yahye, the driver, feeds ten at the office and there will soon be new additions as one of the females is pregnant.

March 18th 1998