I should be on a flight

... to Saudi Arabia. Right now. I’m not supposed to be here at all.

So what happened? It was announced yesterday that Lebanon had a new Prime Minister in waiting, the cabinet of the previous one having fallen apart a couple of weeks ago, as described in “Collapse of a Coalition”. There must have been some horse trading behind the scenes, as one of the groups supporting the downed executive announced a change of allegiance. This isn’t the first time that group has changed sides. I’m reminded of the Churchill quote, after he’d crossed the floor of House of Commons for the second time - “Anyone can rat but it takes a certain amount of ingenuity to re-rat!”

In looking for the precise words of that quote, I came across another of his many recorded utterances “If we open a quarrel between the past and the present, we shall find we have lost the future.”

But that is precisely what people here are most afraid of and the first omen of the morning was not propitious. A text message arrived warning that the supporters of the previous government were being exhorted to “take to the streets”.

In anticipation of something like that happening and it getting out of hand, three of us who were going to a business meeting had decided during yesterday evening to postpone it rather than risk getting stuck outside, separated from family, duties and responsibilities here. It was probably the right thing to do, as even if all the fuss blows over and nothing happens, the ability to focus to perform at one’s best is stretched and distorted by worrying about possibilities over which we have no control.

And that’s why I’m here, tapping at my keyboard seven floors above a strangely quiet street that should be bustling at this time in the morning rather than almost empty. Let’s hope that the present can part amicably from the past in the very near future.

I’ve never been to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, but have resolved it’s merely a postponement and not a cancellation.