That they may have life and have it more abundantly....

...is the motto of the American University in Beirut which I will visit later today. It was founded in the nineteenth century by an American missionary and the motto is still seen at the entrance today.

Beirut is a wonderfully diverse city. My host Ethnoquest describes society here as still essentially feudal and factions or parties within the body politic control different districts. And woe betide you if one group decides to move into the territory of another..... as witness the bullet holes on the walls within sight of here.

We drove around the city yesterday in the capable hands of Raheed who greeted me with a chocolate described gleefully as a slave's head (and that is the polite translation). I learnt that the topics most likely to bring the blood to the boil in this city are politics and traffic. Boris Johnson might test the peace here! Driving is a no holds barred survival of the fittest which would make Richard Dwarkin drool.

We ended our day with a walk along the Corniche where the city comes to life and familes are out for a stroll. There is a certain charm about watching men and women smoking their hookahs seated by the sea wall.....a sort of mini blast furnace in action.

Downtown today after going to All Saints this morning.