Donkey Sandwich

I found an article on the internet about a crime that happened in Benghazi in the year 2000: a fast food restaurant owner sold donkey meat sandwiches to the public who thought they were eating lamb, he was eventually found out, put on trial and sent to prison where he died apparently a natural death, his name was" Aqoub Al-Houti. Some unknown poet wrote the following (in Arabic) which I thought was very funny!!

حميرك يا عقوب

‏قلاية وشواية ومركوب‏

من النوع الممتاز

يطيبن ع الفحم وع الغاز

إيجن في كفتة والمرقاز

راهن م النوع المشهور

طازة بشهادة دكتور

عليك زحمة ديمة وطابور

البانكيك عويلة لارنوب

حميرك خيرة يا عقوب

م النوع الصكاك

إيجن ف الشربة وف البراك

إن جعت.. تجيب معاك عصاك

تخاف يديرولك ملعوب

ما مللي قاعد حاير

ومو عارف كيف إيدير

يقرقش من كمين شهر

نسي الاسلوب

وتم يفكر بالمقلوب

حميرك خيرة يا عقوب

من النوع الطقراب

امفتلكهن شيش وكباب

واجعني حال الطلاب

في الحساب

كتر فيهم الرسوب

من النوع الحران

إيجن ف المحشي والعصبان

ما مللي جاكم جيعان

أمطوبر في ساعة الغروب

حميرك خيرة يا عقوب

داير مفروم

والكبدة مفوح بالتوم

جحيش طازة مذبوح اليوم

على سوم الجملة محسوب

حميرك خيرة يا عقوب

أتخليك تنهق ف النوم

الهمبرجة ف الفم تذوب

حميرك خيرة يا عقوب

قلاية وشاورمة ومركوب

My Tortoises

Saturday was another nice and warm day, the window was open to let the sun in, I have a selection of tortoises in an enclosure in that room, the sun was really shining and all tortoises were lying in its path and enjoying it.

i have six Libyan tortoises which in Europe are considered rare and a protected species, shame that in Libya i heard they are sold for few Dinars in the pet market, a certain Libyan tortoise (testudo kleinmanni) is a very rare tortoise which is also called the Egyptian tortoise, this tortoise is now extinct in Egypt and only small populations exist in the east of Libya (Jabal Akhdar area) they are beautiful tortoises that are small in size but need special care in Europe as they have to be kept in warm and dry conditions, they are very difficult to find and can be very expensive to buy as legal chipped specimens are very difficult to get.

This rare tortoise should be well protected in Libya, especially from collectors that take them from Libya to be sold in the pet markets in Egypt, Libya still has a chance to save this beautiful animal, more about this tortoise and its Libyan connection can be found on Tortoise Trust website. Hopefully some people in Libya can look seriously into the conservation of this tortoise.

I have had some of my tortoises for a couple of years now and although i have had some offers to sell them but this will never happen as i am very proud of their Libyan connections and will always look after them.

Please read this article about the state of this tortoise on the Tortoise Trust website:

Testudo kleinmanni in Libya - Field Report

Libyan on the North Circular Road

The day started well, it is the hotest day of the year so for and temprature is predicted to be 25C, wow, i left the house early as usual to go to work, half an hour later i reached the north cicular road that goes around london, as i got there the traffic got very heavy then just stopped, i put the radio on, LBC Radio of course, the traffic news said that the road was closed by the police because of an accident or something, what a bother!! 40 minutes later i was more or less in the same place, eventually it took me two and half hours to get to work instead of the usual 45 minutes journey, welcome to London!!
my only comfort was all my work mates were late as well and each had his own story to tell.