Wednesday 27 September, 1972
I was told the Sunday before last that I would be heading off to Hajjah last weekend with the Governor, so I bought some supplies - some blankets (Chinese cotton-waste blankets - cheap and very warm), a towel, a thermos, a water filter (which I made out of a self sterilising filter candle in a plastic bucket - much cheaper than a commercial filter), sheets, a flag, tea, milk (dried), some basic dishes etc etc. Also bought a shirt since the one I was wearing kept on getting dirty too quickly.
I took a bit of time to see what stamps were available, as my Dad collects them. I found that they print much larger numbers than needed, but don't withdraw the old ones, so that it was possible to find stamps commemorating the first and ninth anniversaries of the Revolution, even though we were just about to have the tenth (yesterday).
A week ago, Richard Jarvis took me round to the Ministry of Education to find out if I would be going up to Hajjah that day, and to ask about my residence permit. No news of either the Governor or the residence permit. Later that same day I went to see Qadi Ismail the director of Monuments and Libraries. Prof Serjeant had given me a letter of introduction to him. The person who took me to see him was Mohammed al-Shami, the director of the university, who I bumped into. On the same mission I also met up with Dr Costa, a charming Italian who runs the museum. Actually I had already given him his letter of introduction from the Prof when we went to the museum a few days previously. Mohammed al-Shami also took me to see if the Governor of Hajjah had arrived in Sanaa, but he hadn't.
I also visited a missionary called Peter Dahlen of the Red Sea Mission - he is arranging for some nurses to be sent to Hajjah to open a clinic there, though he will not be living there himself.
In my last letter I mentioned that news of the Munich attack was just filtering through. It wasn't mentioned in the official press until 23 September, and didn't even mention Germany. Yemen has to be very careful about what it says, particularly as it is receiving aid simultaneously from the US, Red China, East and West Germany, Britain, and others besides. Apparently Yemen is rated by the UN as the 2nd least developed nation in the world - mainly on the basis of its administration, which isn't in control of more than half the country, and has no machinery for collecting taxes from resistant areas.
Yesterday was the tenth anniversary of the Revolution.
We had some power cuts in the run up to the Revolution anniversary - mainly, I think, because the illuminations for the 26th take up so much electricity that there is not enough to go round. I got up early and went out at about 7.45 to see the parades. It was a bit of a struggle to make my way through the crowds to Tahrir Square ("Liberation Square") but I eventually found a good place to look from, helped by the fact that I am quite a bit taller than Yemenis and could see over their heads. People around me were muttering "tawil, tawil" (tall, tall) and "tashuf tayyib" (you can see well), etc. I was able to see the parade of soldiers (quite smart, in fact) followed by lorries and tanks etc. A biplane flew over and dropped sweets on to the crowds.
For some reason I had not received an invitation for the celebrity stand where the diplomats etc were sitting, as were the foreign volunteers, so I went over and joined them after the crowds had started to disperse. It was rather fun watching from inside the crowd, though, particularly as I didn't have any trouble seeing what was going on.
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On housekeeping matters, Cooks sent me a telegram telling me I could collect £50 refund for the missing travellers cheques in my luggage from the Yemen Bank for Reconstruction and Development but the bank said they knew nothing about it and wouldn't pay up. However, a couple of days later the authorisation came through and I was finally able to collect my money.
While I was trying to track down my luggage (still) I tried to phone Aeroflot in Hodeidah a couple of Fridays ago to see if I could get the paperwork I would need for my insurance claim - only to find that there are no phone lines to Hodeidah open on Fridays.
I have to finish in haste as I have just learned that we are setting off for Hajjah today - more in my next one. And I'll try to add a picture or two of the Revolution Day parade when I can.
I was told the Sunday before last that I would be heading off to Hajjah last weekend with the Governor, so I bought some supplies - some blankets (Chinese cotton-waste blankets - cheap and very warm), a towel, a thermos, a water filter (which I made out of a self sterilising filter candle in a plastic bucket - much cheaper than a commercial filter), sheets, a flag, tea, milk (dried), some basic dishes etc etc. Also bought a shirt since the one I was wearing kept on getting dirty too quickly.
I took a bit of time to see what stamps were available, as my Dad collects them. I found that they print much larger numbers than needed, but don't withdraw the old ones, so that it was possible to find stamps commemorating the first and ninth anniversaries of the Revolution, even though we were just about to have the tenth (yesterday).
A week ago, Richard Jarvis took me round to the Ministry of Education to find out if I would be going up to Hajjah that day, and to ask about my residence permit. No news of either the Governor or the residence permit. Later that same day I went to see Qadi Ismail the director of Monuments and Libraries. Prof Serjeant had given me a letter of introduction to him. The person who took me to see him was Mohammed al-Shami, the director of the university, who I bumped into. On the same mission I also met up with Dr Costa, a charming Italian who runs the museum. Actually I had already given him his letter of introduction from the Prof when we went to the museum a few days previously. Mohammed al-Shami also took me to see if the Governor of Hajjah had arrived in Sanaa, but he hadn't.
I also visited a missionary called Peter Dahlen of the Red Sea Mission - he is arranging for some nurses to be sent to Hajjah to open a clinic there, though he will not be living there himself.
In my last letter I mentioned that news of the Munich attack was just filtering through. It wasn't mentioned in the official press until 23 September, and didn't even mention Germany. Yemen has to be very careful about what it says, particularly as it is receiving aid simultaneously from the US, Red China, East and West Germany, Britain, and others besides. Apparently Yemen is rated by the UN as the 2nd least developed nation in the world - mainly on the basis of its administration, which isn't in control of more than half the country, and has no machinery for collecting taxes from resistant areas.
Yesterday was the tenth anniversary of the Revolution.
We had some power cuts in the run up to the Revolution anniversary - mainly, I think, because the illuminations for the 26th take up so much electricity that there is not enough to go round. I got up early and went out at about 7.45 to see the parades. It was a bit of a struggle to make my way through the crowds to Tahrir Square ("Liberation Square") but I eventually found a good place to look from, helped by the fact that I am quite a bit taller than Yemenis and could see over their heads. People around me were muttering "tawil, tawil" (tall, tall) and "tashuf tayyib" (you can see well), etc. I was able to see the parade of soldiers (quite smart, in fact) followed by lorries and tanks etc. A biplane flew over and dropped sweets on to the crowds.
-----
On housekeeping matters, Cooks sent me a telegram telling me I could collect £50 refund for the missing travellers cheques in my luggage from the Yemen Bank for Reconstruction and Development but the bank said they knew nothing about it and wouldn't pay up. However, a couple of days later the authorisation came through and I was finally able to collect my money.
While I was trying to track down my luggage (still) I tried to phone Aeroflot in Hodeidah a couple of Fridays ago to see if I could get the paperwork I would need for my insurance claim - only to find that there are no phone lines to Hodeidah open on Fridays.
I have to finish in haste as I have just learned that we are setting off for Hajjah today - more in my next one. And I'll try to add a picture or two of the Revolution Day parade when I can.
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