Following the entry Libya......... of 23 February, I went looking for pictures taken during my year there which was in 1960/61 not 1959/60 as I said, not that it matters.
I did not find the ones that were in my mind's eye but I found these rather grainy snaps of Tripoli harbour, taken from the balcony of our apartment.
The view to the east with Tripoli Castle, I think, in the background.
Seeing this puts me in mind of another memory from that year.
In fact I mentioned it in the entry A little glass object....... of 27.05 2010
.....In the early 1960's I spent a year living in Libya with my parents.
And during that time, early every morning, a man driving a scooter with a mini-tanker containing goat's milk trailing behind him, arrived to deliver our order.........
And indeed he did. And in the way of milkmen he became something of a friend.
So much so that in due course he invited us to visit him.
My memory is sketchy but it was certainly not a farm, as we would understand a farm, but an area of scrub-land on which his goats grazed.
I don't remember any solid, permanent buildings or a dwelling.
But I do clearly remember the meal.
Squatting outside in the sand and scrub, a female member of his family washed our hands.
Thereafter an enormous bowl of cous cous with lamb was placed at our centre and atop the bowl were sheep's eyes - the delicacy of the repast. These were to be eaten first, swallowed whole as one does an oyster. My memory tells me that I eat them, or one, without difficulty, but maybe I flatter myself
I recall the main dish as being delicious but the challenge was to eat the granular cous cous, in its thin gravy, decorously, with one hand and without the aid of plates or cutlery.
The view to the west.
The building beyond the two palm trees was the sailing club from which I spent many days and hours sailing and racing in the harbour.
And the harbour in which I sailed and Her Majesty parked her yacht while she visited King Idris.
I'll continue my search for more and better photos................
